Unmanned Systems Technology 021 | Robot Aviation FX450 l Imaging Sensors focus l UAVs Insight l Liquid-Piston X-Mini l Riptide l Eurosatory 2018 show report l Zipline l Electric Motors focus l ASTS show report

8 Platform one August/September 2018 | Unmanned Systems Technology Sightline Applications is developing a new processing board to add tracking and identification capabilities to cameras inside a UAV’s gimbal (writes Nick Flaherty). The 4000-OEM will add USB-3 and MIPI connectivity to the LVDS, parallel digital, HDSDI, HDMI and CameraLink links on the existing board. It will use a system-on-module from Qualcomm using the latest processor and graphics The longer a ship’s voyage, the more often technicians have to carry out maintenance somewhere in the propulsion system (writes Rory Jackson). For unmanned and autonomous shipping to become a reality, it is vital therefore that the maintenance-intensive fuel systems of existing container vessels are phased out in favour of more sustainable and more easily monitored fully electric powertrains. While there is a range of approaches to maintenance, most still need a small crew complement aboard each ‘unmanned’ ship. However, research at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft) has led to a concept for a zero- technology to achieve a board that measures 40 x 50 mm – half the size of the current 3000 design and smaller than other boards such as Nvidia’s Jetson. Early samples of the 4000-OEM hardware are expected to be available by the end of 2018. The company has also updated its firmware for the 3000 series, which is based around a digital signal processor from Texas Instruments. Release 2.25 includes a deep learning classifier to maintenance propulsion architecture that would remove the need for a crew. Klaas Visser at TUDelft recommends a distributed network of vectored, electric azimuth rim-driven thrusters that do not need a transmission hub or the associated mechanical parts, arranged evenly on either side of the keel along the length of the ship’s underbelly. That would enable propulsion without holes in the hull, as it would require only a physical cable connection from the energy source to supply power. The thrusters would also ideally use composite material for the propellers. “Engineering such a system must rely on solid-state energy sources and processes for a minimum of rotating and automatically identify objects in a video stream. This allows a camera to track a particular area of interest by linking to the gimbal control system. It also provides the foundation for further additions of classification and identification for surveillance and inspection applications. The new release includes dead pixel removal and non-uniformity correction processing as well, to allow processing for infrared cameras. moving parts, and aim only to integrate propulsion components that do not have rotating hull penetrations,” said Visser. “This is necessary to minimise the maintenance requirements as well as the overall risk of wear and tear, so that repairs never have to be conducted between berths.” The solid-state energy production Visser recommends would theoretically be based on batteries or fuel cells. The latter is seen as providing the greater energy density while still using no moving parts in power generation, and exhibiting higher part-load efficiency (an important condition for shipping operations) than gasoline engines, turbine engines and hybrid systems. Vision systems Marine vehicles Gimbal-guided tracking Zero-maintenance power The new Sightline processing board adds tracking and identification to cameras in a UAV’s gimbal