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

61 been working hard on different solutions for GNSS-denied navigation capabilities, relying mainly on improving IMU data quality to minimise drift,” said Miguel Angel de Frutos. “Using what we know about inertial data processing and UAV aerodynamics, however, we can pair that with a camera and the right algorithmic logic to accurately generate vision-based navigation data.” Images from a belly-mounted, downward-pointing camera are processed by an onboard computer, translating the images (and changes between them) into a relative change in the UAV’s position. This data is fused with the onboard inertial sensors in UAV Navigation’s Vector autopilot, to reduce the overall drift down to <1% of the distance travelled, eliminating any drift associated with time. Current test data estimates the VNS’s rate of drift to be up to 5 m/minute, compared with the typical 80-100 m/ minute drift in a standard COTS AHRS- INS combination. SBG Systems’ Qinertia PPK software has been updated to support third-party IMUs, and now offers a GNSS post-processing licence to cover a range of GNSS receivers. “The architecture itself has been designed from the beginning with the aim of supporting any type of GNSS, IMU, aiding sensors and so on,” said Raphael Siryani. “To offer an efficient and robust workflow, we believe it’s important to support GNSS manufacturers’ native binary protocols, without them needing to use RINEX converters, which often produce files containing glitches and bugs.” In addition to supporting MEMS IMUs, the software’s IMU sensor model has successfully integrated a number of fibre- optic gyro IMUs. “We have designed a complex IMU sensor model where all parameters can be set up individually,” Siryani added. “For example, we can ask Qinertia to estimate the accelerometers’ or gyroscopes’ scale factor, or even the sensors’ misalignment.” Sky Power (last featured regarding its SP-180 SRE Wankel hybrid engine in UST -25, April/May 2019) spoke to us about its new heavy-fuel engine, the SP- 210 HF FI TS. Its development was based on the gasoline version of the SP-210 FI TS, and runs on a kerosene-oil mix of 50:1, using Jet A1 or JP-8. A version for Jet A is in development. “The goal was to heat up the fuel mixture in a reliable and controlled manner, and to achieve optimal starting properties,” Karsten Schudt said. “Many new components were developed from scratch, such as our new KHU [Kerosene Heating Unit] 100. “To be clear, this engine is not ‘HF- compatible’; it is a dedicated heavy- fuel system, including intelligent active management of all operational parameters at all times.” As well as including a starter/ generator, the heavy-fuel version comes with the same ECU interface and mounting points as the gasoline version, to enable drop-in replacement of the engines for UAV operators looking to seamlessly change between fuels for different operations. The engine communicates with the flight controller via CAN bus. It has two spark plugs per cylinder to allow running at a lower idle, generally operate quieter, and provide redundancy in the ignition system. The experience gained by Sky Power in developing the heavy-fuel version will be applied to the company’s 55 cc single-cylinder, and 56, 110, 170 and 275 cc boxer engines. Unmanned Systems Technology | June/July 2020 The new, heavy-fuel SP-210 HF FI TS engine from Sky Power SBG Systems’ Qinertia PPK software has been updated