Health Care Systems Oncology, Imaging and Pharmacology, particularly for Prostate Cancer.
Technology that interests me: Sensors (Radar, Sonar, EO/IR,Fusion) Communications, Satellites, Unmanned Vehicles (UAV), Information Technology, Intelligent Transportation
PW-F119 Jet Engine used in F-22, basis for PW-F135 used in F-35
Ex-Defense Contractor Admits Sending Jet Information to Iran | Military.com
Mozaffar Khazaee entered his plea to violating the Arms Export
Control Act in federal court and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Sentencing for Khazaee, who's 60, is set for May.
Federal prosecutors said Khazaee, who used to live in Manchester, stole information about engines used in the F35 Joint Strike Fighter and F-22 Raptor
programs from three employers, including East Hartford-based Pratt
& Whitney. He tried to use that information to get a job with
multiple state-controlled universities in Iran from 2009 to 2013,
authorities said.
Khazaee sent emails with information about the Joint Strike Fighter
program to a person in Iran in November and December 2009, prosecutors
said. In the emails, Khazaee described the knowledge and skills he
obtained while working for the U.S. defense contractors, they said.
Guilty Plea in Iran, F-35 Data Smuggling Case
He was arrested Jan. 9 of 2014 while on his way to Tehran; he had further technical data on his person when he was seized.
It's
not the only known case of industrial secrets being stolen from defense
contractors being pursued by attorneys in Connecticut.
What’s
going on with the Pentagon’s longest-running drama, the Navy’s Unmanned
Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program?
After years of factional intrigue that made Borgia politics look like a
Dick & Jane reader, the debate about UCLASS specifications has been
declared not over, but deferred. (How can there not be enough data to
make a decision?) But instead of redoubling their lobbying, Lockheed
Martin and Northrop Grumman appear to have walked away [leaving the field to GA-ASI and Boeing].
[WEST: Bob Work Says UCLASS Development Needs a ‘Joint Perspective’ - USNI News] Deputy
Defense Secretary Robert O. Work (a supporter of unmanned combat air
systems in his previous jobs) explained the UCLASS delay in February
comments: “In addition to looking at capabilities that we already have
and using them differently, we’re going to make sure...that when we go
after a new platform, it’s the platform that we need from a joint
perspective.”
A joint platform is a U.S. Air Force/Navy program —
the term can have no other meaning — but if Work is arranging a
marriage for UCLASS, where’s the bridegroom? When orbital patterns are
so disturbed, it’s time to look for a dark planet somewhere in the
system.
In October 2010, Maj. Gen. Dave Scott, head of the Air
Force’s operational requirements directorate, gave a briefing [Dave Scott - Anti - Access/Area Denial Challenges.pdf] that
disclosed the service’s plans for a long-range strike family of systems
(LRS-FoS) — plans that then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved a
few months later.
Three family members are real today:
LRSB, the
Long-Range Standoff cruise missile, and
a “penetrating intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance” (P-ISR) vehicle, which is Northrop
Grumman’s secret RQ-180.
Penetrating Airborne Electronic
Attack (P-AEA).
(A fourth, Conventional Prompt Global Strike,
was dropped like a bad habit as soon as the Pentagon’s exit door closed
behind its leading advocate and was replaced by the Minuteman
follow-on.)
In the LRS-FoS plan, RQ-180 would find targets for LRSB
and the P-AEA would suppress defenses.
P-AEA
appears in no known plan, but you need not dig very deep into the Air
Force’s fiscal 2016 budget to find $7 billion in classified acquisition
money that is neither part of the cash that the Pentagon launders for
the intelligence community, nor the LRSB.
This would
be exactly the same as the solution proposed in October by a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments paper on the Pentagon’s Third Offset
plan for a future U.S. military. You almost wonder if they knew
something.
The AMIC, Det-2 (OL-PAFB) has a sole-source follow-on contract requirement to provide highly specialized Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) and Information Technology Support Services to include: In-depth Evaluation of Radar System Engineering; Data Processing and Analysis; and Information Technology Technical Advisory Services for the Technical Sensor Radar (TSR) Support Program on up to two (2) unique radar systems. A detailed engineering knowledge of two different mobile radar systems designated Gray Star, and Cobra King programs is essential to the success of this program in order to accomplish required validation, verification and systems engineering tasks. Contractor personnel will be required to remote locations and be capable of foreign travel. Cobra King will require a contractor representative to deploy whenever the asset does (approx 40 weeks per year). This representative shall act as a technical advisor to the Air Force Mission Commander (MC). Mission need may dictate that work be performed in a declared hazardous duty area. Contractor personnel will have access to classified information, up to and including, the Top Secret clearance level. Contractor personnel will require access to secured areas. The contractor must have a Top Secret facility clearance, and the capability to obtain Special Background Investigations (SBIs) prior to contract award.
