Unmanned Systems Technology 016 | Hydromea Vertex AUV | Power management systems | Unmanned Space Vehicles | Continental CD-155 turbodiesel | Swift 020 UAV | ECUs | DSEI 2017 Show report

75 Engine control units | Focus could be four propellers for a quadcopter or a battery charger, the developer says. ECUs and PCUs have to be very closely coordinated. The developer has conceived a new and simple electrical architecture to achieve this, but describes getting everything working harmoniously together as an interesting problem. While the architecture is simple, the control systems are difficult, the developer says. The key problem is to go from the mechanical domain to the electrical domain and back, while ensuring that the energy flow through it is in balance, avoiding any large deficit or oversupply of power. The control system must regulate the power from the engine in a very controlled manner to match the power demand, which can be unpredictable. On top of that is the need to mix the power delivery from the engine and the batteries. Future trends Looking to the future, one view is that ECUs will eventually settle on a standard comms protocol, such as CAN or UAV CAN, while falling in size, cost and weight over time and featuring more integrated features for hybrid control systems and generator power management. Rapid development and flexibility will also be at a premium. In future UAV development, pure electric, series hybrid and internal combustion engines are all likely to be evaluated, with each configuration requiring an ECU flexible and powerful enough to support r&d. One developer expects a push to higher performance applications with options for upgrading software to run changing applications. This is not the time for heavily tailored solutions that can serve only one powertrain architecture, the developer emphasises. Until the architectures for powertrain configuration settle down, highly modular rather than highly integrated electrical architectures will be the norm in ECUs. Some look to the challenge of meeting stricter aeronautical regulations imposed by governments to protect the public, with real-time operating systems looking attractive for certification reasons. Another developer points out that ECU development runs in parallel with that of the engines themselves. The challenge will be to develop reliable ways to provide the air, fuel and ignition control that do what the combustion system needs, whether it be spark or compression ignition engines, piston engines or gas turbines. ECU manufacturers, he notes, cannot develop new control solutions without hardware such as injectors and ignition coils that support innovations in engine operating principles. Engines will therefore continue to shape ECUs. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Gavin Brett of Currawong Engineering, Matt Liao of Ecotrons, Tom West of HFE International, Sergio Moscat of Moscat Ingenieria, Brian Lewis of Performance Electronics and David Stamm of PI Innovo for their help with researching this article. Unmanned Systems Technology | October/November 2017 AUSTRALIA Currawong Engineering +61 3 6229 1973 www.currawongeng.com Orbital Corporation +61 8 9441 2311 www.orbitalcorp.com.au AUSTRIA Bosch General Aviation Technology +43 1 79722 4300 www.bosch-aviation.com LATVIA UAV Factory +371 29191590 www.uavfactory.com SPAIN Moscat Ingenieria +34 91 491 0236 www.moscatingenieria.com USA Ecotrons +1 248 891 6965 www.ecotrons.com EFI Technology +1 310 793 2505 www.efitechnology.com HFE International +1 520 578 0818 www.hfeinternational.com Northwest UAV +1 503 434 6845 www.nwuav.com Performance Electronics +1 513 777 5233 www.pe-ltd.com PI Innovo +1 734 656 0140 www.pi-innovo.com Examples of ECU manufacturers and suppliers