Uncrewed Systems Technology 046

69 CUAV Expo Americas 2022 | Report at the show, in which two antennas are installed on the Airpeak along with a small control module and a base station, together enabling centimetric accuracy for mapping and surveying. It also unveiled an extended-life battery with 50% more capacity and 35% more flight time for the UAV than its previous battery, as well as a battery charging station that can hold 10 packs and fast-charge four at a time. FT Technologies exhibited its FT742-SM (Surface Mount) sensors for ultrasonic wind sensing. “We use acoustic resonance technology to build up a strong standing wave inside the cavity of our sensor, which gives us a really high signal-to- noise ratio,” said Phil Richardson. “As a result, our sensors maintain really high data availability, even in incredibly high vibration environments, which is great for any moving platform like a UAV.” As well as being useful for fine flight control, the company notes that a range of commercial, civil and scientific applications – including atmospheric monitoring, leak detection and wildfire monitoring – could interest potential end-users. The FT742-SM weighs 252 g, is 71.2 mm in height and can measure wind speeds up to 75 m/s. Singapore-headquartered composites company AirGo Design was also walking the aisles of the show to discuss some of the unique processes it uses in its hull and structural parts manufacturing for uncrewed systems. “Our roots are in aerospace – we made the world’s first all-carbon fibre aircraft seat to be awarded FAA approval using Atlas, our proprietary AI-assisted optimisation program,” said Patrick Muglia. “Atlas is up to 1000 times faster than conventional, homogenisation field theory-based techniques. “Using Atlas we can predict the behaviour of discontinuous carbon fibre composites faster, more accurately and without the need for expensive material testing. When combined with our suite of design tools we can control fibre placement, and optimise weld location and resin flow throughout the mould. “The result is a three to four times increase in mechanical properties versus traditional random fibre injection- moulded plastic parts. We are achieving full fibre alignment with our injection moulding system, which opens the door for weight savings of up to 50% and increasing stiffness to degrees that nearly match the properties of traditional carbon-epoxy composites. “AirGo carbon thermoplastics are much easier and faster to process than carbon epoxies, which means we can produce carbon fibre components that perform close to carbon fibre epoxy parts but at a production rate of one part every 60 seconds with one mould, as opposed to one or two parts per shift.” He added that the toughness of the carbon-thermoplastic composites and the advantages of the company’s injection- moulding process make it easy to replace metal fittings as well as produce larger and more complex parts at lower cost compared with carbon-epoxy composites. By supplying larger, monocoque carbon-thermoplastic components rather than multiple small carbon-epoxy assemblies, the number of metal fasteners and hence overall part count and total weight per airframe – as well as assembly time – can be reduced significantly. Uncrewed Systems Technology | October/November 2022 The Airpeak quadrotor from Sony has a 25 m/s top speed FT Technologies’ FT742-SM wind sensor mounted on a multi-copter