This is a sole-source acquisition with Riverside Research Institute IAW FAR 6.302-1 and pursuant to 10 USC 2304(c)(1), only one source is capable of fulfilling the government’s requirement. The period of performance is for one (1) base period and three (3) option periods. A Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee contract is anticipated. No solicitation documents exist at this time. This service utilizes North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code of 541690 with a business size of $14M. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes. The AMIC, Det-2 (OL-PAFB) has determined Riverside Research Institute is the only source capable of providing this requirement.
Designed to perform very accurate image mapping of the sea-bed
Perform homogeneous image acquisition by automatic calculation of altitude over sea-bed, whatever the sea-state
Analyze sea-bed to detect, classify and locate mines and other objects
Perform picture comparison to identify news objects and update the reference database accordingly
Supported by the Portable Operations Centre on shore or on-board to prepare missions and analyze results
TECHNICAL FEATURES
SHIP: 18 m length, 32 / 40 tons, Up to 6 Crew Members, 15 knots, Certified compliant to IMO regulations
LARS: Automatic Launch & Recovery System, Deployment secured up to SS 4
T-SAS: World Best Towed SAS Sonar, In operation within several major navies Coverage rate 3.0 km2/h Resolution 3.5 x 5 cm @ 150m Fully operational up to 4 knots current
M-CUBE Mission Management System: Preparation Execution & Monitoring Data Analysis Contacts classification and database update
The BlueWatcher hull-mounted sonar and its associated towed array
sonar, the Captas-1, represent a new range of compact sonars for surface
combatants and patrol vessels displacing 300 tonnes or more.
Through this RFI, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Customs Border Protection (CBP) Office of Innovations Technology and Acquisition Office (OTIA) is seeking informational responses and comments from industry to provide CBP with insight into market conditions,
availability of technology and innovative business approaches that will aid in the development of an acquisition strategy for advancement of the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) to improve performance in meeting the agency mission objectives at a lower cost.
Companies may submit questions regarding this RFI to the Government within 5 days after release of this RFI. Response submissions and/or questions to this RFI should be submitted by e-mail to: TARSRFI@cbp.dhs.gov . All questions will be published via https://www.fbo.gov. Submissions will be due 30 days after the Government posts answers to industry questions.
The Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) is an aerostat-borne surveillance system that provides wide area persistent long-range radar detection and monitoring (radar and electro-optical/infrared
surveillance) for interdiction of low-flying aircraft and maritime/ground traffic in support of the CBP strategic objective. TARS balloons are tethered to ground stations while flying with sensor payloads, at approximately 10,000 feet. There are six (6) TARS sites operating along the United States-Mexico
border, with two additional sites monitoring the Florida Straits, and a portion of the Caribbean south and west of Puerto Rico.
The TARS system, while continuing to provide a cost-effective capability to CBP, is aging and fragile. The mission sensor (radar) technology is over 20 years old and no longer produced, while several key ground system components are no longer original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) supported. This overall obsolescence issue decreases operational availability stemming from higher maintenance cycles, as well as increasing maintenance costs commensurately. These performance and cost concerns are expected to worsen in the coming years, adding to the overall resourcing challenges CBP is addressing through the TARS follow-on acquisition strategy
Eyes in the sky stretch over the southern U.S. border at 10,000 feet, from Yuma, Arizona, to Lajas, Puerto Rico. Eight special blimps that are part of the Tethered Aerostat Radar System, or TARS, watch over the southern U.S. border. Each balloon is moored to the ground with a special nylon fiber cable, and raised and lowered with a powered winch.
Swaying silently in the breeze, U.S. Customs and Border Protection aerostats are unmanned, unarmed, and spend their service lives hovering over a fixed location on the southern edge of the border. “TARS is the most cost-efficient capability that we own,” according to Richard Booth, director of domain operations and integration for CBP’s Office of Air and Marine. “TARS is like a low-flying satellite system, but cheaper to launch and operate,” Booth explained.
