The aerospace industry is leading the way for adoption of Additive Fabrication technologies for manufacturing applications. With widespread adoption of Additive Manufacturing for jigs, fixtures, and tooling applications on the shop floor, as well as the announcements of trailblazing companies like United Launch Alliance and Airbus qualifying additive manufactured high performance thermoplastic parts for flight applications, and the printed jet UAV demonstrated in 2015, the future of the industry is starting to take shape.
The webinar will be presented by Scott Sevcik, the Senior Manager for Aerospace & Defense Business Development at Stratasys. In this role, Scott is responsible for accelerating the adoption of 3D Printing in the aerospace and defense industries globally through building partnerships for application and technology development. Prior to Stratasys, Scott led the program management team developing sensors and integrated systems for commercial transport aircraft at United Technologies Aerospace Systems. At UTAS, and Lockheed Martin before that, he led engineering teams on development projects for the SmartProbe® AirData System, the Taiwan P-3 Aircraft, and a satellite launch program. Scott also led proposal efforts for UAVs, avionics, and missile defense programs at Lockheed Martin. Scott holds Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Aerospace Engineering from San Jose State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Political Science from Iowa State University.
During the webinar you will learn about:
The recent steps forward in manufacturing for the aerospace industry
The key applications in which the technology is in use
Where Additive Manufacturing for aerospace is headed
Recognizing the advances in Additive Fabrication technologies, the United States Marine Corps has set up a dedicated Additive Manufacturing program with the aim of mass-producing militaristic items with ease and at any location.
Looking deeper, it is only right to state that this program—which was heralded by the Logistics Innovation Challenge—was developed to give the US Army a considerable edge during wartime.
The program has recorded considerable successes for it led to the development of an unmanned aerial system named ‘Scout’ with reconnaissance features which was built with approximately $600.
The fourth industrial age is here to stay and the exact roles 3d Printing will play in defining how it develops can only be speculated at for now. But one thing is sure: manufacturing in every industry vertical—bio-medicine, the military, engineering, science etc.—will come to rely heavily on the on-going innovations in the field of Additive Fabrication Technologies.
This revolution would definitely have enhanced the German war effort during the battle of Stalingrad by drastically reducing the logistics associated with carting ammunitions as well as other goods from Germany and its environs to Russia. And it is also definitely going to change modern warfare as we know, it in the coming years.
¿What is the benefit of 3D printed UAVs? Read about the pros and cons of 3D printed UAVs, plus a guide to the best resources to be found online. Right here, you can jump to the topics directly:
Additive Manufacturing has become prolific in the military, being used for various applications and across divisions. Now, two of the US military’s branches are teaming up for the development of 3D printed UAVs: “Several years ago when we were collaborating with our academic partner, Georgia Tech Research Institute, we had this project where we were focusing on design engineering of small unmanned aircraft systems,” said Eric Spero, a team lead within the Army Research Laboratory’s (ARL) Vehicle Technology Directorate.
The idea was to enable soldiers to custom design UAVs for specific missions using an app, and then to 3D print them within 24 hours. Spero and his team brought the project to life as part of the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE), which gives soldiers access to new technologies. Researchers from the ARL then reached out to the Marines, knowing that the Marines had been working with 3D printed UAVs, and began developing a software catalog that would allow users to choose and 3D print an UAV for their specific mission needs: “We have interacted with Marines who have never touched an unmanned system before to Marines who are experts in unmanned aerial flight,” said ARL engineer Larry “LJ” R. Holmes Jr. “Across the board they all seemed to be very interested in the topic of being able to manufacture a tool that they can use that was mission specific and has a turn around.”
The Marines expected that turnaround to be days or weeks, but the ARL showed them that it could be anywhere from minutes to hours. The researchers said they plan to streamline their processes based on feedback from the Marines to optimize situational awareness: “Things like additive manufacturing with materials, artificial intelligence and machine learning, unmanned systems technologies, these will enable us to bring together the capabilities that will allow the future Soldiers and Marines the decisive edge that they need in the battlefield,” said Elias Rigas, a Division Chief in ARL’s Vehicle Technology Directorate.
