Panasonic Connect and the Spanish company Aurea Avionics have presented a portable controller for uncrewed aircraft and ground vehicles, built on Panasonic's rugged TOUGHBOOK FZ-G2 tablet. The system, shown at the TECNOSEC exhibition, is aimed mainly at defence.
It adds physical joysticks and buttons, space for radio equipment and a quick-release extra battery, so that one device can control a vehicle and its mission. Operators can see video and maps and check the vehicle's data, and the communications, controls and power options can be adapted to each platform.
Panasonic supplies the computing platform and Aurea Avionics develops the controls and adapts the integration to each project, said Isaac Feijóo, key account manager at Panasonic TOUGHBOOK. The controller is already available for defence use, and exports are subject to Spanish and EU restrictions and permits.
Juan López Otero, chief executive of Aurea Avionics, said the aim was to put everything an operator needs to control and supervise uncrewed systems into one portable device, usable outdoors or from inside crewed vehicles. Aurea Avionics, based in Madrid, makes fixed-wing and rotary drones, optronic payloads and control stations.
Background
Panasonic
Electronics company
Japanese company whose Panasonic Holdings and Panasonic R&D Company of America developed the T-Rex robot AI with university partners.
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Aurea Avionics
Drone maker
Madrid-based company that develops and makes uncrewed aircraft systems and defence technology.
