Performing Mission Impossibles with Drones in Europe

In anticipation of Commercial UAV Europe, we’re exploring the kind of people, companies and technologies that will be highlighted at the event. A-techSYN takes a prominent spot on this list, since they’re on-pace to become a critical resource for anyone who has a UAV project or has R&D/applications/development needs.

The name A-techSYN stands for “Advanced Technologies with SYNERGY”, and it speaks to the value the company places on working with their customers, service providers and plenty others that are involved in the creation and development of these systems. Being able to connect so many different people is a concept the company is focused on, especially as these markets and systems are coming together in regard to drone technology. They’re a company that believes all shareholders have to work together and put their efforts into developing solutions to real-world problems as quick as possible and seize the opportunities.

In honor of the company’s presence at the Expo, they are offering attendees who stop by their booth a special a one-time discount. We connected the CEO of A-techSYN, Gokhan Celik, to learn more about that offer, but also about what the company has to offer commercial drones users of all types and sizes. Find out what makes the A-techSYN suite of products different, how their customers are utilizing these opportunities, what they’re looking forward to seeing at the Expo and plenty more.

 

Jeremiah Karpowicz: What makes your company and offerings different from other options that are available to professionals interested in drone technology?

Gokhan Celik: A-TechSYN is a company that can provide full circle solutions, which can mean anything from developing a new solution to a real- world problem. We have the capacity to receive an idea, put it into design, develop and produce prototypes, test-fly, arrange for proof of concepts, re-design or optimize, put it into production - all in a matter of months.

This capacity also enables us to become a driver of projects where we step in as required, solve the problem and step out. Maybe it’s an integration problem, a software requirement or even just test flying a new payload. Regardless of the details, we are able to provide the necessary solutions.

 

Tell us about your products. What kind of problems are they designed to solve?

Our family of products can be classified as follows:

1. UAS Systems, Sub-systems and components
2. Flight Services
3. R&D and Integration

Our core products are the PilotUS Autopilot Hardware and Software and the Ground Control Software. We own the IP of several critical softwares and hardwares. This makes A-techSYN a very competitive shareholder in markets where C2 is required at a high level. Any drone, be it a fixed wing, multi-copter or even helicopter, can be controlled by the same PilotUS autopilot. This gives end-users the ability to invest only once and use a family of several UAV’s designed for different purposes.

As for flight services, A-techSYN owns a mobile GCS with all equipment packaged into it. This enables us to mobilize to the area where a flight is requested within hours and perform the missions. We will be investing pro-actively in Flight services to ensure customer satisfaction. We aim to have several flight crews who are certified by the authorities and can take over legal issues related to flights on behalf of the end user. Flying over your field for agriculture, or R&D and even providing support to Search and Rescue bodies or forestry will be the main markets we will be targeting.

Speaking of R&D, that is also one of the main markets we are looking into. We are becoming partners who take care of any flight related requirement of a R&D project.

 

What does it mean for you to be involved in a research project?

A good example would be a University project to develop a new software and hardware that processes aerial data. The acquisition of the data using the new developed hardware from the air is not really an area where the University should be specialized or even concerned. In such a case, A-techSYN would step in, integrate the new hardware to one of its UAV’s, design the communication protocols, fly, acquire the data and deliver to the project partners, leaving them more time to focus on the main issues.

 

Can you tell us a little bit about your UAVs? Are they all designed to suit different needs in various environments?

Yes, right now we have 4 different types of UAV’s that are on our web site. All of our UAV’s are produced with customer requirements in mind.

1. Our L-CO S UAV
 is a low-cost UAV that fits the requirements of most university projects or high-risk projects. Especially when several UAV’s are requested and the budget is tight, L-CO S are the best fit.

2. CNG-V UAV is a UAV designed to meet higher speed requirements and for applications where no runway is possible. The catapult launch is done fully autonomously and it applies more then 7G to the UAV.

3. PANDA VTOL UAV and PANDA XLW UAV
 are the mid-level UAV’s produced with COTS products. The PANDA family has a 4.5m wingspan and is equipped with EFI engines for safe operations, 80-150 Watt Alternator, PMU, payload control options etc. It shows a great SLT feature which makes it runway independent. The PANDA family can trade-off the SLT equipment for longer endurance or payload capacity by transforming into a runway version in XLW.

We have also just completed a new system that we will introduce at the Commercial UAV EXPO. The CGT45 will be the next generation of PANDA family. It shows the same features on a newly designed airframe of ours and with higher quality equipment. We have great expectations for the CGT45 since it too is designed according to customer requirements and is the result of 4 years of field experience.

