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49 Emergency services | Insight and first responders. This can be in remote locations or where local comms networks have been disrupted. “Even after a hurricane has made landfall and winds decrease, you’re still going to have wind speeds far higher than what most UASs can fly in,” says Nick McCarter, president of Periscope and CEO of Chartis. “We finished some A5 test flights in mid-November that confirmed its ability to hover comfortably in 45 mph sustained winds with 60 mph gusts. It can also operate an EO camera to provide wide-area surveillance or situational awareness for coordinating relief efforts, as well as relaying comms and other data. “Perhaps most important though, it can be assembled from its carry case quickly and at any moment. Hurricanes and wildfires are by their nature unpredictable: a radio tower near responders’ operating bases could be taken out in the middle of relief efforts, and response teams can’t afford to fall back on unreliable personal cellphones for safe and secure comms.” With an MTOW of 9.5 kg, the A5 has a maximum endurance of 110 minutes, a cruising speed of 40 mph and a maximum air speed of 100 mph. Also, its hull is IP55 rated for ingress protection against wind and precipitation. Its endurance limit implies a reliance on batteries, but McCarter says the A5 can be used with or without a tether; attaching one enables it to continue relaying comms or providing aerial monitoring as long as power is available on the ground. A tether also gives an extra layer of security by effectively leashing the UAV to the operating station amid unpredictable weather patterns. A failsafe module in the autopilot will automatically land the A5 if the umbilical is severed. “The ‘A’ in A5 stands for ‘aerodynamic’, as we’ve conceived and optimised its shape to cut through the winds it’s meant to fly in,” McCarter says. “Most UAVs act in a similar way to a windsail, getting batted around by gusts, so we wanted to take a different approach to that problem in terms of the airframe’s design. “We also use high-power electric motors and propellers to maximise the thrust-to-weight ratio, as well as our specialised flight control software to autonomously manage the powertrain and station-keeping.” Periscope plans to continue trialling the A5 in Atlantic hurricane seasons (typically August to October) to gather real-world data on its wind tolerance and handling. Conclusion In addition to the work being performed by Wings For Aid (see page 22), a lot of effort is being made by a growing range of unmanned vehicle companies that look set soon to ease the suffering of victims of disasters and other emergencies the world over. Given the seasonal nature of disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes, and as they become more severe as a result of climate change, the next stage could be to install permanent autonomous first response depots. Advances in AI could well enable mission planning and rapid deployment of autonomous firefighting swarms, relief pallet deliveries and medevac vehicles to save human lives at a previously impossible scale, multiplying the effectiveness of first responders while keeping them from harm. Unmanned Systems Technology | December/January 2021 Periscope Aviation’s A5 UAV has a patented aerodynamic design to station-keep in winds of 45 mph and gusts of 60 mph (Courtesy of Periscope Aviation)