4Front Robotics Navig8 (concept design)

(Image credit: 4Front Robotics)

Navig8 (concept design)
4Front Robotics
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
www.4frontrobotics.com

4Front Robotics was founded by Dr. Alex Ramirez-Serrano in October 2012 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The company is an Unmanned Vehicle Systems (UVS) firm specializing in the development, deployment and custom service provider of autonomous ground (UGV), aerial (UAV) vehicles and custom robot design to provide unique solutions to complex problems in challenging environments for civil applications.

The 4Front Robotics team from the University of Calgary (Canada) entered the GoAERO competition with its emergency response electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Although the team was not selected as a Stage 1 or Stage 2 prize winner, the project demonstrated the team's approach to emergency response aircraft design for advanced air mobility (AAM).

Ramirez-Serrano explained to the GoAERO competition representatives that it is the very complexity of disasters that requires such innovative approaches to emergency response, approaches that can completely revolutionize the industry through greater efficiency and effectiveness. He feels the competition will greatly expand the emergency response arsenal, enabling rescue missions to reach places that have been often inaccessible to humans, including collapsed and burning buildings, collapsed trenches, mines and other isolated places.

Navig8 passenger or air cargo eVTOL or hybrid-electric VTOL multicopter aircraft (concept design)
The Navig8 is a scalable passenger or air cargo eVTOL or a hybrid-electric VTOL multicopter aircraft. The aircraft can be piloted manually or use a novel CACM-RL control mechanism and MPC navigation. The aircraft also will have dual EO/IR cameras, LiDAR, GPS, IMU, Altimeter, Gas sniffers and 3D cameras.

The aircraft has two counter rotating propellers, two electric motors and is powered by all batteries or uses a hybrid-electric power source. The cockpit has a canopy over the cockpit for excellent views for the pilot and passengers. The fuselage is made from carbon fiber composite to give the aircraft a high strength to low weight ratio. The aircraft has one horizontal stabilizer and has retractable tricycle strut landing gear.

The Navig8 designation is a family of UAV’s which are highly maneuverable vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft that have been designed primarily to use in helicopter impenetrable environments. That is, flying inside of a building, a mine shaft or under a forest canopy. The aircraft can be flown in open spaces as well.

CACM-RL Control Mechanism
The CACM-RL control mechanism is a sophisticated approach that combines reinforcement learning with cooperative adaptive cruise control. This integration is designed to effectively manage vehicle dynamics, enhancing the overall driving experience.

Key Features

• Reinforcement Learning: Utilizes algorithms that learn optimal control strategies through trial and error, improving performance over time.
• Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control: Enables vehicles to communicate and coordinate with each other, maintaining safe distances and optimizing traffic flow.

MPC Navigation
Model Predictive Control (MPC) navigation is a method used to plan and adjust a vehicle's trajectory. It continuously optimizes future movements based on a predictive model of the system.

Key Features

• Path Planning: Calculates the best route for the vehicle to follow, considering various constraints and objectives.
• Continuous Optimization: Regularly updates the vehicle's path based on real-time data, ensuring adaptability to changing conditions.

About the GoAERO Prize Competition
The GoAERO Prize, sponsored by Boeing, is a three year competition (2024-2027) offering over $2 million USD in prizes that challenges engineers worldwide to create portable, versatile and autonomy-enabled Emergency Response Aircraft that address not only everyday medical emergencies but also to be used in natural disasters, humanitarian emergencies and climate crises worldwide. Each team designs and builds autonomous Emergency Response aircraft capable of delivering a first responder, medical equipment and supplies and ultimately evacuating victims in need to a rescue ambulance or hospital.

More than 150 teams from around the globe are competing for the GoAero prizes. The GoFly and GoAERO prizes were developed by Boeing, NASA and other organizations to help the nascent advanced air mobility (AAM) industry move forward.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Scalable cargo and passenger eVTOL and hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft (concept design)
• Piloting: Manual Novel CACM-RL control mechanism and MPC navigation. Dual EO/IR cameras, LiDAR, GPS,
• IMU, Altimeter, Gas sniffers, 3D camera.
• Capacity: 1 or more passengers or air cargo, depending upon how large the aircraf is scaled to
• Propellers: 2 counter rotating propellers
• Electric motors: 2 electric motors
• Power source: Lithium Ion batteries or a hybrid-electric power source (engine and batteries)
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
• Window: Canopy over cockpit (for the passenger version)
• Tail: 1 horizontal stabilizer
• Landing gear: Retractable tricycle strut landing gear
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) uses multiple propellers or electric ducted fans, each powered by electric motors, to increase safety through redundancy. If one or more components fail, the remaining ones can still ensure a safe landing. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure.

Company Insights:

• Crunchbase
• RocketReach
• Tracxn

Resources:

• 4Front Robotics website
• 4Front Robotics LinkedIn
• Alejandro Ramirez Serrano LinkedIn
• Video: 4Front Robotics, Your Alberta (Government of Alberta), Feb. 2, 2018