Unmanned Systems Technology 036

14 Platform one Dr Donough Wilson Dr Wilson is innovation lead at aviation, defence, and homeland security innovation consultants, VIVID/futureVision. His defence innovations include the cockpit vision system that protects military aircrew from asymmetric high-energy laser attack. He was first to propose the automatic tracking and satellite download of airliner black box and cockpit voice recorder data in the event of an airliner’s unplanned excursion from its assigned flight level or track. For his ‘outstanding and practical contribution to the safer operation of aircraft’ he was awarded The Sir James Martin Award 2018/19, by the Honourable Company of Air Pilots. Paul Weighell Paul has been involved with electronics, computer design and programming since 1966. He has worked in the real-time and failsafe data acquisition and automation industry using mainframes, minis, micros and cloud- based hardware on applications as diverse as defence, Siberian gas pipeline control, UK nuclear power, robotics, the Thames Barrier, Formula One and automated financial trading systems. Ian Williams-Wynn Ian has been involved with unmanned and autonomous systems for more than 20 years. He started his career in the military, working with early prototype unmanned systems and exploiting imagery from a range of unmanned systems from global suppliers. He has also been involved in ground-breaking research including novel power and propulsion systems, sensor technologies, communications, avionics and physical platforms. His experience covers a broad spectrum of domains from space, air, maritime and ground, and in both defence and civil applications including, more recently, connected autonomous cars. Unmanned Systems Technology’s consultants A researcher in the US has developed a hinge design for load-bearing large quadcopter UAVs (writes Nick Flaherty). Using a hinge at the base of the large quadrotor blade next to the hub allows the blade pitch to change with the rotor speed, allowing a fast rate of climb for a large UAV carrying a heavy load. This is intended to overcome the challenge of the extra inertia from the larger rotor blades needed to carry heavier loads. The design, by D Jean-Paul Reddinger, a research aerospace engineer with the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, relies on the hinge to change the pitch of the 40 and 50 in (100 and 125 cm) diameter Printed Motor Works has redesigned its XR15-05e low-profile in-wheel motor for AGVs (writes Nick Flaherty) The new design, developed for Ocado’s warehouse robot systems, has increased the axial load strength by up to 650% within the same weight and size requirement as the previous version. The motor has also been made more robust, with stronger cable strain relief and an improved rotor-to-body seal. Deep-groove ball bearings have been replaced with an angular contact bearing unit to better withstand offset axial loads. Finite element analysis was used to verify the design improvements, and endurance limit analysis indicates a much extended product life. The redesign has also reduced the component count by a third. Electromagnetic active components have been upgraded, preventing a reduction propellers, rather than waiting for the electric motor to change the rotor speed and thrust, which impacts on the vehicle’s speed, range and flight stability. Reddinger said the difference is that large quadrotors carrying these loads could climb roughly 25 ft in as little as 2 seconds with the hinge instead of 3-4 seconds without it. in performance as battery voltage drops. Encoder robustness and resolution have also been improved. The optical encoder has been replaced by an on- axis magnetic type, which offers greater tolerance to contamination and nearly double the resolution, with lower cost and no impact on the overall package. Hingeing on pitch Beefed-up motor Airborne vehicles Ground vehicles February/March 2021 | Unmanned Systems Technology Adding the hinge to a propellor allows a quadcopter to carry heavier loads The latest design of this in-wheel motor increases the axial load strength by 650%