Little big van Profiling a plucky Swiss courier Current events Intelligence and efficiency in motor controllers Lighting the way A new dawn for Lidar Read all back issues online www.uncrewed-systems.com UST 61 : APR/MAY 2025 UK £15, USA $30, EUROPE €22
Electric power for UAVs More power. More products. Acutronic designs, builds and delivers a full range of UAV power systems. • Alternators • Starter-alternators • Voltage regulators • Starters The power of experience. With decades of engineering and manufacturing experience, Acutronic builds power systems trusted by customers globally for their high power density and efficient design. Proudly made in the U.S.A. We solve your power systems integration challenges. acutronic.com Scan to view technical data More power. More products. Acutronic designs, builds and delivers a full range of UAV power systems. • Alternators • Starter-alternators • Voltage regulators • Starters The power of experience. With decades of engineering and manufacturing experience, Acutronic builds power systems trusted by customers globally for their high power density and efficient design. Proudly made in the U.S.A. We solve your power systems integration challenges. acutronic.com Scan to view technical data power_210x297mm.indd 1 12/10/22 8:41 AM More power. More products. Acutronic designs, builds and delivers a full range of UAV power systems. • Alternators • Starter-alternators • Voltage regulators • Starters The power of experience. With decades of engineering and manufacturing experience, Acutronic builds power systems trusted by customers globally for their high power density and efficient design. Proudly made in the U.S.A. We solve your power systems integration challenges. acutronic.com Scan to view technical data More power. More products. Acutronic designs, builds and delivers a full range of UAV power systems. • Alternators • Starter-alternators • Voltage regulators • Starters The power of experience. With decades of engineering and manufacturing experience, Acutronic builds power systems trusted by customers globally for their high power density and efficient design. Proudly made in the U.S.A. We solve your power systems integration challenges. acutronic.com Scan to view technical data Electric power for UAVs More power. More products. Acutronic designs, builds and delivers a full range of UAV power systems. • Alternators • Starter-alternators • Voltage regulators • Starters The power of experience. With decades of engineering and manufacturing experience, Acutronic builds power systems trusted by customers globally for their high power density and efficient design. Proudly made in the U.S.A. We solve your power systems integration challenges. acutronic.com Scan to view technical data power_210x297mm.indd 1 12/10/22 8:41 AM Electric power for UAVs More power. More products. Acutronic designs, builds and delivers a full range of UAV power systems. • Alternators • Starter-alternators • Voltage regulators • Starters The power of experience. With decades of engineering and manufacturing experience, Acutronic builds power systems trusted by customers globally for their high power density and efficient design. Proudly made in the U.S.A. We solve your power systems integration challenges. acutronic.com Scan to view technical data po
3 April/May 2025 | Contents Uncrewed Systems Technology | April/May 2025 20 04 Intro The growing demands of military, nuclear, logistics and transport industries are pushing uncrewed systems R&D harder than ever before 06 Platform one: Mission-critical info UAVs in forest fire monitoring get boosted by solar gas sensors and charging pods; an mmWave radar system that enables UAVs to self-localise indoors and in the dark; an autonomous SWATH vessel for carrying UAVs and AUVs into Arctic waters; and more 20 In conversation: Prof. Barry Lennox Nuclear inspections and surveys are dangerous not only for humans, but uncrewed systems too. We talk to a leading expert on how carefully-engineered robots are making a difference 26 Dossier: LOXO Alpha & Digital Driver Consummate expertise in bleeding-edge AI tech and functional safety are how LOXO’s Alpha self-driving van and Digital Driver technology are transforming European road logistics 40 Focus: Lidar On land, air and sea, Lidar is bigger than ever. We go through the many types, components, and applications of this missioncritical sensor technology 50 Digest: RigiTech Eiger UAS We dive into how this Swiss tech house managed to engineer its UAV and its cloud for the precise needs of logistics stakeholders, first in Europe, and now worldwide 60 In operation: Seasats Lightfish USV Crossing the Pacific with a big, expensive vessel is one thing; can it be done with a small, low-price one? A Lightfish USV from Seasats is doing just that 68 Dossier: Alpha-Otto REV Force We explore the balance of core and ancillary parts enabling this engine’s low-temperature combustion, and its efficiency with (and easy switching between) different fuels 80 Insight: UGVs UGVs are becoming workhorses in myriad applications, and their manufacturers are right-sizing and optimising them accordingly 88 Focus: Motor controllers As industries start deploying fleets of uncrewed systems, better and more energy-efficient motor controllers are crucial 98 Report: XPONENTIAL Europe 2025 The launch of a European AUVSI XPONENTIAL trade show surpassed all expectations. Our report gives a taste of what was on offer 108 Digest: ISS Aerospace Sensus L UAV We unpack a heavy-lift multicopter, purpose-built in the UK to carry weighty data-gathering payloads for serious industrial users 114 PS: Replacing lost insects Uncrewed systems can now supplement or replace shrinking insect populations as vital environmental pollinators. Here’s how 40 26 68 60
