Earlier this week at the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas, Aerotenna announced the release of a new miniaturized collision avoidance radar and SoC FPGA flight controller for all drone platforms.
When it comes to sensing and collision avoidance, vision, ultrasonic and LiDAR have been the most commonly used sensors. Despite radar’s robustness and reliability in all-weather, all-terrain and all lighting conditions, until recently it has not been considered a practical sensing solution for smaller drones due to size, weight and cost.
Our mission at Aerotenna is to provide robust sensing and processing solutions that are affordable and easy to integrate with any airframe and flight stack. This year we introduced microwave sensing to the commercial and consumer drone industries with the release of the μLanding compact radar altimeter and μSharp 360° collision avoidance radar, both of which have received stellar feedback from a number of drone manufacturers and service providers.
The newly released μSharp Patch is a single-direction collision avoidance radar designed to meet the need for smaller and more robust collision avoidance sensors. This microwave radar patch is an affordable, low power and easy-to-integrate collision avoidance solution for even the smallest drones.
Features:
- Miniaturized design (6.5 x 4.5 x 0.8cm) with low power consumption (<1.5 W)
- Robust and reliable performance in any weather and lighting condition
- Advanced target detection and recognition algorithms
μSharp Patch collision avoidance radar
The newly released OcPoC mini is engineered to enable sensor fusion and onboard real-time processing for multi-sensor drone platforms. With over 100 I/Os for sensor integration and redundancy, ARM processor and FPGA structure, OcPoC mini has the processing power and efficiency to handle complex drone applications while maintaining safe and stable flight. Just like the µSharp Patch, OcPoC mini has easy integration with any airframe and open-source flight stack.
OcPoC mini SoC FPGA-based flight controller
We believe the addition of radar sensing as well as sensor fusion and real-time processing capabilities to commercial and consumer drones is a crucial step in the advancement towards smarter and safer drones. We look forward to opportunities in working together with the community to make Aerotenna's latest technology and solutions available to more DIYers!
Find out more about Aerotenna radar sensors and SoC FPGA flight controllers:
http://aerotenna.com/aerotenna-miniaturized-radar-sensor-soc-flight-controller-commercial-uav-expo/
Comments
@ Gary : http://aerotenna.com/shop/%ce%bcsharp-patch/
500 USD
That is very encouraging Mark.
Definitely looking forward to seeing more of this.
Hongshu,
don't you think the 360° collision avoidance radar (so omnidirectional radar) may fool the avionics of a drone, since on take off, pilot is the first obstacle.
Forward looking 90-180° radar should work as intended, not looking backwards, since otherwise you need to implement heavy algorithm to calculate heading for every detected obstacle ( some form of indoor navigation tool).
Since you don't implement forward looking radar array, WiFi or GSM omnidirectional antenna could work on the principle: closest obstacle detected first.
I recall, forward looking radar by a drone team at MIT.
You have a number of very interesting products, but aside from the use of the word affordable, no mention of cost.
We are DIYers and although the specifications look very nice, the word "affordable" might well have a different interpretation for you than for us, so at least some ball park figures would be very useful for both your collision avoidance 360 degree and altimeter radar systems.
From previous drone oriented radar systems, the main problem has been cost.
Best Regards,
Gary
congratulations, really nice work!
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