Tell us about your autopilot product. How is it being utilized by your customers?

PilotUS is a very powerful flight and mission control autopilot. It provides an autopilot that basically has military grade functions to the civil market at an affordable price.

PilotUs is a generic autopilot designed for all types of drones or UAVs of any size ranging from 2kg mini-UAVs up to 150kg Tactical UAVs demanding perfect precision flight control. The autopilot has double redundancy on flight-critical components. RTK GPS option is available. Its small size, low weight, and solid enclosure box means that PilotUS Autopilot is more than ideal for any UAV.

Thanks to the unique algorithms developed in house by A-techSYN, PilotUS has been integrated and tested on fixed wing, delta wing, H-Tail and T-Tail UAVs as well as Quad/Hex/Quattro Copters and even on Rotary Wing Unmanned Vehicles for over 500 hours with great success.

PilotUS can manage all kinds of known takeoff and landing methods, may it be hand-launched, runway, catapult, parachute or even SLT.

 

In what ways are your customers using your Flight Services offerings?

The Flight Services we provide opens up great possibilities to our customers. The main idea is to rent our systems by the hour for customers who have a specific job that needs to be done. The customer gets the result or data acquired by our flight teams with our UAS and does not have to invest in the system themselves.

Although commercial drone operators tend to invest in the systems they use, there are occasions where they would get some jobs from their customers that cannot be done by their systems they have on hand and where the frequency of such a request is not as high as to invest in a new system, sensor or hardware. This is a typical occasion where we would provide a flight service with our UAS.

Another very important application of this is for R/D projects. People who are developing some new software or hardware for aerial use would like to test them on air. Our Flight Services product would give them the ability to test their prototypes during the R&D several times, instead of at the end of the project. This enables them to get the benefit of using a test platform during their R&D at a very low cost.

Some good examples would be agricultural use of UAS for stress analysis or product estimation, video to test software developed for tracking from air, security patrolling for summits or construction sites etc.

 

What kind of feedback have you gotten from your customers? Is there anything specific they’re telling you in terms of how your solutions have made a difference?

We are well known for performing mission impossibles. We are used to improvising when the job does not go according to the plan and provide alternatives. The first thing our customers would mention about us is that we would complete the mission under any circumstances.

The business perspective of A-techSYN is to provide customers with highly efficient and safe applications at a reasonable price. We think that most UAS systems and sub-systems are sold far over the prices of what they should be. The main reason is that most of those systems are developed for military use and the specs are way too high and expensive.

 

How do you see the regulatory environment across Europe impacting drone adoption?

I personally am positive. I think that the resistance against using this new technology is over and everybody has accepted that this is going to happen. I strongly support all efforts to come up with a safe regulatory solution that restricts misuse of this technology. But I also think that the regulations should be a lot more realistic. The EU allows Ultralight Planes to be flown by people easily. I don't understand why UAS are more dangerous than a 478 KG plane. I think that in an era where unmanned cars are driving safely on our streets, people should trust the technology more.

I think people are worried about misuse more than about coming up with regulations for people who want to use UAS appropriately. There will be occasions of misuse of UAS - as there are misuses of automobiles, computers and fire - but regulations will not prevent those. Instead we should be more focused on making things easier for people to register and use UAS so that we can distinguish a UAV on air that is not registered.

I think that everybody is working to achieve the same goal. A safe regulation that allows people to make use of UAS and prevent incidents. We at A-techSYN are ready to contribute to achieve this goal with our technology 100%.

What can attendees of Commercial UAV Expo Europe look forward to seeing and experiencing at your booth?

We will be demonstrating almost all our products there. Attendees will be able to experience all of our products for themselves and see how easy they are to use. We will have a small fixed wing SLT UAV and a CM100 Gimbal with EO and I/R sensors that attendees would be able to use and see the real performance.

We are very exited to showcase our latest product the 4.5 m wingspan CGT45 SLT at its first show. It’s a fuel engine SLT UAV that has a 6 hours endurance with 4 kg payload capacity. We think that attendees will be surprised to see the product and hear the price.

 

Tell us about the special offer that will be available exclusively to Commercial UAV Europe attendees.

In honor of our first show in Europe, we came up with a very special package that gives the attendees a lot reason to visit our booth :

1. We are giving a one-time expo discount of 50% on the PilotUS Autopilot to all attendees that visit our stand and place an order.
2. We will do the integration of any purchased Autopilot for free.
3. We are giving an academic discount to representatives of Universities and members who are engaged in R&D projects that are funded by the EU. Not only will they get our products at a very small cost but they also will get the GCS software for free.