ELECTRIC, HYBRID & INTERNAL COMBUSTION for PERFORMANCE ISSUE 157 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2025 New frontiers Additive manufacturing materials Dakar power play Prodrive’s Ford and Nissan V6s Ford’s ultimate V6 Inside the GT Mk IV’s RYE-developed turbo www.highpowermedia.com UK £15, US/CN $25, EUROPE €22 THE COMMUNICATIONS HUB OF THE ELECTRIFIED POWERTRAIN Read all back issues and exclusive online-only content at www.emobility-engineering.com ISSUE 030 | MAR/APR 2025 UK £15 USA $30 EUROPE €22 Attack surface No escape Improving vehicle cybersecurity Options for battery leak testing Meet the electric workhorse that’s redefining construction Diesel defeater 4 Intro | April/May 2025 Sometimes it is stunning quite how fast the world changes. Many UAV projects continue to focus on high speed delivery and integration with air traffic management systems, but the war in Ukraine has taken the industry in a different direction. Military use of UAVs is evolving fast, and the Sensus L on page 108 is a key example of the capabilities that can be brought to bear on the battlefield. More UAV technology was on show at XPONENTIAL Europe (page 98) along with the RigiTech Eiger delivery UAV (page 50), showing how the technology has reached tipping point in commercial and defence applications. Enhanced development of rugged reliability is used when decommissioning nuclear plants, as we discuss with Prof Barry Lennox (page 20) and the evolution of motor controllers on page 88. Lidar laser sensor technology is similarly evolving fast, and we look at the latest developments (page 80) as well as the LOXO delivery van (page 26). Driverless vehicle innovation continues with commercial autonomous shuttles now operating in France and Switzerland. Dependent on regulations, it won’t be long before these and other autonomous systems are a part of everyday life in the air, at sea, and on the ground. Nick Flaherty | Technology Editor Changing times Little big van Profiling a plucky Swiss courier Current events Intelligence and efficiency in motor controllers Lighting the way A new dawn for Lidar Read all back issues online www.uncrewed-systems.com UST 61 : APR/MAY 2025 UK £15, USA $30, EUROPE €22 Deputy Editor Rory Jackson Technology Editor Nick Flaherty Contributor Peter Donaldson Editorial Consultant Ian Bamsey Technical Consultants Paul Weighell Ian Williams-Wynn Dr Donough Wilson Prof James Scanlan Dr David Barrett Design Andrew Metcalfe [email protected] UST Ad Sales Please direct all enquiries to Simon Moss [email protected] Subscriptions Frankie Robins [email protected] Publishing Director Simon Moss [email protected] General Manager Chris Perry Limited space now remaining The medium Our content is accessible online and in print, enabling a global network of engineers to read it however and whenever they choose. 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Read all back issues online www.ust-media.com UST 56 : JUNE/JULY 2024 UK £15, USA $30, EUROPE €22 Big bytes Secure centralised computing engines Golden receivers Antennas for comms and mission success Dynamic duo How Insitu’s ScanEagle and Integrator are staying on top in the age of VTOL The medium The message The means April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology
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6 April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Mission-critical info for uncrewed systems professionals Platform one Dryad in Germany is developing a UAV system that can detect and even extinguish fires before they take hold, writes Nick Flaherty. The company has developed a network of solar-powered gas sensors called Silvanet, linked by a low power, long range mesh wireless link to a series of gateways out in the forest. These gateways then use cellular or even direct satellite links to notify any emerging fire risks. This can identify an emerging forest fire in a matter of minutes. Now Dryad is adding a network of UAVs that can also be installed in the forest, triggered by the sensor network to find and monitor an emerging fire and even extinguish it. The Florian system is a solar-powered wireless charging base, or hangar, for an autonomous UAV equipped with new fire suppression technology. The dual propellor UAV has a wingspan of 91 cm and can carry a payload of 4 kg with a flight time of 60 minutes and a range of 56 km. This determines the spacing of the Florian hangar for the UAV to return autonomously. It uses an event driven camera for obstacle avoidance, with AI for the navigation through the trees. It also carries a thermal imaging camera for fire detection. The acoustic system uses low frequency pulses of infrasound to extinguish small wildfires before they have a chance to spread. Airborne vehicles Solar powered pod for UAV forest fire monitoring A solar-powered hangar will host an UAV to extinguish forest fires (Image courtesy of Dryad Networks)
7 Platform one Uncrewed Systems Technology | April/May 2025 A new low power sensing technique allows a UAV to determine its position, in indoor, dark, and low-visibility environments for autonomous navigation writes Nick Flaherty. The MiFLy system developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) uses millimetre wave radio at 28 GHz reflected by a single tag placed in its environment to autonomously self-localize. Because mifly enables self-localization with only one small tag, which could be affixed to a wall like a sticker, it would be cheaper and easier to implement than systems that require multiple tags. In addition, since the mifly tag reflects signals sent by the UAV, rather than generating its own signal, it can be operated with very low power. Two off-the-shelf radar sensors mounted on the UAV enable it to localize by measuring the reflections from the tag. Those measurements are fused with data from the onboard computer, which enables it to estimate its trajectory. The researchers conducted hundreds of flight experiments with UAVs in indoor environments, and found that mifly consistently localized the drone to within fewer than 7 cm. “As our understanding of perception and computing improves, we often forget about signals that are