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

48 Insight | UAVs while US cell phone operator Verizon has teamed up with fixed-wing UAV developer American Aerospace to put a base station in the sky at lower altitudes. As part of Verizon’s Airborne LTE Operations (ALO), tests were carried out in the US up to an altitude of 1000 m using an RS-20 UAV to provide 4G LTE mobile phone services in areas where the power and telecoms infrastructure could have been knocked out for some reason. The RS-20 has a wingspan of 6 m and an endurance of 12-16 hours. It is remotely piloted from the ground and can fly in bad weather to provide the LTE coverage. The ALO UAVs can also be used to provide LTE data connections to equipment on the ground and other UAVs, which is where another technology comes in. Verizon has bought rotary UAV software and management firm Skyward. The Skyward UAVs are already used in 40 countries around the world for industrial monitoring applications, and would benefit from 4G network availability from a fixed-wing UAV flying above them. Logistics Delivery company UPS has successfully tested a UAV that is launched from the top of one of its delivery vans, autonomously delivering a package to an address and then returning to the vehicle to recharge and pick up the next package. The tests used ground and air systems from Ohio-based battery-electric truck and UAV developer Workhorse. The test combined the Workhorse HorseFly octocopter and electric van with UPS’ on-road integrated optimisation navigation routing software, called Orion. The HorseFly, which can carry packages weighing up to 4.5 kg, was docked on the roof of the delivery truck, lining up with a cage suspended beneath that extends through a hatch into the truck. A UPS driver inside loaded a package into the cage and pressed a button on a touch screen, sending the UAV on a pre-set autonomous route to an address within a range of 15 minutes (the custom battery pack has a lifetime of 30 minutes). Rural delivery routes are the most expensive to serve, owing to the time and vehicle expenses required to complete each delivery. In this test therefore, the drone made one delivery while the driver continued down the road to make another. “In rural locations our package cars often have to travel miles to make a single delivery,” says Mark Wallace, senior vice-president of global engineering and sustainability at UPS. “With this system though the UAVs can help drivers at various points along their routes, helping them save time.” UPS has about 66,000 delivery drivers on the road each day, and it calculates that a reduction of just one mile per driver per day over a year could save the company up to $50m. One notable element of the test is that it used a human monitor during the package drop-off stage. When the UAV was in position above its destination, a remote observer in a control centre was sent a video feed to assess the safe completion of the delivery and make any necessary adjustments to the UAV’s position during drop-off. In that way the observer could monitor a fleet of UAVs at once, as observation would only be needed during the final descent. Cheetah Air in the US is also using autonomous UAVs for delivery applications. Its Logistics Operations Optimisation Platform software supports any size of UAV. The system communicates directly with the Cheetah UAVs, providing full aerial vehicle telemetry in real time, and the delivery location can be changed even when the UAV is airborne. Summary Endurance is critical, whether it be for monitoring fields of crops, coral reefs, pipelines or delivering packages. Using hybrid VTOL craft that take off vertically but travel quickly horizontally to cover more ground is one approach that is becoming increasingly popular for agriculture and monitoring applications. Having a truck to recharge an autonomous UAV also provides the endurance that logistics companies need, while using a fixed-wing UAV to provide a base station for LTE coverage to rotary UAVs is another approach. At the same time, sensors – particularly the hyperspectral variety – have come down in size and weight to help UAVs last longer in the air. June/July 2017 | Unmanned Systems Technology The Horsefly UAV is being tested by delivery firm UPS, being combined with an electric truck for charging (Courtesy of Workhorse)