CASSIDIAN's SmartRadar opens up new opportunities in airborne ground surveillance

• Simultaneous wide-area surveillance and detection of stationary and moving targets using automatic real-time tracking 
• Easily adaptable to various manned and unmanned platforms

Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS, has developed an airborne ground surveillance radar that, through use of the newest ultra-high-resolution radar technology, can monitor wide areas with stationary targets while at the same time detecting and tracking moving targets at great distances. The utilisation of a special modular architecture permits scalability of bandwidth, frequency band and processing performance. Rapid adaptation to new operational requirements through simple, configurable firmware and software together with a variable cooling design make "SmartRadar" (Smart = Scalable Modular Aerospace Radar Technology) suited to a wide range of manned and unmanned platforms.

The novel technological design in conjunction with the innovative and extremely powerful real-time modes has already undergone various successful tests on behalf of the German Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB). Recently, outstanding reconnaissance results were obtained during airborne testing at Goose Bay, Canada, in June 2012.

"Our SmartRadar offers higher reconnaissance performance in less time than other airborne surveillance radars currently available and can be rapidly adapted to various customer requirements and platforms," says Elmar Compans, Head of the Sensors & Electronic Warfare unit at Cassidian. "The sensor's real-time information needed today for protecting our troops and combating possible threats is unsurpassed in its quality and low latency."

One version of Cassidian's SmartRadar is integrated into a pod equipped with an autonomous cooling system, making possible immediate adaptation to various mission aircraft.

The high performance of the radar is largely due to state-of-the-art AESA technology (AESA = Active Electronically Scanned Array) which uses a large number of transmitter and receiver (T/R) modules in the antenna. These modules, which are made from special HF-capable materials, are developed and manufactured by Cassidian in its own facility, known as the "Microwave Factory". Cassidian is the pioneer of this technology in Europe and delivers similar T/R modules for the TerraSAR earth observation satellite, the radars of the German Navy's new F125-class frigates and the SPEXER 2000 border surveillance radar, among others.

CASSIDIAN successfully accomplishes new test flights with Barracuda unmanned technology test bed

• Advanced, autonomously flying unmanned technology demonstrator system with extended capabilities and a network-capable data link 
• First coordinated flight of two unmanned jet aircraft (Barracuda/Learjet – simulates Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) with different roles to moving targets
• Extensive changes to flight path and mission during flight

Cassidian has successfully carried out a series of test flights with its Barracuda UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) technology demonstrator at Goose Bay military airfield in Canada. This year, the unmanned aerial test bed completed five test flights in June and July 2012 in the context of the research and development programme "Agile UAV in a Network Centric Environment" (Agile UAV-NCE). These involved the Barracuda technology demonstrator flying in combination with another unmanned aerial vehicle, which was simulated by a converted Learjet. The two aircraft flew missions where they each had different role profiles that were autonomously coordinated and synchronised with one another.

"With these latest successful flights by our UAS technology demonstrator, we have made another great leap forward in our developments for the world's most promising future markets in our industry," said Cassidian CEO Stefan Zoller after the flying test bed had landed safely at Goose Bay Canadian air force base.

Carried out by Cassidian's Barracuda project team, the test flights delivered vital information regarding flight with several networked UAS and the autonomous distribution of roles between unmanned aerial vehicles in complex mission scenarios. The role distribution was predefined in each case. Coordination between the two UAS was largely automated. However, the missions could be adapted by uploading new mission data while the aircraft were in the mission zone. This was accomplished via the new network-centric data link. The flight test engineers transmitted not only individual new waypoints, but also entire mission segments from the ground station to the UAS in flight, which immediately responded to its new instructions.

During the 2012 test campaign over the Goose Bay region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the jet-propelled unmanned demonstrator Barracuda again flew completely autonomously along pre-programmed flight profiles including auto-taxiing processes. The Barracuda and the Learjet simulating the second UAS were monitored from the ground station with respect to flight safety only.

The Barracuda demonstrator is designed as a technology test bed with a modular structure and a flexible configuration, enabling a wide variety of systems and flight profiles to be tested and a wide range of mission requirements to be demonstrated. The avionics system was developed as an open and modular structure that allows a large number of sensors and data link solutions to be integrated with the demonstrator. Electro-optical and infrared sensors, laser target designators, an Emitter Locator System (ELS) consisting of detectors for picking up radio-magnetic signals, and advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems that operate on the multisensor principle can all be accommodated in the Barracuda's payload bay.