Unmanned Systems Technology 028 | ecoSUB Robotics AUVs I ECUs focus I Space vehicles insight I AMZ Driverless gotthard I InterDrone 2019 report I ATI WAM 167-BB I Video systems focus I Aerdron HL4 Herculift

63 The company’s newest and largest electric motor is the F200, so named for the 200 kgf of thrust it can provide at maximum output. The motor originated from one of the company’s PhD projects, and is designed with a dual radial rotor configuration. The stator features two circumferences of copper windings (one facing inwards, the other outwards), enabling the integration of one permanent magnet rotor inside the stator and a second, external rotor surrounding the stator. That makes the product suitable for coaxial lift motors in heavy-lift UAVs, as it has better power-to-size and torque-to- size ratios than using two electric motors on each multi-copter arm. The company also uses silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs in its motor controllers, the aim being to provide high power- to-weight ratios for meeting UAV design requirements. “Usually the pole count in UAV motors is quite high, which can mean drive frequencies as high as 1.5 kHz. Combined with regular silicon MOSFETs or high-voltage IGBTs, this makes overall efficiency fairly low,” Wang said. “SiC MOSFETs greatly reduce switching losses and give far better thermal performance, meaning much less current loss from heat.” Geodetics Incorporated, a San Diego-based provider of custom geo- referencing hardware integrations for UAS manufacturers and operators, told us at the show that it has added three new sensors to its portfolio of Lidar options that it can install on UAVs and ground vehicles providing geo- referencing, colourisation, and other post- processing solutions. “We can now install and work with the Velodyne Puck 32MR, Quanergy M8 and Teledyne Optech CL-90,” said Shahram Moafipoor. “While a sensor distributor would mainly just focus on how to mount new hardware, when we received these new Lidars we focused on developing algorithms in order to take their raw data and process them to output actionable information for end-users. That includes generating .LAS files or combining it with data from our GNSS-IMU solutions to geo-tag and time-stamp points of interest, or colourise them for better visual analysis.” The Puck 32MR has a range of 120 m with two returns per pulse, the M8 has a range of 150 m and a maximum of three returns per pulse, and the CL-90 has maximum range options for up to 176 m when operating at 500 kWh or to 633 m when operating at 50 kHz, and detects up to four returns per pulse. Luminell was exhibiting its redesigned LED illuminator UAV payloads with integrated batteries. The upgrade was requested by end-users who want to avoid having to find space on a UAV airframe for mounting the illuminator’s battery while still maintaining the centre of gravity. “We designed a bracket on the backs of our different illuminators to hold the user’s choice of battery in place, with an elastic strap that snaps on and keeps it tightly there,” said Vegard Humlen. “We save the end-user time and engineering work by making the battery integration for our systems much simpler than before. The centre of gravity on the illuminators is the same as before as well; we just kept the battery bracket in the middle for simplicity. “Luckily, the previous illuminator designs all had enough unused mounting holes on the PCB in order to fasten the bracket on, making it a one- day job.” The company has also developed a new remote control for the illuminator, which contains a 2.4 GHz transmitter to send commands to the illuminator’s receiver independently of the flight controller, and which can be pre- programmed with different settings for strobing and brightness. It is designed to be held in one hand, and to date the prototype has been tested to a range of 608 m range for VLOS operations. The device is based on the same control PCB as on the company’s illuminators, with an additional break-out board on top that provides a physical interface and mounting space for the brightness dial, buttons and charging port on the remote control. Unmanned Systems Technology | October/November 2019 Nottingham Electrification Centre’s F200 UAV electric motor Geodetics has added new Lidar sensors to its portfolio to provide post-processsing for UAVs