54 UVD | Orthodrone Pivot from the rest of the back part of the vehicle, while the payload bay is on damping mounts that attach it to the forward structure.” “It all becomes a little esoteric, because you might end up with a whole chain of damping systems for different parts, with the final goal of ensuring your sensor systems are vibrating within spec. And our drone has some rigid carbon-fibre structure, so you’ve got to make sure you do not get into a natural resonance.” The structure makes use of fibreweaving and layering technology, optimised to put strength where it is most needed, saving weight elsewhere. It proved difficult to source carbonfibre parts of the required quality to connect the propulsion system to the fuselage, but they are now working with a German company that can supply them. Commercial aims The commercial plan for the Pivot MK-V and subsequent developments is to lease them out to customers, carrying out most operations remotely from a centre in Germany. However, with the current state of BVLOS regulations, there will have to be a customer representative onsite with remote control to take over in an emergency for the foreseeable future. Klusak emphasises that the Pivot is currently at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 and Orthodrone is planning to go to market next year. Depending on the regulatory regime that applies to its various deployment cases, it will have a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of either 55 lb (25 kg) or 70 lb (31.75 kg). The company is also planning a larger version with an MTOW of 110 lb (50 kg) and a payload of more than 55 lb (25 kg) to address use cases that are not part of what Klusak considers the company’s core market of offshore infrastructure inspection. These include deploying vehicle-grade sensors that look below the surface of the terrain, such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometers. Such sensors require highly stable platforms to deploy them if they are to generate their highest-quality data, he says. The company has demonstrated the ability of one of its prototypes to keep the ends of a 4 m bar magnetometer 60 cm (+/- 1.27 cm) above the ground surface. If you need to detect small, nonmagnetic targets in the ground and be sure of finding what you are looking for, you need a high-resolution, vehicle-grade GPR system. That comes in a larger size – it’s just physics. “That’s where building a bigger Pivot system gets very interesting,” Klusak says. “With our technology, the bigger you build it the more sense it makes, because we are just moving a fifth of the mass of the drone to change our thrust vectors. The remainder is resting mass. The bigger it gets, the less the centre wants to move.” Open-source future While key aspects of technology are protected, and Orthodrone has patents pending on Pivot in 42 countries, Klusak intends to licence it eventually for other companies to use in their own designs. “Down the line, we are confident you’re going to see more and more Pivot-style drones, and from that standpoint I’m very happy that we’re working with a lot of open-source technology,” he says. “Personally, I think open source is the only way that makes sense in the drone world, because it allows us to have thousands and thousands of flight hours on crucial software and hardware. Everyone benefits from the testing other people do. “It’s great to see that the growing UAS market and industry are still, to a sizeable part, a group effort.” October/November 2024 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Max take-off weight: 55 lb/70 lb (25 kg/32 kg) depending on regulations Payload: 5 kg (11 lb) Endurance: 3 hours Structural material: carbon-fibre reinforced polymer Some key suppliers Hybrid powerplant: Pegasus Aeronautics Tilt/stabilisation motors: Maxon Propulsion motors: Alva Propellers: Mezjlik High-resolution RGB camera: Phase One Lidar: Riegl Key specifications The ability to hold the fuselage stable to a high degree is particularly important for survey work with ground-penetrating radar, Lidar and, shown here, magnetometry
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