“The aerostats are aerodynamic balloons and fly like kites in the wind—no one pilots them,” said Rob Brown, CBP program manager for TARS. "Raising radar and other sensors to high altitude boosts surveillance range, and the physical sight of an aerostat is a visual deterrent to illegal activity in the air and on the ground," explained Brown. Each TARS balloon contains a radar weighing about 2,200 pounds, capable of detecting aircraft at a range of 200 miles.
TARS provides persistent, long-range detection and monitoring (radar surveillance) capability for interdicting low-level air, maritime and surface smugglers and narcotics traffickers along the United
States-Mexico border, the Florida Straits, and a portion of the Caribbean. The TARS program provides surveillance data to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Air and Marine (OAM) Operations Center (AMOC). As a secondary mission, TARS supports the USNORTHCOM and USSOUTHCOM air surveillance missions. In addition, TARS surveillance data also supports the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) air sovereignty mission for the continental United States. The TARS capability is optimized to detect low, slow flying aircraft within its area of coverage.
The TARS program uses two different sizes of aerostats, categorized by volume. The 275,000 cubic foot, or 275K, aerostat is 186 feet long and 62.5 feet in diameter with a fin span of 68.6 feet. The 420,000 cubic foot, or 420K, aerostat is 208.5 feet long and 69.5 feet in diameter with a fin span of 75.5 feet. These aerostats an rise up to 15,000 feet mean sea level, while tethered by a single nylon and polyethylene constructed cable. The normal operating altitude varies by site, but the norm is approximately 12,000 feet MSL. Aerostat power is developed by an on-board, 400 Hertz generator. The aerostat also carries a 100-gallon diesel fuel tank. All systems, to include the generator are controlled via an aerostat telemetry link.
The TARS program currently uses a Lockheed Martin, L-88A or L-88(V)3 radar. All radar data is transmitted to the ground station then digitized and fed to the various control centers for display. The ground station is where a flight director, seated before banks of meters and television screens, monitors the aerostat's performance. A doppler weather radar, wind profiler and ground weather station are installed at each site to support flight operations. Each site also obtains up-to-date forecasts and weather warnings from the Air Force Weather Agency.
Designed to be part
of a layered defense system, search and rescue platform and to support
environmental/commercial survey applications. Al Marakeb’s Unmanned
Surface, the (b-7) USV is available today. The boat can multi-task to serve these customer needs:
The UAE boat builder Al Marakeb aims to
become the world’s first mass producer of Unmanned Service Vessels
(USVs) for use in sectors including marine defence and international
shipping.
The Sharjah-based company yesterday announced that it
had signed a deal with Theyab International Group (TIG) for the sale and
marketing of the so-far unnamed vessels to military and commercial
organisations around the world.
“The agreement that Al Marakeb
has signed with TIG represents a number of firsts for the region,” said
Al Marakeb’s managing director Basel Shuhaiber. “Not only are we the
first local company to set up a production line of USVs, we are also the
first to bring capable and reliable solutions for many problems
experienced by maritime and coastal organisations, both in this part of
the world and abroad.”
TIG – a diversified business group chaired
by Sheikh Theyab bin Khalifa bin Hamdan Al Nahyan – has a wide defence
and security portfolio that includes the manufacturing of unmanned
aerial vehicles, air traffic radar systems and maritime protection and
detection systems and programmes.
The group approached Al Marakeb almost a year ago seeking a sales and marketing relationship, said Mr Shuhaiber.
“We
know what the market needs and wants and we know how to deliver the
requirements,” said TIG’s vice chairman Khaled Al Alawi. “Our new
relationship with Al Marakeb sees us promoting the technology of a
proven autonomous system that is integrated entirely in the UAE and
installed on to the perfect carrying vessel.”
IRIAF F-14AM ("Modernized") local variant painted in edged three-tone
"Asia Minor II" camo pattern. Modernization claims consist of structural
refurbishment, new ECM (electronic counter measures) system, new RWR
(radar warning receiver), new INS (Inertial navigation system integrated
with GPS), and Multifunction Liquid Crystal Displays for pilot and the
WSO. Also the F-14AM can reportedly carry a wide range of US, Iranian,
Chinese, and Russian Air-to-Air missiles
Access panels open enabling service to (left to right): coolant, liquid oxygen and AN/AWG-9 radar electronics.
Iranian F14 Get New Radar, Missile System
Iranian experts have mounted new radar and weapons systems on the aircraft to optimize F14 fighter jets for future missions.
