Unmanned Systems Technology 027 l Hummingbird XRP l Gimbals l UAVs insight l AUVSI report part 2 l O’Neill Power Systems NorEaster l Kratos Defense ATMA l Performance Monitoring l Kongsberg Maritime Sounder

25 W ith eight rotors on outriggers around a vertical ducted fan, the Hummingbird XRP is a distinctive- looking UAV developed by Reference Technologies in Lafayette, Colorado. The 225 lb multi-copter has a hybrid combustion-electric power plant, a claimed mission radius of 150 miles with 30 lb of payload, plenty of spare electrical power to run mission equipment, and 400 lb of thrust. Eight hard points support sensors or cargo, and the vehicle is offered at a price of around $400,000 for surveillance, mapping, payload delivery and more. Company founder Allen Bishop hopes it will become the UAV equivalent of the Ford F-150 pick-up, a popular and powerful general-purpose truck. The story began in 2011, when Bishop saw a gap in the market for a VTOL UAV that would fit into Group 3 of the US Department of Defense’s five-group taxonomy, in which higher numbers indicate larger aircraft. Group 3 covers vehicles of between 55 and 1320 lb take- off weight, nominal operating altitudes below 18,000 ft and speeds below about 250 knots. Most are priced at around $1 million, he notes. He says he felt that in terms of price, performance and complexity, Group 3 vehicles represented a sweet spot in the margin between the commercial and military sectors. “I didn’t want to be limited by offering either only military or only commercial products,” he says. “There were also too many battery- powered systems on the market. “Even now, I don’t know many multi- rotor systems that can offer more than an hour of flight time on batteries with a substantial payload, as in a large camera or multiple sensors.” After incorporating Reference Technologies in 2011, he spent about 18 months researching power sources, and soon decided that only a hybrid power system would meet his needs, which were at least 7 and preferably more than 10 kW of 48 V DC power for the propulsion system, the utilities and the mission equipment. “We went through a period in which everybody said they could meet those needs, but nobody actually Hummingbird XRP | Dossier Development of this UAV provides an object lesson in how to cater for an extensive range of applications. Peter Donaldson reports Utility player