Unmanned Systems Technology 019 | Navya Autonom Cab | Batteries | UGVs Insight | UAV Factory UAV28-EFI | Swiss Aerobotics Hummel | UMEX 2018 report | Antennas | Oceanology International 2018 report

15 Platform one Unmanned Systems Technology | April/May 2018 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 UAV technology developer A-TechSyn has flown its autonomous hybrid VTOL craft in Ireland for the first time (writes Bianca Villiers). The fixed-wing CGT45-SLT has a maximum take-off weight of 50 kg, which includes a 4 kg payload. A 70 cc petrol engine provides a 6 hour flight time in horizontal flight, while four electric motors provide the vertical take-off and landing. It has a 4.5 m wingspan and measures 3 m in length. It also made local history, being the largest UAV flown in Ireland to date. This was the first time the Irish Aviation Authority has given a company permission to fly a VTOL UAV over 25 kg. The test flight took place in winds gusting to over 14 knots during take- off. After take-off, the craft performed a fully autonomous fixed-wing flight at an altitude under 500 ft (300 m) that was programmed in advance, and landed vertically just a metre away from the defined landing point. The accuracy comes from the PilotUS autopilot technology and the stability from the AvionicsMini flight controller designed by A-TechSyn. “After finalising our flight controller hardware and software, we focused on a 40-60 kg craft and VTOL as the segment we would be working on,” said the company’s Gokhan Celik. “Since then we decided not to be involved in any other projects and to focus on this task alone. That gave us expertise in this area to overcome a lot of technical difficulties in a very short time. “There are technical issues with using electric motors and petrol engines at the same time, such as addressing the vibration issues, transitioning from hover mode to fixed wing and vice versa, implementing new flight routines during take-off and landing to resist wind and so on,” he said. “I believe that owning the software and hardware of the flight controller has been the main factor in overcoming these difficulties.” For the demonstration, the CGT45- SLT had a 45 kg take-off weight, a 50 km data link, a 20 km video link, and an ADS-B transponder. Irish UAV record Airborne vehicles The CGT45-SLT is the largest UAV so far to fly in Ireland