38 lighten, strengthen and optimise the supporting structure around your copper wiring by using more advanced alloys and whatnot,” Todorov notes. “But it is a gradual process. With engines, you don’t want to change parts that are working, because there are so many ways to break your engine along the way. However, there has undeniably been great advancements over the years in alternators and generator control units, so we’re in the down-selection process for components to go into the V4 PMU. “Give it a year or two, and we will likely have made some interesting choices on that engine, which we could then tell you a lot more about.” Radio systems As mission-specific as data links are, ScanEagle and Integrator can come standard with Freewave radios for their C2 links, while using L3’s BANDIT transceiver to power the higher-bandwidth payload data link. Persistent Systems’ Wave Relay 5 (a version of its MPU5, designed as a node for embedding on uncrewed vehicles) has also been used. “Those connect to custom PCB antennas we’ve designed for compatibility with the radios and our SWaP limits,” Hartley says. “We have retained an RF engineering team at Insitu to research and guide all our RF design decisions, with lab set-ups for developing and testing antenna components, including a small anechoic chamber for modelling the performance of PCB antennas in relation to other surfaces. “Once we’ve characterised an antenna, and reached the point where we need a system-level evaluation, we will usually contract the final tests to a third-party laboratory, and our RF team will go there to guide testing and analyse the results in person.” In addition to its comms radios, a variety of transponders have been installed on the Insitu platforms over the years, and the company notes that Sagetech is its typical go-to (particularly for ScanEagle). Usually, a Mode 3 C-type transponder is chosen to broadcast the UAVs’ altitudes and a four-digit octal identification code, although ADS-B systems are also supported for when the broadcast of identification, position, altitude and velocity data is a requirement. Ground control stations ScanEagle is typically preprogrammed, monitored and controlled during missions via the I-MUSE (Insitu multiple UAS software environment) GCS software, which was developed in tandem with the UAV’s autopilot software, and it has been continually updated over the years while remaining backwards-compatible with all configurations of ScanEagle. I-MUSE serves as the base software of ScanEagle’s C2 structure, allowing for mission planning, launch and recovery, aircraft and multi-aircraft tasking, target tracking, automated-target following and payload operation, its map indicating waypoints, targets and aircraft tracks. That map provides the pilot with situational awareness information via visual displays of terrain, obstacles, altitudes and other data. It also provides multiple pre-flight, post-flight and emergency electronic checklists, and a means for point-and-click real-time control and monitoring of the aircraft. Hartley describes I-MUSE’s interface as “having been designed by engineers, which means its layout is rich with June/July 2024 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Integrator’s PMU engine is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, spark-ignited and air-cooled engine made entirely in-house ScanEagle’s I-MUSE GCS software is designed for high customisability and multitasking features, while INEXA Control for Integrator is compliant with NATO STANAG 4586
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