Aerialtronics is a Dutch company producing commercial UAVs. Because of its 3D printingcapabilities, their UAVs can be fully customized to meet the needs of individual customers. Some UAVs are used in livestock monitoring, infrastructure inspection, and creative filming.
It was estimated that the company’s research and development costs were diminished by 50% from the use of 3D printing. 3D printing is used to create different-sized sensor equipment, GPS systems, and boxes that accommodate for cables and other electronic components.
Aerialtronics uses Stratasys 3D printing technology to build the UAVs. On a broader scale, streamlining and employing this more cost-effective process permits small companies like Aerialtronics to become a strong contender in the international UAV market. There is no doubt that 3D printed UAVs will continue to grow into even more useful applications that simplify our lives and meet our everyday needs: Imagine being able to build an UAV on the whim, and customize it to your own specifications, thus making it more affordable and accessible than ever before: This becomes a reality with today’s 3D printing capabilities. Aside from the benefit of creating custom UAVs, 3D printing offers easy upgradation opportunities: In other words, it is easier to make modifications to a 3D design, then print and test it until the desired variation is achieved. In other ways, now a user can replace broken or malfunctioning parts on an existing UAV with 3D printed ones. So far, several components can be 3D printed including the frame, landing gear, propellers, camera mount, antenna holder, and protective equipment. Another advantage of 3D printing results from building UAV parts in new lightweight materials. An UAV will perform better and fly longer when it is lighter. It also has better battery life and responsiveness to commands in-flight when it is lighter and weight is evenly distributed. The versatility of materials used for 3D printing translates into higher performance features in the UAVs.
Military branches are also focusing on 3D Printing to explore new ways to make cheaper, lighter, and more effective UAVs. A Marine Corp named Rhet McNeal created Scout, an UAV composed of 3D printed components. This UAV only costs $600 to build in comparison to a traditional one that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Since it is 3D printed, should the UAV receive any damage, the parts can be easily printed and replaced within hours. On the other hand, a standard-issue UAV would require weeks, sometimes months, to get a replacement through the Marine Corps’ supply line. Scout is now in the hands of Mitre Corp., a USMCUAV supplier, to undergo certification testing.
¿More examples? The University of Virginia created a 3D printed UAV for the Department of Defense that can be printed in less than a day at $2,500, including electronics development. The body of the drone only costs $800. It is known as the Razor since it appears like one long wing. Weighing in at 6 pounds with all the equipment, the Razor can fly at 40 mph for up to 45 minutes.
The features and capabilities of the Razor are not compromised by the fact that it is 3D printed: after all, it has all the same functions as a traditional UAV with GPS waypoints for navigation, mile-distance control, camera hoisting, and phone linking capabilities that extend the distance it can be controlled within. The greatest advantage of this being 3D printed is that it can be modified and reprinted on the whim.
Last but not least: Soleon is an ItalianUAV company advancing its efforts in 3D printing UAVs. Because it deals with diverse projects, including aerial photography and thermal mapping, designs ought to be flexible and quick for upgrades. Soleon uses Materialise to meet customer needs, shorten lead times, and reduce UAV weight. One of their 3D printed UAVs is called SoleonAgro, which is intended for agricultural pest control.
Chemical company Evonik, like many other chemical companies, saw the opportunity there is in 3D printing and began manufacturing materials for the technology along with its other products a while ago.
Evonik’s work with 3D printingmaterials has taken it into the realm of biocompatible implants, potentially leading to more effective treatment for people with serious bone injuries or diseases.
UAVs go well with 3D printing, and that is a good new for anyone who, like Evonik, is considering using UAVs in large-scale maintenance operations, or for many, many other purposes.
