Unmanned Systems Technology 011 | C-Astral Bramor ppX | IMUs | Autonomous farming | UAV Turbines UTP50R | London Show report | Advanced materials | Las Vegas Expo report

67 Commercial UAV Show 2016 | Report 2.4 GHz MIMO radar for use in collision avoidance or as a radio altimeter. The RF chipset has eight receive channels and two transmit channels for a wide field of view and angular resolution, with a range of about 200 m for large targets. Smaller targets – for example, humans or lampposts – can be detected at distances of up to 100 m. Protect UAV is a brand of German company skygraphics AG, and in recent years it has developed a series of UAV parachutes for safety in case of propulsion failure as well as for standard landing and recovery systems when landing facilities are limited or payload systems housed beneath the airframe might be at risk. “We cover a range of UAVs, both fixed- wing and multi-/helicopters, with a MTOW between 1 kg and 250 kg respectively, even more if required,” said Frank Biburger. “For UAVs over 50 kg though, customisation is often necessary.” For multicopters or UAVs up to 2 kg, the company offers a spring-based deployment box called Nano, which consists of a carbon fibre tube with an internal servo opening mechanism to deploy its integrated parachute safely, all with a weight of 135 g. For multicopters up to 30 kg MTOW, the Nano is available as a pilot chute system to deploy a separate and larger main parachute. Two different canopy configurations are available: a standard circular canopy and a square-shaped or ‘cross’ canopy. “The cross has a very stable descent – any oscillation is kept to a minimum because the shape is self-stabilising as it descends, and it prevents the UAV from suffering damage caused by excessive oscillations,” Biburger said. The circular parachute deploys slightly faster than the ‘cross’ type and is therefore more suitable in situations closer to the ground. A special circular parachute concept with a slider for high-speed deployments completes the product range. RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems has released the latest versions of two of its key UAV survey mission systems. The miniVUX-1UAV Lidar sensor is designed to be more compact and consume less power than the VUX-1UAV: the system weighs 1.5 kg (a reduction of 2 kg) and typically consumes 16 W on a power input of 11-32 V dc (44 W less than the VUX-1UAV). “The new sensor offers multi-target capability and accuracy using echo digitisation and online waveform processing for data acquisition,” said Philipp Amon. The miniVUX-1UAV takes up to 100,000 measurements per second at a maximum range of 250 m, depending on the flatness or reflectivity of the terrain being mapped. The company has also released the BathyCopter, a variant of the RiCopter UAV fitted with the new BDF-1 sensor: a 5.3 kg laser depth finder designed for bathymetric survey missions such as profiling rivers or water reservoirs, or preparing for hydraulic engineering work. “Key to this capability is RIEGL’s new patented hydrographic waveform processing algorithm based on exponential decomposition,” Amon noted. Pulses are sent out at 4 kHz at a range of 50 m using a Class 2 laser (harmless to the human eye unless directly stared into), and the pulse echos are digitised and recorded for refinement of depth performance during post-processing. Unmanned Systems Technology | December/January 2017 The Protect UAV Nano UAV parachute system The RIEGL BathyCopter is designed for bathymetric survey missions