Unmanned Systems Technology 004 | Delair-Tech DT18 | Autopilots | Rotron RT600 | Unmanned surface vehicles | AMRC | Motion control | Batteries

26 can go through both links concurrently, the range of the DL is typically only 15 km, although extending to 20 or even 25 km in environments with low emissions, such as in parts of Africa. By contrast, the CZ routinely works at up to 50 km, although under the DGAC’s BVLOS requirement the craft is confined to within a 15 km radius of the base station. At the same time, the command and control function is not essential to operation as everything can be pre-programmed. De Lagarde notes that there is a dichotomy between the approach of the DGAC and that of Delair-Tech to the operation of the DT18. “The regulators think of the DT18 as a ‘remotely piloted’ craft, whereas we design it to have the potential to be fully autonomous – in effect a ‘flying robot’. However, we do allow for pilot-in-the-loop in our control software, to respect their concept. “The DT18 can fly without any link to the ground station [and then you download the data when it returns]. It has onboard intelligence that reacts to its environment using a tree of decisions that provide corrective behaviour in the event of unexpected situations. In places outside France, where the regulations are more open, we generally let the DT18 fly itself.” If the DT18 is flying within range of appropriate mobile phone masts, it is not necessary to use the antenna as a data link. The ground control laptop can send and receive data via a paired mobile phone that in turn is in touch with a modem on board the aircraft. This normally 3G connection is too slow for real-time transmission of data from the payload camera but is adequate for command and control. As 4G rolls out more widely, followed by 5G, the functions of the antenna will become redundant in areas covered by the masts. Imaging The DT18 carries as standard two cameras, a still payload camera plus a video camera. The latter is aligned downwards and forwards at a shallow angle relative to the airframe, with which Autumn 2015 | Unmanned Systems Technology Delair-Tech was founded by Michael de Lagarde, Benjamin Michel, Bastien Mancini and Benjamin Benharrosh. De Lagarde is the president and CEO, Michel was the aerodynamicist for the DT18 and now heads production, Mancini is the general manager and CTO and is in charge of the Delair Analytics department, and Benharrosh is the commercial director. The company produces prototypes in-house but outsources manufacture of production models. To date, more than 100 DT18s have been supplied to customers worldwide. It remains in production, with the larger DT26 to follow in October 2015 and other products in development. Delair-Tech currently employs 20 engineers across the design, development, quality control and production functions, plus another ten technicians and others across build and the commercial and administration departments, for a total of 50 employees. Delair-Tech Analytics is a department of the company that specialises in data processing. It not only supports the other departments but also sells its services to users. “We have a lot of knowhow as to how to extract relevant data from high- quality, raw data sets produced from our UAVs,” remarks de Lagarde, “and we offer this as an optional paid-for service for our customers. “The DT18 is now part of an integrated process that aims to provide the end- user with a way to make informed decisions for his business. DT18 customers can upload mission data they have collected to the cloud and instruct us as to the particular way in which they want us to process it. “There is a list of services that we offer through our Analytics department. For example, we might be asked to assemble a mosaic of photographs and generate a 3D surface reconstruction of the area photographed. This can then be fed into an application-specific algorithm that will, for example, automatically calculate stockpile volumes for a customer in the mining business, or the proximity of a tree canopy to power lines if the customer is a power grid manager.” De Lagarde notes that the DT18 is specifically designed to obtain a required data resource. “The DT18 is not an end in itself but is part of Delair-Tech’s core business, which is the whole package of data gathering and data processing.” The company From left to right: Bastien Mancini, Benjamin Benharrosh, Benjamin Michel, Michael de Lagarde