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

37 Aergility ATLIS | Dossier Airboss having their own preferences, but they also used SolidWorks quite a bit too,” Vander Mey says. When the company began working with CUG and Airboss, the latter two iterated the structure to better adapt it for variables that came up between 2020 and ’22, such as the real-world effects of cargo handling and engine integration. “We gave them the configuration, the booms, rotor locations, the tail and wings, and talked to them about how to shave weight and drag,” Yonge says. “Airboss’ most significant changes were in utilitarian reshaping of the fuselage to better fit the cargo bay and be less heavy, which is why we have a more rectangular and elongated shape in the Gen 3 than the Gen 2. “They also made a number of tweaks to improve the internal wing structure, like the spars, ribs and wet sections. They optimised the fuselage’s ring bulkheads and firewall too, as well as the hinge mechanism and other aspects of the tail.” The hull is mostly carbon composite for strength and rigidity as well as low weight, although fibreglass composite is used in a few areas to provide RF transparency for the antennas, transceivers and radar altimeter, none of which sit outside the body and generate parasitic drag. The landing struts are steel and aluminium for maximised load bearing. “The hull was built largely using prepregs, and a combination of unidirectional and other weaves were applied for handling different forces throughout flight,” Yonge notes. “CUG and Airboss were key to that.” Vander Mey also notes that CUG and Airboss worked together to ensure that the design evolved not only for effective operation, but also for efficient manufacturing and road transportability. A key requirement of the ATLIS’ construction was that it had to be easily disassembled, moved by van or truck, then reassembled. The wings and booms therefore had to be removable, and all the parts had to fit in a 20 ft standard container, and be no wider altogether than 8 ft. “The booms attach to the wings via inverted saddles, mechanically secured by four bolts and with electrical connectors inside the saddles,” Yonge explains. “As for the wings, there are spars that cross each other inside the fuselage – a main spar and a rear spar – with two bolts for each spar. The four bolts are removed to slide the wing spars out of the spar box. The wings with the rotors would go in the sides of the container, the booms would hang from the ceiling, and the fuselage and spars would go underneath.” Future markets In addition to humanitarian, military and commercial logistics operations, numerous other markets could benefit from using the ATLIS. Africa in particular has around 400,000 villages that can’t rely on road deliveries, but just as more and more African economies are skipping wired telecoms networks and going straight to wireless technologies, people are now watching how Africa is poised to skip crewed logistics and move to uncrewed systems,” Vander Mey observes. Aergility reports interest from other potential customers watching the UAV’s development. These include remote hotel resorts that need aerial deliveries, repair equipment drops for oil rigs and mines, medical logistics where road and rail delays can’t be afforded, and various use cases with the UN World Food Programme where air operators are increasingly constrained by high fuel prices and other costs. And although it is not currently a priority, the company adds that there are paths towards reconfiguring the ATLIS for agricultural spray or firefighting. In addition to continued work on design and testing, and discussions with potential customers to refine the ATLIS’ product specifications or enhancements, there is still work to be done to ensure it meets certification requirements and in preparing a production manufacturing capability. First steps along those lines were accomplished when Aergility recently acquired a facility in Florida. It will be the base for full-scale flight testing and should enable commercial production to start in 2025. Uncrewed Systems Technology | December/January 2023 ATLIS UAV Dimensions: 10.15 x 4.66 x 2.16 m MTOW: 703 kg Empty weight: 408 kg Carrying capacity: 295 kg (fuel and payload) Cargo space: prototype 40 cu ft (1.13 m 3 ); production 67 cu ft Operating range: 724.2 km (965.6 km with auxiliary fuel tank) Operating endurance: 4.5 hours Cruising speed: 193 kph Maximum airspeed: 225 kph Maximum engine power: 90 kW (122 bhp) Some key suppliers Airframe manufacture: Composites Universal Group Structural design and optimisation: Airboss Aviation Group Flight control laws: Aerospace Control Dynamics CFD: Siemens CAD: Dassault Systemes Flight simulation: X-Plane Autopilot: Embention Magnetometer: Honeywell Radar altimeter: Ainstein Elevator servos: Thompson Rudder servos: Hitec Turboprop engine: Turbotech Electric motors: Emrax Motor controllers: Advanced Power Drives Variable-pitch propellers: Airmaster Rotor propellers: Xoar Rotor propellers: Mejzlik Specifications