Defence & Aerospace
Sector Challenges and Activity
The complex, hostile and immediate environments where the military operate is a perfect arena for our technology as the size, weight, versatility and robustness of all equipment is at a premium.
Operational commanders always need more information about what is happening at the tactical level and our range of masts and antennas deliver immediate communication benefits.
For the individual soldier, tasked to carry this equipment, these masts are lightweight, easy and quick to deploy in all weather conditions and with a low heat signature they do not stand out.
Also at the tactical level, with a detailed understanding of movement challenges that soldiers face on the battlefield, we have created a truly innovative multipurpose set of equipment to work with our rolatubes, giving demonstrable new and immediate ways to overcome the numerous and frequent obstacles that arise.
Where more permanent, but instantly available structures are required, our ability to deliver quick and stabile structures offers a role for our technology as a substitute for traditional methods of extension and retraction often employed in shelters or light bridges.
Above the ground rolatubes offer benefits to any form of aerial technology, from hot-air balloons to strike fighters, from drones carrying out aerial surveys to the latest generation of wide body passenger aircraft, where reliability, low weight and small size are critical to every part of the mechanism. Compact, lightweight rolatube actuators are being developed for the many forms of aerial technology, from ultra-compact undercarriages for lightweight drones to the automatic release and presentation of oxygen masks, as we can make these items smaller and more robust than almost any current alternative.
In space, whether in satellites or payload carrying vehicles, saving space is utterly critical. We have developed both actuators and long extending arms for use in space and are currently taking part in an EU funded project, alongside NASA, EADS Astrium, Surrey Satellite Technology, the University of Cambridge and other leading players in the business of producing space hardware.
The problem of packing very large structures into very small spaces is one of the most difficult tasks in the design and manufacture of Satellites and other space vehicles. Working with the leading companies and academic institutions in the field, we are designing long arms for the extension of solar arrays for power generation, deployment systems for solar sails that will provide propulsion that is free and consumes no fuel and highly compact actuators that can both deploy mechanisms within spacecraft and provide a simple, reliable means to couple structures together in orbit.
