Ukraine creates self-homing FPV drones

AirUnit company specialists develop FPV drones with a self-homing system.

Andrii Shtepa, co-owner of the company, told about this to the Focus magazine.

“We need cheap solutions that will strike with an efficiency of at least 20%, if we are talking about launching a kamikaze drone, in order to significantly change the situation at the front. We want to make a stable product that will work smoothly, will not create problems, will be simple for users and will have an efficiency above 20%,” Shtepa said.

According to his calculations, the effectiveness of modern Ukrainian FPV drones is about 10 percent, and the rate of the Russian Lancet is 25-30 percent.

Shtepa believes that the lack of guidance systems for drones of Ukrainian manufacturers is a global problem.

“We plan to solve the problem due to computer vision and by creating an algorithm of drone work during a loss of communication,” Shtepa said.

Due to such a system, the operator of the FPV drone will need to lock-on the target by selecting the object on the screen, then automation will enter into action.

Due to the features of the relief during diving, communication can be lost. So, such systems at the same time help to fix the problem of loss of communication and missed drones.

The main problem with this system is the price increase of such drones by 3-4 times, but Shtepa assures that it will not be critical.

“The components that we started working with and got Evaluation Kits for testing and assembling prototypes, turns out to be $180 for an on-board computer that will be essentially a flight controller, which is very cheap. I think the final cost of the board, which we will offer, will be about UAH 25-30 thousand, which is not much more expensive than existing products in Ukraine,” said the representative of AirUnit.

Shtepa added that the team wants to create drones’ reserve for at least a year in advance and gradually modernize it.

Now the company is engaged in the manufacture of three types of drones for various tasks and types of targets: a drone with a 7-inch frame for hitting manpower, with a 9-inch one for hitting equipment and a “wing” type drone for hitting targets in the rear.