November 9, 2023
Together with our partner, the Institute of Flight System Dynamics of the Technical University of Munich, our team took on the challenge of carrying out a comprehensive overall test of our DRONEVAC system after just two years of development in order to verify the performance and reliability of our technology in real field use. The results of the first mission flights not only confirmed our high expectations, but also put our vision of UAV-based rescue missions into practice.
The main aspect of the overall test was the verification of a functional complementary instance in the established military rescue chain under real operational conditions. The overall test not only demonstrated the airworthiness of the Grille, but also showed integration possibilities for connection to the existing rescue infrastructure. One of the focal points was the interaction of UGV and UAV for tactically reasonable coverage of various mission phases. Particularly worth mentioning is the resilience against EMI, which was demonstrated during the tests with the support of the EloKa-units (electronic warfare). Multiple redundant, dissimilar LOS and BLOS C2-links as well as inertial navigation provide the necessary protection of the system against jamming.
The results have strengthened our belief that our DRONEVAC technology guarantees the safe execution of rescue operations. For this reason, it is crucial to continue testing under real-life conditions during development. The proximity to reality has provided us valuable experience and thus system requirements, which we will now implement in the next development iterations.
It is also important for us to emphasize that we put manual flights to the test as part of this overall test, which of course also opened up room for human error. During one of the many manually flown take-off maneuvers, an incorrect control input by the pilot caused the UAV to tilt, resulting in the loss of some rotor blades. In the coming weeks, we plan to put the next functional level of the flight control system into service in order to carry out the entire mission from take-off to landing fully automatically, as planned from the start of development. This will ensure maximum safety and efficiency.
To summarize, the overall test was a major milestone for AVILUS, and we are drawing even more energy from it for the road ahead. Once again, we were able to prove that anything is possible with the right resources, the support of a dedicated team and a shared belief in a mission.
