Bell Helicopter flies APT 70, its freighter freighter

APT 70, Bell Textron's autonomous cargo shuttle, successfully completed its first autonomous flight. This step is essential for the establishment of new standards of avoidance and centralized controls.

The company Bell Textron has made the first flight of a freighter freighter called "Autonomous Pod Transport" (APT 70). The trial took place in Forth Worth, Texas (USA).

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This unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in English is driven by four rotors that propel it vertically before the latter tilt horizontally to propel itself forward. This process is reminiscent of the Boeing-Bell V-22 Osprey, a hybrid transport aircraft of the US military. And for good reason, it is Bell who is the prime contractor of this tilting rotor motorization on which the company has more than 30 years of research.

With tilting rotors, the APT 70 can fly faster and farther than any conventional aircraft, according to Bell officials.
The APT 70 is able to evolve at 100 km / h carrying a payload of 30 kg, all in autonomous mode. This autonomous mini-cargo has been designed for various missions ranging from the delivery of parcels to the transport of medicines in inaccessible areas or in support of emergency responders during disasters.

In fact, Bell is working with the Japanese company Yamato, a Japanese logistics company. The goal is to integrate the APT 70 into the Yamato supply chain. The service should start in early 2020.

But beyond this aspect of public utility, it is to simulate commercial flights in the already congested airspace and to make flights beyond the line of sight. This demonstration, in partnership with NASA, is part of a vast project on the integration of these unmanned flying vehicles (UAV).

Indeed, the inevitable arrival of commercial UAVs and other autonomous flying shuttles (eVTOL or Urban Air Mobility, UAM) in the airspace is likely to be accompanied by numerous complications for the safety, the air traffic control, the management of traffic of unmanned aircraft …

To prepare these evolutions, NASA, in addition to its role in the conquest of space, also deals with the scientific aspect and the design of machines capable of flying. In recent years, the federal agency has been working with industry and universities, particularly on these new unmanned flying machines.

This involves modifying the control protocols, creating a new UAV-aware air traffic management and revising procedures, all in order to enable the FAA, the government agency in charge of civil aviation in the United States, to adapt its certifications.

(Source: Commercial UAV News)

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