110 Show report | Xponential Commercial Part 2 Meanwhile, the company has refined the internal algorithms of the POLAR-300 AHRS-INS (embedded in the VECTOR autopilot) for navigation estimation and it is developing new components for it, with a target of reducing the rate of drift accumulation during flight. “We are also continually making improvements in our AI-based visualnavigation system, VNS01, especially to enhance and optimise its GNSS-free positioning precision in low-visibility conditions and complex environments where the camera might not always work properly,” de Frutos added. The firm has released a GNSS-Denied Navigation Kit, consisting of the VNS01 with the POLAR-300, for clients looking to operate accurately in areas with limited satellite signal coverage, or where the signal is subject to jamming or spoofing. Stafl, a manufacturer of optimised battery packs and BMSs (as well as other automotive electronics), has partnered Amprius, a leading manufacturer of silicon-anode lithium-ion battery cells. Amprius is Stafl’s preferred supplier for advanced battery packs in uncrewed, urban air mobility and other aviationtype applications. In turn, Stafl has been named as Amprius’ preferred pack manufacturer for more complex systems, including those in need of sophisticated battery management systems. “Stafl battery packs are great when you need a system that can be certified; something rugged and secure enough to take off and land on a naval vessel or operate in an austere environment, including underwater,” said Trevor Steele at Stafl. “Our battery packs are highperformance and are often used in larger applications that need something more than a shrink-wrapped battery pack.” Stafl constructs battery packs of up to 1 MWh in size down to tiny packs for smaller UAV manufacturers eyeing certification. The company’s Amprius cell-stocked packs achieve up to 280 Wh/kg (at pack level), the reduced gravimetric energy density coming with greatly increased longevity, reliability and safety in severe environments over unprotected cells. Regarding Stafl’s pack architectures, Steele explained: “We use a layered approach to pouch cells. We start with a pressure foam to give good pressure on the pouch cells, [and] then we put on a fireproof layer designed for passive propagation resistance to prevent at all costs a situation where one cell could ignite another, sending the rest of the pack into thermal runaway.” The company can also integrate various other pack subsystems, such as active thermal management via cooling plates, passive cooling via conductive heatsinks, and heating systems. All Stafl packs are manufactured using laser welding to bond cells together, with in-house testing capabilities (including shock, vibration, environmental and altitude tests, along with in-house validation of cell data) certified to UN 38.3 standards, such that the company can legally transport its own packs, and recover them back to its facilities. Sunhillo displayed a range of new systems for uncrewed traffic management (UTM) and operational integration, developed with standards for government and defence users in mind. “We’ve focused on technologies for acquisition, conversion and display of surveillance data on UAV traffic for end-users’ situational awareness, and porting it via different outputs into actionable user interfaces,” said Doug Walczak at Sunhillo. “Our display is an off-internet design, often mandatory for military uses, and is configurable with different overlays August/September 2024 | Uncrewed Systems Technology UAV Navigation’s GNSS Denied Navigation Kit Stafl’s battery pack
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