Unmanned Systems Technology 023 I Milrem Multiscope I Wireless charging I Logistics insight I InterGeo, CUAV London & USA show reports I VideoRay Defender I OS Engines GR400U-FI I Ultrabeam Hydrographic Ultra-2 I IMUs

51 Kadura. “With our UAV, we can set up a network of ‘droneports’ that will swap the batteries to keep the Wingcopters flying and delivering medical supplies across difficult terrain. “The Tanzanian coast of Lake Victoria has a population of more than 15 million, and we have tested our solution for delivering medicines to them from a warehouse in Mwanza before taking back lab samples for analysis at the hospital there, to identify cases of tuberculosis, malaria and other endemic diseases in the area,” Kadura said. Also on display at the company’s booth was its newest version of the Wingcopter 178 Heavy Lift UAS, which can carry up to 6 kg across 45 km distances or 2 kg payloads for up to 100 km. With an MTOW of 16 kg and 13 litres of storage volume, end-users can mix the weight usage between payloads and extra battery packs depending on the mission distance and package. Riegl launched a number of new laser scanner systems at the show. The smallest system, the VUX-240, is intended for UAVs capable of carrying payloads of up to 3.8 kg (or up to 4.5 kg with an integrated Applanix APX-20 UAV GNSS IMU). It is also aimed at enabling Lidar survey capabilities at altitudes of up to 1.4 km. “The key to enabling these higher operating altitudes was almost doubling the pulse repetition rate, up to 1.8 MHz with a 75° FOV,” said Philipp Amon. “That means you get around 1.5 million measurements per second, allowing missions to be carried out at faster speeds than with our previous VUX systems and still construct 3D maps of equivalent quality. “Flying higher also means covering a wider area while still staying within line of sight.” Also among the systems unveiled was the VQ-480 II, a 10.6 kg (or 11 kg with integrated GNSS IMU) Lidar rated for operation up to 1.85 km with a pulse repetition rate of 2 MHz and a 75° FOV. The system also carries an SSD with 1 Tbyte of storage space (compared with the more lightweight VUX-240’s 240 Gbytes of internal storage). Oxford Technical Solutions showcased its xNAV550, the company’s lightest INS. “It uses the same navigation engine that runs in our flagship INS systems, just shrunken down into a 420 g module,” Paris Austin said. “It has onboard data logging, and you can log camera event inputs to trigger camera shutters in following missions. We’ve integrated it with Lidar sensors and photogrammetry cameras to synchronise data accurately.” The xNAV550 also integrates the company’s gx/ix tight-coupling algorithms, which compensate in GNSS-hindered environments by using single-satellite aiding and inertial re-lock technology. This ensures that at least one satellite’s signal is continuously being tracked, which is key to reducing the susceptibility to drift or ‘jumps’ in position owing to sporadic GNSS updates, and also prevents IMU drift over time. Voxelgrid attended the show to demonstrate its scanning sensors and software, which are designed to be mounted on backpacks or UAVs for measuring walls, windows and other features on buildings. “We carried out a lot of programming to improve the speed and automation of point-cloud processing,” said Christian Wetzel. “We were the first to combine recognition systems for building materials, so we can detect the make-up of building facades from the outside with RBG cameras, Lidar and hyperspectral sensors. “After taking the cameras from a Cessna survey aircraft, we InterGeo 2018 | Show report Unmanned Systems Technology | December/January 2019 The VUX-240 laser scanner from Riegl Oxford Technical Solutions’ xNAV550 is the company’s lightest INS Wingcopter and DHL are looking at VTOL-transition systems for logistics