SwiftCore FMS to be Integrated on Penguin BE UAV for NOAA Mission

By Mike Ball / 23 Nov 2017

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UAV Factory Penguin BE UAV

Black Swift Technologies (BST) has announced that it’s SwiftCore Flight Management System (FMS) will be integrated with a UAV Factory Penguin BE UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) platform, in support of a joint research project with the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) and the NOAA Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (ATDD) of the Air Resources Laboratory. The Swiftcore FMS was selected for its reliability, intuitive user interface and precise autopilot capabilities, and this project represents the first integration of BST’s SwiftCore Flight Management System (FMS) with the Penguin BE UAV platform.

“The Penguin will enable airborne measurements of hyperspectral and thermal imaging to assess surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat,” stated Dr. Steve Brooks, Associate Professor Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. “Yet we needed an autonomous autopilot for the aircraft capable of navigating the same flight path six times a day, ten days in a row, and you want the aircraft over the same points at the same time. Black Swift Technologies’ autopilot can very precisely control all aspects of our aircraft’s flight. We’re almost getting to the point where you hook everything up, put it on a runway and it pretty much does everything on its own.”

The SwiftCore FMS enables advanced control systems. These “smart” control systems provide sensor-based control of the UAS that minimizes operator workload while improving the quality of the observed data by autonomously modifying the flight path based on sensor inputs.

In addition to providing the Flight Management System and the Ground Station to control the aircraft, Black Swift Technologies also integrated the various sensors and cameras necessary to facilitate the myriad tests conducted. The payload included a Resonon hyper spectral imaging camera and TeAx combo Infrared thermal/RGB camera.

“This is a significant integration of our SwiftCore Flight Management System with a highly-regarded 3rd party airframe — the Penguin BE UAV platform,” commented Jack Elston, Ph.D., CEO of Black Swift Technologies. “The fact that both NOAA and UTIS specifically sought out our Flight Management System for this project is quite a testament to the high degree of accuracy and reliability our solutions deliver.”

Leveraging BST’s proprietary Mission Planning Software, scientists can program the Penguin in minutes to calculate the area under review and then begin collecting data for immediate analysis and decision-making.

System training and aircraft flight tests were recently conducted in Colorado. “The overall objective was to get our team experienced flying the Penguin, and experienced using Black Swift Technologies’ autopilot, and the transitions from manual to auto control, and vice versa,” said Ed Dumas, ATDD UAS pilot. “BST’s autopilot is quite intuitive and has a nice interface. It’s easy to use. Everything we’ve seen so far gives me confidence that the autopilot and the aircraft are a good combination. I’m excited to get to work with this system.”

Posted by Mike Ball Mike Ball is our resident technical editor here at Unmanned Systems Technology. Combining his passion for teaching, advanced engineering and all things unmanned, Mike keeps a watchful eye over everything related to the unmanned technical sector. With over 10 years’ experience in the unmanned field and a degree in engineering, Mike’s been heading up our technical team here for the last 8 years. Connect & Contact

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