Silicon Chip – May 2019

siliconchip.com.au Australia’s electronics magazine May 2019 23

a traditional helicopter; a regular ver-
tical-lift drone without variable pitch
rotors cannot do this.

Spacesuit

A NASA space suit or “Enhanced
Extravehicular Mobility Unit” was on
display at the Collins Aerospace stand,
as used on the Space Shuttle and the
International Space Station (Fig.33).
Each suit can protect against mi-
crometeoroids travelling at up to
27,000km/h, temperatures between
-156°C and 121°C, contains 91m of cool-
ant tubing and comprises 18,000 parts.
The suit is manufactured by ILC
Dover and its life support systems by
the Collins subsidiary of UTC Aero-
space Systems.

Generation III combat helmet

The Smart Think company (https://
thesmartthink.com) is an Austral-

ian/Singaporean venture to produce

state-of-the-art defence products and

is working with Deakin University’s

Institute for Frontier Materials (www.

deakin.edu.au/ifm) and the Defence

Materials Technology Centre (DMTC;

http://www.dmtc.com.au) to produce a

Generation III combat helmet for the

military.

The helmet is offered in two differ-

ent materials: UHMWPE (ultra-high

molecular weight polyethylene) or ar-

amid (commonly known by the trade-

name Kevlar) – see Fig.34.

The key advantage of these helmets

is that they can be manufactured in

an automated fashion, without splic-

ing the fibre layers, which is usually

required in highly curved compos-

ites made of these materials, because

they are so stiff and difficult to form

at tight radii.

The ability to manufacture with

single sheets of reinforcement results

in significant reductions in weight,

reduced deformation on impact and

gives improvements in structural per-

formance and quality control.

FORTIS exoskeleton

FORTIS is a passive (non-powered)

exoskeleton device produced and sold

by Lockheed Martin, designed to as-

sist workers to handle heavy tools by

transferring the load directly through

the exoskeleton to the ground.

It works via a system of counter-

weights to keep the worker steady,

and was initially designed for frontal

loads only (Fig.35).

Lockheed Martin has partnered with

the Institute for Intelligent Systems Re-

search and Innovation (IISRI) at Deak-

in University to extend the capability

of the device, to allow the carriage of

large posterior loads such as oxygen

tanks and heavy backpacks over 30kg

for the mining industry, and in par-

ticular, diamond mining.

IISRI’s research involves the design

and fabrication of attachments via 3D

printing and determining stress and

strain distribution within them via

computational methods.

This is followed by human perfor-

mance analysis involving mobility

assessment, load transfer and safety

with techniques such as motion track-

ing, electromyography, biomechanics

and electrocardiogram measurements.

Sikorsky–Boeing

SB-1 Defiant helicopter

The Sikorsky–Boeing SB-1 Defiant

helicopter was presented at the air-

show as a scale model. It is a twin-

Fig.32 (right): a close-up view of the HyperHalo rotor

mechanism.

Fig.35 (left): the FORTIS exoskeleton

enables workers to hold heavy tools

(up to 16kg) effortlessly and results

in greatly reduced muscle fatigue.

Deakin IISRI researchers are looking

at ways to extend its capabilities.

Fig.36 (right): a model of the SB-1

helicopter.