Unmanned Systems Technology 017 | AAC HAMR UAV | Autopilots | Airborne surveillance | Primoco 500 two-stroke | Faro ScanBot UGV | Transponders | Intergeo, CUAV Expo and CUAV Show reports

3 December/January 2018 | Contents Unmanned Systems Technology | December/January 2018 04 Intro Driverless vehicles are proving safe and reliable, meaning they could be on our roads sooner than you think 06 Platform one: Mission-critical info Navya sets debut for autonomous taxis on public roads, Rolls- Royce looks to add autonomy to ROVs, Olaeris to offer multiple bonded comms with its VTOL UAV, and more 18 In conversation: Julian Hasinski Philosophy plays a key part in the Raytheon UK technical director’s approach to engineering, which he explains here 22 Dossier: AAC HAMR UAV The development story behind this hybrid multicopter, which has been designed to pave the way for a more advanced system 36 Focus: Autopilots How the growing autonomy of unmanned systems, and changes to UAV regulations, will influence autopilot development 48 Insight: Airborne surveillance It’s not all about military innovations in this sector – the commercial realm is making strides too 56 Dossier: Primoco 500 two-stroke Looking to build a UAV power plant designed to be fully integrated with the rest of the craft? Here’s an object lesson in doing exactly that 68 Digest: Faro ScanBot UGV Details of this scanning platform and its novel scissor lift, which has been built to automatically create detailed 3D models of the inside and outside of large buildings 72 Focus: Transponders The engineering and regulatory issues surrounding transponder systems, which are essential if UAVs are to be able to operate in busy airspaces 82 Show reports: Intergeo, CUAV Expo and CUAV Show Our round-up of some notable announcements from these shows in Europe and the USA 98 PS: Searching for submarines The tragic loss of the Argentine Navy’s San Juan submarine in November 2017 in the South Atlantic illustrates just how much underwater search-and-rescue systems still have to develop 48 72 56 06 22