¿Is 3D printing speeding adoption of UAVs across industries and across the world? Yes: 3D printing means UAVs are easier, faster and cheaper to manufacture, and because they’re so easy and inexpensive to create, bigger risks can be taken with their design and their usage, meaning more creative applications.
Recently, Evonik began looking into UAVs as part of its plant maintenance program. The company 3D printed a multicopter and flew it over its Wesseling site. The multicopter transmitted live images of the water tower and pipe bridges to a monitor on the control unit, demonstrating its efficacy in providing support for maintenance work. “Overall, the experiment showed that drones are ideally suited as support for projects such as maintenance work,”Evonik said.
Another good example of the good marriage between 3D Printing and UAV manufacturing is the partially 3D printed Bat Bot, a marvel of engineering, designed as an alternative to traditional quadcopters, to be used in urban areas or other cramped environments. Bat Bot was designed to be used for everything from search and rescue to personal assistance. ¿Also for military? Well, the military uses of Bat Bot can’t be ignored, as UAVs have already become critical for surveillance and supply delivery, and soldiers are beginning to 3D print their own with more frequency.
In this report, the firm Automotive and Transport Market Research Reportsprojects that the yearly value of AM manufactured parts in the UAV industry to reach $1.9 billion, driving over $400 million in yearly sales of Additive Fabrication equipment, software, materials and services.
The UAV Additive Manufacturing report also provides information on which companies and institutions in the space infrastructure industry are using Additive Fabrication today, with relevant case studies. Key firms in the UAV AM segment include: Boeing, CRP Group, DJI, EHANG, EOS, General Atomics, HP, Hubsan, Lockheed Martin,Northrop Grumman, Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), Parrot, Ricoh, Stratasys, 3D Systems and 3DR.
The report includes an in-depth analysis of the material used for UAV AM prototyping and production, which takes into consideration both high performance polymers and metals as well as composites, ceramics and technologies for direct 3D printing of electronics. This report quantifies the projected value of additive manufactured parts and identifies the most commercially important technologies, materials and applications in 3D printing of UAV parts for prototyping, production and replacement.
The analysis includes ten-year forecasts of the materials, hardware, software and AM services, both in terms of demand and revenues. Granular geographic and part type information completes this first ever accurate study of the potential for AM in the rapidly evolving UAV industry, including defense, commercial and consumer applications.
UAVs are more and more common, and 3D printing can be a useful tool to begin with your UAV project: ¿Micro UAV? ¿Pocket UAV? ¿First Person View (FPV) quadcopter UAV? Every idea and project can come to life in the world of 3D printing, and that is exactly what we are going to see in this blogpost.
As an small company with only 35 employees, a major challenge for Aerialtronics is to develop systems that could meet the requirements of a variety of industries without spreading its resources too thin between dozens of discrete designs. “We have developed a concept that uses a standard platform and is customizable to individual customers and applications,” explains Joost Hezemans, head designer at Aerialtronics.
In order to reduce development times and contain its costs, Aerialtronics sought a faster, more cost-effective solution than outsourcing. Working closely with Stratasys, the company installed a uPrint SE Plus 3D Printer:“With the uPrint 3D Printer, we can adjust a design one day and 3D print new parts overnight, test it, tweak it some more, and print another to test the next day,” Hezemans says. “This process means that designs have gone through between five and 10 more iterations than before. We have been able to 3D print more, see more and fly more than previously possible, and thanks to 3D printing, the product is much better."
In early 2016, the Office of Strategy and Innovation (S&I) was approached by 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1st Maintenance Battalion’s Marine Corps Expeditionary Manufacturing (EXMAN) for seed funding to design, build, and test an Advanced Manufacturing facility that would perform under actual operational conditions, and would be tested during the Marine Corps’ annual Exercise Steel Knight (SK-17).
