significant flexibility. “As long as the payload communicates over Ethernet, integration is straightforward,” he says. The platform also supplies various voltages (28, 24, 12 and 5 V) over Ethernet lines, with additional support for serial and Controller Area Network (CAN) bus interfaces. VTOL hot swaps The other key element of the propulsion system is the hot-swappable VTOL capability, so called because the entire system is designed for seamless reconfiguration in the field. Configured for fixed-wing only flight, the aircraft has all the essential avionics, flight computers and control logic for both modes of flight, including launch and recovery, integrated into the fuselage. All that is missing for VTOL flight is the arms, which house everything needed for vertical flight: propellers, motors, speed controllers, and batteries – so all the energy for vertical flight is stored in the arms. When the operator attaches them, the flight control computer recognises that they are connected and automatically enables the VTOL modes, while removing them prompts the computer to revert to pure fixed-wing flight control logic, with no manual recalibration required, Nunes explains. The system is truly modular in that the wings are built in three sections, namely the central section and the two outer sections. To install the VTOL modules, the operator simply detaches each outer wing section from the centre section, slots each module into its place, and finally reattaches each outer section to the mounting point on the outer side of each VTOL module. The entire modification process can be carried out while the aircraft is powered up. The wing centre section module is rapidly swappable in its own right, and made that way to house the aircraft’s communications suite so that it can be rapidly reconfigured between missions. If there is a need to swap satcom systems between satcom and line-of-sight ratios, or between Silvus and Persistent lineof-sight radios, for example, all that is necessary is to change the wing centre section, regardless of whether the mission uses VTOL. Mendes stresses that the difference in endurance between the VTOL and fixed-wing-only configurations is highly significant. “As much as we like the simplicity of just taking off vertically, going to do the mission, coming back and landing, sometimes we really need the extreme endurance,” he says. “With full capable payload, we are at 12 hours in the VTOL configuration; without VTOL, we are past 18 hours,” he notes, emphasising that these are real operational numbers, not lab numbers. In both cases, these figures refer to aircraft that are optimised for operational capability with significant sensor suites, not machines cleaned up to stretch their endurance. “If we were talking about a configuration optimised for endurance, we would be beyond 22 hours in a nonVTOL configuration, which can be very useful for a relay mission.” Tekever AR3 | Dossier Technicians install the recovery parachute under the AR3 Evolution’s belly. In an emergency parachute recovery, the UAV comes down on its back to protect expensive payloads FITS EVERY APPLICATION. volz-servos.com Reliability for progress VOLZ Servos – the most reliable and powerful servo solution, made for uncrewed and autonomous systems. DA 58-D DA 14-N
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