Freefly systems has news – and cause to celebrate.

The company’s Alta X drone platform has been elevated to a very desirable status.

“Our Alta X was approved for the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue sUAS list, which is huge for us,” says Freefly Chief Technical Officer Max Tubman. The ‘list’ is a small collection of drones that have been vetted for cybersecurity and components to ensure it meets the standards of the federal National Defense Authorization Act. It’s also seen as kind of an approved list of drones for purchase by the Department of Defense and many federal agencies using federal dollars for their spend.

“Going through the DIU process, basically has a third party validate all of your claims,” says Tubman. “They look at your supply chain, build material, operations, make sure your drones are secure from a cybersecurity standpoint. It allows federal agencies and private companies to know they’re buying an approved drone. And certain government agencies require that.”

Tubman says the company has already seen a significant boost in sales. What’s more, the company’s Astro drone is in the queue for the next round of potential approvals.

“It’s a big boon, yes. There are certain federal agencies that have just been waiting to replace fleets of aircraft so it will unlock at lot for them.”

That’s Tubman below, looking justifiably happy beside the Astro.

Hybrid en route

 

While the Blue sUAS news is big for Freefly, there’s some other big news in the wings. A new drone was on the floor, and it’s a marked departure from previous Freefly offerings. It’s a hybrid drone, using a gas-powered engine to generate power. And that’s a big deal.

“It has a four kilowatt, fuel-injected engine which allows you to fly for much longer time. We’re looking at LiDar payloads in the 10-12 pound range and flight times of 2-1/2 hours while remaining under 55 pounds.”

That’s something. Here’s a look at the Hybrid Hawk, which will likely be on the market by the end of the year.

 

The hybrid advantage

 

If you follow drones, you’ll know that the flight time for that kind of payload is pretty awesome. But what’s the secret sauce? The answer is that while lithium polymer batteries are great – they’re no match for the energy-to-weight ratio of gasoline (and this is actually a multi-fuel machine). It’s even better and more easy to deploy, says Tubman, than hydrogen fuel cell machines.

“It’s much easier and accessible than a hydrogen fuel cell,” says Tubman. “Hydrogen has a high energy density but a low power density, whereas gasoline has both a high energy density and high power density compared to a fuel cell.”

 

A Canadian Connection

 

While Freefly is a US company, there was a collaboration with a Canadian company to get this machine made. The motor/generator combo was designed and fabricated by Pegasus Aeronautics, a company based in Waterloo, Ontario. Two of the Pegasus guys are in the photo above, with one holding the engine. Here’s a closer look at that powerplant.

Use-cases

 

Obviously, this kind of range has its advantages for inspection, surveillance and more. But it’s also hugely advantageous in remote regions where operators might not have access to power. What’s more convenient? Packing in thousands of dollars worth of charged batteries for a major job, or taking in a jerry can of gasoline?

“Having to haul batteries out into the field is basically a non-starter for a lot of these applications,” says Pegasus CEO and founder Matt McRoberts. “The ability to refuel a UAV and put it in the air and have it do useful work is important.”

And, for the geeks among us, here’s more about the advantage.

“The intention is that we take gasoline and use that as an energy storage method, which we can then transform to electricity,” he says. “As a consequence of gasoline having 40-50 times the gravimetric energy density as LiPo batteries, these types of systems can stay in the air much longer, up to eight to 12 times as long, depending on the application.” 

Cool. So why aren’t we seeing tons of drones using gasoline to create electricity and extend flight times? Well, there are others – but not that many. And the answer, quite simply, is that extracting that efficiency to its fullest potential is no easy task.

“The process of turning gasoline into useful energy is very challenging across the board,” says McRoberts. “We had to develop in-house fuel injection systems, power management systems that work in concert with one another in order to make a system that is well-optimised, efficient and – most important – easy to use.”

What’s more, the Hybrid Hawk has software designed for BVLOS flight, including continuous monitoring of telemetry, motor health, power output and more. You can even start the engine remotely.

The motor’s spec sheet reveals that it’s a two-stroke, liquid-cooled cylinder. Other specs include:

• Four kilowatt power output
• Operational voltage from 24 thru 50V
• CAN, Serial, redundant PWM signals interface protocols
• Automatic throttle control
• Operation times before overhaul: 200 hours
• Ingress Protection: Up to IP67

There’s more there, too, if you read the fine print. Kudos to the engineers at Pegasus for pulling this together. It’s certainly no small task to build something like this.

