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78 The 1200h weighs about 4 kg in total, and produces 1200-1300 W standalone net power, or 2000 W when hybridised. Both systems consume hydrogen gas at a maximum rate of 63 g/kWh, and communicate via RS-232. T-Rex Tracking was on hand to discuss its tracking antenna system technology, which is intended for integration into high-endurance military and commercial UAVs for increasing range and streaming high-bandwidth telemetry, including HD video, in real time. Michael Faherty told us, “We can integrate any antenna onto our tracking system, with our special clamping mechanisms that can align it within 0.01 º of accuracy. For tracking a UAV, we simply input the GPS coordinates and our auto-tracking system – which carries multiple large, high-gain directional antennas – points at the UAV with high precision and at high speed. “Our slew rate is more than 180 º /s, so we can maintain that connection from take-off through a given flight.” Rather than compressing multiple bandwidths through a single antenna dish and radio, which significantly reduces range and bandwidth capability, T-Rex’s system can carry up to four high-gain directional antennas and four radios. That allows separation of key capabilities such as using one antenna and radio for live HD video, another for command and control, and separate ones for multiple sensors, depending on mission requirements. “We are currently helping to support US Navy Special Operations by integrating our system with Navmar’s TigerShark UAV,” Faherty said. “The problem is that high-endurance UAV tracking and telemetry options are either prohibitively expensive satellite systems or legacy antenna tracking systems, but our tracking system can interface with any UAV in a plug-and-play capacity, and stream HD video and other high-bandwidth telemetry in real time over 50 nautical miles.” Phase One Industrial unveiled its new iXM-100 camera, designed specifically for use on UAVs. The system comes in 50 and 100 MP variants, with 35, 80 and 150 mm lenses. “The 35 mm lens covers large areas for mapping – when you fly to 400 ft altitude, you can still capture 1.3 cm-level of detail,” said Ryan Boswell. “Efficiency of image capture was the key driver: 15 acres can be captured with centimetre- level resolution in four minutes.” The 80 and 150 mm lenses come with built-in motorised focus, enabling focus changes in flight for applications such as industrial inspection or wildlife monitoring. In addition to designing each component in-house for SWaP optimisation and efficiency, the company produced a new back-illuminated sensor. Boswell said, “This flips the photocathode detector upside down during manufacture, meaning there is less interference in front of it, and we’re able to reduce the pixel size while maintaining the amount of light and dynamic range of the previous sensor.” Luminell unveiled the completed version of its DL-A UAV illuminator payload for night-time operations in search and rescue, inspection, security or entertainment. The system produces up to 1800 lumens from a 20 W LED while weighing 100 g. “The casing is made from cast and powdered magnesium, to achieve the lowest weight possible,” said Vegard Humlen. “We tried it at first with aluminium during development, but it was too heavy. Switching to magnesium took off 30 g.” It can run on supplies from 7 to 36 V, and from an 800 mA battery the light can run for up to an hour on its brightest setting. “You can activate the LED and modify its strength from your GCS by using the October/November 2018 | Unmanned Systems Technology Phase One’s new iXM-100 camera and lenses designed specifically for UAVs The tracking antenna system from T-Rex Tracking integrates any antenna