beyond the visible spectrum. Here, we’ve looked beyond GPS and computer vision to millimeter waves, and by doing so, we’ve opened up new capabilities for drones in indoor environments that were not possible before,” says researcher Fadel Adib, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, director of the Signal Kinetics group in the MIT Media Lab. The team set out to create a system that could work with just one tag, so it would be cheaper and easier to implement in commercial environments. To ensure the device remained low power, they designed a backscatter tag that reflects millimeter wave signals sent by the onboard radar. Using modulation, the team configured the tag to add a small frequency to the signal it scatters back to the UAV. “Now, the reflections from the surrounding environment come back at one frequency, but the reflections from the tag come back at a different frequency. This allows us to separate the responses and just look at the response from the tag,” says Laura Dodds, research assistant. However, with just one tag and one radar, the researchers could only calculate distance measurements and needed multiple signals to compute the location. Instead of more tags, they added a second radar to the UAV, mounting one horizontally and one vertically with horizontal and vertical polarization and different modulation frequencies. Adding polarization into the tag’s antennas isolate the reflection from each radar. This dual-polarization and dualmodulation architecture gives the spatial location. “The UAV rotation adds a lot of ambiguity to the millimeter wave estimates. This is a big problem because UAVs rotate quite a bit as they are flying,” says Dodds. This is overcome by using the data from the onboard inertial measurement unit (IMU) and fusing the data with the millimetre wave signals. As well as the 7 cm accuracy in dark environments, the system was nearly as accurate in situations where the tag was blocked from view, with reliable localization estimates up to 6 m from the tag. Radar Two mmWave radars are used with a single reflective tag for self-localization (Image courtesy of MIT) Millimetre wave radar for UAV localisation
8 A team from the University of Córdoba in Spain is developing an autonomous tractor with three different steering modes, allowing it to drive in straight lines, make turns efficiently, and shift modes in response to its trajectories. The Sergius robot tractor can autonomously perform agricultural tasks in fields of woody crops such as olives. The researchers, with the Rural Mechanization and Technology Group at the University of Córdoba, Sergio Bayano and Rubén Sola, designed the vehicle from the ground up, in collaboration with two companies charged with its mechanical manufacturing and programming. “On the national market, there are some small autonomous vehicles that can be applied to agriculture, but there were none with a tractor’s functionality,” said researcher Rubén Sola. “This vehicle has the same functions as a tractor, but is groundbreaking in that, in addition to being autonomous, it features two independent self-levelling axles with steerable wheels, which makes its control more versatile.” The front or rear steering uses single axle turns; reverse front-rear steering, in which both axles turn, provides a smaller turning radius; and a new hybrid steering system where the front axle turns, and the rear axle also turns, but by half the angle of the front axle. This allows the vehicle to move forward in a straight line but at an angle to improve the trajectory stability in navigation while preserving the versatility of mechanical steering. To evaluate the different modes, the tractor was tested in an intensive olive grove, where it was determined that the inverted mode with the front and rear axles turning in different directions was optimal for completing turns precisely, and the hybrid mode was the most suitable for straight sections. The tractor is able to shift between its different steering modes according to the needs of its manoeuvres. “The technology we have incorporated is necessary for autonomous navigation: two Lidar sensors, one in the rear and one in the front; an inertial unit, which measures acceleration and inclination; a digital compass, to monitor the tractor’s direction; and a high-precision GPS system,” said researcher Sergio Bayano. “All the programming was carried out using the ROS (Robot Operating System) environment, which, being open source, allows other algorithms to be implemented and code to be shared with other research teams.” The vehicle employs a diesel and hydraulic propulsion system as agricultural machinery demands a lot of power and torque. It is controlled via two interfaces, one for the hydraulic system and the robot’s different actuators, and a second for its programming and decision-making. Ground vehicles Dual axle steering for autonomous tractor April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology The Sergius autonomous tractor (Image courtesy of The University of Cordoba)
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10 congatec has shown its heatpipe cooling system for Computer-on-Module (COMs) for the first time, writes Nick Flaherty. The cooling system uses acetone as a working fluid in the heat pipes instead of water to cool processors used in autonomous and conventional vehicles that are exposed to extreme conditions, such as logistics vehicles in ports, airports, and cold stores. This allows COM modules with the latest Intel processors with accelerators for artificial intelligence frameworks to be used in more extreme climatic and mechanical conditions, such as arctic temperatures. Researchers in Asia have developed a new technique with machine learning for controlling ballbots, writes Nick Flaherty. Ballbots are versatile robotic systems with the ability to move around in all directions. This makes it tricky to control their movement. The team in Vietnam and Japan developed the technique