3 December/January 2024 | Contents Uncrewed Systems Technology | December/January 2024 24 20 46 62 108 04 Intro An accident involving a robotaxi and a roll-out of full Level 3 autonomous driving show how car developers are converging 06 Platform one: Mission-critical info Fox Robotics has teamed up with academia to trial a UGV for a range of farm tasks, German researchers are developing an eVTOL with gliding capabilities, quantum computing enters the picture for controlling UAVs in airspace, and much more 20 In conversation: Dr Bryan Cole The head of uncrewed systems research at US environmental science agency NOAA makes his case for using more UASs 24 Dossier: AALTO Zephyr 8 How this latest version of the solar-powered stratospheric UAV is being developed to provide services such as low-latency comms and Earth observation for months at a time 46 Focus: Real-time operating systems Larger real-time RTOS systems are being deployed in uncrewed systems of growing complexity, so developers are turning away from traditional hypervisors to using separation kernels 54 Digest: GPA Seabots 100 Harbours are host to a soup of ecological threats such as litter and chemical spills, a growing concern that this autonomous USV has been designed to address 62 Insight: Defence Uncrewed military systems developers continue to adapt to the changing nature of military conflicts, as these systems prove 72 Dossier: INNengine Rex-B Prototypes of this cam-operated two-stroke axial unit for use with UAVs are showing considerable potential 82 Show report: DroneX 2023 Highlights of new services, aircraft designs, propulsion systems and avionics that were on display at this trade show 88 Focus: Thermal imaging Thermal sensors play a critical role in almost every uncrewed system mission, and now they are expected to form part of a multi-sensor gimbal, leading to a series of fresh developments 98 Show report: DSEI 2023 Capability and intelligence came across as the prime movers behind the defence-focused products on display at this show 108 In operation: Skyline Robotics Ozmo Cleaning the windows of high-rise buildings is dull, dirty and dangerous, so this uncrewed system is taking over from people 114 PS: AI in uncrewed system comms AI is providing a raft of benefits to uncrewed system comms, prime examples of which we investigate here
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