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94 Show report | Commercial UAV Expo 2018 The APX-20 uses the company’s IMU- 82, which features an accelerometer with a ±10 g dynamic range and a gyroscope with a ±490 dps dynamic range. By contrast, the figures for the APX-15 El’s IMU-69 are ±6 g and ±350 dps. All three integrate the Maxwell 7 processor from Trimble, which is designed to track GPS L1, L2 and L5 as well as GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS and Galileo across its 336 channels. GPS Networking was showing a range of products including its newest 1X2 GPS antenna splitter that is currently used in various manned military vehicles but is also SWaP-optimised for UAV applications. Ryan Waite told us, “This 1X2 passive splitter means that if you have a high- end antenna such as a military-grade system with excessive filtering and burn- out protection, you can link it down to our relatively inexpensive splitter. You can then split that signal and send it to multiple sub-receivers that require the GPS signal, such as in payloads or flight recorders, to reduce a UAV’s number and cost of antennas.” The ‘passive’ quality of the splitter also means it can be inverted for use as a combiner, to link two antennas to a single GNSS receiver input to enable antenna redundancy as well as heading calculations for multi-rotor and helicopter UASs. As Waite noted, a UAV manufacturer could use this technique to avoid the expense of a GNSS receiver designed for dual-antenna input. Mothership Aeronautics was discussing its solar-powered, helium-filled unmanned airships, which are designed for low-altitude long-endurance missions. “We use silicon solar cells, and we designed our own panel with lightweight aerospace materials,” said Jonathan Nutzati. “Our first prototype Scout airship was based on a 700 W eBlimp airship, and we installed 400 W of solar panels for a solar ‘infinity cruise’, in which more power is generated than consumed.” The Scout is 7 m long and is designed to carry 5 kg of payload. It was tested over a 90 minute flight at 19 kph, with 90 minutes of battery flight time installed. After the flight, the battery voltage readings indicated that 99% charge remained. “By December, we will have tested a larger, 12 m autonomous airship model with 1 kW of solar panels installed. That version is designed for persistent border surveillance, pipeline inspections and general security,” Nutzati said. NorthWest Rapid Manufacturing showcased its capabilities in manufacturing complex engine components at lower cost and higher speed than typical methods. As Ken Christensen explained, “Our speciality lies in selective laser sintering [SLS]. We work with powdered plastics, Nylon-12, Nylon-11, different fill options such as carbon fibre, glass beads, mineral fibre or aluminium. “We also offer hybrid materials designed for the UAV market – hollow glass beads with carbon fibre fill, which makes a positive-buoyancy part when printed so that it floats in water.” Additive manufacturing techniques such as SLS have typically been used only for prototyping UAV components, particularly for rapid turnaround of complex, specific aerodynamic or mechanical designs such as cowlings or mounting systems. However, the company uses SLS for full production of otherwise labour-intensive components in military UAS engines, such as shrouds for airflow or pucks for mounting engine electronics. “Such parts can be printed with regular Nylon-12 to withstand loads up to 25 g of force. That was a requirement for an electronics puck designed for a customer with a military-approved, single-cylinder 44 cc UAV engine with 3.2-4.1 hp output,” Christensen said. “We also 3D-print lost patterns in polystyrene for casting, and because we can create the patterns with the gating and sprue already in place, it eliminates the potential for inconsistencies.” YellowScan presented three turnkey Lidar solutions for surveyors, researchers and civil engineers working with UAVs. The lightest of the three, the YellowScan Surveyor, integrates the VLP- 16 laser sensor from Velodyne and the APX-15 GNSS-IMU from Applanix. “It also integrates its own battery so it doesn’t need to draw power from the UAV,” said Morgane Selve. “It weighs 1.6 kg, while the next model up, the Surveyor Ultra, weighs 1.7 kg and is meant for heavier-duty, VTOL- December/January 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology GPS Networking’s antenna splitter The Scout unmanned and solar-powered airship from Mothership Aeronautics