ALTI Transition

ALTI - The future of small unmanned aerial systems.

We are incredibly excited to let you know about the official launch of ALTI and the next generation of small unmanned systems, the Transition. In conjunction with Unmanned Systems Technology Magazine - UST, which features the ALTI Transition as their June/July Cover story, we are announcing this new brand and product to the world today!

The ALTI Transition is a radically new VTOL unmanned aerial aircraft, developed from the ground up as an advanced fixed wing system with the ability to take-off and land vertically, anywhere. A powerful electric VTOL system allows the Transition to take-off and land in confined spaces and once at altitude, a 20cc four stroke petrol motor keeps the system airborne for up to 6 hours with support for a wide range of payloads and sensors that can quickly be swapped out and setup. Fully featured autonomous PX4 based open and proprietary software and hardware avionics system with easy to use ground control systems to suite.

Here at Alti we believe vertical take-off and landing is now an essential part to operating small unmanned systems effectively and the ability to operate a fixed wing aircraft from confined areas is invaluable and a huge advantage over bulky traditional systems. Operating costs and staff requirements are reduced significantly allowing more flexibility and a broader mission scope.

DOUBLE HYBRID

Multi-rotor and fixed wing, electric and fuel, the Transition is a double-hybrid aircraft unlike anything else available. With a small footprint and no need whatsoever for launch or recovery equipment, it really is the future of small unmanned systems, making operating far more versatile and cost effective.

PURE VTOL

With no need for a take-off run, it's a pure VTOL aircraft, able to vertically ascend to altitude, where it transitions into forward wing-bound flight for the duration of the mission. A smooth and quick transition back to hover with a final descent for a pin point landing.

ENDURANCE

Extend your mission parameters with endurance of up to 6 hours. The ultra-light weight Carbon Kevlar fuselage made with top quality composites used by the likes of Ferrari, Airbus and BMW. It's wind tunnel tested featuring an advanced design with dihedral, washout, winglets and more. The Transition also has duel elevators for redundant control.

AFFORDABILITY

With far lower operating costs as well as no need for expensive launch and recovery hardware and less staffing, the ALTI Transition also prices lower than any comparable system available.

TRANSITION SPECIFICATIONS

Wingspan: 2760mm

Length: 2300mm

Height: 490mm

MTOW 12kg

Max Payload Weight: 1kg

VTOL Propeller Size: 18"

Fuel Pusher Propeller Size: 15-16"

Electric VTOL Endurance: <10 min

Fuel Fixed Wing Endurance <6 Hours

The wings and rear tail-boom are removable, without the need for tools and reduce the size significantly for rapid deployment and transport. The Transition offers incredible fixed wing endurance with true VTOL capability as well as great hover times pending on the AUW, setup, payloads and environmental factors.

Be sure to check our the June/July edition of Unmanned Systems Technology for the full Cover Story on ALTI and the Transition, and check our our website at www.altiuas.com for more information, you can also get in touch at info@altiuas.com

Thank you for your time and please feel free to get in touch with any questions you may have.

Still an impressive machine, like I said in the pre-release post a few days ago! ;-)

I have yet another question and that is what in particular is the target application market?

My rough, back of the envelope calculations on the 6 hours of endurance, at say 20m/s cruise gives me an effective range of some 350km plus reserves. That's a long way, and far beyond line of sight operations. Do South African or other African nations allow for long range beyond line of sight (BLOS) operations? If not then the endurance might be more appropriate for surveillance purposes, for example to cover a certain area within BLOS for a period of time to watch for animal poachers etc.

For imaging purposes 350km range means roughly mapping some 30km2 at 3cm resolution (!) per flight but would also require the operator to operate beyond line of sight with the aircraft a few kilometers away and not visible to the naked eye, let alone being able to fly it at that range.

Here in Australia, the UAV regulations will allow for sub 2kg UAV's to be flown without registration or licencing commercially (that is for profit) from October 2016 onwards. So long the aircraft that are under 2kg, regardless of type (quad/heli/plane etc) and they are flown within direct line of sight, the operators can be paid for their UAV services. For argument purposes this means that even a purely electric powered quadplane operating within LOS would have enough range to image this area without the need of a gas motor. I think that this size of UAV will see a massive market and development in the short term.