The Marine Corps’ objective was to make it mobile so that during an operation, whenever key parts break down, replacement parts could be fabricated on the spot, thereby eliminating well-known supply line hurdles. The result nowadays is a deployable 3D Printing studio in a mobile containerized shelter which can be used anywhere in the world, supporting the immediate needs of the Marines on the ground during operations or combat.
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly expanding their capabilities beyond military surveillance applications.
UAVs are being developed for parcel delivery to the customer’s doorstep, internet provision, disaster surveillance and assistance, and a whole range of hobbyist activities.
They play a role in the Internet of Things (IoT) because they are critically dependent on sensors, antennas and embedded software to provide two-way communications for remote control and monitoring.
UAV simulation will be critical in achieving industry estimates, which predict that the UAV market could be valued at $82 billion and employ more than 100,000 people by 2025.
To make this business potential a reality, UAV simulation must be performed to ensure that they are safe and reliable with low cost and low maintenance requirements.
They must have control software that is certified for safety, effective communications systems, efficient power management and the ability to operate in challenging environments.
ANSYS can help with UAV simulations by simulating aerodynamics for efficient flight, embedded software for reliable operation, and on-board electronics systems for sensing, power management, flight control, communications, etc.
In addition, ANSYS structural solutions can ensure mechanical integrity for robust and reliable performance. Explore the crucial technologies for designing better drones.
The U.S. forces have been using UAVs during its missions for a while.
They use these UAVs mainly to provide support to its troops in combat zones. The challenges, however, include the delivery of the drones taking weeks and that they had to be stocked and stored throughout the troops' expeditions.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a frequently-used buzz word in the UAV industry. As true AI continues to evolve, its influence on the commercial UAV industry will be significant: Boston-based deep learning neural networks company Neurala has been included in CB Insights’ Artificial Intelligence 100 list, a ranking of the 100 most promising private AI companies in the world.
Neurala has developed The Neurala Brain, ”a deep learning neural network software that makes smart products like cameras, robots and drones more autonomous and useful,” says the company. “Neurala uses a bio-inspired approach to mimic the way the human brain learns and analyzes its environment.” Neurala has made a name in the UAV industry over the last few years because the Neurala Brain is “edge” AI technology, meaning it can continue learning and refining algorithms from a UAV.
The possibilities range from inspections of energy installations, for example, where the Neurala Brain might be able to learn specific signs of concern, to the more dramatic and interesting: Neurala’s Brain has been used on UAVs in Africa to differentiate poachers from roaming animals at night, notifying personnel who are able to take action in protecting wildlife. “This is a fitting end to a big year for Neurala, and it is an honor to be included in this prestigious list,” said Massimiliano “Max” Versace, co-founder and CEO of Neurala in a company announcement. “2018 will be the year for learning on the edge and building a super brain. We are excited to be leading the charge, poised and ready to transform industries, and excited to take part in changing the world for the better through artificial intelligence.”
General Atomics has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force for Block 5kits for the MQ-9 Reaper, just as the U.S. military begins to phase out the MQ-1 PredatorUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
The contract was announced Wednesday 3 by the U.S. Department of Defense, tapping General Atomics for Block 5 kits, in addition to other services worth more than $14.1 million under a cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price undefinitized contract action, which is a modification on a previously awarded contract.
The UAVs are considered one of the primary weapons in U.S. counter terrorism strategy as both the Predator and the Reaper have strike capabilities, usually carrying a payload of AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles. The MQ-9 Reaper is a significantly upgraded version of the MQ-1 PredatorUAV, which is primarily used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions (ISR).
The U.S. military has long planned the retirement of the MQ-1 Predator in favor of an all-MQ-9 Reaper fleet. The Air Force explained their reasoning to retire the Predator in February 2017, noting that the more modern MQ-9 Reaper has been better equipped with superior features and operational capabilities. Work on Block 5 kits for the contract will occur in Poway, California, and is expected to be completed by February 2021.