Deputy Commander of Air Force 8th Air Base Colonel Asqar Shafiyee
told FNA on Sunday that Iran has mounted its hi-tech home-made radar
system on its F14 fighters.
He added that the new radars are under durability tests.
"We have equipped the F14 fighters with air-to-ground missiles and
with bombing capability to prepare the fighter for assault missions"
Pilot Shafiyee added.
Iran still operates some Tomcatsthat are being modernized to extend their operative life. Domestic upgrades include
avionics,
air to air
missiles adapted to the aircraft’s fire control system
The sole foreign customer for the Tomcat was the Imperial Iranian Air Force, during the reign of the last Shah (King) of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
In the early 1970s, the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was searching
for an advanced fighter, specifically one capable of intercepting SovietMiG-25reconnaissance flights. After a visit of U.S. President Richard Nixon
to Iran in 1972, during which Iran was offered the latest in American
military technology, the IIAF narrowed its choice between the F-14
Tomcat or the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.
Grumman Corporation arranged a competitive demonstration of the Eagle
against the Tomcat before the Shah, and in January 1974, Iran ordered 30
F-14s and 424 AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, initiating Project Persian King,
worth US$300 million. A few months later, this order was increased to a
total of 80 Tomcats and 714 Phoenix missiles as well as spare parts and
replacement engines for 10 years, complete armament package, and
support infrastructure (including construction of the Khatami Air Base
near Esfahan).
The first F-14 arrived in January 1976, modified only by the removal
of classified avionics components, but fitted with the TF-30-414
engines. The following year 12 more were delivered. Meanwhile, training
of the first groups of Iranian crews by the U.S. Navy, was underway in
the USA; and one of these conducted a successful shoot-down with a
Phoenix missile of a target drone flying at 50,000 ft (15 km).
Following the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, the air force was renamed the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) and the post-revolution interim government of Iran canceled most Western arms orders. In 1980, an Iranian F-14 shot down an Iraqi Mil Mi-25 helicopter for its first air-to-air kill during the Iran–Iraq War.[56]
The State Department notified the House and Senate foreign relations committees on Feb. 6 that it’s prepared to license the export of eight Predator drones and associated equipment, such as electro-optical and infrared sensors, valued at $220 million, according to two U.S. officials with knowledge of the letter sent to lawmakers.
While the drones would be unarmed, a separate transaction would include laser designators that highlight ground targets for attack, according to information provided by the officials, who asked not to be identified before the approval is announced.
The unarmed Predator XP model made by San Diego-based General Atomics would be the third major U.S. defense system the U.S. has sold the U.A.E., one of its closest allies outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The State Department this month approved its first policy for selling unmanned aircraft, including armed versions of General Atomics’ Predator and Reaper drones.
The congressional committees have 30 days to review the proposed transaction with the U.A.E. Unless they move to block it, the way will be clear for the direct sale between the company and the country that was announced in 2013. The committees already have approved an informal notification, so it’s unlikely they will oppose the final step.
The United States government approved Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) to export a Gallium Nitride- (GaN) based Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Patriot sensor to Patriot Air and Missile Defense System partner nations.
"GaN-based AESA technology can bring customers of the combat-proven Patriot optimized 360-degree coverage while setting the stage for future capability improvements," said Ralph Acaba, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business. "GaN-based AESA technology improves Patriot's already high reliability rate and significantly reduces the radar's annual operation and maintenance costs beyond what has already been achieved with other recent Patriot radar improvements."
The
Biggest Thing Since Silicon: Raytheon’s Gallium Nitride Breakthrough «
Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary
“The gallium nitride story is an under-reported and really revolutionary development,” defense industry analyst and consultant Loren Thompson told me this morning. “People are saying it’s the biggest invention in semi-conductors since silicon.” Yesterday, after a year-and-a-half-long process, the government granted Raytheon permission to export the latest upgrade of its Patriot missile defense
system to 22 countries. (No one’s actually bought the upgrade yet, but
the 12 current and 10 prospective Patriot customers on the list are now
effectively pre-approved). The upgrade isn’t even to the Patriot missile
itself, but to the radar.
The new technology improves reliability, range, and coverage. The
only visible difference, though, is a pair of adorably ear-like extra
panels at the back that give the radar a 360-degree field of view. But
the “secret sauce” that makes the upgrade possible, Raytheon spokesman
Michael Nachsen told me, is gallium nitride — and this is the first time
the government has allowed the export of GaN in a land-based radar.