that can be combined with machine learning to provide balance and stability. This uses a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller with a non-linear response that, combined with a neural network, can robustly control the ballbot motion. PID controllers are widely used as a feedback-based control loop mechanism to manage machines and processes that require continuous control and automatic adjustment. It is typically used in industrial control systems where constant control through modulation is necessary. The non-linear PID (NPID) is combined with a radial basis function neural network conditions that could not previously be achieved with conventional cooling solutions. Using our application-ready COMs instead of expensive slot or special solutions allows developers to optimize time-to-market while reducing development effort and the overall costs of their applications,” said Jürgen Jungbauer, senior product line manager at congatec. The heatpipe cooling system can be paired with the COM Type6 congaTC675 or conga-TC675r with the Intel Raptor Lake processor, but it can also be used with the COM-HPC Mini and Client form factors as well as COM-HPC Server for robust edge servers. Thermal management Ground vehicles COM module heat pipes for autonomous vehicle controller AI control for ballbots The heatpipe system is a more cost effective approach for cooling COMbased designs than water cooling. Using acetone prevents the thermal transfer medium from freezing at extreme subzero temperatures and prevents damage to the cooling system, the module, and the entire system design and provides operation within a temperature range of -40 to +85 C. Using heatpipes means the cooling system is also insensitive to mechanical stresses such as shock and vibration. “Our acetone-based cooling solution extends module-based designs to include applications under extreme operating (RBFNN) that requires only lightweight computation to provide stability and reduce chattering from the feedback loop, a common problem with ballbots. An adaptive control law is improved continuously using the neural network to handle the real-time estimation of the external force on the ballbot. Through both simulations and realworld experiments, the team showed that the NPID-RBFNN controller outperforms traditional PID and NPID controllers. By minimizing unnecessary movements and chattering, the proposed controller can also reduce energy consumption. “Ballbots with this advanced controller can be used as assistive robots for tasks requiring high mobility and precision. They can also be used as service robots in dynamic settings such as restaurants, hospitals, or airports, offering smooth navigation,” said Dr. Van-Truong Nguyen of Hanoi University of Industry, Vietnam, who led the project. April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology A control system for a ballbot (Image courtesy of Hanoi University of Industry)
Researchers in Florida have developed a hybrid system that combines uncrewed underwater, sea and air vehicles to monitor ice in the Arctic, writes Nick Flaherty. Direct observation of the ice is challenging as satellite sensors have a coarse spatial resolution and cannot detect the fine fractal structures. Deploying crewed ships to the area is also difficult due to extreme weather conditions and obstacles posed by floating broken ice. UAVs and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are hindered by energy constraints that restrict the time they can monitor the ice. To tackle these challenges, researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University have designed an autonomous observation platform that charges and manages many different types of craft for maritime missions. The design is based around a small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) vessel that acts as a docking and charging station for AUVs and UAVs. The SWATH ship is engineered to be stable in the melting ice and operate in a wide range of sea conditions and high winds. It is also designed to be self-sufficient, navigating autonomously and using solar panels and an underwater turbine positioned between its twin hulls to generate and store energy. This ensures continuous mission support even when sailing against ocean currents. Results of the study, published in the journal Applied Ocean Research, show that using the motion of a wind-driven sailboat to generate power from the turbine beneath the SWATH is a feasible way to support long-term Arctic Ocean monitoring missions. This accommodates AUVs of various sizes and uses underwater lighting to guide the AUV into a docking shroud. A screw slide then secures the AUV in place, ensuring it is ready for recharging and data transfer. The docking station is towed several meters behind the SWATH’s stern connected by a robust cable for charging and data transmission. This improves the AUV’s endurance, enhances data collection, and extends its cruising range. Survey instruments in the underwater hulls collect mission-specific data, which is processed onboard and transmitted via satellite, enabling long-term, uncrewed ocean monitoring. The team also developed a formula to estimate the minimum sail area required for varying sizes of SWATH in combination with a wind-driven power system. Surface vessels Hybrid vessel for Arctic Ice “Our proposed autonomous observation platform system offers a comprehensive approach to studying the Arctic environment and monitoring the impact of melting sea ice,” said Prof Tsung-Chow Su, a researcher in the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering. “By providing a self-sustaining platform for continuous data collection, this design supports scientific research, environmental protection and resource management, laying the foundation for year-round monitoring of the Arctic.” The UAVs use high-resolution cameras and sensors for mapping and navigation, while AUVs gather underwater data. The DJI Dock 2 system enables UAVs to autonomously land, recharge and redeploy, while a universal underwater docking system allows AUVs to recharge and transfer data. Platform one 11 Uncrewed Systems Technology | April/May 2025 A twin hull vessel acts as a docking and charging station for autonomous underwater vehicles and UAVs (Image courtesy of Florida Atlantic University)
