Tunnel drones

AeroLion and Ubuntu

make anything possible
CASE STUDY 2016

Summary
Its an exciting time in the world of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,
with sophisticated, more affordable drones regularly being
released to the public, but its commercial UAVs where
open source powered revolutions are being made by
Singapore based company AeroLion.
AeroLion Technologies are a spin-out from the Unmanned
Systems Research Group of the National University of Singapore
with several members of their team have researching UAVs
for more than ten years. They specialize in UAV autonomy
and navigation in both indoor and outdoor cluttered
environment and its applications.
One of the applications is how AeroLions UAVs are
helping their customers improve their processes and provide
services that they couldnt offer before, such as autonomous
3D modelling. Theyre helping to inspect areas that were
previously unreachable, either due to extreme or dangerous
conditions or because the area is geographically inaccessible.
Theyre in warehouses, lightening their customers workload
by reducing man-hours spent on maintenance inspections.
Its these business needs that drive AeroLions development
of UAV technology; building smarter machines that can fit
into a range of new human scenarios that conventional
UAVs just cant.

Building better UAVs

As of September 2016, AeroLion have already released two
commercially available UAVs with a third soon to launch.
The Blacklion-168 is the larger of the two currently produced
by AeroLion. Used in heavy duty industry applications, this
weatherproof UAV can stand up to wind, rain and a large
range of temperatures that are normally hostile to UAVs.
For example, the Blacklion-168 is currently being used by
six provinces in China for powerline inspection in difficult
to access areas, where many UAVs cant even take off due
to low air pressure.

Weve researched and selected the most

efficient motor and propeller set on our product
to improve its flight endurance. Via professional
mechanical and electronic design iterations, the
BlackLion-168 has become a stable and powerful
aerial machine that can work in various tough
environments.
Dr Wang Fei, CEO of AeroLion

The Blacklion-068 is smaller than the Blacklion-168, but can

fly autonomously and avoid objects due to a complex series of
sensors built into the UAV. With a more open platform than its
bigger brother, customers can easily add their own sensors to
further extend the UAVs already impressive capabilities.

Adding a brain
Yet in the world of UAVs, where hardware offerings can
often be similar amongst competitors, its with software that
AeroLion is truly differentiating itself from their peers. Using
Ubuntu and ROS (Robot Operating System) AeroLions has
developed one of the most advanced mapping and autonomous
navigation tools for their drones that automatically maps the
environment as it flies. This allows its UAVs to undertake tasks,
such as inspection, autonomously, even in areas where there
is no GPS.

We have used Ubuntu and ROS since

our research days to create an algorithm for
autonomous flight to demonstrate its power
to our customers. Customers can also develop
their own programmes for the UAV, which
is another benefit of using a familiar OS
as our base.
Dr Wang Fei, CEO of AeroLion

Thanks to AeroLions expertise in GPS-less autonomous

navigation, routine inspections in tunnels, which are difficult
to complete due to human accessibility issues, are now not
only feasible, but easy; and man-hours spent on maintenance
can be reduced whilst simultaneously improving the quality
of inspections. AeroLion has made tunnel exploration a reality,
with train tunnels, sewers and mines all possible to explore
and inspect without inherent risk to a companys personnel.
Using powerful and adaptive hardware, AeroLions UAVs can be
used in many parts of the world that are difficult for ordinary
UAVs to access. And with built in modular capabilities, these
UAVs can be shaped for individual customer needs and are
highly versatile thanks in part to its foundation in Ubuntu.
With a great track record in robotics, Ubuntu was a natural
fit as the foundation of AeroLions work. Not only does Ubuntu
support the many different types of hardware that AeroLion
and its partners utilise, but with a large range of libraries and
drivers also available through Ubuntu, which dont feature
on other Linux distributions, AeroLion and its partners can
continue to easily add extra functionality to its UAVs long
after they have been released.

A key benefit for us was the community that

came with using Ubuntu we ask and answer
questions on lots of these community forums,
and its hugely advantageous for us.
Dr Wang Fei, CEO of AeroLion

Ubuntu also helps keep the product road map open for future
development and reduces the barriers for entry for researchers
and education projects. With AeroLions versatile hardware
and Ubuntus open nature, anything is possible for users.

Open to users, Ubuntu and ROS are the

reason for this want an open environment
for everyone to develop amazing features,
especially things we havent thought of.
Dr Wang Fei, CEO of AeroLion

To find out more about Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core visit

ubuntu.com/internet-of-things/partners

Another reason AeroLion chose Ubuntu as their development

platform was because of the many benefits brought about by
Ubuntu being open source. For one, it allows fast development
and great community support for the company. The complexity
of even the most simple task in robotics means that harnessing
the expertise of the whole community is of huge benefit
to the team, and the software community working around
robotics on Ubuntu are incredibly knowledgeable.

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