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78 The Al Marakeb Boat Company debuted its latest system, the B7X USV, at the show. Unlike its other vessels, which are purely unmanned and operated remotely or autonomously, the B7X is a dual-use vessel with a helm inside for one or two crew members, and can switch between manned and unmanned modes. In addition to the IP mesh downlink and other comms systems available for the company’s B7 and B10 USVs, the company plans to use 4G LTE comms on the B7X to greatly extend the range and bandwidth for transmitting imagery from (and commands to) the vehicle and however many sensors the operator has chosen to install. Nour Al Sayyed said, “It was decided to install a cockpit to enable missions that might need a pilot on board for greater situational awareness, while still allowing the autopilot to take over for missions too dull or dangerous to merit significant human workloads. “Switching between modes can be carried out at the GCS or on the vessel itself; whatever flexibility the user requires in the control mechanism can be programmed in.” Should comms be interrupted, the system can be programmed to drop anchor, return to a designated ‘home point’ or continue on its designed route, among other options. The 8.2 m craft can carry a payload of up to 750 kg and has a fuel capacity of 450 litres, with a dry weight of 3000 kg. It can travel at up to 50 knots, and has an image transmission range of up to 40 km when communicating via IP mesh. It also features a collision avoidance alert system that uses radar, AIS and EO/IR situational awareness feedback. Additionally, its use of the MAP Pro autonomous operating system means it can be monitored and controlled from various points around the world through the MAP global network. Al Marakeb also plans to build a ‘B10X’ USV, with similar dual-use upgrades and modifications to its 10 m B10 vessel to those in the B7X. Skypro UAV was showing its Skypro V200 UAV, a 5 kg hand-launched fixed-wing system designed for aerial surveillance, principally with security organisations and agencies in mind. It has designed a special target detection, tracking and geo-pointing location solution. On display elsewhere at the show was the M6 VTOL UAV, the result of a collaboration between SkyPro UAV and the frame’s manufacturer. Skypro UAV’s Elie Waked commented, “We provided many of the same systems for the M6 VTOL UAV that we used in the Skypro V200, including the autopilot and gimbal, as well as the embedded computer vision, detection and tracking capabilities, and the data link – which can send images and receive commands up to 140 km away.” To provide the VTOL-transition capability on the autopilot, the company conducted at least three test flights per day over the development period of two years to ensure enough data was collected to successfully program the fusion of navigation inputs needed at the point of transition. The M6 has an MTOW of 19 kg and features a hybrid gas and electric power system, with a 3W-28i single-cylinder engine and an 8000 mAh battery on board to provide up to four hours of flight. The 5 kg Skypro V200 is electrically powered and can fly for up to three hours with a range of 40-60 km. The EO/IR gimbal on both systems comes with 10x or 40x optical EO zoom, and either a 25, 30 or 50 mm thermal camera lens. The gimbal can weigh from 800 g up to 1.5 kg, depending on which options the user’s mission requires. Test flights of the various systems were conducted with the assistance of the Lebanese military, which Waked cited as a major factor in keeping production costs down. Lockheed Martin launched a new software program, VCSi (Vehicle Control Station International), which is aimed at monitoring and controlling fleets of unmanned air, underwater and sea surface systems simultaneously. John Molberg said, “We have been developing this system across different variants for 25 years; it started in 1993 with target drones, and evolved to flying the US Army’s large UAV fleet. Since then it’s been used on 40 different vehicles in about a dozen countries. You could describe VCSi as an operating system for drones, with third-party apps creating an April/May 2018 | Unmanned Systems Technology Al Marakeb’s B7X includes a helm for optionally manned missions