12 Platform one April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology WaveAerospace has constructed a heavy-lift multirotor capable of highspeed, long-endurance flight in very harsh conditions, including in obstacleladen and GNSS-denied environments at night and in zero visibility. The company has been in active R&D of its portfolio of UAS solutions close to 10 years. Its MULE (Multi-Mission, Utility, Logistics, & Expedition) UAS has gained visibility in recent months through participation in US Military exercises such as Project Convergence. First conceived as a more efficient alternative to the actual mules (equus mulus) currently used for logistics in the Himalayan mountains, the rotorcraft may be configured for both sea level or highaltitude missions. At 3.5 m wide with a MTOW of 250 kg with a 40 kg payload the MULE uses a JP-8 powered APU hybrid power system with silicon-anode batteries to achieve up to four hours of flight, with heavy fuels or liquid propane powering its four electric rotors. The aircraft can function at -17 to 50 C, with cruising airspeeds of 50-70 knots (25-36 m/s, or 91-112 kph). Its fuselage and triple-bladed props have been optimised for aero efficiency giving the body a unique diamond-like shape that generates considerable lift in cruise, which takes some of the liftgeneration burden off the propellers. This ‘full-body aerodynamics’ philosophy extends across the rest of the company’s portfolio, its Falcon II LE being another visible example. “We’ve spent 10 years of research optimising our body, propellers, and powertrain to use less energy; in comparison to nearly any other UAV of equal weight, payload, current draw, and thrust profile, ours will almost certainly plugging in devices (Strauss adds that military generators can weigh as much as ten MULEs, for the same energy and power offering). The MULE’s navigation systems have been optimised to give the flight computer all the necessary information for making optimal decisions. Hence, while GNSS, inertial sensors, a magnetic compass, and air data sensors are installed, understanding that these systems can be rendered imprecise by well-covered sources of inaccuracy drove the installation of a phased radar altimeter as a source of mission-critical guidance data. “Even Lidars and cameras can be hampered by poor-visibility conditions like night, mountain fog, or dust storms; radar on the other hand is fast, precise, and cuts through just about everything, but traditional single-ping radar gives somewhat limited data,” Strauss says. “By using phased array radar and translating its data into a form that the flight computer can digest, we can send our radar ‘pings’ out in a pattern, and measuring the time each one takes to get back. The result is effectively a map of what’s around the aircraft, showing us everything in the direction we’re heading.” Airborne vehicles UAV flies through dust, night and obstacles use less energy to take-off and fly,” says Mark Strauss, CEO of WaveAerospace. “And many don’t realise that electrical losses are the largest source of inefficiency in a rotorcraft next to drag and weight,” Strauss continues. “So we’ve worked to move electricity as efficiently as possible, with minimised copper losses. That extra power can then be used to stabilise the aircraft in bad weather, instead of wasting it as heat or magnetic electrical losses.” The MULE’s endurance and durability are aided on one hand by judicious use of sealed components and joints, which render its airframe IP67-rated, a quality the company validates to us through sharing of army demo footage of successful spool-ups and takeoffs in a severely dusty dry lake bed. Also key is the craft’s drivetrain, which incorporates a battery pack that enables 45 minutes of purely electric flight, as well as an APU for the roughly 40X practical energy gain (once thermal efficiency is accounted for) of heavy fuels and liquid propane over battery energy storage, with the onboard tank storing up to 6 gal (22.7 L) of fuel. When on the ground, the MULE’s APU can also be run as a stationary generator, with accessible ports on the fuselage for The MULE's body is shaped to generate lift in cruise, reducing the energy expenditure needed from its rotors (Image courtesy of WaveAerospace)
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Tests in Japan have shown successful data connection with an autonomous high altitude platform station (HAPS) flying at an altitude of 20km for the first time, writes Nick Flaherty. The trial with Space Compass and NTT DOCOMO connected a 4G LTE base station on the ground with the HAPS at 38 GHz then down to smartphones on the ground in Kenya. The downlink used the S band at 2 GHz that can be received by mobile phones and covered an area with a diameter of 100 km to 200 km. The HAPS system is the Zephyr (see issue 53), which is designed, manufactured and operated by AALTO HAPS, a subsidiary of Airbus Defence and Space. The LTE base station was connected to the ground gateway station, and a non-regenerative relay reflected the radio waves through the communication device mounted on the HAPS flying in the stratosphere, connecting to the 4G device on the ground. This showed a throughput of more than Underwater vehicles have to manage a complex environment of currents, fighting against many flows as they attempt to stay on course, writes Nick Flaherty. Peter Gunnarson and John Dabiri at the California Institute of Technology have designed an underwater robot that makes use of these currents to cut down on the energy needed to travel, “surfing” vortices to make its way to its destination. The project used