Aeronautics Ltd. (Yavne, Israel) develops and manufactures UAVs, observation balloons, bomb fuses, and advanced navigational systems.
The company is controlled by the KCPS, Viola, and Bereshit funds. Aeronautics' CEO is Amos Mathan, and its chairperson is Major General (res.) Eytan Ben Eliyahu.
The company reported that it would supply to a classified customer with UAVs for $13 million, with delivery spread over an 18-month period and payment taking place accordingly.
A United States airstrike targeting al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab in Somalia killed four people and destroyed a car bomb near Mogadishu on Wednesday, December 27, the U.S.Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a statement: “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. forces conducted an airstrike against al-Shabaab militants in the early evening hours of Dec. 27, 2017, approximately 25 kilometers west of the capital [Mogadishu], killing four (4) terrorists and destroying one vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, preventing it from being used against the people in Mogadishu,”Africom said in a Thursday statement.
On December 24, an airstrike targeting al-Shabaab in southern Somalia killed 13 people. On December 15, an airstrike 30 miles northwest of Kismayo killed eight people. Three days earlier, on December 12, a U.S. airstrike targeted an al-Shabaab car bomb near Mubarak, 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Mogadishu. On November 27, Africom targeted Abnaa ul-Calipha in northeastern Somalia. A week earlier, the command said an airstrike killed more than 100 al-Shabaab militants 125 miles northwest of Mogadishu. On November 15, Africom said a drone strike about 60 miles north Mogadishu killed “several”al-Shabaab militants. Four days earlier, Africom said it struck al-Shabaab in the Bay region, about 100 miles west of Mogadishu.
The strike is the latest in an increasing number of U.S. airstrikes against al-Shabaab and Abnaa ul-Calipha, Islamic State’s affiliate in Somalia.
A recent report by Accenture Technologies suggests that by 2035 Artificial Intelligence (AI) might add as much as 1.6 percentage points to China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The researchers at Accenture argue that to yield maximum economic benefits from AI,China needs to use it as an additional factor of production, relying on AI for intelligent automation, labor and capital augmentation and innovation diffusion.
Analysts from other institutions also support such claim: PricewaterhouseCoopers projected that by 2030 global GDP could increase by $15.7 trillion, with almost half of these gains coming from China. PwC estimates that AI will account for a 26 percent GDP boost, or $7 trillion, in China in the next 13 years.
However optimistic these economic projections sound, rapid development of AI in the PRC might also bring about significant challenges to freedom and security, both in China and beyond: Chinese companies are barely constrained by legal issues over data collection and users’ privacy. They can freely use the data of China’s 750 million internet users, match photos and personal IDs and then train facial recognition algorithms and other types of neural networks on large datasets.
Currently the Chinese government not only does not restrict the uses of personal data by domestic tech giants such as Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba, but actively uses their resources to surveil Chinese citizens: Beijing has successfully used advanced facial recognition systems to analyze data from millions of cameras to track down law violators. On the one hand, this might help police to catch criminals faster. But on the other hand, and bearing in mind that China is more rapidly than any other country moving towards becoming a surveillance state where no one can hide from the government, the AI can also be used to censor online environments and identify people who spread “sensitive” information online. Through the use of the AI, any news considered "not good enough" for the government could be censored automatically as it gains steam, and then relaxed after the storm has passed. And there would be almost no trace that it had ever happened. Applying these techniques to the internal affairs, the possibility of implanting an Smart Dictatorship could be enormous.
Regarding military uses of AI, the U.S. is already alarmed about China potentially using AI for that purposes: In February, Elsa B. Kania, an analyst with The Long Term Strategy Group at the Aspen Institute, testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has reportedly begun incorporating AI into unmanned weapon systems, including UAVs and UUVs: “The Chinese defense industry has likewise made significant progress in its research and development of a range of cutting-edge unmanned systems, including those with supersonic, stealth, and swarming capabilities, but appears to face continued challenges in UAV engines, data links, and sensors,” she said. Of course, U.S. still has an advantage in terms of AI development, but China is catching up fast: Given the amount of resources available in China for the AI development, chances are Beijing will be able to fulfill its goal of becoming the industry leader by 2030.
