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81 Tkachenko. “It uses eight lifting rotors in combination with a thrusting motor, and its fixed wing gives it great take-off and landing characteristics and horizontal speed.” The electric UAV is powered by Li- Po batteries, and has the endurance to spray 33 lb of chemicals, distributed by rotor atomisers connected through the rear-wing extension booms. The spraying system allows precise control of the volume of chemicals as well as the size of the droplet. Kobasei, Yusuke Maruyama explained, is the manufacturer of the BT-86 twin-cylinder, 85.9 cc air-cooled two-stroke UAV boxer engine. Gasoline premix-fuelled through a Walbro carburettor, it produces 4.1 kW at 9000 rpm for a dry weight of 2.95 kg. Maruyama said the UAV model B-3 equipped with this engine has been operated without accident for seven years. At Xponential he had a new version, ‘Drone Engine Prototype’, designed to operate as a power source in a multi- rotor UAV. That has an overhead cooling fan to allow it to be underslung on the central vertical axis of such a vehicle. Embention has launched a series of updates for its Veronte autopilots. One of these includes programming-in compatibility between the autopilots and sensors for non-collaborative obstacle avoidance, or a collaborative approach by integrating with ADS-B Out and other UTM technologies. Also, a second GNSS module has been integrated to allow attitude estimation without using a magnetometer. “We have also improved our Veronte Cloud servers to enable remote monitoring and telemetry reception when communicating with the autopilot beyond line of sight,” said David Benavente. “And you can operate your UAV powered by a Veronte autopilot from your PC at home, over an internet connection. “Previously, Veronte Cloud could handle only a few connections; now it’s scalable so we can have thousands of users concurrently.” We profiled Austro Engine’s AE50R in UST 3 (June 2015), this being a single- rotor engine that has its roots in the Norton motorcycle company’s Wankel engines of the 1970s. At Xponential, Mario Spiegel unveiled a twin-rotor derivative, the 588 cc AE110R, capable of producing 110 bhp take-off power and 95 bhp continuous (at 7100 rpm) for a weight of 47 kg. While drawing heavily on the well- proven AE50R, the AE110R features a patented new solution for the accessory drive. “The water and oil pumps are on the same shaft, which is belt driven from the eccentric shaft,” Spiegel explained. “Also belt driven from the shaft are a 2 kW generator and a larger fan, from which cooling air for both rotors is ducted.” Spiegel added that the AE110R is run by an ECU that was purpose-designed from a clean sheet of paper by Austro Engine. “It integrates the throttle servo control for full closed-loop operation.” He also claimed that it is more compact and about 25 kg lighter than the nearest piston-engined rival in its power class. He added that its development has been funded by a customer, which means its use in the helicopter field is exclusive to them for a given period. Other uses are unrestricted. XCraft debuted its x2 Pro UAV, a tail-sitter hybrid VTOL that can fly for 50 minutes and reach speeds of 60- plus mph while carrying a variety of payloads including EO, multi-spectral and IR sensors. Unmanned Systems Technology | June/July 2018 AUVSI Xponential 2018 | Show report The Kray Protection crop duster, for large-scale agriculture Embention has given its Veronte autopilots a series of updates