 

InDro’s Take

 

We can certainly envision the use-case scenarios for a UAS like this. The range and payload capacities open up a very wide door, particularly in remote and harsh environments where charging is not available, or the job is a big one. There’s a lot more efficiency in sending a drone up once for a large photogrammetry/data acquisition project, rather than doing it in bits and pieces. We also see great potential for deliveries beyond the range of most LiPo powered drones. And even on a very long delivery, it’s a simple task for people at the other end to refuel with standard gasoline (mixed with oil, of course), rather than ensuring charged batteries are awaiting for the return trip.

We look forward to seeing this drone get out of the gate, into production, and into real-world applications.

A Canadian company, well-known for its drone parachute systems, has a new and innovative product. It’s a steerable parachute that can drop cargo – or even a drone with a technical malfunction – where you want it to go.

The company is called AVSS (Aerial Vehicle Safety Solutions) and it was founded in 2017.

“AVSS is a parachute recovery system. We build parachutes for DJI products as well as special integrations. We are a spring-based product, we don’t use a pyrotechnic solution,” explains Mariah Murray, VP of Operations with AVSS.

The pod-like systems are built to integrate with more expensive DJI drones, as well as some other custom integrations. You can see a pod integrated on the top of this DJI industrial drone.

How does it work?

 

Well, there’s a fair bit of technology packed into the standard, non-steerable chutes (we’ll get to steerable in a moment). Each one is custom-tuned to know when something has gone wrong with a specific drone.

According to AVSS CEO Josh Ogden, the chutes deploy if a drone “breaches certain thresholds of the drone’s regular flight parameters.” For example, if the drone suddenly rolls or pitches at angles exceeding what the drone is capable of in normal flight, algorithms trigger the system to deploy. A minute time-delay is built-in to ensure it’s a genuine problem and not a brief anomaly.

“Some time delays to prevent false deployment,” says Ogden, adding that AVSS generally works in concert with drone manufacturers in order to “know what failure looks like.”

The systems are not inexpensive – but nor are the drones they’re designed for. For DJI’s M300, a system is $3600 and $1900 for the Mavic 3 (though there are lower price points.) But, wow, at the moment you need it you’ll be happy the system is there.

“As a parachute company, we’re there to exist, but no one needs to know we exist,” says Ogden. “It’s like an airbag in your car – you only know when your drone has failed.”

 

Steerable chutes

 

AVSS also recently launched its latest product, a steerable chute that can be used for cargo or the salvation of an errant drone. It’s called the Parachute Precision Guidance System, or PPGS.

With cargo, you pre-program the GPS coordinates where you want the package to land. You drop it as close to the desired landing location as possible, and servos adjust the chute’s control lines during descent.

“We have servos pulling the lines, so it’s like a paraglider,” says Ogden. The software is thinking “this is home point, I need to get there. It’s trying to navigate.”

And navigate it does. AVSS says the guided drops will consistently land within a few metres of the target. Here’s a look at that steerable chute package, along with a remote with a giant red button if you need to manually deploy.

Ogden says it’s intended for urgent missions.

“This is military re-supply, I’ve got to get ammo to a front line, or blood to someone who is about to die. Critical missions.”

 

Ontario trials

 

The system has also been tested in northern Ontario, and there’s an InDro Robotics angle. We supplied a Wayfinder heavy-lift drone to drop cargo with a steerable chute to a First Nations community in Ear Falls.

“Looking at using drones to deliver critial supplies to the First Nations community,” says Ogden. “This is opening up another critical medial delivery to those communities. Some existing drone delivery companies require really expensive infrastructure. That’s not affordable. This basically enables life-saving, mission critical items.”

Real world testing

 

These chute systems go through an arduous testing phase before they’re released to the public. AVSS parachutes meet the rigid ASTM F3322 standards, and the company is close to having integrations for 10 different drones completed. It tests at the UAS NUAIR testing site. And yes, they have to do a lot of deployments.

“We have to crash the drone at NUAIR over 45 times,” says Ogden. “There’s a new standard coming, and then I think we have to crash 65 times. “

Some 100 units of the steerable chute have been purchased by the Canadian Armed Forces. And AVSS is already working plans for using steerable chutes for drones – with programming to avoid landing, for example, on a busy highway.

“We envision, our future of drone parachutes, is guided parachutes that can land the drone in a safe spot,” says Ogden. “When my drone fails, I want to ensure that it doesn’t drift into traffic. Guided parachutes are the future of drone parachutes, especially for drone delivery and urban missions.”

FYI that’s Josh on the left, Mariah on the right.

 

InDro’s Take

 

We’re big fans of AVSS. The company identified a gap in the marketplace and developed a well-engineered solution. The steerable chutes are already finding a market, and will ensure that critical goods get where they’re needed, when they’re needed, minimizing the risk of drift or entanglement with trees or other structures. Smart. We also really like the concept of a steerable chute that will ensure a drone will land somewhere safe.

We look forward to seeing where AVSS goes from here.