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60 the vehicle’s diameter was increased to 76.2 cm. That also provided more cooling through the centre of the fuselage from the counter-rotating propellers in the duct.” The outer propellers are 70 cm in diameter and produce 18 kg of thrust each. The overall thrust produced is about 171 kg in normal operation, enabling missions such as 41 kg of cargo being carried for one hour, or flying with a 9 kg gimbal for nine hours. The new Hummingbird also integrates an SP-180 Wankel rotary hybrid engine from Sky Power (as detailed in UST 25, April/May 2019) to provide gas or multi- fuel propulsion from the central duct and electric power to the eight electric motors. “That engine provides us with 13 kW at our 48 V supply. Achieving that kind of power density has been the main barrier to the successful development of a UAV like ours,” Bishop added. uAvionix exhibited a number of new products for unmanned aviation safety and airspace integration, including its new 70 g SkyLink command and payload control (CNPC) data link solution, which the company hopes to have certified in the near future. “One of the requirements we see for BVLOS development is a TSO-certified command-and-control link,” said Ryan Reed. “We are currently certifying our truFYX GPS and Ping200X Mode-S transponder, so we are building on our certification experience and bringing that to the SkyLink. It is designed to be used in enterprise UAVs, leveraging its 10 W transmitter to achieve a range of 75 nautical miles line of sight.” One aspect of certification includes environmental testing and performance. To that end, SkyLink has been designed to operate in temperatures from -45 to 70 C, and is being tested to the DO- 160G standard for salt, fog and humidity resistance. “On the software and hardware development side, you have to meet design assurance levels. To achieve that, DO-178C Level C software and DO- 254 Level C development and testing processes are applied, and any change goes through a robust review process,” Reed explained. The company also displayed its new MicroLink 2 x 2 MIMO data link radio, which transmits at a 200 kHz bandwidth over the 902-928 MHz ISM band. It weighs 16 g, measures 31 x 26 x 9 mm and consumes a maximum of 1.7 W. Lemo has launched a new line of lightweight plastic circular connectors as part of its SP series. “These use a patented push-pull system derived from a solution originally developed for, and used in, the medical market,” said Julie Carlson. “As more small UAVs are being developed, manufacturers are increasingly demanding connectors that are plastic but also watertight, so the SP series is designed to block the ingress of water.” Lemo has tested the new models to meet IP68 ingress protection for withstanding submersion in up to 1.5 m of water, as well as dust, sand and dirt. The specifications for the connectors will be released later this year. UAV Factory has developed a version of its Penguin C aircraft, the Penguin C-Mil, for an undisclosed US Department of Defense (DoD) customer, which has been approved for supply by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). “The biggest requirements for getting DLA approval were a higher level of encryption for the command-and-control link, and including a magnetometer for acting in GNSS-denied environments,” said Josh Brungardt. “These were critical functions to minimise the risk of the DoD customer losing the asset during field operations, or keeping a rough idea of where it is if a retrieval mission is needed.” Some electronics upgrades and internal modifications for higher heat tolerances were also performed over the six-month development period, in line June/July 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology The SkyLink command and payload control unit from uAvionix weighs 70 g UAV Factory has developed a military version of its Penguin C