Unmanned Systems Technology 024 | Wingcopter 178 l 5G focus l UUVs insight l CES report l Stromkind KAT l Intelligent Energy fuel cell l Earthsense TerraSentia l Connectors focus l Advanced Engineering report

58 S trapping a movie camera onto a remote-controlled jet ski might not seem like a sensible thing to do, but it has led to a scalable USV platform with a new propulsion system that opens up a wide range of applications at sea and on rivers. “We started the project when we made a jet ski/camera platform for a US film production company,” says Andreas Desch, managing director of the USV’s developer, Stromkind. This platform suffered from stability and engine problems, but simply developing an electric version didn’t work, so the team looked to develop a new propulsion system with a modular structure that could be modified for various applications. “We have no prejudice as to what is good or not good, we just try it out and take our experience to the next stage. It’s not about the money, the business case or the market – they’re not so important for us – it’s about what we can do as engineers,” says Desch. One of the biggest issues arose in relation to applications such as collecting floating waste, where the risk of a Nick Flaherty reports on the development of this scalable unmanned catamaran platform, whose key innovation is jet-thrust propulsion Thrust of the matter February/March 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology Jet skis were the design inspiration behind the body shape of the KAT USVs