What might be of more interest for this type of aircraft here in Australia, is that with the same legislation there is also a provision for land owners to operate sub 25kg UAV over their own properties, but once again only within line of sight. This would obviously be another potential market for this type of aircraft, for stock and water monitoring, as well as potentially for crop spraying etc. Given that the aircraft needs to be operated within LOS to comply, which would limit the range/endurance to under one hour per flight, what would be the maximum achievable payload with only one hour of fuel onboard that could be used for carrying a liquid to spray crops?. If there was say 4-5kg of payload I could have some potential clients that would be interested. PM me if you can please.

Regards

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Comments

JB June 14, 2016 at 9:20am

@Rob.

I think a lot of UAV applications need to be specifically designed "tools" depending on the job at hand. 6 hours endurance looks more like a surveillance UAV to me which has limited use in Australia under the current regs, unless it is used directly by a land owner. It's clearly not meant to be targeted at the hobby market. Currently I'm hoping the insurance providers get their act together to support the emerging UAV industry, they are the next barrier IMHO.

@ Duran

Thanks for the details I will be in touch!
Rob_Lefebvre June 14, 2016 at 4:40am

I agree JB. I've been limiting my own developments to ~1 hour, as that seems to be the practical flight time limit for most applications because of LOS regulations in most jurisdictions.
Duran - ALTI June 13, 2016 at 11:40pm

Thanks guys for the feedback and comments. Feel free to pop my any questions directly at duran@altiuas.com.
MR60

Hugues June 13, 2016 at 11:02pm

Can you show pictures of the payload bay and it's internal dimensions? 1kg max payload is really too low for most AG applications, can this be increased?
JB June 13, 2016 at 9:45pm

Still an impressive machine, like I said in the pre-release post a few days ago! ;-)

I have yet another question and that is what in particular is the target application market?

My rough, back of the envelope calculations on the 6 hours of endurance, at say 20m/s cruise gives me an effective range of some 350km plus reserves. That's a long way, and far beyond line of sight operations. Do South African or other African nations allow for long range beyond line of sight (BLOS) operations? If not then the endurance might be more appropriate for surveillance purposes, for example to cover a certain area within BLOS for a period of time to watch for animal poachers etc.

For imaging purposes 350km range means roughly mapping some 30km2 at 3cm resolution (!) per flight but would also require the operator to operate beyond line of sight with the aircraft a few kilometers away and not visible to the naked eye, let alone being able to fly it at that range.

Here in Australia, the UAV regulations will allow for sub 2kg UAV's to be flown without registration or licencing commercially (that is for profit) from October 2016 onwards. So long the aircraft that are under 2kg, regardless of type (quad/heli/plane etc) and they are flown within direct line of sight, the operators can be paid for their UAV services. For argument purposes this means that even a purely electric powered quadplane operating within LOS would have enough range to image this area without the need of a gas motor. I think that this size of UAV will see a massive market and development in the short term.

What might be of more interest for this type of aircraft here in Australia, is that with the same legislation there is also a provision for land owners to operate sub 25kg UAV over their own properties, but once again only within line of sight. This would obviously be another potential market for this type of aircraft, for stock and water monitoring, as well as potentially for crop spraying etc. Given that the aircraft needs to be operated within LOS to comply, which would limit the range/endurance to under one hour per flight, what would be the maximum achievable payload with only one hour of fuel onboard that could be used for carrying a liquid to spray crops?. If there was say 4-5kg of payload I could have some potential clients that would be interested. PM me if you can please.

Regards
Developer

Andrew Tridgell June 13, 2016 at 4:41pm

This looks like a very nice airframe. I'm a big fan of gas forward engine with electric vertical for quadplanes. The range you can get with that combination is fantastic.

I presume it has an onboard starter for the petrol motor?

I don't know if you are already running the ArduPilot QuadPlane code on this, but if not and you want any assistance with that then please get in touch.

QuadPlane Support — Plane documentation
Digital Wings June 13, 2016 at 12:56pm

Nice work. Dual hybrid is a good choice.
Jacques Eloff June 13, 2016 at 7:05am

Nice work! Some great UAV innovation coming out of South Africa right now!
Duran - ALTI June 13, 2016 at 4:37am

Should be fixed now, was showing this side, but image kept locally.
Moderator

Vladimir "Lazy" Khudyakov June 13, 2016 at 4:19am

Last photo in you post not visible. Please corrrect.

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