Commercial UAV Expo | Show report install a local base station and radio link for real-time kinematic (RTK) corrections. “You’ll get 3-6 cm accuracy without using an RTK base station,” said Jerry Wang. “PX-1 RTX provides a 100 Hz INS solution to the position and orientation of the drone.” The initial target market is delivery services, in which centimetric accuracy eliminates the risk of items going to the wrong address, he added. Operators needing to land a UAV on a moving platform will benefit, as a PX-1 RTX on the air vehicle and another on its target landing platform can communicate to calculate their relative positions. “We are working with the open-source community a lot, because many drone autopilots are open-source,” Wang said. “Right now, for example, we are working with ArduPilot to create the drivers to support our system.” Hitec Commercial Solutions showed examples of its growing range of servos, with Shawn Spiker providing insights into important market trends, such as the accelerating adoption of the controller area network (CAN) protocol. He noted that Hitec plans to introduce a new range of servos next year to address changing demand. “We get a lot of questions about the CAN bus DroneCAN protocols,” Spiker said, explaining that the demand for CAN is all about feedback of parameters such as speed, temperature, humidity, current and problems such as binding, for which the autopilot may be able to compensate. CAN is a well-established protocol that most control system engineers understand. Hitec is fielding a lot of requests for servos of different sizes, and for linear servo actuators that work with CAN. In response, the new line-up for next year will include “a few” smaller servos and two “very large ones”, all with CAN capability. “Also, some of the new and existing ranges will operate at higher voltages to remove the need for stepdowns in a vehicle.” Vertiq showed its industrial-grade motors and articulating “underactuated” propellers that give UAVs new manoeuvring capabilities, said David Schwartz. The motors feature embedded electronic speed controllers (ESCs) plus rotary position encoders. The latter help to drive the motor more efficiently and make it more responsive, and enable the propellers to stop in selected positions. This can minimise cruise drag for a fixedwing VTOL, help multicopter stowage in a “nest” box, and prevent a pusher propeller from striking the ground on landing, he explained. The propellers’ hinged hubs allow them to tilt in any direction independently of the fuselage without needing a swash plate, pitch links or actuators. This enables the UAV to translate in any direction without tilting the fuselage. “Typically, when you tilt a drone it starts going in the direction of the tilt. This system allows you to slide side to side, forwards and backwards without tilting the vehicle body, or hover with the body at a chosen angle,” Schwartz said. Tilting of the specially designed and tuned blade/hub combination is 105 Uncrewed Systems Technology | October/November 2024 Hitec’s servo durability demonstrator lifts and lowers a heavy water bottle
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