outages. If the terrain below a mission area is pre-mapped, the visual navigation system can achieve 5 m positioning accuracy (with no drift). Even without pre-mapping, the system maintains positioning performance, thereby ensuring safe and stable navigation. “The current visual navigation hardware is built around an FPGA, and we have full control over both hardware and software to optimise the performance to the specific application and to generate all the certificationcritical data,” Espuch added. Lastly, the company also discussed its Veronte Extender with us, which is designed to communicate with the Veronte autopilot via CAN bus (be it a single or dual-redundant link), and then connect to peripheral devices via PWM, serial, I2C and other interfaces. “That allows end-integrators to greatly increase the number of ports connecting to their autopilot across their flight control networks, or optimise the number and lengths of wires across their aircraft with respect to signal integrity, or to isolate failures in non-critical peripherals from the main CAN bus,” Espuch explained. Intelligent Energy spoke with us about the latest integration capabilities of its IE-SOAR 800W fuel cell, showing us the integration of that fuel cell into the nose cone of Aurora Flight Sciences’ Skiron-XLE UAV. “The IE-SOAR 800W is typically aimed at fixed-wing, STOL and VTOLtransitioning integrations, like the Skiron-XLE, and also Zepher Flight Labs’ Z1 drone [featured in Issue 36], both of which are Group 2 UAVs,” said Andy Kelly from Intelligent Energy. “To make the fuel cell easier to integrate into the Skiron-XLE, we split the fuel cell stack module from the power electronics – one solid brick makes for a good turnkey product but it’s harder to fit into narrower fuselages – and the separated subsystems can be mounted as the end-user likes.” The company’s fuel cell systems also come with varying hybridisation options to cater for how weight, energy storage, voltage buses, charge rate, data tracking and other requirements of different uncrewed vehicles and missions can change. Silvus Technologies spoke to us about its SL5200 MANET radio OEM module, which since its release late last year has become the radio of choice onboard Quantum Systems’ new Twister short-range, reconnaissance, backpackable eVTOL UAV. “Quantum Systems tested our SL5200 against many other radios on the market, and found it delivered the highest throughput and longest effective range. It’s also natively compatible with all StreamCaster radios, thanks to our common MN-MIMO waveform – allowing the UAV to seamlessly act as a comms relay for ground forces, vehicles, and other airborne platforms,” said Brad Carraway at Silvus. “The SL5200 is Silvus’ most miniaturised MANET radio to date, featuring an I/O board designed for easy integration of USB, Ethernet and RS232. This makes it plug-and-play compatible for small form factor UAVs.” Developing and SWaP-optimising the SL5200 took extensive iteration (including the product team “throwing out” the first board it produced due to falling short of requirements on speed, power, and thermal management). A key deciding factor for Quantum was the SL5200’s lower thermal signature compared to the predecessor SL4200, despite the SL5200 being smaller and more densely packed than the SL4200. “We’re also gaining more and more traction for Silvus’ Spectrum Dominance suite of EW resilient capabilities, which includes LPI/ LPD [Low Probability of Intercept/ Low Probability of Detection] and Anti-Jamming capabilities. Together, these enable StreamCaster radios and MN-MIMO waveform to thrive in RF-congested and EW-contested environments without sacrificing performance,” Carraway said. “SL5200 can take all of those features onboard as a software license, so that operators can be confident that their uncrewed vehicles will stand up against electronic attacks from any kind of adversary and in any operational environment.” 113 Uncrewed Systems Technology | August/September 2025 AUVSI Xponential part one | Show report Embention’s Vision Based Navigation (VBN) system integrates a downward-facing camera to georeference the aircraft’s position
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