the Caltech Autonomous Reinforcement Learning (CARL) robot equipped with an onboard inertial measurement unit, ten motors to allow movement in all three axes, and a simple but effective algorithm. plan to launch a commercial service using the Zephyr HAPS in 2026 to provide mobile phone and data coverage in disaster areas as the Zephyr can stay in the air for over two months in trials. Space Compass and NTT DOCOMO are also developing a second connection from the HAPS up to satellites in low earth orbit as part of the radio access network to provide even wider access. The success suggests that a similar technique could be used to allow autonomous vehicles to improve their efficiencies significantly by interacting with background flows. Data links Underwater vehicles Data transmission test on a high Surfing underwater currents to reduce power 4.66 Mbit/s during reception of the radio wave transmitted from the ground gateway station to the 4G device via HAPS. The technology to stabilize the beam to provide the connectivity coverage at a certain position toward a fixed point on the ground from the HAPS rotating in the stratosphere was implemented. Space Compass and NTT DOCOMO If the magnitude of the acceleration in the crossflow-direction exceeded a threshold, CARL would swim in the same direction as the acceleration. The robot was tested in a 1.5 m deep and 5 m long tank, where vortex rings were generated by pulsing a wall-mounted thruster. Using the algorithm, CARL was able to surf the length of the tank using onefifth of the energy as a robot without the same programming. The linear acceleration as sensed by the onboard IMU was found to correspond with the pressure gradient of the background flow, and rotational acceleration is suggested as a method for measuring the vorticity of the vortex ring. An autonomous UAV has relayed mobile phone calls for the first time (Image courtesy of NTT DOCOMO) The trajectory of CARL shown by the white line, surfing vortices (Image courtesy of John O. Dabiri and Peter Gunnarson) Platform one 14 April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology
Wave Aerospace WAVEAEROSPACE Introducing the M.U.L.E contested logistics aircraft. Hybrid JP-8/electric power. Built for operations on land and sea. Seamlessly fused GNSS and inertial guidance. Phased radar altimetry for missions in zero visibility. Magnetically and electrically shielded from emissions and EW attack. Autonomous takeoff, landing, and payload delivery. Able to land on moving ship, even while changing heading. A flying APU that provides up to 20kW when on the ground. We fly, when no one else can. Oculi Semper Aperti Oculi Semper Aperti Introducing the M.U.L.E. contested logistics aircraft. > Hybrid JP-8/electric power. > Built for operations on land and sea. > Seamlessly fused GNSS and inertial guidance. > Phased radar altimetry for missions in zero visibility. > Magnetically and electrically shielded from emissions and EW attack. > Autonomous takeoff, landing, and payload delivery. > Able to land on moving ship, even while changing heading. > A flying APU that provides up to 20kW when on the ground. We fly, when no one else can.
16 Dr Donough Wilson Dr Wilson is innovation lead at aviation, defence, and homeland security innovation consultants, VIVID/ futureVision. His defence innovations include the cockpit vision system that protects military aircrew from asymmetric high-energy laser attack. He was first to propose the automatic tracking and satellite download of airliner black box and cockpit voice recorder data in the event of an airliner’s unplanned excursion from its assigned flight level or track. For his ‘outstanding and practical contribution to the safer operation of aircraft’ he was awarded The Sir James Martin Award 2018/19, by the Honourable Company of Air Pilots. Paul Weighell Paul has been involved with electronics, computer design and programming since 1966. He has worked in the realtime and failsafe data acquisition and automation industry using mainframes, minis, micros and cloud-based hardware on applications as diverse as defence, Siberian gas pipeline control, UK nuclear power, robotics, the Thames Barrier, Formula One and automated financial trading systems. Ian Williams-Wynn Ian has been involved with uncrewed and autonomous systems for more than 20 years. He started his career in the military, working with early prototype uncrewed systems and exploiting imagery from a range of systems from global suppliers. He has also been involved in ground-breaking research including novel power and propulsion systems, sensor technologies, communications, avionics and physical platforms. His experience covers a broad spectrum of domains from space, air, maritime and ground, and in both defence and civil applications including, more recently, connected autonomous cars. Professor James Scanlan Professor Scanlan is the director of the Strategic Research Centre in Autonomous Systems at the University of Southampton, in the UK. He also co-directs the Rolls-Royce University Technical Centre in design at Southampton. He has an interest in design research, and in particular how complex systems (especially aerospace systems) can be optimised. More recently, he established a group at Southampton that undertakes research into uncrewed aircraft systems. He produced the world’s first ‘printed aircraft’, the SULSA, which was flown by the Royal Navy in the Antarctic in 2016. He also led the team that developed the ULTRA platform, the largest UK commercial UAV, which has flown BVLOS extensively in the UK. He is a qualified full-size aircraft pilot and also has UAV flight qualifications. Dr David Barrett Dr David Barrett’s career includes senior positions with companies such as iRobot and Walt Disney Imagineering. He has also held posts with research institutions including the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, MIT and Olin College, where he is now Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, and