Global Positioning News

Tag: UAVOS

  • UAVOS and King Abdulaziz City collaborate on flight control system

    UAVOS and King Abdulaziz City collaborate on flight control system

    Photo: UAVOS
    Photo: UAVOS

    UAVOS company is collaborating with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Saudi Arabia, on scientific research and development of a new Flight Control System (FCS). The FCS is designed to fit and leverage multi-mission, multi-domain UAV platforms.

    Together, the research and development (R&D) partners have created a Saker-1B Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAS (unmanned aerial system). The specifications of the UAV system has been confirmed by more than 500 hours of day and night test missions under various weather conditions.

    A total of 1,000 hours of take-off and landing test missions were successfully performed, with the long-endurance flights lasting up to 19 hours. The UAV is equipped with a satellite communication data link for beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operation.

    Watch the Saker-1B in action:

    UAVOS and KACST have been jointly developing Flight Control System capability for UAS for 10 years. R&D partners have completed performing the flight tests of their UAS in Saudi Arabia to verify easy and fully autonomous online and offline operation of the unmanned aircraft from takeoff to landing.

    These test missions followed various other successful operational exercises performed in the last few months. The Saker-1B MALE UAS has been proven to operate in harsh desert with long-endurance, high-altitude and high-speed flights. High performance of satellite data link for command and control was demonstrated.

    Due to availability of the current UAVOS autopilot technology, the UAS received sustainability to jamming attacks and advanced data security.

    The Saker-1B performed a series of heavy weight landing tests with the maximum weight (MTOW) 2,500 pounds (1,100 kilograms). A number of different payloads were tested in surveillance experimental missions to confirm overall system performance and its readiness for real applications.

    The UAS uses a direct radio link when flying within line of sight, switching seamlessly to a satellite link when flying BVLOS.

    The Saker-1B MALE is an advanced unmanned aerial system with fully autonomous operation capability. It is equipped with automatic taxi-takeoff and landing systems, satellite communication for extended range, and fully redundant avionics.

    The UAV is designed to operate in harsh environments and is adapted to perform in an extremely hostile, dry and dusty ambient air. The UAS is capable of flying for more than 19 hours at an altitude of up to 16,500 feet (5000 м) with a range 1600 miles (2600 km).

    “We’re excited to work with KACST, a world-class organization in science and technology, fostering innovation and promoting a knowledge-based society in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said UAVOS CEO and Lead Developer Aliaksei Stratsilatau. “Our ultimate goal of the scientific research and development partnership is to make UAV technologies, which can turn vision into the UAV of tomorrow. For 10 years in partnering with KACST, we hold to a singular and enduring mission: to make breakthrough technologies for the unmanned system industry,”Aliaksei Stratsilatau added.

  • Robinson helicopter converted for UAV precision farming

    Robinson helicopter converted for UAV precision farming

    UAVOS has added the R22-UV unmanned helicopter to its agriculture unmanned aircraft portfolio for spraying for diseases, weed and pest control, and vegetation control.

    The R22-UV is a manned Robinson-22 helicopter converted by UAVOS to an unmanned aircraft. (Photo: UAVOS)
    The R22-UV is a manned Robinson-22 helicopter converted by UAVOS to an unmanned aircraft. (Photo: UAVOS)

    The Agro-Drone R22-UV is equipped with a specially developed utility to deliver liquid chemicals — the spray system Simplex model 222.

    The R22-UV drone is provided with a 100-liter tank for chemicals and can stay airborne for two hours. Weight of the system is 42 kilograms, boom span is 7 meters, and swath width is 14 to 16 meters.

