USE Network launch I UAV Works VALAQ l Cable harnesses l USVs insight l Xponential 2020 update l MARIN AUV l Suter Industries TOA 288 l Vitirover l AI systems l Vtrus ABI

35 UAV Works VALAQ family | Dossier self-governing region in the north-west of Spain. With support from major industrial companies Indra and Babcock, BFAero fosters the creation and development of innovative companies in the Galician aeronautics and unmanned vehicles industry. To date, around e 650,000 has been invested in the VALAQ programme. Gauging the market Osset stresses that it is very difficult to measure an emerging market, as reliable market indicators are hard to come by. However, UAV Works did some calculations based on sources of information about public tenders around the world, judging these sources to be reliable because they use quantitative data on governmental and public-sector demand. Over the first half of 2019, the estimated value of worldwide public tenders for UAV systems, components and specific services related to UAV operations was estimated at $478 million, or nearly $1 bn annually. It is harder to get accurate data on private-sector demand, Osset adds, but says it is estimated that it equals or even exceeds public demand for UAVs costing $6000 or more. He emphasises that the absolute size of the market is less interesting from UAV Works’ point of view than how fast it is growing and how many new applications are emerging – ideas that the company is compiling into what Osset calls an applicability index. “Many new functionalities will appear in the near future to cover lots of unknown needs,” he says. “We ourselves have discovered new markets thanks to being near a specific area or talking to a particular sector expert. “He or she imagines what a UAV might do and asks: ‘Could I do this with yours?’ Then you realise that you would never have had that idea if you had not met that expert. This applicability index will definitely help market development.” Ossett says the VALAQ Patrol will be priced at a little less than e 35,000 for a fully equipped machine and support equipment, while a cartographic version known as the VALAQ Mapper will be just under e 19,000 and a delivery version has an estimated price of e 13,000. Larger VALAQ versions In terms of future developments, there is more to come in addition to the mapping and package delivery versions of the 120. The company is also in the process of designing a larger version with a 25 kg MTOW, to be known as the VALAQ 360. “Our first calculations show very promising ranges and fight times with a remarkable payload capability,” Ortiz says. Initial performance estimates for the VALAQ 360 include a maximum payload of 10 kg, up to 3 hours of endurance with a 2 kg payload and a range of up to 315 km (170 nautical miles). A maritime version, known as Sea-VALAQ and incorporating the ability to take off from and land on moving vessels, is also proposed. The VALAQ 360 is also at the centre of a project to combine a 3D-printed airframe and a fuel cell-based power plant in a project supported and coordinated by BFAero. UAV Works says this will be the first UAV of a specific organic and reticular (net-like) design intended to be largely 3D printed, adding that team member and additive manufacturing house Lupeon is leading this part of the project, with H2 Dron Energy Galicia providing the hydrogen fuel cell technology. The three companies presented the project at a monthly evaluation meeting in November last year under BFAero’s first edition programme. Preliminary analyses show that the UAV built to the VALAQ 360 design using this new technology will achieve an endurance of 5 hours with an 8 kg payload after a vertical take-off using what UAV Works describes as 100% clean energy – a capability that the company believes is unique. In mechanical terms, the tail-sitting flying wing design is arguably the simplest way to achieve an efficient combination of helicopter-like VTOL capability with fixed-wing range, endurance and speed. Time will tell whether it will prove the most popular. Unmanned Systems Technology | June/July 2020 This nose-on view shows the trapezoidal propeller layout, along with the largely unobstructed view that the VALAQ’s underside provides to sensors