Ziesel

The Ziesel is an unmanned, all-electric tracked infantry support platform. With a weight of approx. 300 kg and the dimensions (L x W x H) 1.3 m x 1.3 m x 0.7 m, it achieves a speed of approx. 20 km/h. It overcomes slopes of 60 % with a torque of 1000 Nm. The platform has a range of 40 km with one battery charge. The battery (charging capacity = 9.7kWh) can be removed and quickly exchanged.

The Ziesel is to be regarded as a soldier support platform. Accordingly, the focus of the functions is on relieving the soldier. Heavy, health-endangering, exhausting and dangerous activities are to be taken over by the Ziesel. This should enable the soldier to be ready for action for longer and to concentrate more on the prevailing situation. In addition to relieving the soldier, the Ziesel also serves to gather information and can thus additionally support the soldier's safety.

The Ziesel is currently the smallest infantry support platform. Due to its very high payload, which far exceeds its own weight, it can, however, meet all the requirements formulated so far by the armies and is thus in no way inferior to its competitors. The small design makes it manoeuvrable and precisely controllable, which means that the Ziesel follows the soldier without any problems even in very dense vegetation in the forest. Since the width of the platform only slightly exceeds that of the soldier, only a few smaller trees are run over when driving through the forest. This leads to an almost silent following and to a much more difficult reconnaissance by the enemy. Furthermore, this characteristic allows the Ziesel to move much faster in the forest.

Following unmanned capabilities are provided by the integrated PLATON Autonomy Kit from Diehl Defence. 

Teleoperation: 
The operator directly controls the UGV using a joystick. He can control the UGV under LOS and NLOS conditions. Usually a wireless communication is required to send commands to the UGV and to receive status feedback. For NLOS additionally the video-stream of one or more cameras must be streamed via communication network. Both, commands and video must be transmitted with low latency (ideally in real time). Communication range is usually 1-3 km depending on the radios and environment. Under LOS conditions, the UGV may also be controlled using gesture control. In this case, no radio communication is required. 

Convoy/Follow Me: 
For smaller UGVs following a soldier, tracking can be done with cameras only. The following mode does not require active sensors or GNSS. This makes the UGV difficult for the enemy to detect and robust against electronic warfare assets.

MULE/Patrolling:
In this mode the UGVs follows a recorded route. The route can be recorded in teleoperation mode or follow me mode. The record consists of GPS data and optionally digital 3D map data derived from LiDAR and Radar data. Live data from LiDAR and Radar enables the UGV to detect and avoid obstacles during the MULE mission. 

Waypoint Navigation: 
The operator selects one or several waypoints. The mission planning algorithm generates a path based on these waypoints. If available, also street map data can be included in the planning.