    UAVOS listed several advantages that could maximize the value of such a heavy UAV for farmers:

    • The R22-UV can be operated in the regions without airfields, under severe weather conditions and during night-time, in conditions with a high probability of risk for the pilot.
    • UAVs are excellent for operations in conditions of high humidity, where the use of ground equipment is impossible or difficult. Unlike heavy machinery, which cannot go into a field immediately after a heavy rain, UAV has no impact on the ground. Drone sprayers don’t touch the ground so there will be less soil compaction. This is when heavy machinery like tractors roll over the soil, pressing it down and damaging it. Farmers can fix this with plowing, but it can be harmful to the soil over a long period of time.
    • UAV implementation eliminates manual spraying with backpack sprayers, so workers don’t come into contact with hazardous chemicals.
    • UAVs also enable growers to spray their crops precisely and at will, which is critical for fighting herbicide-resistant weeds. Spraying is better. The rotor of an agricultural drone produces a huge downward rotation force, which promotes the pesticide droplets to penetrate the crop from top to bottom, which is conducive to the pesticide droplets evenly scattered in all parts of the plant, so that the spraying is accurate.
    • Unmanned aircraft can be used for spot spraying weeds with herbicides and are useful for spraying crops with pesticides. A spot-oriented approach based on preliminary analysis of digital images from robot cameras minimizes the cost of agrochemicals, reducing the chemical impact on soil, water, culture and, ultimately, on the consumer’s body, while achieving higher results of crop cultivation than with traditional approaches. The aircraft can be set on a predetermined GPS-defined route to fly over a field, dropping doses of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides as it flies.

    “Precision agriculture is based on the use of valuable metrics to make farmers’ crop management efficient and optimized,” said Aliaksei Stratsilatau, CEO of UAVOS. “Validating-of-damage reports used to be on paper. So, unmanned aircraft help our customers to validate the veracity of reports so that we could come up with a comprehensive solution. Generally, agriculture is very complex and there are a lot of problems, but there are solutions available through the new technology.”

  • Robinson helicopter tested as UAV for heavy lifts

    Robinson helicopter tested as UAV for heavy lifts

    A Robinson R22 helicopter was converted by UAVOS to an unmanned drone. UAVOS — which specializes in the design, development and manufacturing of unmanned vehicles and autopilot systems — successfully completed in-air programmed missions with the unmanned helicopter.

    The first flight this spring of the modernized helicopter lasted more than one hour and was performed in a fully self-piloted mode, reaching an altitude of up to 2,200 feet (670 meters). During the flight, all scheduled tests were performed including fully automatic take-off, enroute flight and landing. The tuning of UAV control settings was completed as well.

    The converted R22-UV is serving as a platform for research and testing for commercial UAV options. For instance, upcoming test flights will include cargo delivery of up to 330 pounds (150 kg) in automatic mode. Flights with a duration of 6+ hours using additional fuel tanks and a payload for monitoring the land surface are also planned.

    Besides that, UAVOS is planning to check operational limitations of the UAV during night flights and flights under severe weather conditions. A top priority is testing the possibility of using spraying equipment and to see whether R22-UV could serve agricultural purposes.

    Components installed. The UAVOS components installed in R22-UV helicopter included autopilot, servo drives, sensor system and additional backup power supply. During the conversion, the aircraft electrical system was upgraded, manual control was removed, the fuselage was altered for servo drives and components of the automatic control system installation. In addition, the pilot seats were removed and replaced by additional fuel tanks.

    Powered by a gasoline engine, the unmanned R22-UV helicopter is able to deliver cargo or carry payload with a total weight of up to 330 pounds (150 kg) with a maximum take-off weight of 1,400 pounds (635 kg).

    Heavy payloads. The converted aircraft has a practical ceiling of 13,780 feet (4,200 meters) and has a top speed of 189 kph. The UAV is designed to carry high-precision, heavy professional equipment 88 pounds (40 kg and more) for a wide variety of missions including lidar, synthetic aperture radar, heavy optical equipment or gas analyzers.

    The R22-UV can be operated in the regions without airfields, under severe weather conditions and during night-time, in the conditions with high stress risk for a pilot. The converted helicopter is useful for oil and gas companies that need to deliver cargo to hard-to-reach places, or where chemicals hazardous to humans are spread on the fields and forests. Operational limits for high-altitude flights and missions in heavy turbulence and high mountain regions should be defined after appropriate testing.

    The project was carried out jointly with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), a scientific government institution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.