Unmanned Systems Technology 020 | Alpha 800 I Additive Manufacturing focus I USVs insight I Pegasus GE70 I GuardBot I AUVSI Xponential 2018 show report I Solar Power focus I CUAV Expo Europe 2018 show report

94 F ollowing on from the first Commercial UAV Expo Europe, in Brussels in June 2017, this year’s event found itself with a change of season and location. Now taking place in Amsterdam, in April, the 2018 iteration of the expo drew visitors from 43 countries to investigate the newest unmanned technical innovations from around the world. MicroPilot has added support for VTOL-transition UAVs to its autopilots, as it responds to the growth in developments of VTOL transition-capable fixed-wing unmanned systems. Three key parts comprise the new service, which have been developed in parallel over the past year. The company’s Horizon ground station software now has a built-in VTOL simulator to accelerate the maturation of new VTOL-capable fixed-wing UAVs, and to train operators in flying such vehicles. Similar support has been added to MicroPilot’s trueHWIL simulator. Designers can also differentiate their VTOL UAV’s features and capabilities, using MicroPilot’s Xtender software development kit to add their own code alongside MicroPilot’s programming. “A lot of the work revolved around ensuring that when fixed-wing and rotary unmanned systems migrate to this version of code that also supports VTOL-transitioning vehicles, the settings and protocols are updated and moved in a way that is seamless to them,” said Howard Loewen. “That backwards compatibility was the main challenge. We’ve always flown fixed-wing and multi-copter aircraft, so we have some settings and feedback loops that were shared between the two. “Those loops were then re-used and integrated together to help develop the necessary capabilities for simulating the flight profile of what is essentially a hovering vehicle and a fixed-wing vehicle at the same time.” Other minor challenges centred on Rory Jackson presents highlights of this year’s Commercial UAV Expo Europe show, which took place in Amsterdam Dutch cousins June/July 2018 | Unmanned Systems Technology Visitors to the expo get a detailed introduction to the capabilities of the latest unmanned systems (Courtesy of Divcom)