Uncrewed Systems Technology 044 l Xer Technolgies X12 and X8 l Lidar sensors l Stan UGV l USVs insight l AUVSI Xponential 2022 l Cobra Aero A99H l Accession Class USV l Connectors I Oceanology International 2022

Researchers in Germany have developed a process for the automated manufacture and assembly of cable harnesses (writes Nick Flaherty). The process, developed at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, will make it possible to use industrial robots to manufacture them flexibly and economically. Wiring harnesses are among the few parts that still have to be manufactured or processed by hand, especially in automotive and consumer goods production.  A highly complex wiring harness connecting multiple sensors and processing units can weigh up to 60 kg, and have a total length of several kilometres in driverless cars, UAVs and many other uncrewed systems. To reduce the size and weight of the harness, the cables, connections and plugs are becoming ever smaller, making manual construction increasingly difficult. So far, the individual cables have had to be laid on a cable board and bent in certain directions or plugged together. Automation has proved difficult because previous gripping systems could not grip cables that were not placed precisely or to connect plugs. The patented process freezes the entire cabling structure and heats small areas to construct the harness. After the cables have reached a rigid state by freezing, they are shaped by industrial robots. The cables are placed on a jig built from controllable, moveable and temperature-controlled pins. Cooling can take place in a suitable area or by heating and cooling elements contained in the gripper of an industrial robot.  The cables are heated locally at the bending point so that the insulation is not irreversibly damaged during the deformation. The cables are then immediately cooled down again to stabilise the bend. The robotic arms can then align the next section of cable with a predefined force. The cables can also be inserted into connectors during assembly without kinking them. This allows the wiring harness to be produced shortly before required and to the latest specification, avoiding delivery times that can be several weeks and shortening the supply chain. If a harness can be manufactured within the production run using automation, the so-called one-piece flow also becomes possible, which in turn increases flexibility. Auto-cables Wiring harnesses 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 uncrewed and autonomous systems for more than 20 years. He started his career in the military, working with early prototype uncrewed systems and exploiting imagery from a range of uncrewed 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. Professor James Scanlan Professor Scanlan is the director of the Strategic Research Centre in Autonomous Systems at the University of Southampton, in the UK. He also co-directs the Rolls-Royce University Technical Centre in design at Southampton. He has an interest in design research, and in particular how complex systems (especially aerospace systems) can be optimised. More recently, he established a group at Southampton that undertakes research into uncrewed aircraft systems. He produced the world’s first ‘printed aircraft’, the SULSA, which was flown by the Royal Navy in the Antarctic in 2016. He also led the team that developed the ULTRA platform, the largest UK commercial UAV, which has flown BVLOS extensively in the UK. He is a qualified full-size aircraft pilot and also has UAV flight qualifications. Uncrewed Systems Technology’s consultants A new, automated approach to building wire harnesses 17 Platform one Uncrewed Systems Technology | June/July 2022