UAV’s require several systems to keep them in the air and allow them to complete their mission. I have been working in the UAV business over 15 years mainly supporting propulsion systems but in the last 10 years I have expanded my business to include other systems. My focus for UAV Propulsion Tech, is to find the best UAV solution providers outside of the US and offer their solutions into the US and global UAV market. I thought I would summarize these solutions in this months blog.
Propulsion- This is what keeps the UAV in the air but also provides electrical power to the air vehicle and payload via a generator. It also can include an engine mount which is critical to minimize vibration transmission to the payload which can cause camera issues. It also typically has an engine management system that interfaces with the flight computer to monitor engine health (like cylinder head temp, exhaust gas temp, throttle position, manifold air pressure, and can also calculate fuel consumption). The propeller is tested with the engine (and sometimes supplied) but is usually specified by the UAV manufacturer’s aerospace engineers. The propeller can be direct driven from the engine or utilize a propeller speed reduction system (either belt or gear) to allow the UAV to utilize a larger propeller spinning at a lower speed. This decreases noise and increases thrust.
UAV Propulsion Tech provides propulsion solutions from Suter Industries/CAE GmbH (Turbenthal, Switzerland) and ePropelled (Wales/USA) and previously provided engine solutions from Orbital UAV and Hirth.
Suter Industries AG produces UAV engines that were co-developed with Compass Aircraft Europe GmbH (CAE GmbH). Since 2002 Suter has applied their expertise gained from the motorcycle racing market to develop products for other markets including automotive, aerospace and defense. The Suter/CAE collaboration and development of UAV engines is one of the new products coming out of Suter Industries. CAE GmbH is lead by Dietrich Kehe who is a mechanical engineer with over 24 years’ experience in manned and unmanned 2-stroke aircraft engines. CAE GmbH teamed with Suter Industries to be the development and production partner to bring a new line of advanced UAV engines from 5kW to 50kW to the global market. All engines are produced in Switzerland.
You can find out more by visiting my Suter/CAE page: https://uavpropulsiontech.com/suter-industries/
ePropelled is located in Cardiff, Wales-UK and is a leader in magnetic engineering innovations that dramatically improves electric motor and generator efficiency for aviation, aerospace and electric vehicle applications. For UAV’s, this means high efficiency motors for propulsion or starter/generator solutions for UAV engines.
You can find out more by visiting my ePropelled page at http://www.uavpropulsiontech.com/motors
Fuel/Engine Sensors- A key component of the fuel delivery module is the fuel level sensor. I started representing Reventec, Ltd. out of the United Kingdom in July 2017 and offer their capacitive liquid level sensors, fuel flow sensors as well as engine sensors (throttle, temperature, speed). The company was established in 2013 by Neville Meech, an experienced and internationally recognized design engineer. Having previously led the Motorsport design activities for a UK sensor company, Meech brings a vast amount of experience working with some of the most recognized race teams and sports car manufacturers in the world, predominantly within Formula 1®, ELMS/IMSA, WEC and IndyCar. Reventec now has a rapidly growing design team, combining a huge range of mechanical and electronic design expertise. Reventec are primarily involved in the development of products for use in harsh environments, with particular experience in the design of products for military vehicles, unmanned aircraft, race cars, industrial machines, specialist vehicles and equipment.
You can find out more by visiting my Reventec page at: http://uavpropulsiontech.com/reventec-liquid-level-sensors-engine-throttletempspeed-sensors/
Navigation-Autopilots-The autopilot is a critical system of a UAV and is responsible for controlling the flight of the UAV. It ties into several UAV systems to enable autonomous or remote piloted flight. The autopilot links to a ground control station (GCS) via a radio modem and the GCS is used to develop waypoints for the flight plan and monitor operation. UAV Propulsion Tech provides autopilot solutions from MicroPilot (Canada). MicroPilot has been providing professional autopilots for the UAV market for over 20 years and has systems flying all over the world. Their autopilot solutions include board mount (weighs only 28g), enclosed (includes redundant long range communication data link) or triple redundant (3 autopilots for ultimate reliability). These solutions have been developed for fixed wing, multi-copter, and helicopter applications. MicroPilot’s autopilots are not open source but they do offer XTender which is a software developers kit to enable customization. This allows the UAV customer a way to differentiate their UAV from their competitors. MicroPilot’s True Hardware-in-Loop simulator offers UAV integrators and researchers the highest fidelity autopilot simulation available on the market today.
You can find out more by visiting my MicroPilot page at www.uavpropulsiontech.com/micropilot
Navigation-INS/Compass: An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation aid that uses a computer, accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers to calculate by dead reckoning the position, orientation and velocity of a moving object without the need for external sources (like GPS). UAV Propulsion Tech provides INS and Galileo digital magnetic compass solutions from Aeron Systems (India). These solutions can be used on ships, aircraft or ground vehicles.
You can find out more by visiting my Aeron Systems page at http://uavpropulsiontech.com/aeron-systems/
Parachutes – Parachutes can be used in a UAV as a means of recovery (instead of a net or runway) or as a means of rescue in case of a system failure. Most are used for rescue situations to save the air vehicle and payload assets. The challenge is always trying to find space for a parachute and deal with the added weight. UAV Propulsion Tech provides parachute solutions from Skygraphics (Germany) and ballistic parachute solutions from ParaZero (Israel). Both companies parachutes provide a lightweight/compact solution over other products on the market. They are currently being utilized by several UAV companies. These parachute solutions cover fixed wing, multicopter and transitional VTOL applications up to 200kg MTOW.