Raytheon has invested more than $150
million over the past 15 years in gallium nitride, or GaN, and it is
part of a new Air and Missile Defense Radar that Raytheon is building
for the U.S. Navy, as well as several Air Force programs.
The
export release of the new GaN-based AESA radar could boost Raytheon's
prospects in a big Polish missile defense competition since it would
give the system the ability to see a 360-degree view of potential
threats.
industrial arts, consumer
services and recreation majors (5.4%),
while it’s the highest for
architecture (10.3%),
social
sciences (10.1%),
psychology and social work (9%),
law and public policy
(8.6%),
humanities and liberal arts (8.4%),
communication and journalism (8.2%),
according to a new
report — “From Hard Times to Better Times”
— by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.
Interestingly, the unemployment rate for computers, statistics, and
mathematics (8.3%) is only fractionally different than that for
humanities and liberal arts (8.4%) and business (7%).
Multi-modal Signal and Fusion Processor Request for Information (RFI) February 2015
Background
U.S. Army Communications-Electronic Research, Development and
Engineering Center (CERDEC), Intelligence and Information Warfare
Directorate (I2WD) is conducting this RFI to determine potential
capability and innovative approaches for a common architecture for
performing multi-modal fusion within signal processors, on the payload
of sensor platforms, on maneuvering vehicles, and at fixed site
locations. This common architecture will be aligned with a Distributed
Process Exploitation Dissemination (DPED) Army enterprise across
echelons and adjacent units.
To this end, the Army is seeking
PED applications that accelerate the processing of intelligence,
increase the richness of exploitation, facilitate dissemination,
expedite and enhance analyst RFI fulfillment, and improve commander
situational awareness. Applications may lend themselves to either
real-time or forensic use or both. Examples of such algorithms include
(but are not limited to) the following:
Real-time
algorithms will reside directly on the sensor platform, with the purpose
of rapidly processing, correlating, and reducing multi-INT data for
immediate situational awareness as well as maximizing available
bandwidth to a ground station or PED cell. Forensic algorithms take
advantage of the wider range of data available on the cloud along with
the increased processing power available to provide enhanced products
with full situational and historical context. The primary focus of this
request is the enhancement of real-time user workflow. Technologies must be mature enough to be implemented as a service-oriented application in a cloud-based framework.
Objective
Describe new, existing, and/or enhancements of capabilities to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
Platform agnostic onboard real-time cueing, cross-cueing and tipping.
Pro-Active Real-time alerting.
Fusion algorithms for entity detection and tracking.
Open common modular system architecture for performing levels 1 - 4
fusion. A single system architecture for all operating environments,
such as aerial platforms, ground platforms, vehicles, ground stations,
and operating bases. The system architecture supports adding, removing,
and reconfiguring modules to address the system and operational
requirements of the operating environment.
Multi-level security
(MLS) on a single hardware platform. Fusing multiple data sources from a
lower security level can result in data at a higher security level. A
single multi-modal fusion node can have several fusion functions that
each generates results at different security levels.
Receiving
and transmitting multi-modal data over multiple communication channels
(Ethernet, Wi-Fi, satellite, radio and other military communication
channels). Multi-modal fusion requires the ability for a single node to
receive various types of data (video, audio, imagery, radar data,
tracks, or text) in various forms (raw, normalized, or processed). The
modalities will vary by platform. Likewise, the modalities of the data
sent from the multi-modal fusion node will vary per platform.
Distributed multi-modal fusion - the interconnection of multiple nodes
that perform multi-modal fusion on different platforms serving different
echelons. Solutions for resolving problems that arise from
interconnecting multiple nodes, such as disambiguation, synchronization,
bandwidth limitations, coordination, administration and communication
disruptions.
The descriptions should address the following concerns.
Size, weight, power, and cooling (SWAP-C) reduction
Cross-domain communication
Secured communication
Threat protection
Low bandwidth and disconnected communication
Virtualization, provisioning, and orchestration
Testing and evaluation in a virtual simulation environment
Aviation Today :: Dual, Arclarity Form UAS Sense and Avoid Partnership
[Avionics Today 02-19-2015] Aviation GPS and Automatic Dependent
Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) receivers manufacturer Dual Electronics
has announced a partnership with 3-D augmented reality aviation system
provider Arclarity to develop a sense and avoid solution for commercial
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).
