Uncrewed Systems Technology 059 December/January 2025

• Intro - Safety is becoming an increasingly high-profile challenge that experts, manufacturers and designers are seeking to meet
• Platform one: Mission-critical info - Wave detectors for safety at sea, an underwater sampler that can retrieve data 2500 m below surface, AI-powered software for automating UAV survey behaviours, high-speed voltage regulators, a gyro’s mission to Mars, enhanced MANET radios for lightweight UAVs, and robots servicing satellites in orbit
• In conversation: Pam Oakes - The founder of autoINENG.co provides expertise in ADAS sensor technology to workshops and technicians, but she started out as a newspaper journalist, fixing her colleagues’ cars on the side
• Dossier: ACC Thunder Wasp UAV - After over 100 test-flight hours, a quadrotor using a gas turbine engine to lift very heavy payloads is set to enter series production
• Focus: Embedded computing tech - The drive to reduce size, weight and power in autonomous systems must now also consider AI and machine learning
• Digest: SeaTrac SP-48 USV - Two friends who met at MIT had a goal of developing a simple, solar-charged boat and they’ve come a long way since
• Show report: Intergeo - The myriad innovations displayed in Intergeo’s trio of expo halls
• Engine dossier: UAVE 120 cc four-stroke - We look at the DS120, a unique single-cylinder, spark- ignited engine, the result of 15 years of optimisation from UAVE, and which powers the company’s Prion Mk.3 (AKA Dragon) UAVs
• Insight: Uncrewed platform development funding - A wealth of competitions and calls for proposals invite innovators to put forward their ideas for new uncrewed systems
• Focus: Launch & recovery - External equipment like catapults enable UAV airframe designers to omit lift motors and tiltrotors, reducing maintenance
• In operation: Magazino logistics UGV - SOTO, an autonomous robot, is transporting materials around factory floors, providing ergonomic relief for industrial workers
• Show report: DroneX - An array of companies showed off their new designs, products and services at this year’s event at the ExCeL
• In operation: Knightscope K5 robot - Now in its fifth generation, the K5 ASR is a pioneering venture in autonomous security to defend public safety, but the company behind it has no plans to turn it into an armed ‘RoboCop’
• PS: L-DRIC and Firestorm - A look at a UK military initiative and a concept for a high-volume, distributed manufacturing system for UAVs and spares