Principal Investigator for the Olin Intelligent Vehicle Laboratory. He also serves in an advisory capacity on the boards of several robotics companies. Uncrewed Systems Technology’s consultants Vaisala Xweather and NIRA Dynamics have developed a dataset that combines weather forecasting and computer vision with real-time data, writes Nick Flaherty. The integration draws on data from NIRA Dynamics from billions of data points gathered from connected vehicles. This is paired with Vaisala Xweather’s machine-learning road-weather forecasting models, which achieve accuracy levels that are 50% higher than those of publicly available forecasts. Autonomous driving will become increasingly dependent on accurate, real-time weather and road condition data. Automated driving functions are currently disconnected based on crude weather and roadcondition estimations, such as a temperature drop to under 4 C or a change in tyre rolling resistance. Real-time data from connected vehicles on tyre grip, road friction, surface quality and weather conditions are combined with weather forecasts to give an aggregated dataset. This is then used with computer-vision algorithms to assess road conditions to optimise maintenance efforts such as minimising winter road salt. Driverless vehicles April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Driving dataset combines weather and road conditions Improving driverless car safety (Image courtesy of NIRA)
Platform one A robot can cover diverse environments as adeptly as animals by changing form on the fly, writes Nick Flaherty. The GOAT (Good Over All Terrains) developed at the CREATE lab at EPFL in Switzerland can spontaneously morph between a flat ‘rover’ shape and a sphere as it moves. This allows it to switch between driving, rolling, and even swimming, consuming less energy than a robot with limbs or appendages. “While most robots compute the shortest path from A to B, GOAT considers the travel modality as well as the path to be taken,” said researcher Josie Hughes at EPFL. “For example, instead of going around an obstacle like a stream, GOAT can swim straight through. If its path is hilly, it can passively roll downhill as a sphere to save both time and energy, and then actively drive as a rover when rolling is no longer beneficial.” The robot’s frame is made of two intersecting elastic fiberglass rods, with four motorised rimless wheels. Two winch-driven cables change the frame’s configuration, ultimately shortening like tendons to draw it tightly into a ball. The battery, onboard computer, and sensors are contained in a payload weighing up to 2 kg suspended in the centre of the frame, where it is well protected. This payload includes the power electronics, the electric winches, tendon lengths and morphological state to close the feedback control loop. “Most robots that navigate extreme terrain have lots of sensors to determine the state of each motor, but thanks to its ability to leverage its own compliance, GOAT doesn’t need complex sensing,” says research assistant Max Polzin. Future research avenues include improved algorithms to help exploit the morphing as well as scaling GOAT’s design up and down to accommodate different payloads. Looking ahead, the researchers see many potential applications for their device. “Robots like GOAT could be deployed quickly into uncharted terrain with minimal perception and planning systems, allowing them to turn environmental challenges into computational assets,” says Hughes. Ground vehicles Morphing robot covers more ground all sensors, and processing units. Only the wheel motors are mounted to the frame. GOAT also navigates with minimal sensing equipment, using only a satellite navigation system and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). All the sensors communicate via I2C to the central processing unit, a Raspberry Pi 5 and all motors are directly powered from three lightweight lithium polymer battery cells in series. The robot can be remotely controlled through a ground station computer connected via WiFI or a 3G connection. A cascaded control scheme enables the active reconfiguration of the robot’s shape. The morphological trajectory controller computes the tendon lengths to change the structure, and sends the signals to the winches. Sensor measurements enable estimating the The GOAT robot can change form a rover to a sphere (Image courtesy of EPFL) Is your job search lacking focus? Frustrated at looking for autonomous and robotics related engineering vacancies on generic job boards? Visit www.uncrewedengineeringjobs.com for a clearer view of what’s on offer.
18 Platform one Uncrewed Systems Technology diary Ocean Business Tuesday 8 April – Thursday 10 April Southampton, UK www.oceanbusiness.com ICA Summit Tuesday 8 April – Wednesday 9 April Frankfurt, Germany www.ica-summit.com Geo Connect Asia Wednesday 9 April – Thursday 10 April Singapore www.geoconnectasia.com Drones & Uncrewed Asia Wednesday 9 April – Thursday 10 April Singapore www.dronesasia.com Marine & Hydro Asia Wednesday 9 April – Thursday 10 April Singapore www.geoconnectasia.com/marine-hydro-asia AERO Friedrichshafen Wednesday 9 April – Friday 12 April Friedrichshafen, Germany www.aero-expo.com Geospatial World Forum Tuesday 22 April – Friday 25 April Madrid, Spain www.geospatialworldforum.org/2025/index.php Special Operations Forces (SOF) Week Monday 5 May – Thursday 8 May Tampa, USA www.sofweek.org Future Mobility Asia Wednesday 7 May – Friday 9 May Bangkok, Thailand www.future-mobility.asia Uncrewed Maritime Systems Technology Thursday 8 May – Friday 9 May Wokingham, UK www.smgconferences.com/defence/uk/conference/ Unmanned-Maritime-Systems XPONENTIAL Monday 19 May – Thursday 22 May Houston, USA www.xponential.org ADAS and Autonomous Vehicle Technology Expo Tuesday 20 May – Wednesday 22 May Stuttgart, Germany www.autonomousvehicletechnologyexpo.com DSEI Japan Wednesday 21 May – Friday 23 May Chiba, Japan www.dsei-japan.com Japan Drone Wednesday 4 June – Friday 6 June Chiba, Japan ssl.japan-drone.com/en_la/index.html Seawork Tuesday 10 June – Thursday 12 June Southampton, UK www.seawork.com Paris Airshow Monday 16 June – Sunday 22 June Pairs, France www.siae.fr Energy Drone & Robotics Summit Monday 16 June – Wednesday 18 June Houston, USA www.edrcoalition.com Critical Communications World Tuesday 17 June – Thursday 19 June Brussels, Belgium www.critical-communications-world.com MOVE Wednesday 18 June – Thursday 19 June London, UK www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/move/index.stm International Drone Show Wednesday 18 June – Thursday 19 June Odense, Denmark www.internationaldroneshow.com April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology
