Xponential 2023 | Show report estimates will be converted into an electric output. “The subsequent development stage will focus on outputting power at higher voltages, going from 48-50 V right now to hundreds of volts within the next year,” Hilbert added. The company also displayed a 7-14S battery pack called the Electron Canteen, produced by TWIG Power which Cobra spun out in 2019. “That pack incorporates our aerospace BMS, which has ‘functional fail modes’ designed to deliver just enough energy to ensure an aircraft can limp home amid downstream failure modes that would cripple other aerospace powertrains,” Hilbert said. “We also program it for tight temperature control around lift packs, balancing cells and keeping them ready for action. Many VTOL-transitioning UAVs let their lift packs get too cold when they’re not in VTOL mode, which could be dangerous when they need to descend from altitude and land. That’s why our BMS is optimised to maintain temperature and hence battery health.” Ghost Robotics is continuing to develop its quadrupedal Vision 60 UGV (or Q-UGV), which is intended as a ruggedised system for operating in all weather conditions, and as an open platform for incorporating different sensors and other mission-critical payloads. “We’re starting to scale up production, and not only carry out research but define how our manufacturing lines will be shaped in order to build more Q-UGVs,” explained Michael Subhan.” End-users currently include the US DoD as well as governments allied to the US. These comprise the bulk of Ghost Robotics’ customers, but the company is also branching out into enterprise and industrial applications with groups such as AT&T and Haskell Engineering. The comms system in the Vision 60 is FirstNet (First Responder Network Authority) certified, so law enforcement can use it in the AT&T FirstNet network. It is also being operated as a walking cell tower in disaster relief and recovery missions: if the cellular service goes down during a natural disaster, the Q-UGV can be equipped with a comms relay to restore critical cellular activity. Swoop Aero attended the expo to showcase its successes as both a UAV OEM and a logistics services provider. “We operate as a business throughout Africa and the APAC regions,” explained Zac Kennedy. “In some cases, we operate our UAVs ourselves, in others we supply our UAV to other companies. Skyports in the UK for instance is a trusted partner and end-user of our Kite UAV.” The Kite is an electric VTOLtransitioning fixed-wing aircraft 77 Uncrewed Systems Technology | June/July 2023 The Vision60 Q-UGV fromGhost Robotics
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