22 Silicon chip Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au
They had on show their highest-
scoring entry from the 2018 UAV
Medical Express Challenge (https://
uavchallenge.org/) – see Fig.28.
The mission was to “retrieve a blood
sample from Outback Joe at his farm
and in doing that they had to land with-
in 10m of a visual target.
Their aircraft had to fly at least 12
nautical miles from the Base of opera-
tions to Joe’s farm, and back (24 nau-
tical miles in total, which is approxi-
mately 44.5km).”
You can follow the UAS team on
Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/
MonashUAS/RMIT UAS Research Team
The RMIT UAS (unmanned aerial
system) Research Team (http://ruasrt.
com) is a multidisciplinary research
team that conducts research into “the
critical technical, operational, social
and safety challenges facing the emerg-
ing UAS sector”.
One of their offerings was the Black
Kite, an all-weather UAS that can op-
erate in harsh environments includ-
ing winds up to 40 knots (74km/h), is
suitable for use in a maritime environ-
ment, has a 3.5kg payload capacity, a
25 minute flight time, 3.5km range, is
capable of ditching in water and has a
dash speed of up to 50 knots (93km/h)- see Fig.29.
Its standard payloads include a UAV
Vision CM132A imaging system with
30x optical zoom (3x optical zoom for
infrared) and a two-axis gimbal; and
a Foxtech Seeker-30 imaging system
with 30x optical zoom and a three-
axis gimbal.
HyperHalo drone
The HyperHalo (www.hyperha-
lo.com) is an Australian-developed
petrol-powered drone that can car-
ry a payload of up to 10kg and has a
four hour flight time, or longer with a
lighter payload. It weighs 13.5kg emp-ty, has an engine capacity of 26-32cc
and a rotor width of about 2m (see
Figs.30 & 31).
In addition to its uniquely long en-
durance for a vertical lift drone, it has
other features such as virtual thrust
vectoring due to its three variable
pitch “thrust rotors”, one of which is
located beneath each of the three var-
iable pitch main rotors (Fig.32). This
gives unprecedented control of the
vehicle, and it can fly fast in forward
flight and is very stable in adverse
wind conditions.
It has three flight modes:- aeroplane mode, where it operates
similarly to an aircraft with bank,
roll, pitch and yaw authority; - helicopter mode, where it can oper-
ate with pirouette and high-torque
yaw authority; and - UFO mode, where the drone oper-
ates in a combination of aeroplane
mode and helicopter mode, with the
addition of virtual thrust vectoring.
In the event of an engine failure,
the drone will auto-rotate to land like
Fig.29: the RMIT UAS Research Team display, with the
Black Kite on the right.
Fig.33 (left): a space suit, as currently
used on the International Space
Station.Fig.34 (right): the Generation III
combat helmet.Fig.30 (above) and 31 (opposite): the Australian-developed
HyperHalo petrol-powered drone. It can carry a payload of
up to 10kg and has a four hour flight time,