Unmanned Systems Technology 008 | Alti Transition UAS | Ground control systems | Xponential 2016 report | Insitu Orbital N20 | UAVs | Solar power | Oceanology International 2016 report

46 He added that for a three-antenna configuration, two MB-Twos are required. Like the MB-One, the MB-Two has two antenna inputs. The position accuracy specifications are the same for both receivers, but the MB-Two can use more signals. The dual frequency heading is not more accurate, but can be faster to obtain a fixed solution and is considered more robust. Dechant explained, “Our Z-Blade technology drives a powerful GNSS- agnostic engine, which uses over-the- air satellite corrections via the L-band hardware to achieve centimetre-level accuracy with Trimble RTX corrections over land, which are available on subscription.” New from BMS, Brad Coleman reported, is the fourth generation of his company’s handheld portable microwave receiver. The Carry-Viewer 4 (CV4) can show live video downlinked from manned or unmanned vehicles using COFDM technology. It features a 7 in LCD colour monitor to provide a high-definition picture, and has touchscreen operation. Coleman reported that BMS supports video links with equipment that has the capability to receive and transmit up to 150 miles in the right conditions, and he pointed out that the COFDM waveform is very robust, “allowing broadband connectivity in challenging situations”. The CV4 is a complete diversity receiver with twin antennae, which independently pick up the signal. The software then evaluates the quality of each signal and combines them to best recover the original transmission. “Data links are subject to reflections from the likes of trees, cars and so on before arriving at an antenna, and sometimes all the resulting waves combine to interfere and cancel each other out,” he said. “With two antennae that are spaced appropriately far apart, and with the COFDM signal, BMS diversity receivers can overcome this issue and provide improved link reliability.” It’s a truism that radars detect targets and cameras identify them, but the Visual Detection And Ranging (Vidar) software from Sentient and a combination of multiple staring wide-angle cameras and a gimballed electro-optical (EO) sensor with zoom capabilities looks set to shake that assumption. Resembling a classic UFO, the new camera system was on display at the show. Based on long experience of watching the ocean from the air, Sentient’s Vidar video processing algorithms know what June/July 2016 | Unmanned Systems Technology Sentient’s Vidar software runs in a new maritime camera and sensor system built by Ascent Vision ‘normal’ looks like and are programmed to pick out tiny anomalies that could be objects of interest, such as small boats, people or periscopes in the water, from the wide-angle camera imagery and to cue the long-range sensor for target confirmation and identification. Ascent Vision, which has previously relied on more conventional maritime EO sensors, has built a new camera system designed to exploit the Vidar software. The result is a mostly carbon fibre structure that supports between one and five 9.1 megapixel digital daylight TV cameras that cover a 180° arc ahead of the aircraft and cue Ascent Vision’s standard CM202 gyro-stabilised sensor payload, which can be fitted with high- definition EO and mid- or long-wave IR sensors and lasers, depending on customer requirements. Weighing 11 kg, it is 500 mm in diameter and 150 mm tall, and is small and light enough for UAVs or helicopters. It provides good-weather performance equivalent to a much larger and heavier radar, said Ascent Vison’s Tim Sheehy. Sentient’s Simon Olsen, said, “We have a deployment on a Challenger 604 with Cobham; the job is SAR, and the task is to automatically detect, cross-cue and classify either a rubber raft or a person in the water while the aircraft moves at 200 knots in 4 s. That raises the game for search and rescue.” Volz Servos is introducing clutched servos for optionally piloted vehicles (OPVs), Phillipp Volz reported. The first is a version of its DA 26, the DA 26-MC, indicating magnetic clutch. The clutch in question is electro- mechanical and is able to transfer twice the servo’s peak torque without slippage. It is designed such it can never fail engaged; additionally, a slip clutch can be added. Those measures ensure the pilot is always able to control the aircraft. “The first customer who has chosen the DA 26-MC has successfully integrated