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

77 For the first time in the US, Intel showcased its new multicopter UAV platform, the Intel Falcon 8+ system. Based on the AscTec Falcon 8 design from its Ascending Technologies subsidiary, the Intel Falcon 8+ uses a patented ‘V-shape’ airframe, with four rotors on each of two carbon fibre rods either side of the centre hub. “It has full redundancy from an electrical standpoint,” said Intel’s Anil Nanduri. “You can have at least two rotors fail, or in some cases with a light payload if four rotors failed, it could still fly safely back to its launch point.” The redundancy is provided through dual comms channels between all flight- relevant components and redundant sensing. The Falcon 8+ also comes with the AscTec Trinity autopilot, which uses three IMUs for triple redundancy and to compensate for hardware failures, extreme winds and electromagnetic fields. Velodyne Lidar’s Jeff Wuendry discussed a number of the company’s products at the Expo, including its latest offering, the Puck Hi-Res. While still retaining the 360° horizontal field of view (FOV) and 100 m range as the standard Puck (VLP-16) and Puck LITE, the Puck Hi-Res delivers a 20° vertical FOV rather than the standard 30 º for a tighter channel distribution – 1.33° between channels instead of 2.00°. “In Velodyne Lidar’s Puck series, 16 laser diodes are positioned at particular angles inside the sensor. In Puck Hi- Res, however, the diodes are positioned differently than in a standard version to give the 20° vertical field of view,” Wuendry explained. “The vertical field of view – that is, the vertical spread of laser diodes, of laser beams – is built into the design of the product. Once the individual laser diodes are positioned, they cannot move. That will enable the host system not only to detect but to better discern objects at these greater distances.” As with the standard Puck, the Puck Hi- Res weighs 830 g and consumes up to 8 W operating on a voltage of 9-18 V. Aerotenna, a radar sensing and system-on-chip (SoC) flight control technology provider for UAVs, unveiled two new products designed to improve safety, reliability and intelligence for UAS operations. The microwave-based μSharp Patch is the smallest sense-and-avoid radar on the market, according to Aerotenna, measuring 6.5 x 4.5 x 0.8 cm, weighing 50 g (18 g without its enclosure) and consuming up to 1.5 W. The sensing range goes up to 120 m and resolution is accurate to 5 cm, over a FOV of 30 º vertically and 50 º horizontally, and updates at a frequency of 800 Hz. Hongshu Qian said, “Most of the new sensors for collision avoidance are vision-based cameras, or ultrasonic or Lidar sensors. But the main advantage of microwave sensing technology is robustness – reliability in all environmental and visibility conditions. Those other sensors aren’t likely to convince the FAA that safety requirements have been met in the way that radar will.” Aerotenna’s other new offering, the OcPoC (Octagonal Pilot on Chip) Mini flight controller, offers advantages to UAS developers by including a SoC with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) structure. As the CPU processes core tasks for safe and stable flight, the FPGA, with its more highly optimised number of gates per processes compared with conventional microcontrollers, is able to process all the remaining data, with at least 100 I/Os available for connecting sensors via a range of methods including SPI, I2C and USB-UART. “If you need Lidar, vision and an ultrasonic sensor, you can integrate Commercial UAV Expo 2016 | Show report Intel’s Falcon 8+ has full electrical redundancy Unmanned Systems Technology | December/January 2017 The µSharp Patch radar and OcPoC Mini flight controller are designed to improve UAS safety