Discover World-Leading Unmanned and Autonomous Technologies
Discover cutting-edge solutions from leading global suppliers
August’s most-read stories on Unmanned Systems Technology covered developments in network infrastructure, interoperability, trusted autonomy, and unmanned strike systems, alongside new platforms and hardware for demanding uncrewed applications.
The five articles showed how these developments are being applied at different levels of the uncrewed systems stack, from compact Ethernet switch and carrier-board technologies to autonomous and military systems. This points toward a sector placing greater emphasis on how uncrewed systems can connect, operate, and be trusted as they move from individual technologies toward more complete operational capabilities.
BotBlox Launches Ultra-Compact Ethernet Switch Module
BotBlox has introduced SwitchCore, a compact, 40-gram Layer 2 networking module designed to deliver eight-port Fast Ethernet functionality to space- and power-constrained hardware platforms. Measuring 27.6 × 27.6 × 10.7 mm, the module operates on a 4–40 V input and consumes 1 W of power while housing all required Ethernet circuitry internally.
ALTUS-LSA & MBDA Complete First Live Ejection Firing Trials for KERVEROS Unmanned Strike Platform
ALTUS-LSA and MBDA have successfully conducted the first ejection firing trials of the KERVEROS tactical strike platform under its Phase 1 commercialization program. The campaign involved live ejection firings of inert AKERON MP missiles, up to Stage 1 ammunition, from the ATLAS 8 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS).
Dronecode Hackathon Demonstrates Cross-Vendor MAVLink-Military Integrations
Engineering teams from 14 U.S. and international companies, several of them direct competitors, completed 7 working integrations of MAVLink-Military (MAVLink-M), the open interoperability standard for military uncrewed systems, during a two-day hackathon that demonstrated industry consensus behind the new dialect. The event was hosted by the Dronecode Foundation at Auterion’s Manassas, Virginia manufacturing facility and had 38 attendees representing industry and government.
Read more >>
Honeywell & Shield AI Partner on Trusted Autonomy Software Stack
Honeywell Aerospace and Shield AI have signed a memorandum of understanding focused on developing a trusted autonomy software stack for defense and potential commercial aviation applications. Under the agreement, Honeywell Aerospace will develop the software stack using Shield AI’s Hivemind Software Development Kit.
ARK Electronics Introduces Carrier Board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5
ARK Electronics has released ARK Just A Pi, a compact carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 designed for plug-and-play integration with an autopilot. Using the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 form factor, the board features a built-in Ethernet switch, dual 100 Mbps Ethernet connectors and multiple JST-GH interfaces.
