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

62 a UAV carrying a 6 kg payload we can generally charge that level of battery fully in six minutes.” It uses resonant magnetic phase synchronous coupling to send power wirelessly to the receiving antenna on the UAV, with a normal operating transmission efficiency of 80%. Much of that efficiency comes from a proprietary tuning system for the data channel between the ground station and onboard receiver, which autonomously measures and matches the resonant frequencies between the two. “We chose components to ensure a high quality of resonant magnetic coupling systems,” Plekhanov added. “For example, our receiver antennas are made with a special kind of aluminium copper-clad litz wire, to avoid the proximity and skin effects often associated with solid wire that can lead to current losses, and to decrease the weight of the antennas.” As well as enabling smoother, more seamless charging for UAVs, the company sees the charging stations as allowing persistent survey and inspection capabilities for companies needing constant surveillance of critical industrial assets such as petrochemical pipelines or power stations. A UAV can fly along lengths of infrastructure with charging stations installed wherever the UAV needs to remain in one place to fully charge its battery while conducting a spot-inspection. Austro Engine has finalised the design of its AE110R twin rotary engine, following the first public unveiling of the engine concept at AUVSI 2018. “We’ve shipped the first prototype engines to customers for initial testing, and in parallel we’re just finishing a few tasks on the ECU and related hardware components, but the engine is essentially ready for use,” said Mario Spiegel. “ECU software is different from airframe to airframe, so we need to know the specific requirements from a customer. In this case it has to be fine- tuned to the customer’s mission profile, especially when it comes to such areas as injection quantities and timing, and idle speed revs.” The 47 kg engine produces up to 110 hp and has an integrated 2 kW alternator. The company has also designed the engine with an expected TBO of 500 hours. Spiegel said achieving this high TBO came largely from the company’s experiences with the AE50R rotary engine (featured in UST 03, Summer 2015), which naturally shares several mechanical and operational principles with the AE110R. “The AE110R can also be used as an auxiliary power unit (APU) to maintain the operation of basic systems in armoured vehicles such as air conditioning or mission-critical systems. If used as an APU, the TBO of the AE110R will be much higher than 500 hours, owing to the differing constant load characteristics in this application. “We have also conducted bench testing in harsh environments and high- load profiles, to better guarantee that the expected 500-hour TBO translates through into practical field-work.” “In addition we’ve worked to develop a CAN interface for the ECU to simplify integration down to a single point of electronic comms between the flight controller and the engine, with a throttle servo installed on the engine that is actuated by the ECU, so there’s no mechanical control input required from the engine.” Moog displayed some of its newest servo actuators, which are designed for 28 V DC power applications needing August/September 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology Austro Engine’s finalised AE110R The Moog 863 rotary actuator