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public roads, which will begin next year. “That is our incremental roadmap,” Lohmann says. “We are going from full segregation to a degree of interaction with other road users to full interaction, but always in a constrained, geo-fenced ODD. That is where we control how the infrastructure looks, drive predefined routes, shape the necessary lines of sight, give right of way to the shuttles and influence the way other road users interact with our vehicles.” With mixed operations, sensing, perception and vehicle response requirements are much more demanding, van der Zwaan says. For segregated operations, the vehicle uses a mix of Lidar and ultrasound, with a single Lidar scanning a 120 º sector ahead of the vehicle and an array of ultrasonic sensors in the bumpers providing 360 º coverage out to a range of 2 m. “For segregated operations, the main task is to scan for obstacles ahead of the vehicle, stop for anything in its path and slow down for anything near its path. When you go into mixed operations, the size of your sensor suite explodes, as do the requirements for the perception system,” van der Zwaan explains. “You should expect vehicles coming from behind and overtaking. You should expect pedestrians and cyclists next to you, and of course vehicles in front of you driving in your lane.” Sensor choices The mixed operations suite combines cameras, radars, Lidar and ultrasonics feeding software that discerns the dynamic behaviour of moving objects around the vehicle, generating what the company calls a “pipeline of perception” that works with motion models to understand its environment and inform the decision-making software. The company chose not to rely on Lidar for all-round perception for several reasons, van der Zwaan says, an important one being cost. “Full 360 º coverage with Lidar with the accuracy that we need can still be prohibitively Flight Qualified Solutions for Unmanned Systems NWUAV Your Distributor For Aircraft Quality UAS Products When Reliability is Key, You Need  System Engineering  Customization  Flight Test Support  Engine/Aircraft Optimization  Logistics Flexibility DF70LC HEAVY-FUEL UAV 23 SERIES F23 LIGHTWEIGHT Contact us TODAY for more information about how NWUAV’s HIGH VOLUME PRODUCTION, FULL-SERVICE ENGINEERING DESIGN TEAM, and ENGINE and COMPONENT PRODUCT LINES can help you reach your goals! CONTACT US +1 (503) 434-6845 | www.nwuav.com PROPULSION & PAYLOAD INTEGRATION SPECIALISTS Pegasus NW-44 FUEL INJECTED MULTI-FUEL ENGINE 18-34 kg Weight Class* NW-88 TWIN-CYLINDER MULTI-FUEL ENGINE 40.8-74.8 kg Weight Class* APPROVED FOR EXPORT | MADE IN THE USA * Depending on airframe. ONE-STOP-SHOP! your