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18 In conversation | Jennifer D Andrews While the technology moves faster than the regulations, she believes that there are still engineering tasks to be carried out to make sure the technology is ready to meet the evolving regulations. That is particularly so in the areas of testing and validation of equipment for reliability and durability, which is naturally an important aspect of SIO. Bell is one of three companies working on the programme, which began in 2018, the others being General Atomics Aeronautical Systems with the MQ-9B Sky Guardian, and PAE ISR with the Resolute Eagle. SIO’s main aim is to lay the groundwork that will enable the FAA to set standards for the certification of C2 and DAA systems. As lead for the SIO effort at Bell, much of Andrews’ time and effort goes into facilitating conversations and interactions with NASA and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in addition to scheduling, budgeting and working with the team to ensure key APT-70 milestones are reached on time. The core of Andrews’ SIO team consists of 10 people, who are also developing the vehicle. Bi-wing tail-sitter An APT-70 in cruising flight can be envisaged as two, twin-engined fixed- wing monoplanes, one above the other, joined by a cargo pod positioned between them. As a tail-sitter, it takes off and lands vertically, and transitions through 90 º to move into and out of cruising flight, achieving the transition autonomously and incorporating a number of fail-safes. One of the missions envisioned for the APT-70, as an air logistics platform, is focused on delivering human blood and organs for transfusion and transplant in congested urban environments. Simulating such missions is a key part of the SIO programme. “We’ve looked at the Dallas Fort Worth ‘metroplex’ and talked to the transplant organisations as well as the blood centres to understand their needs. Once a donor becomes available, the clock starts,” she says. “Every minute is critical, and in a metroplex with heavy traffic, what might take 15 minutes on one day could take 30 minutes to an hour on another, owing to heavy congestion for example or if there’s been a road accident.” The goal with the APT-70 is to show that it can get over the traffic, fly from A to B and deliver that potentially life-saving cargo in a consistent and routine fashion, thereby eliminating the variation in journey times that is inescapable with traditional ground transportation, Andrews says. The Bell team has demonstrated autonomous flight with the APT-70, having done much of the development work on the smaller APT-20, a version operated April/May 2020 | Unmanned Systems Technology Soon after university, Andrews joined Lockheed Martin for three years, and among the tasks she undertook was some detailed structural design work on the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter The APT-70 pictured with the smaller APT-20, on which the flight control algorithm development work was carried out