Mobility Live Middle East Tuesday 24 June – Wednesday 25 June Dubai, UAE www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/mobility-live-me/index.stm Drone International Expo Thursday 31 July – Friday 1 August New Delhi, India www.droneinternationalexpo.com Commercial UAV Expo Americas Tuesday 2 September – Thursday 4 September Las Vegas, USA www.expouav.com DSEI Tuesday 9 September – Friday 12 September London, UK www.dsei.co.uk DroneX Tuesday 30 September – Wednesday 1 October London, UK www.dronexpo.co.uk INTERGEO Monday 7 October – Wednesday 9 October Frankfurt, Germany www.intergeo.de UAS Summit and Expo Tuesday 14 October – Wednesday 15 October Grand Forks, USA uas.bbiconferences.com Counter UAS Technology USA Monday 1 December – Wednesday 3 December Washington, USA www.smgconferences.com/defence/northamerica/ conference/counter-uas-tech Egypt Defence Expo Monday 1 December – Thursday 4 December New Cairo, Egypt www.egyptdefenceexpo.com International WorkBoat Show Wednesday 3 December – Friday 5 December New Orleans, USA www.workboatshow.com 19 Uncrewed Systems Technology | April/May 2025 The biennial salon international de l’aéronautique et de l’espace (SIAE), or just the Paris Air Show to English speakers, returns in mid-June this year for its 55th edition. The event is to consist of four trade days running from the 16th to the 19th, followed by three open, public days from the 20th to the 22nd. With around 130,000 trade visitors having come from 169 countries to see the 2023 edition of the event, the 2025 show is expected to be bigger than ever, with around 2500 exhibitors from 50 countries and 30 international pavilions (as well as hundreds of crewed and uncrewed aircraft static displays) expected to feature throughout the Paris-Le Bourget Airport. These exhibitors will showcase a storm of their latest innovations and product updates, including aircraft, components, treatments, software and more. As a multi-market, multi-domain exhibition, those innovations will be aimed at integrators and operators in civil, defence and space industries. The latter of those will have a special home at the show’s Paris Space Hub section, where the latest NewSpace research and technologies will be shared throughout a B2B floor dedicated to understanding the latest opportunities in space-based exploration, observation, logistics and more. There, public and private sector organisations can share the latest in propulsion, connectivity, sensing, and durability for missions in orbit or beyond. Additional spaces dedicated to air transport and start-ups (300 start-ups having exhibited and presented at the 2023 edition of the show) will unearth new innovations centred around AI, digitalisation, sustainability, cybersecurity, and quantum technologies, as well as new mobility solutions quite unlike conventional aircraft. For those interested, attendance can be registered and tickets purchased at www.siae.fr/en/trade-visitors Under the sky of Paris Industry
20 Decommissioning nuclear power plants is an immense task. The estimate for the Sellafield facility in Cumbria is £136 billion over more than a century. During the last 14 years, Barry Lennox, professor of applied control at the University of Manchester, has dedicated himself to developing robots that can save users time and money while reducing risk. Lennox was born in 1969 on the Wirral Peninsular across the River Mersey from Liverpool – close to the home ground of Tranmere Rovers football team, which he is still tribally obliged to support. While most of Lennox’s secondary school years were spent at the local Neston Comprehensive, between the ages of 11 and 13 he lived in the Shetland Islands (“great fun”), north of Scotland, as his father worked in the oil industry. Computerised guidance A mathematics teacher, Mr Dawson nurtured Lennox’s enthusiasm for the subject, which dovetailed with his passion for the emerging personal computers. Later, it was a larger computer, which the local council brought to the school in a van, that helped him choose a career path. “You entered the subjects that you liked and the grades you were getting into the computer, and it suggested what you should do,” Lennox recalls. The computer suggested chemical engineering, and he chose Newcastle University because it was satisfyingly far away from home while still in the north of England. A year spent travelling followed graduation, after which he took a job with a construction engineering company. He didn’t enjoy it and returned to education, pursuing a PhD in control systems, offered to him by Gary Montague, one of his former lecturers at Newcastle. Lennox earned his doctorate in 1996. Control systems expert Barry Lennox guides Peter Donaldson through his role in developing robots that make nuclear decommissioning safer and cheaper Rad-hard robotics April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Developed by the University of Manchester in co-operation with Forth Engineering, AVEXIS was deployed to inspect the Magnox swarf storage silos at Sellafield, and at Fukushima where it inspected submerged reactors with radiological and sonar sensors (Image courtesy of the University of Manchester)
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