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Queensland defence and autonomy company Ichor Autonomy has announced its first successful test of a 50A, four-in-one electronic speed controller.
The electronics part reportedly joins an in-house built flight controller to form the basis for a wide variety of quadcopter platforms. The electronic speed controller (ESC) is reportedly designed to drive four motors, typically used in a quadrotor arrangement.
The combination of components form the fundamental requirements for first-person view drones, as well as being used in surveillance drones such as Ichor Autonomy’s (IA) submission for the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, Sovereign UAS Challenge and IA’s autonomous agent for complex terrain reconnaissance, SPURT.
“It’s taken a number of iterations, but I’m really proud that our ESC is in a position to begin flight testing and then production,” Ichor Autonomy managing director Peter Milani said.
“This is really a demonstration that Australian ownership and perseverance is key to bringing these capabilities to life.”
The flight stack is designed and built in Brisbane, Australia, and meets the requirements for NDAA compliance, making it suitable for inclusion in a wide variety of allied drones, according to the company
After a period of testing and validation to confirm the capabilities of the ESC under flight loads, Ichor Autonomy will begin the process to ramp up production of the flight stack which should exceed 2000 units per month.
The company had previously been requested to produce experimental prototypes for the Australian Army in 2023.
At that time, Ichor Autonomy was contracted for a conventional war weapon prototype of the company’s “Autonomous Airborne Battle Buddy” for limited trial, research, experiment, study or development worth $483,780.
That contract period extended from February 2023 to 30 June 2024.
