Unmanned Systems Technology - December/January 2018

• Intro - Driverless vehicles are proving safe and reliable, meaning they could be on our roads sooner than you think 
• Platform one: Mission-critical info - Navya sets debut for autonomous taxis on public roads, Rolls- Royce looks to add autonomy to ROVs, Olaeris to offer multiple bonded comms with its VTOL UAV, and more 
• In conversation: Julian Hasinski - Philosophy plays a key part in the Raytheon UK technical director’s approach to engineering, which he explains here 
• Dossier: AAC HAMR UAV - The development story behind this hybrid multicopter, which has been designed to pave the way for a more advanced system 
• Focus: Autopilots - How the growing autonomy of unmanned systems, and changes to UAV regulations, will influence autopilot development 
• Insight: Airborne surveillance - It’s not all about military innovations in this sector – the commercial realm is making strides too 
• Dossier: Primoco 500 two-stroke - Looking to build a UAV power plant designed to be fully integrated with the rest of the craft? Here’s an object lesson in doing exactly that 
• Digest: Faro ScanBot UGV - Details of this scanning platform and its novel scissor lift, which has been built to automatically create detailed 3D models of the inside and outside of large buildings 
• Focus: Transponders - The engineering and regulatory issues surrounding transponder systems, which are essential if UAVs are to be able to operate in busy airspaces 
• Show reports: Intergeo, CUAV Expo and CUAV Show - Our round-up of some notable announcements from these shows in Europe and the USA 
• PS: Searching for submarines - The tragic loss of the Argentine Navy’s San Juan submarine in November 2017 in the South Atlantic illustrates just how much underwater search-and-rescue systems still have to develop