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Show report | AUVSI’s Xponential 56 in the company’s cloud-based software turn the sensor data into usable business intelligence that can be easily understood and shared. Aeryon made another major announcement at the show, which was its teaming agreement with Persistent Systems to embed Wave Relay tactical radio capability into the 5.3 lb SkyRanger quadcopter in place of its standard wi-fi C2 and downlink. Wave Relay networks are in widespread service with militaries throughout the world, Proulx said, and embedding the radio card turns the SkyRanger into a node on a mesh network that allows anyone else on the net to see what it sees. It also extends the UAV’s control range to the edge of the mesh, and benefits the network by preserving connectivity in the presence of obstacles such as hills by enabling the UAV to act as an airborne signal repeater. While the soldier-worn Wave Relay handset is a fairly substantial military radio, the small card built into the SkyRanger’s fuselage contains all its functionality. This, said Proulx, allows customers who operate Wave Relay networks to deploy SkyRanger more easily and efficiently in a plug-and-play manner. FLIR Systems used Xponential to launch its Vue Pro R, the latest member of its Vue thermal imaging camera series for commercial UAV use. The new R type adds radiometric functionality to the Vue Pro camera, giving UAV operators the ability to save pictures for post-flight image analysis and accurately measure the temperatures of individual pixels. When saved in radiometric JPEG format, still images can be imported into FLIR Tools software for detailed analysis and reporting. The software allows operators to adjust settings including object emissivity, background temperature, target distance, relative humidity and thermal sensitivity, as well as assigning various colour palettes for each image. Long-established servo manufacturer Futaba announced new full-metal (gear and case) servos, in high-speed and high-torque variants. As standard, they have telemetry feedback and are available with fixed or removable cable. Also new at Xponential, Hiram Crisler reported, was the FMT-01 transmitter, a bidirectional comms device with three axis and one push-controlled joystick that works in conjunction with its FMR-01 receiver. Autonomous Stuff displayed on its booth a Lincoln MKZ production car. Terry Lamprecht explained that this was no run-of-the-mill example but a self-driving vehicle demonstrating his company’s Automated Research Development Platform. This includes three core elements, the first of which is the By Wire vehicle, an MKZ that has been fitted with specialist hardware and software (to the client’s requirements) such as a throttle and brake controller module, a steering and shifting by-wire controller module and a touchscreen controller for monitoring and controlling individual power channels. The second core element is a customisable perception kit. This includes the likes of radar, Lidar, a camera, a GPS/IMU and an ECU. Lamprecht noted, “Options are unlimited – we are happy to install sensors to meet any customer’s needs.” The third core element is what Autonomous Stuff calls PolySync – the autonomy operating system. Lamprecht explained, “This is an entire software platform specially made to help developers build, test and deploy automated vehicle applications quickly. “Together these three core elements fast-track those researching self-driving vehicles.” New from Spectracom is VersaSync, which David Sohn described as “an all-in-one time and frequency solution”, explaining that it is “a high-performance June/July 2016 | Unmanned Systems Technology Futaba’s FMT-01 bi-directional comms devise