ALTI Products

Ascend

The ALTI Ascend is a small, ultra-compact endurance hybrid VTOL fixed-wing unmanned aircraft for everyday commercial use. With a wingspan of only 2 meters - the Ascend can offer a massive distance of 450 km and endurance of up to 6 hours in a single flight using electric brushless motors and an efficient 4-stroke 14cc engine.

The Detail

The Ascend features a 2-meter wingspan and follows the same tried and tested design of its larger brother, the Transition. The ALTI Ascend is an extremely compact, light, and agile hybrid fixed-wing VTOL UAV that can easily take off and land vertically without the need for bulky launch and recovery equipment. Its modular construction enables fast in- field set-up.

The ALTI Ascend is designed to offer the highest possible aerodynamic efficiency, endurance, and long range for a sUAS, by using batteries for VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) capabilities and a fuel powered combustion engine for fixed wing propulsion with an advanced electronic fuel injection system.

The advanced carbon-fiber airframe and efficient aerofoil design maximizes performance and endurance, with an integrated fuel tank, dihedral, washout winglets, dual elevator control surfaces, landing lights, integrated VTOL motor pods, and quick lock wing latches that require no tooling.

The Ascend is also capable of covering a 10 km radius in the range from its take-off position and has been tested in real-world conditions. Not only can it be set-up and in the air in under 10 minutes, but it also has an extremely low running cost of only $ 3 per hour.

The aircraft uses a sophisticated datalink in combination with market-leading antenna systems that deliver telemetry and real-time video footage to the ground control station operator during a flight. Offering up to six times the endurance of competing systems along with a truly competitive price point the ALTI Ascend is ideal for everyday surveillance and security missions.

The ALTI Transition SAR ‘Orange’ is a specific version of the ALTI Transition designed for search and rescue missions. It’s compact, rapid, smart, advanced and includes a unique vibration damping mount for the combustion engine, allowing up to 12 hours of endurance per flight with a 900km range.

The key difference with this version of the ALTI Transition is the bright orange Search and Rescue color scheme, along with disaster specific payload integration, ideal for firefighting support and post-disaster management and damage assessment. The ALTI Transition is a pure VTOL UAV and transitions from hover to fixed-wing flight mode. Its modular frame allows for transporting within a pelican case and easy set up within 10minutes. It does not require any additional equipment such as a catapult or landing strip. This allows search and rescues to launch instantly from just about anywhere and to carry the necessary equipment, it supports a wide range of payloads with a capacity of up to 1.5kg.

The ALTI Transition offers best-in-class performance and is the leading small VTOL system on the market and has been shipping since early 2017. The new ALTI Transition SAR ‘Orange’ is enhanced to support emergency rescue operations by capturing detailed footage from above, allowing for supply drops, locating trapped victims and to survey, record and analyze terrain. It has been designed for every day, all day operation with a low hourly operation cost.

The ALTI Reach is the upcoming 'bigger brother' to the ALTI Transition. 

It will be aesthetically and configurationally very similar to the ALTI Transition, offering vertical take-off and landing and efficient fixed wing flight performance. The Reach is currently in development and is planned to be in production and available for purchase later this year. - Hybrid VTOL - Wingspan up to 7m Base - Endurance up to 24+ hours - Payload capacity up to 12kg

The key objective in the development of the ALTI Transition, and the core of the product was to offer a highly capable, long endurance, reliable and affordable civil use VTOL (vertical take-off and land) fixed wing aircraft, available to purchase with short lead times of only a few weeks and at an affordable price point when compared with similar aircraft usually only available to military clients. Designed for every day, all day operation in a wide variety of applications around the world, the Transition allows for take-off and landing just about anywhere, with an hourly operation cost of only $3.50, there really is nothing like it.

The key objective with the ALTI Transition was to offer a highly capable, reliable and affordable commercial VTOL (vertical take-off and land) aircraft, which one could actually purchase and use every day, unlike the majority of similar system, available only to military at high price points. 

The airframe is completely modular and can be rapidly deployed from in the case to in the air in under 10 minutes with only two operators required, this along with zero need for a runway or heavy and expensive catapult systems, provides a quicker and safer operation, anywhere, any time. The Transition is designed as a hybrid system allowing for a combination of multirotor flight and traditional fixed wing flight, providing the best of both aircraft types, the practicality of multirotor flight for take-off and landing, with the efficiency, range and endurance of a fixed wing aircraft. The incorporation of VTOL technology into the fixed wing system allows the Transition to take-off and land in confined spaces in a very short time offering a massive advantage over traditional systems as well as a lower impact and stress on the aircraft with long term use, usually associated with catapult launchers and hard and unpredictable parachute landings. The Transition’s airframe is designed by a South African Civil Aviation Authority approved Aeronautical Design Organisation, featuring a 3m dihedral wingspan, aerodynamic winglets and boom-mounted inverted U-shaped empennage, meticulously designed for efficient prolonged flights, offering complete ease of use. ALTI have developed various unique and proprietary features for the Transition, including but not limited to quick release wing latches, integrated internal fuel tank, aerofoil shaped landing gear, antennas build into the winglets and internal GPS, meaning zero drag induced by these systems, rapid deploy airframe for quick assembly and transport, highly optimised manufacturing and composite techniques along with many other ‘ALTI only’ features. These features and design values allow for an incredibly low weight system with a maximum take-off weight of only 16kg. The payload bay can be tailored to fit and mount a wide range of cameras, sensors and other equipment, the system offers great flexibility without limiting the operator or mission scope. Designed to be aerodynamically stable and steady in low speed flight applications the ALTI Transition is designed to cruise at 20m/s. The airframe has a maximum VNE speed of 30m/s and a low stall speed of 13m/s.

The ALTI Transition truly offers the next generation in unmanned aircraft technology, today.

Endurance: 11+ hours

Range: 900km

Payload: 6.5kg