Uncrewed Systems Technology 054 February/March 2024
- Intro - Remote driving, 4D imaging radar and machine-learning tech are making huge advances, but are they still too power-hungry?
- Platform one: Mission-critical info - Japanese researchers create a low-cost UAV for close-up transmission line inspections, a penny sized robot shows the power of small, a radar system protects cars in a cocoon, a Korean sensor detects 3D objects on the road, and the US tackles radio-frequency interference with silicon photonics
- In conversation: Angelo Corsaro - How ZettaScale’s Zenoh protocol is taking off in the robotics world by slashing the energy required for data transfer
- Dossier: uWare’s uOne UUV - This autonomous submersible can replicate the functions of multi-rotor air vehicles underwater, hoving with the same agility and using visual navigation to survey the marine environment
- Focus: Radio and telemetry - New systems are boosting the performance of UAVs, linking multiple platforms and taking them further on less energy
- In operation: Rheinmetall - Intelligent ground vehicles can travel where crewed missions cannot go safely, implementing medical evacuations in complex or dangerous terrain with lower risk to life
- Insight: UUVs - Underwater uncrewed vehicles are taking exploration to greater depths, with missions often lasting months at a time
- Dossier: DeltaHawk DHK180 - Why this compression-ignition two-stroke engine has been 27 years in the making, achieving FAA Type Certification
- Focus: IMUs, gyros and accelerometers - Today’s navigation systems are breaking away from their dependence on GNSS, and mixing inertial data with visual, radar, laser, acoustic and other sensor feeds
- In operation: Skygauge - One firm is addressing the danger to humans working at height by enabling remote ultrasonic inspections of tall structures
- Show report: CES - Exhibitors present their latest tech, focused on innovation, AI, mobility and sustainability, under the dazzling lights of Las Vegas
- In operation: Blueflite - Rugged vehicles Slate and Cobalt promise reliability and durability in delivering packages anywhere, in any weather
- PS: Hypersonic flight - As air vehicles hit previously undreamed-of speeds, proper thermal management is crucial to keep their mechanisms cool