Issue 37 Unmanned Systems Technology April/May 2021 Einride next-gen Pod l Battery technology l Dive Technologies AUV-Kit l UGVs insight l Vanguard EFI/ETC vee twins l Icarus Swarms l Transponders l Sonobot 5 l IDEX 2021 report

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 The design of a piston seal can significantly improve the performance of a UAV engine (writes Nick Flaherty). Total Seal in the US is therefore applying its experience with race engines to the UAV market. The design of the piston seal can boost the performance of an engine by several horsepower over generic seals, according to Lake Speed, vice-president of sales and marketing. Reducing the amount of piston ring rubbing against the cylinder wall improves the engine’s lifetime and efficiency. “It’s not uncommon to take a piston ring and be able on a single cylinder to gain as much as a horsepower,” said Speed. “We have seen that same kind of percentage gain in other applications. For example, a customised 0.7 mm piston ring can add 30 hp on a 400 bhp engine, and you can get 0.2-0.3 hp from changing one ring in a three-ring package.” Total Seal uses coatings such as molybdenum, titanium nitride or chromium nitride on a steel ring, with diamond Sky Power is introducing a UAV engine construction kit to enable more efficient and performance-optimised engines (writes Nick Flaherty). The kit allows propulsion units to be tuned to the desired performance parameter and application areas. It consists of widely different components. At its centre is the basic engine, which can be equipped with both a carburettor and an injection module. The exhaust, silencer and a new ECU can be added, as well as a generator to provide electrical energy for batteries and supercapacitors or to drive polishing to get a finish with an axial tolerance of ±5 millionth of an inch. “That’s as flat a ring as you will find,“ he said. This is achieved using a physical vapour deposition (PVD) process that improves reliability and engine lifetime. “For example, a steel ring with a PVD coating will last much longer than any type of cast ring or even a steel ring with a gas nitriding process,” Speed said. This is possible as a result of small- batch manufacturing. “We are doing bespoke production, so our quality control is very precise. A ring is not a structural component of the piston, it’s a seal. So if we can make that seal conform and fit to the piston and cylinder wall it will have less leakage, and that makes the engine more efficient.” Total Seal has also developed a gapless ring and a gas-ported ring. “The gapless ring is a two-piece item that has an offset receiver ring to cover the gap, while the gas-ported ring has grooves in its top that helps seal the ring to the wall,” Speed said. an electric motor in a hybrid system. The engines vary from the 28 cc, 2 bhp 6600 rpm SP-28 to the SP-275 275 cc variable speed engine. A dedicated version, the SP-275 TS CR, is aimed at UAV target applications and has a low-profile design optimised for high- speed training flights requiring minimal aerodynamic cross-section. There is also the option of a Wankel engine, the SP-180. This is a hybrid- electric that allows a higher payload capability than a pure gasoline engine. An onboard battery capacity of up to 15 kW is available. The engine housing is water-cooled while the rotor is oil-cooled. Race seals for UAVs UAV engines kit Airborne vehicles Airborne vehicles April/May 2021 | Unmanned Systems Technology