Uncrewed Systems Technology 047 l Aergility ATLIS l AI focus l Clevon 1 UGV l Geospatial insight l Intergeo 2022 report l AUSA 2022 report I Infinity fuel cell l BeeX A.IKANBILIS l Propellers focus I Phoenix Wings Orca

36 fuel efficiency of a reciprocating engine at low altitudes, otherwise we’d have to carry much more fuel, which would eat into our payload capacity.” For added propulsive efficiency, Turbotech packages Airmaster variable- pitch propellers as standard with its turboprops, enabling the ATLIS to optimise its forward prop blade angle for whatever airspeed is targeted. “Also, the TP-R90’s starter/generator is a 24-28 V AC system, so our BMSs have built-in voltage converters to take the generator output and turn it into a 50 V DC supply that can be used to charge our cells, while the BMSs also control the load imparted by the cells on the generator so as not to overload it,” Yonge says. Avionics Choosing the Veronte 4X came down to a few essential criteria. One was flight redundancy, and as mentioned the 4X is triple-redundant and was developed under the DO-178C and DO-254 safety standards, making it certifiable within any aircraft that follows them. “As a flight control system, MAT is unique and not easily adaptable, so we needed a lot of configurability,” Yonge adds. “Veronte is not quite open source, but it is open in the user-configuration sense. “In our scale aircraft flight tests the Veronte 1X actually suffices – the 4X has three of those autopilots connected with an arbiter. But either way, you have great access to flight control laws: there’s a dual CAN bus on it that gives us hefty control, monitoring and redundancy over our motor controllers, and in addition the cost was acceptable.” Vander Mey says, “A lot of current autopilots are designed as if they’re trying to do all the work for you, whereas the Veronte has something of a scripting approach that allows us the flexibility to build the autopilot we actually want, without having to write a lot of new code. Embention’s architecture is therefore very amenable to our flight controls, and that made them the most practical choice.” Much of the avionics selections – such as the IMUs, two pitot tubes (one on each wingtip beyond the interference of the rotors), satellite transceiver, RTK- GNSS receivers, and antennas – came pre-selected as part of the Veronte 4X package. On the other hand, a COTS video camera and radar altimeter were Aergility’s own choices. The altimeter is a US-D1 from Ainstein, which consumes 2 W to operate at a frequency of 24 GHz over a 190 MHz bandwidth. It weighs 110 g and works from heights of 50 m down to 0.5 m, giving altitude measurements precise to 4 cm when flying higher than 1 m (6 cm precision at altitudes below 1 m) over a 43 x 30 º FoV. “We also plan to include Lidars for obstacle sensing and avoidance, for edge cases that could make use of that,” Yonge notes. Airframe construction Most of the aerodynamics in the current ATLIS configuration are the result of Aergility’s own r&d. The bulk of CFD was simulated in Siemens’ Star CCM+ software, with Dassault’s SolidWorks used for principal CAD design work. “We used a couple of FEA packages, with CUG and December/January 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology The booms are attached to the wings via inverted saddles, mechanically secured in place by four bolts and with electrical connectors inside Aergility is receiving interest in the ATLIS from remote hotel resorts, oil rigs, mines, medical authorities and the UN World Food Programme for its high- efficiency freight capabilities