Sun, Dec 22, 2013
Tracks Fused From Multiple Sensors Enables Self Separation And 'Due Regard' Operations
The first of several planned flight tests of a Sense and Avoid (SAA) architecture and Self Separation functionality has been completed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI), marking the first time the system has functioned as a true “system of systems” to detect every class of aircraft equipage and paves the way for a Due Regard capability.
The purpose of the test was to integrate and synchronize BAE Systems’ AD/DPX-7 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder with Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) IN, GA-ASI’s air-to-air radar, called Due Regard Radar (DRR), and Honeywell’s Traffic Alert Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) TPA-100 to detect and track cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft. The prototype DRR tracked multiple targets of opportunity, in addition to participating aircraft, throughout 40-plus scripted encounters, including some aircraft not tracked by Air Traffic Control. Sensor data collected by these systems during the flight test will be used by the FAA and industry participants to develop and further refine their algorithms, which will in turn lead to a proof-of-concept SAA system including Collision Avoidance.
“We are working closely with the FAA, NASA, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security [DHS], and our industry alliances to advance the safe and efficient integration of unmanned aircraft systems into domestic and international airspace,” said Frank W. Pace, president, Aircraft Systems Group, GA-ASI. “Our Sense and Avoid capability is a key part of that goal, and we continue to make ongoing progress towards this end.”
The flight test occurred November 18-20 at GA-ASI’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, CA. During the test, a company-owned Predator B leveraged its SAA system to detect two participating intruder aircraft with all three sensors. The Honeywell sensor fusion algorithm excelled in combining the multiple sensors’ outputs and fusing them into a single track picture to send to the ground. Tracks were displayed in the ground control station using GA-ASI’s Conflict Prediction and Display System (CPDS), which is designed to aid pilots in making maneuvers to remain well clear of other traffic.
The results of this flight test follow GA-ASI’s successful demonstration and follow-on integration of ADS-B aboard DHS/Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) Guardian RPA (the maritime variant of Predator B) in 2012 and the successful test of DRR on the company’s Predator B also last year.
(Image provided by GA ASI)
More News
States That Current Process is Damaging National Aerospace Development US Senator Jerry Morgan is pushing the FAA to speed up the process for rocket launch licensing. He argues tha>[...]
From 2015 (YouTube Edition): Model Aviator Aims For Full-Scale Career While at the 2015 Indoor Electric RC Festival, referred to as eFest, ANN CEO and Editor-In-Chief, Jim Campbell>[...]
Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories ITBOA BNITBOB ... what does that mean? It's not gibberish, it's a lengthy acronym for "In The Business Of Aviation ... But Not In The Busine>[...]
Aero Linx: Cardinal Flyers Online The Cardinal Flyers Online Web site was created and is maintained by me, Keith Peterson. My wife Debbie and I have owned a 1976 RG since 1985. Wit>[...]
Clearance Void If Not Off By (Time) Used by ATC to advise an aircraft that the departure release is automatically canceled if takeoff is not made prior to a specified time. The exp>[...]