103 AR5, and at critical locations it will deploy smaller UAVs that can survey closer to vital points of interest. “If you limit yourself to a single UAV, you have to choose between close-proximity observation, which multirotors are great at but they can’t fly very far, or far-off observation, which fixed-wing UAVs are suited for but then you’re not inspecting with good fidelity,” Mendes noted. “The ARX will launch from bases, fly its payload of smaller UAVs to a faraway place, including over oceans, launch its other drones or ‘mobile sensors’, and loiter or perform long-range observation while acting as a node for the smaller systems.” In addition to distributed mission planning, replanning and execution for swarm operations, the CONOPS includes one day engineering the ability to recover the smaller UAVs onboard the ARX, so the airborne carrier UAV will be able to return with its fleet to the launch point. Neousys Technology unveiled two new, ruggedised AI computers, the NRU-230V-AWP and NRU-240SAWP, which integrate nVidia Jetson AGX Orin systems, and are aimed at autonomous vehicles in offroad and roadside deployments. “The systems’ housings were developed using experiences from earlier housings we designed for our SEMIL-1000 and POC-465AWP products, the former being a high-end, waterproof enclosure; the latter intended as a cost-effective, waterproof one,” said Neil Liu at Neousys. “Those on the NRU-230V-AWP and NRU-240S-AWP are designed as both affordable and waterproof housings.” During the design phase of the two new products, key tests included sinking the whole machines into water tanks to validate each part of the waterproof design, from its O-ring to its panel cut-out, its waterproof cap and waterproof cables. For verification, the systems were sent to a third-party laboratory, and subjected to high-pressure water-cannon testing; then IP66-certification was granted. Several protocols are available for sensor integration with the two AI computers, including GMSL2 for automotive cameras or depth sensors to interface with high bandwidth over a single coaxial cable. The NRU-230V-AWP has eight GMSL2 ports for connecting solutions such as Sonyøs IMX490, ISX031 or IMX390 automotive cameras, or StereoLabs 3D cameras. “A system-monitoring port is added on the NRU-230V-AWP, which can constantly report the computer’s thermal, voltage and OS operational health via an independent automotive MCU. It is our first step to help the customer build a reliable, functional safety ADAS or autonomous system,” Liu noted. The firm also displayed its FLYC-300 computer, originally designed for low-SWaP UAV integrations, which, since its release last year, has been adopted into various applications, including 3D mapping, agriculture, infrastructure inspections, environmental monitoring, and search and rescue. Interest has been expressed in its use in UGVs, such as industrial AMRs and robot dog-type systems, which can benefit from its light, 297 g weight and small, 124 mm x 123 mm x 30 mm form factor. Taisync spoke with us about its ViuRC7 GCS, which is now available in the US and Europe as a compact, handheld control solution. An NDAA version will be in mass production by the end of this year. “It is designed with a 7 in [17.8 cm] display, with dual control function systems. As well as having its own in-built radio-transmission system, it can integrate external radio modules to enable the customer to reach longer ranges,” said Eric Zhang at Taisync. The in-built radio functions over either 2.4GHz or 5GHz, with a transmission power of 26 dBm (at 2.4 GHz) or 24dBm (at 5 GHz), with an effective range of just over 20 km. With an external radio module, this can be increased to more than 50 km. The ViuRC7 weighs 1.35 kg, measures 292 x 160 x 80 mm, and typically runs for six hours on its battery, with recharging taking 3.5 hours on a 30 W USB-C charger. It consumes 12 W as standard, takes GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou GNSS signals, and it can operate in temperatures from -20C to 55C. “As a company, we’re still primarily focused on communication solutions, but we’re also taking opportunities to expand our expertise into connected areas, such as GCSs to start with, and we’ll also launch our first cameras next year as integrated, connected, remote survey solutions,” Zhang added. We also met with Maxon Group to discuss some of its electric motors for specialised uncrewed applications. “We have a predetermined subset of our motors, gears, encoders and resolvers that can be used in space, which are Xponential Commercial Part 2 | Show report Uncrewed Systems Technology | August/September 2024 Neousys’ ruggedised AI computer, the NRU-240S-AWP
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