HANGAR TALK UNMANNED News relating to unmanned aerial systems


rapid deployment and launch (in less than one minute) from any combat vehicle, transforming it into an effective intelligence gathering platform.


The Magni system includes a thermal payload, a communications suite (dual S band or LTE), an automatic coordinate tracking capability, as well as a built-in interface with battle management systems (BMS). Carrying up to 350 grams of payloads, it offers a range of up to 3 kilometers, a maximum operational altitude of 4,000 feet, and 30 minutes of endurance.


Elbit Systems Introduces Magni, a Vehicle-Launched Multi- Rotor Micro-Drone


Elbit Systems recently launched Magni, a fully autonomous and robust multi-rotor vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial system (UAS) that is designed to significantly enhance the situational awareness capabilities of mobile forces. Compact and lightweight (5.5 pounds/2.5 kilograms), Magni enables


Operated by a single user, Magni enables vehicle-mounted forces to generate beyond-the-hill visual intelligence during day and night, and seamlessly feed target information to command and control systems. Its unique size, weight and power (SWaP) parameters make Magni well suited for squad, platoon, and company levels. MAGNI is the third multi-rotor VTOL UAS offered by Elbit Systems, which also includes the 10 kilogram Thor multi-rotor VTOL mini- UAS and the 5 kilogram Nox VTOL micro-UAS.


“To operate autonomously you need several capabilities, especially in the UAS domain,” said Swee Balachandran, research engineer. “You need to be able to make decisions to avoid other intruders in the airspace, stay clear from no-fly zones, or inside a no-fly zone the UAV should know how to get out of it, and to reroute itself around obstacles and no-fly areas.”


NASA Starts Using FLARM for Drone UTM


NASA’s Langley Research Center has started using FLARM in its Pathfinder drone UTM project. The goal of Pathfinder is to take separate urban traffic management (UTM) projects and combine them into a single autonomous vehicle, then have that vehicle fly and communicate with other autonomous vehicles in the airspace.


“Pathfinder was conceived as a way to perform a graduation exercise for a lot of the UTM projects we developed over the years,” said Lou Glaab, assistant branch head for the Aeronautic Systems Engineering Branch in Langley’s Engineering Directorate and Pathfinder project manager.


Part of that graduation exercise is the Independent Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems (ICAROUS).


“We’re testing things like ICAROUS, which is an autonomous sense-and-avoid flight management system for unmanned systems, as well as Safe-2-Ditch, which is an autonomous safe landing or autonomous crash management system,” said Glaab.


FLARM is being used as part of ICAROUS to avoid manned aircraft and other drones.


42 Jan/Feb 2020 WATCH VIDEO NOW


Balachandran also said that these functionalities are essential to operate autonomously without human intervention. That’s where ICAROUS comes in.


One of the key things in the development of ICAROUS was formal verification.


“Every algorithm that you develop goes through a rigorous mathematical process and we have certain properties, and we ensure the algorithms satisfy those properties so that it is safety- critical and you don’t see unwanted behaviors in flight,” said Balachandran.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92