Dual Electronics and Arclarity to develop collision avoiding system for drones - Aerospace Technology
Dual Electronics business development vice-president Greg Lukins
said: "A drone is likely to encounter low-flying traffic, as well as
restricted airspaces. So it is critical that it can identify these
obstacles and adjust its flight path in real-time.
"The solution
we are developing with Arclarity complements the existing short-range
sensor systems that a drone may employ for precision navigation around
close obstacles."
Primarily designed for commercial unmanned
aerial vehicles, the system is said to monitor the flight path and make
real-time adjustments, to maintain separation from air traffic, prevent
collisions and avoid restricted airspaces.
The sense-and-avoid system uses
GPS position data,
current aviation
chart data,
air traffic and temporary flight restriction (TFR)
notifications from the FAA's ADS-B network.
Arclarity principal
Brian Scott said: "The airspace is a dynamic environment, so safety is
paramount in the solution we are creating in partnership with Dual.
"We're trying to make drones react to situations the same way experienced pilots would."
William Luebke Arlarity Founder and Principal, former Raytheon software engineer.
Approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration for AIP
An important step for safety in international aviation: Developed by Rheinmetall foreign body detection system DEB-RA can now be procured by the US Federal Aviation Administration under the Airport Improvement Program.
The FAA has recently published a special permit to procure currently
the world's most advanced system for detection of foreign bodies and debris on airport facilities (FOD = Foreign object debris) license.
The tragic loss of the Concorde on 25 July 2000 at Charles de Gaulle in Paris serves as a dramatic reminder of just how dangerous foreign objects on the runway can be. The crash cost the lives of 113 people. True, accidents on this scale are rare, but foreign objects on the runway regularly result in significant material damage.
Rheinmetall’s state-of-the-art DEB-RA employs millimetre wave radar in combination with high-resolution electro-optical sensors in order to detect dangerous foreign objects on the runway in real time. This reduces the risk posed by these objects – and with a very low error rate.
A further advantage: DEB-RA can be used as an airport control system for vehicles and aircraft on the ground (Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System / ASMGCS). In this capacity, it can either supplement or replace existing equipment, or serve as a standalone system – regardless of the composition of the runway or the sensor configuration. Here, too, disasters such as the collision in Milan-Linate on 8 October 2001, which left 118 persons dead, show how important it is to have reliable technology.
Abstract:
In the recent years, increase in air traffic volume has demanded for
new and more stringent safety requirements over the entire gate-to-gate
air traffic control regions. In particular, for what concerns airport
ground surveillance, congested traffic in parking areas (APRON) ask for
new generation of radar sensors having very high resolution during low
visibility to discriminate between vehicles and aircrafts, and very high
sensitivity to detect small dangerous objects like for instance a
baggage. After Concorde accident occurred in Paris Charles de Gaulle
airport, 25th July 2000, the capability to detect very small objects is
became very important on the runway to improve as much as possible the
safety during the taking off and landing operations. In addition, after
the 11th of September 2001 tragic events, new airport security needs are
driving the ground surveillance system requirements by demanding for
new type of radar sensors able to be used against new emerging threats
like perimeter intruders (i.e. persons, cars, boats,...) . An advanced
millimetre wave radar for all three functions, airport surface movements
control, foreign object detection (FOD) and perimeter intruders
detection (PID), has been developed by Rheinmetall Italia SpA. This
radar, named SMART, will be presented in this paper with particular
emphasis to some technological aspects inside the antenna assembly and
the transmitter unit.
A cost-effective radar system, named SMART, has been developed by
Rheinmetall Italia (RHI) to simultaneously perform three basic
functions: a) airport surface movements control, b) foreign object
detection (FOD) and c) perimeter intruders detection (PID). This product
based on more than 20 years in MMW band sensors experience, is already
available on the market and it presents the following characteristics:
–auto detection system without any target cooperation
–available in double or single channel configuration (double channel recommended for 24 H/7D continuous operation)
–can operate as stand-alone system or be easily integrated in already existing surveillance systems
–available in multi-sensor network configuration (to improve airport coverage and reduce masked zones)
–modular and capable to be expanded according to airport size and topography
–Suitable for integration with optronics sensors system
–if requested, it can be provided with a compact outdoor equipment (single channel) with reduced installation costs
The basic characteristics of the radar sensor are (as nominal values):
–Tube transmitter with 1 kW peak power with frequency agility
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