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12 Platform one Dr Donough Wilson Dr Donough Wilson is innovation lead at VIVID/ futureVision, which specialises in game- changing thinking for defence, homeland security, and both manned and unmanned aviation innovations. He was first to propose the automatic tracking and satellite download of airliner black box data, technology which is now being adopted. His defence innovations include the automatic cockpit vision system that protects military aircrew from asymmetric high-energy laser attack. As a pilot, he has more than 3000 hours of flying experience in both military and civil environments, and is currently a flying instructor and a flight test examiner. Paul Weighell Paul has been involved with electronics, computer design and programming since 1966. He has worked in the real-time and failsafe data acquisition and automation industry using mainframes, minis, micros and cloud-based hardware on applications as diverse as defence, Siberian gas pipeline control, UK nuclear power, robotics, the Thames Barrier, Formula One and automated financial trading systems. Ian Williams-Wynn Ian has been involved with unmanned and autonomous systems for more than 20 years. He started his career in the military working with early prototype unmanned systems and exploiting imagery from a range of unmanned systems from global suppliers. He has also been involved in ground-breaking research including novel power and propulsion systems, sensor technologies, communications, avionics and physical platforms. His experience covers a broad spectrum of domains from space, air, maritime and ground, and in both defence and civil applications including, more recently, connected autonomous cars. Unmanned Systems Technology’s consultants Acoustic pulses provide a cost-effective underwater positioning capability August/September 2017 | Unmanned Systems Technology UMS Skeldar is adding ‘optical radar’ technology to its V-200 VTOL UAV system (writes Nick Flaherty). The Vidar (visual identification detection and ranging) technology has been developed by Sentient Vision Technology and uses five separate cameras with specialist software to replace synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors. David Willems of Skeldar said, “At this stage we have an agreement to integrate the technology into the platform and then offer it as a complete package. We will be able to do that after the summer with testing during the autumn.” The only current system uses a single camera on the InSitu ScanEagle UAV. “Our system will have five optical still cameras looking down at a certain angle, then the software works on the pixel change detection of anomalies to create a real-time image,” said Willems. “That then allows a gimbal camera to zoom in on the area of interest. It can detect small objects such as a person in the sea or a small boat at a range of several nautical miles.” That will require significant changes to the airframe of the V-200, which has an endurance of more than five hours. “The cameras will have to be in a holder that we have to design to cover a 180 º view,” said Willems. “We are using the cameras that Sentient has recommended, which have a 9 MP resolution, and we need onboard processing power so that at any point in time you have 45 MP of resolution. “We are also working with a board from a Canadian supplier with five ARM processor cores, 8 Gbytes of RAM and 53 Gbytes of flash memory for the image processing. “The Vidar system has to be fully integrated with the GNSS system to geotag any incident and with the gimbal camera to provide ‘point and see’ capability,” he said. “Ideally the user interface also needs to be integrated into the flight management software.” The technology has been used on manned aircraft in Australia and the UK, but this is the first time it has been used on a VTOL platform with multiple cameras. In tests using manned aircraft, the system autonomously detected fishing boats at up to 14 nautical miles, smaller and faster boats at more than 17 nautical miles and a person in the water at a range of 2 nautical miles. Five-camera Vidar Sensors Five cameras with specialist image processing software can replace synthetic aperture radar (Courtesy of UMS Skeldar)