47 Intelligent self-driving “All three are equipped with the Rheinmetall PATH autonomy kit [A-kit], a package of hardware and software that can be equipped on almost any ground vehicle to make it an intelligent, selfdriving system – even logistics trucks and regular cars can use it. We’ve installed it on Ford Rangers and had them run together as a convoy,” says Eric Diniz, project management specialist at Rheinmetall Canada. “Sensors differ between the vehicles because of their differing sizes and shapes. As a baseline, we use Lidar, radar and camera around the vehicles to navigate autonomously. But, for example, the XT is the largest, so it physically needs more sensors for full, 360o awareness, so that UGV has ultrasonic proximity sensors all around it that cover blind spots that Lidar and radar cannot see.” Alain Tremblay, vice-president for business development and innovation at Rheinmetall Canada, says: “We don’t use any one model for Lidar, or cameras or radars – different military clients will have varying mission conditions and budgetary requirements, so we can go for lower- or higher-end sensor capabilities. “If, for instance, they want a UGV in a very harsh, hot, dry environment prone to dust storms, or equally, a very icy environment with snowstorms, we’d go for very powerful sensor models to sense reliably through all that. “But, even in those environments, clients will sometimes ask for somewhat low-power sensors because they want their Mission Masters to give off a minimal electromagnetic signature for stealth reasons, so the PATH A-kit really has to be modular for these types of applications.” Development of the Mission Masters began from a blank sheet around the end of 2017, which Rheinmetall notes was a time when the UGV market specified little or no exact requirements as to Rheinmetall Canada Mission Master medevac | In operation Uncrewed Systems Technology | February/March 2024 Rheinmetall Canada’s family of Mission Master UGVs have been trialled across climatic extremes in Australia and Northern Europe for autonomous battlefield medevacs (All images courtesy of Rheinmetall Canada)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mzk4