Vanguard Magazine

"this transition will continue to grow and accelerate as regulatory environments become more tolerant of uAVs. As a result, we will witness exponential improvements in agronomy, cartography, geology, hydrology, and a host of other earth sciences over the coming years." — david funkhouser are designed to increase UAV airtimes significantly, multiplied more than eight times by using the Pegasus system. The pow- ertrains also improve the logistical capabilities of UAV platforms, allowing users to power their UAVs using fuel as opposed to re- quiring battery swaps in the field. Matt McRoberts commented that "these systems can be easily implemented by existing UAV manufacturers, giving them the tools necessary to make cutting edge UAV systems." The company's intellectual property allows them to miniatur- ize the systems that are commonly implemented in ships and trains into extremely small packages that are usable on UAV platforms. The company's intention is to give manufacturers the ability to build advanced, high-endurance UAV systems as an attractive method of obtaining actionable data, on or off the battlefield. Another interesting Canadian technology business is Battle- field International Inc. This SME focuses on fluid control and conveyance, primarily quick disconnect fuel couplings in UAVs. They deliver fluid quick disconnects for many of the world's top UAV manufacturers, including Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and Textron Systems, and have recently started sell- ing into the land vehicle market, with the UAV technology driv- ing overall innovation that is applicable into various cross sec- tors. The company's international sales manager, Michael Falk, is confident in the company's future, remarking that their en- trance into the land systems market make them well positioned to deliver products designed to meet the harsh environmental challenges of this industry, which should become global stan- dards in the very near future. Today, it is not difficult to find people and companies, par- ticularly small Canadian tech businesses, innovating in the field of UAVs, or as some refer to them, often negatively, "drones." Personally, I see it as exciting progress, that, applied to such a wide variety of sectors, could make us vastly more competitive on a multitude of fronts. When I think back to the poor hero of Gulliver's Travels, while parallels can be drawn to this scary army of "drones" marching almost mindlessly, taking down good people, I personally do not see the reality in quite the same way. Personally, I still see a human with the same moral compass behind every command, even if it's a command to perform a "swarm" mission. I still see the need to follow the same rules of engagement that we would if there was no UAV technology in place. While there will be a resistance to increasing technologi- cal development that comes with this "march of the drones," we cannot forget the advantages that come from continued R&D in such an innovative sector. nicole Verkindt is the technology editor of Vanguard Magazine and founder and president of OMX. She is a board member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and was recently appointed to the board of the Peter Munk School of Global Affairs. T Technology WAtCH www.vanguardcanada.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 37 A Boeing Insitu RQ-21 Blackjack during recovery. Canada recently purchased five Blackjacks through an FMS sale for a value of approximately $14M USD, including training for DND.

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