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

93 and that need high thermal tolerances, such as exhausts or housings for sensors, radomes or other parts emitting appreciable heat. Alvant’s aluminium metal composites can operate at up to 300 C with minimal degradation in mechanical performance and low coefficients of thermal expansion. Streetdrone attended the show with its Twizy research vehicle, which is aimed at building and providing an open data layer for autonomous road vehicle development architectures across areas such as AI, navigation autonomy and fleet management. “This is our first vehicle, and is our way of getting our tech out into the world,” said Joseph Smith. The four-wheeled, single- seat Twizy was co-developed with Renault. “In the long term, we see ourselves providing a service for the self-driving automotive market similar to that provided by Android for smartphones – connecting vehicles and applications using a baseline of open software development.” The vehicle, and its Streetdrone XenOS connectivity platform (which is installed on all Streetdrone vehicles), feature an open interface for the end- user to control throttle, braking and steering. It also enables more flexibility and simplicity than conventional ‘ground-up’ approaches for researchers and start-ups for developing, training and swapping algorithm ‘stacks’ for intelligent autonomous driving, which can then be tested and validated in a real-world context. The Streetdrone Twizy integrates a Velodyne VLP-16 Puck sensor, eight cameras, ultrasonic and radar sensors and a GPS/IMU navigation system, as well as several actuators to enable power steering and power braking (which the original Renault Twizy did not have). The battery-powered vehicle has a range of about 64 km after charging to full capacity over four hours, at a top speed of 80 kph, which the company deems to be the optimal capabilities for test operations in cities and proving grounds. “For safety, the driver can take over in seven different ways if they don’t like something the AI is trying to do, including turning the wheel and hitting the brake, using a variety of buttons to revert to manual control,” Smith noted. “We’ve also altered the bodywork to enable open integration of different Lidars, radars and other sensors, because different application developers select very different sensors and suppliers to suit their requirements. “On eight of the 10 vehicles we’ve shipped so far, we’ve seen different groups collaborating with open-source self-driving software. People don’t want to re-invent the different parts, so if you’re a vision expert for example you don’t have to build the rest of the stack from scratch,” he added. Pyromeral exhibited its PyroSic thermo-structural composite, which is made from silicon carbide fibres and glass-ceramic matrices. It is intended for manufacturing components that face direct exposure to fire or high heat. “With our mineral resins, we can produce mineral prepregs and manufacture components with them that can withstand temperatures of 800-1000 C,” said Guillaume Jandin. “These can be exhaust system components for large UAVs. “PyroSic also weighs about 1.9 g/cm 3 , compared with steel, Inconel or titanium alloys, which can measure between Advanced Engineering | Show report Unmanned Systems Technology | February/March 2019 Alvant’s CorXal material combines high strength with low density The Streetdrone Twizy aims to provide an open data layer for driverless cars