You can find out more by visiting my Skygraphics page at www.uavpropulsiontech.com/skygraphics
Servos-Another critical component for UAV’s are servos. Servos are used to move control surfaces (like rudder, ailerons, flaps, etc.), control the engine throttle and sometimes used to trigger certain options (like a compartment door for a parachute). UAV Propulsion Tech provides servo solutions from Volz (Germany). Volz has been designing/producing high end servos since 1983 and are flying on several UAV’s including Aerosonde MK4.7, Northrop Bat, Schiebel Camcopter, Airbus target drones, Lockheed Martin Fury and several others. They provide a complete range of servos from DA15 (15mm) to DA30 (30mm) and are now offering redundant and OPV (optionally piloted vehicle) variants of their larger DA26 and DA30 servos (including the new DA30HT).
They also have throttle servos that can be mounted directly to the engine throttle and can withstand the vibration because of their brushless motor and contactless sensor design.
You can find out more by visiting my Volz page at www.uavpropulsiontech.com/volz
Fuel Systems-Another critical system in a UAV is the fuel delivery module. This would typically include a fuel tank, fuel pump, and fuel level sensor. The operation of the UAV can impact delivery of fuel to the engine which can cause fuel starvation and engine stall. Critical events can include launch, altitude pressure changes, and flight maneuvers (pitch/yaw). The fuel delivery module also has to provide a means to minimize slosh effects and provide filtered fuel to the engine.
UAV Propulsion Tech also represents Fuel Safe (a US fuel system supplier) and can supply turnkey bladder or molded fuel tank solutions for UAV applications. These can include fuel pumps, filters, fuel pressure regulators, fittings, fuel level sensors, etc. You can find out more by visiting my Fuel Systems page – http://uavpropulsiontech.com/fuel-systems/.
MISC UAV SOLUTIONS:
Launchers/Parachute release mechanisms: Another key system that I can provide for small fixed wing UAV’s is a pneumatic launcher from Eli Airborne Systems out of Estonia. This UAV pneumatic launcher has been developed to accelerate UAV-s and other aircraft with MTOW up to 40 kg and launch them at speeds up to 25m/s. The launcher is light-weight, battery-operated and is quickly assembled. The system is easily portable in two special rugged cases. Custom carriage rods can be designed based on clients UAV specifications. Eli Airborne Solutions is a leading developer of military solutions. They also produce a parachute release mechanism that automatically separates the parachute from the UAV when the UAV is on the ground to protect the wind from dragging the air vehicle and causing damage.
You can find out more by visiting my Eli pages: Launcher – http://uavpropulsiontech.com/Eli Airborne Systems
Propellers: Another critical component to keep your UAV in the air is the propeller. Mejzlik Propellers s.r.o. out of Brno, Czech Republic provides COTS and customer propeller solutions. Mejzlik Propellers has been designing/producing high quality carbon fiber propeller solutions since 1974. They are not just another propeller manufacturer, they partner with their customers to achieve performance, reliability and safety requirements. Mejzlik Propellers is a leader in providing solutions to the UAV market and provides simulation, design, manufacture and testing services for their propeller customers.
You can learn more about these solutions by visiting my Mejzlik page at: https://uavpropulsiontech.com/mejzlik-propellers/
Fuel Cells: H3 Dynamics (Austin, TX) is a leading enterprise in Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology for Aerospace, Military, Defense, and Commercial applications. Over the past 10 years, H3 Dynamics has been developing and delivering high performance and lightweight Integrated Hydrogen Fuel Cell Systems all over the world. H3 Dynamics provides gaseous/liquid/solid fuel cell solutions, hydrogen filling solutions, and a hydrogen multicopter solution.
You can find out more by visiting my H3 Dynamics page at: http://uavpropulsiontech.com/H3Dynamics/
Aviation Transponders: Aerobits (Szczecin, Poland) Aerobits is a Polish technology company that has been operating on a global market since 2017 developing avionic systems such as aviation transponders. All solutions are based on a patented technology that processes radio signals on very small surfaces. This concept is at the core of our OEM modules (low-level assembly function modules), which are the basic building block of miniaturized avionics. https://uavpropulsiontech.com/aerobits/
Gyro-stabilized EO/IR Gimbals: MERIO is located in Saint-Restitut, France and designs and produces a range of gyrostabilized gimbals as well as image acquisition and processing solutions. The TEMIS range, which started development in 2016, represents Merio know-how in terms of low SWaP, integration of high quality sensors to achieve high performance observation capability. TEMIS solutions range from less than 300g up to 5kgs and provides adapted solutions for drones, tactical drones, light aircraft, helicopters, and aerostats. These gimbals can also be integrated on ground or naval systems. MERIO offers also video acquisition and processing with on-board modules and software for real-time image processing, with target detection and tracking and mapping functions (geo localisation, geo tracking). https://uavpropulsiontech.com/gimbals/
UAV Propulsion Tech is unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hardware solution provider of propulsion, servo, autopilot, rescue/recovery parachutes, pneumatic launchers, fuel flow/level sensors, MEMS-INS-GPS, fuel cells, motors/generators, RemoteID/ADS-B & gyro-stabilized EO/IR gimbal solutions.
