The civilian drone project will see NHS supplies carried to the Isle of Wight, while ferry crossings are limited. As part of its sponsorship, PEI-Genesis has provided a connector – an Amphe-Lite D38999 connector – free of charge during development and test flights.
The Windracers ULTRA, fixed-wing, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is capable of carrying 100kg up to 621 miles and will make the crossing from Hampshire to the Isle of Wight in 10 minutes. To allow the drone to accurately and reliably transmit its GPS location, as well as instrument data, including the position of wing flaps and the cargo bay drop-mechanism, the UAV has been fitted with the connector supplied by PEI-Genesis.
The Amphe-Lite D38999 connector will provide the Windracers UAV with protection against electromagnetic and radio frequency interference (EMI/RFI). The Amphe-Lite connector is shielded using electroless nickel plating, which is built into a 360-degree grounding system, providing up to 50dB of noise suppression over a frequency range of 100Mhz to 10GHz.
Daniel Cross, area sales manager at PEI-Genesis, explains: “We partnered with Windracers and the research team at Southampton University because we felt our experience in the aerospace and military sectors can add value to this UAV project. Not only will the Amphe-Lite connector help in delivering vital supplies to the NHS during this difficult time, it’s extreme performance will be vital in the future when the ULTRA UAV is deployed to deliver aid to humanitarian projects around the world.”
Development team lead Nickolay Jelev adds: "The Amphe-Lite connectors provide a fantastic balance between quality, availability, robustness, weight and cost. They are perfectly suited for our application, as the goal going forward is to manufacture the Windracers ULTRA platform in large numbers and operate it in harsh environments.”