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

3 August/September 2019 | Contents Unmanned Systems Technology | August/September 2019 04 Intro Producing unmanned systems capable of taking on a widening range of applications heralds a new set of engineering issues 06 Platform one: Mission-critical info Machine learning crops up in vegetable-picking robot, data routing algorithm aims to keep UAV swarms in the air for longer, hydrogen fuel cell for larger UAVs unveiled, object tracking system gives images unique IDs, and much more 20 In conversation: Nick Colosimo What’s on the horizon for UAVs? We get some thoughts on that from this futurist at BAE Systems 24 Dossier: Hummingbird XRP The design ethos behind this multi-copter is for it to be the UAV equivalent of a general-purpose pick-up truck. This is the story behind its development 36 Focus: Gimbals Growing demand for intelligent object recognition is bringing advances in gimbal systems to the fore. We explain how new technologies are promoting those advances 46 Insight: UAVs UAV manufacturers are trialling new capabilities using emerging technologies to enhance the safety and endurance, and reduce the operator burden, of their craft 54 Show report: AUVSI Xponential 2019 The second of our two-part report from the world’s pre-eminent exhibition for unmanned technologies 64 Dossier: O’Neill Power Systems NorEaster Details of this cam-based radial engine with counter-rotating propellers, which has been designed to solve the complexity and maintenance issues of traditional helicopter transmission systems 74 In operation: Kratos Defense ATMA We look at how this autonomous impact protection vehicle provides a safe working environment for road repair and maintenance crews 82 Focus: Performance monitoring Autonomy is exerting a growing influence over how the performance of unmanned systems is monitored. That is changing system architectures in ways that developers need to be aware of and understand 90 Digest: Kongsberg Maritime Sounder We report on how this all-new USV has been designed to provide long-endurance hydrographic surveys 98 PS: Robots from found objects Robots built from tree branches and using reinforcement learning to teach them to walk? The idea could have legs 36 90 06 20 46