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

81 cooling capability in order to dissipate heat generated by the level of torque. Volz also reported that its oil-filled DA 26-SUB, released in late 2016, has now been tested under simulation of water pressures to a depth of 20,000 ft. UAV Navigation has made major upgrades to its Visionair GCS application as the company prepares itself for multi- UAV and multi-UxV missions. “One of our biggest challenges was developing the means to use Visionair for different UxV types, operating in different ways and locations.” commented Tobias Webster. To address that, the common core software now features the company’s Visionair Layouts, which shows different and customisable panels for different UxV types. Users can also customise other aspects including alarms, configuration panels and user switches. Rather than use a swarm control algorithm, Visionair maintains just a single, user-selected ‘active’ UxV at any given time with full telemetry and command stream, with the remaining inactive UxVs configured to report minimal telemetry to reduce comms bandwidth usage. “If comms quality is a problem, the UxV periodic downlink telemetry is completely disabled, and Visionair is responsible for polling the data only when required for non-active UxVs,” Webster added. Memsic has developed a new vertical gyro, the VG380, as part of its 380 series of MEMS navigation sensors. It is available in two package/interface options. The VG380SA is a 41 x 48 x 22 mm module designed for standalone applications, and includes built-in power conditioning (supply from 9 to 32 V) and RS-232 and RS-422 interfaces. The VG380ZA is designed for OEM/ embedded applications, measures 24 x 37 x 9.5 mm and has a header and SPI interface with a 3-5 V power supply. It was critical during development to calibrate the sensors for factors such as temperature bias, according to John Newton. “All the units are fully tested and calibrated in production, both on the rate table for linearity and scale factor, and in temp chambers where we measure the bias over -40 C to +85 C, and use a fifth-order polynomial to correct the errors,” he said. The VG380 also comes embedded with Kalman filter algorithms to compute dynamic pitch and roll. Ascent Vision’s CM123 gimbal is in its final phase of development, we learnt at the show. Intended as an enhancement of the CM100, it is a three-axis gyro- stabilised EO/uncooled-LWIR gimbal with 3x optical zoom, an additional laser illuminator and stabilisation from both system mechanics and software. The CM123 uses direct drive brushless motors for improved torque when moving the IP66-rated enclosure, and adding a third axis of movement was one decision made early in development. Ben Keeley said, “Designing high-torque motors for a small UAV gimbal was a big challenge for us – it’s something we’ve really only done in much larger systems. We wanted the same ability as our CM202, but in a small form factor with low weight and power requirements.” uAvionix unveiled its planned Kinetik radar sense-and-avoid solution, which is intended to enable UASs to share airspace with manned aircraft. The Kinetik has a maximum range of 500 ft and is integrated into a two- axis gyro-stabilised gimbal. Jeff Walker reported, “This gimbal pairing allows us to use it in four different ways. “Pointing it straight at the ground gives a precise distance from it, like a radar altimeter. If you’re following a vehicle, you can do that quite accurately with this. You can also turn the same radar to a 360 º sweep around the multicopter for an all- round view of the area. “Or, if your fixed-wing UAV is scanning ahead, and your mission parameter makes you turn 45 º to the right, you can face the gimbal rightwards and ensure there aren’t any collision conflicts. And if you’re moving straight ahead, you can perform a wide pan up and down to look for objects.” The level of autonomy to be made programmable into the Kinetik during integration is currently under consideration. The company also launched its line of four ADS-B transceivers integrated with GPS receivers, antennas and barometric pressure sensors, which are designed to reduce weight compared with two- or three- unit installations of navigation and collision avoidance systems by 25-40%. Unmanned Systems Technology | June/July 2017 UAV Navigation’s Visionair GCS application has been given some major upgrades