uAvionix has partnered with CubePilot (ProfiCNC and Hex), a designer and manufacturer of “The Cube” autopilot—formerly known as “Pixhawk”—for UAS.

Through the partnership, CubePilot will equip its Carrier Board with uAvionix’s ADS-B IN receive capability.

Available in July, the new Carrier Board integrates uAvionix’s custom ADS-B silicon for 1090MHz ADS-B reception for worldwide Detect and Avoid (DAA) functionality. 

Previously, CubePilot, which utilizes the open-source ARDUPILOT platform, provided plug-and-play functionality for several uAvionix ADS-B IN and OUT products. The companies note that support for these products is retained in the new design, which allows for “978MHz ADS-B reception or integration of ADS-B OUT functionality.”

This integration will allow UAS operators to see nearby ADS-B OUT enabled aircraft on ARDUPILOT’s Mission Planner, providing timely notification for the Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) to allow them to take the necessary actions to remain well clear.

“With this partnership, uAvionix furthers our goal of ensuring safety and common situational awareness between airspace users,” says Christian Ramsey, uAvionix president. 

“We believe that ADS-B IN functionality should be a requirement for every DAA system for UAS operations over people or Beyond Visual Line of Sight, and meeting that requirement should not be cost prohibitive.”

Philip Rowse, Hex/ProfiCNC CTO, comments, “by partnering with uAvionix and including the ADSB-in at practically no cost to the customer, we remove the cost barrier, adding safety to our customers’ UAS solutions. We envisage this added situational awareness, and optional auto avoidance behavior will be an important step towards safely shared skies.”

uAvionix will be at Booth 4421 during Xponential 2019. CubePilot will be at Booth 1816.