According to a recent publication in Optica, researchers working under Laura Waller at UC Berkeley have developed an “easy-to-build camera that produces 3D images from a single 2D image without any lenses.” The “DiffuserCam” can capture high-definition 3D information in large volume without the use of a scanning mechanism or difficult-to-manufacture micro-circuitry.
But, you ask, How does it work? The magic lies in Waller’s use of “computational imaging,” which is “an approach that examines how hardware and software can be used together to design imaging systems.” In other words, the hardware and software are thought of as two smaller, complementary parts of a holistic imaging system. Despite the DIY approach, the DiffuserCam is no joke, as the camera can reconstruct 100 million voxels (points in 3D space) from an 1.3-megapixel image. As a comparison, the article mentions that the new iPhone X captures 12-megapixel photos. It means that you could use that image sensor to build a a DiffuserCam that captures more than a billion points.
The camera hardware is “essentially a bumpy piece of plastic” that is “placed on top of an image sensor,” a summary article explains. This simplicity makes it versatile and easy to construct. Researchers in Waller’s lab say they can build it using any image sensor, and practically any bumpy piece of plastic, including privacy glass stickers, Scotch tape, and conference pass holders.
The lensless DiffuserCam consists of a diffuser placed in front of a sensor. The system turns a 3D scene into a 2D image on the sensor. After a one-time calibration, an algorithm is used to reconstruct 3D images computationally. The result is a 3D image reconstructed from a single 2D measurement.
This approach enables the researchers to unload the complexity off of the hardware and into the processing algorithms. This proves the old adage that “software eats hardware,” and brings with it one of the classic benefits of code: You only have to make the complex software once, because after that it can be easily copied and distributed.
Waller says her team’s work proves out the usefulness of computational imaging, showing that this holistic approach enables breakthroughs in performance and price that were not possible before. Still, she warns, “this is a very powerful direction for imaging, but requires designers with optical and physics expertise as well as computational knowledge.”
Kevin Franks, deputy maritime account manager at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, said the MoD has a number of “lines of interest” in 3D Printing. He said: “The ability to use additive manufacture to make a task-specific tool, component, device or even a vehicle out in the field or in a space-constrained moving ship, could have significant impact on the armed forces’ shape and capability.”
So now we know why the Royal Navy ship HMS Mersey has launched something unusual from her gun deck off England’s southern coast: a cheap UAV made using a 3D Printer. The 1.5m wingspan, propeller-driven UAV, known as 'Sulsa', was printed on shore and then assembled on the ship. The test was meant to demonstrate how more-or-less disposable UAVs that could, in a pinch, be printed on board might cut costs and let a crew adapt quickly to a new mission, for example, after a natural disaster.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers explained that "Within five years, ships could be equipped with multi-material 3D printers able to produce entire unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), tailored to specific missions." ¿Really? Yes: The Sulsa can be printed and fly for only 40 minutes. ¿Not much? Yes, but that could be enough for missions such as responding to reports of piracy, where being able to easily check out a vessel from a distance of 10 miles or so is valuable. If they shoot at it, who cares? You send another one up.
Some of the most interesting uses of UAVs deployment in science and conservation are terrain mapping and vegetation analysis.
Data capture for mapping or vegetation analysis can be done by multirotor or fixed-wing methods, with the former a good choice for smaller areas that can be covered in less than 20 minutes and the latter better for bigger landscapes that may require up to an hour of flight time (or more).
The photogrammetry software to perform this work is rapidly evolving but at this time the best options carry a rather stunning range of pricing. Tools include both desktop processing and server-farm processing approaches. You have to explore the options to see what matches your end use. Here is a list of processing software for your exploration:
