Unmanned Systems Technology 014 | Quantum Tron | Radio links and telemetry | Unmanned Aerial Vehicles | Protonex fuel cell | Ancillary systems | AUVSI 2017 Show report

23 O ne of the most exciting aspects of the UAV business is the freedom that not having people aboard a craft gives designers to explore unconventional configurations. Couple that with the benefits of electrical power – particularly the fact that multiple motors can be used without causing excessive weight gain – and the result is a flowering of innovative and radical designs. Quantum Systems’ Tron quad tiltrotor is a good example of that, the 14 kg UAV boasting a high-aspect-ratio wing optimised for cruising flight and four electrically driven propellers that can tilt from the vertical to the horizontal and back. That permits efficient cruising flight to be combined with VTOL without the extra drag associated with hybrids that separate their propulsion systems into dedicated lift and thrust components, and translates into greater range and endurance. The Tron is the brainchild of Florian Seibel and his team of 20 engineers at the young company. Seibel is a former German Army helicopter pilot who began working on the concept while still serving. Delays in the Tiger attack helicopter and NH90 utility helicopter development programmes, and dwindling flight hours in the ageing Bo 105 reconnaissance helicopters, had left his cohort of pilots twiddling their thumbs, so the Army offered to send a select few of them back to university to work on PhDs. Seibel therefore went to the Armed Forces University in Munich, where he met Dr Mike Kriegel, Dr Michael Wohlfahrt and Tobias Kloss, with whom he would later go on to found Quantum. At the university they worked with large turbine-powered helicopters, UAVs and professional-grade autopilot systems. In their spare time, however, they bought PixHawk PX4 and Arduino autopilots, and developed multicopter systems around them, even finding customers for some dozen units. Frustrated by the short, 15-20 minutes of endurance available from the copters, and the operational complexity associated with the university’s fixed-wing UAVs, they began experimenting with hybrids, using evenings and weekends to build the first prototypes of what was to become the Tron. The first of several prototypes took its maiden flight in 2011. In addition to the wind tunnel tests during 2013 that confirmed the soundness of the aerodynamic design, major developmental milestones included the first full hardware- and software-in-the-loop testing of the complete system in 2014 and establishing two independent manufacturing lines for carbon fibre components in 2015. Variants Tron’s second place in the 2015 Drones4Good competition in Dubai was followed by a successful demonstration of its linear infrastructure monitoring capabilities in beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) mode for German railway operator Deutsche Bahn in 2016. Currently there are two Tron variants defined by their sensor packages, one equipped for precision farming missions and the other for 3D reconstruction. However, Quantum is beginning to focus its efforts more on the security and military markets as it looks to broaden its product range. The precision farming connection came about because chemicals and biotechnology giant Bayer had approached the head of department at the Armed Forces University in 2010 for advice about monitoring experimental crops from the air. Seibel and his fellow PhD students built an octocopter for one of Bayer’s research companies, and equipped it with a multi-spectral camera that revealed natural chemical indicators of crop health that are otherwise invisible. Bayer scientists were impressed with the results but mentioned the need for a UAV that could cover areas much larger than the company’s research fields, such as the two million or so farms in the US whose average size is 440 hectares. That chimed neatly with the tiltrotor idea that was already taking shape. Development of the vehicle that would become the Tron, however, had to wait for a deal with the Bavarian Ministry of Economics to fund the technology and its demonstration. The overall design goal was to present customers with a UAV that is as easy and intuitive to use as an iPhone, Seibel says, while offering reliability and high performance. Quantum quotes a payload of up to 2 kg, a cruise speed of 20 m/s (80 kph) and endurance figures of 90-120 minutes, depending on the payload. The cruise speed and the larger of those Quantum Tron | Dossier Unmanned Systems Technology | June/July 2017 The Tron is designed to be assembled in the field out of this purpose-built transport case, a task that can be completed in a matter of minutes