Issue 45 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Aug/Sept 2022 Tidewie USV Tupan | Performance monitoring | Bayonet 350 | UAVs insight | Xponential 2022 | ULPower UL350i and UL350iHPS | Elroy Air Chaparral | Gimbals | Clogworks Dark Matter

63 UAVs | Insight and the counter-clockwise propellers are mounted atop the motor arms,” Stollmeyer explains. “That helps a lot with keeping the UAV’s form factor compact and weight- efficient while using bigger props.” The craft’s battery capacity has also been increased by 42%, from 22 to 32 Ah, and the electric motors have been customised to achieve higher power efficiency. They also feature screens over their apertures to keep dust out of their windings and enhance their MTBFs. Inspired Flight has run them at full throttle on test benches without burning them out, and plans to continue testing them for their full 1500 hour MTBFs, not only to validate them internally but also to provide fully detailed and accurate maintenance manuals for their customers. Frontline resupply We reported on the ongoing development of Animal Dynamics’ Stork UAVs in issue 33 (August/September 2020) for risky frontline resupply and ISR platforms for defence users. The crafts’ bio-inspired paraglider design and open airframe are intended to lend them the highest possible wing-to-body ratio and hence the greatest weight-to-body ratio for optimised logistics capabilities. As per its plans, the company has progressed from its 25 kg MTOW platform, the Stork ST25, to its much larger system, the Stork STM UAV, prototyped and currently in flight tests. Jonathan Page, analyst and researcher at Animal Dynamics, says, “The STM can carry 135 kg across distances of 400 km. We’re defining user requirements in order to set development targets, and we’re going to carry out demonstration flights in the middle of next year, with production anticipated by 2024.” The STM can also fly for 800 km with a 100 kg payload. Unlike the smaller ST25, which flies on an electric motor, the heavier Stork will use IC engine propulsion, enabling a 60 kph cruising speed (double that of the lighter craft). The ST25 meanwhile is now in production after being approved by the UK’s Military Aviation Authority. Medical aid As the search for bio-inspiration in aircraft designs continues, some UAVs now mimic sea creatures to achieve superior aerodynamics. The first Beluga quadrotor UAVs from EuroLink Systems, unveiled last year at the Monaco Yacht Show, are designed for various duties for the luxury boating market, such as emergency delivery of defibrillators and other lifesaving medical supplies, wide-area surveillance of dangerous waters and pre-docking inspections of coasts and harboursides. Uncrewed Systems Technology | August/September 2022 The Beluga’s unique design was inspired not only by aerodynamics research but by the fluid dynamics of a beluga whale, hence its name (Courtesy of EuroLink Systems) Animal Dynamics’ Stork STM is now in flight tests to prove out its capability to fly for 800 km with a 100 kg payload (Courtesy of Animal Dynamics)