NAVAIR picks Small Business RDRTec to develop sense-and-avoid radar for Fire Scout and Triton unmanned aircraft

RDRTec to develop sense-and-avoid radar for Fire Scout and Triton unmanned aircraft - Intelligent Aerospace

Officials of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division-Lakehurst in Lakehurst, N.J., chose radar experts at RDRTec Inc. in Dallas to design a common sense-and-avoid radar system for the MQ-8  Fire Scout unmanned helicopter and the MQ-4C Triton unmanned reconnaissance aircraft under terms of a $3 million contract awarded last week.

RDRTec experts will evolve and transition the Radar Autonomous Collisions Avoidance System (RACAS) Sense and Avoid (SAA) radar technology into the Common RACAS (C-RACAS) that fulfills both the Fire Scout and Triton UAS.

The sense-and-avoid radar that will be common to the two UASs is to help the unmanned aircraft avoid collisions with other aircraft with the UASs are not in contact, Navy officials say. The goal of the project is to enhance efficiency in airspace integration.

Background/Related:

Navy STTR Award

Title Maneuver Prediction and Avoidance Logic For Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Encounters with Non-Cooperative Air Traffic 

Abstract

Air-Borne Sense and Avoid (ABSAA) cooperative sensors like TCAS and ADS-B are non-developmental off-the-shelf items and as such their employment should be optimized to maximize their effect on levels of safety. The radar subsystem is a new construct whose role and employment has not been previously defined. In addition, the cost of the radar development and production costs are high and dependent on its assigned role and the associated performance requirements. As such a complete assessment of the Size Weight and Power (SWaP) and costs must be included in the establishment of safety requirements. Currently, the Navy is formulating the traceability between Air-Borne Sense and Avoid (ABSAA) radar subsystem and system requirements for UAS platforms including Triton and Fire Scout. This STTR builds on and is coordinated with that effort but focuses on a specific radar ABSAA subsystem, the Common Radar Automatic Collision Avoidance System (C-RACAS) in order to support its development schedule. C-RACAS is targeted for both the Fire Scout and Triton platforms. 

 
Navy SBIR Award

Title Processor Architectures for Multi-Mode Multi-Sensor Signal Processing 

Abstract

RDRTec Inc. proposes to enhance imaging modes to improve performance of Maritime and Overland Classification Aids (MOCA). In addition, this effort will further mature innovative processor and processing architectures that enable the Fire Scout Radar Autonomous Collisions Avoidance System (RACAS) to be FAA certified for operation in the Nation Air Space (NAS) as well as add simultaneous tactical modes. The Maritime and Overland Classification Aids (MOCA) project enables an accelerated capability development for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions and advanced radar enhancements for surface operations. Capability enhancements include improved radar imaging, tracking, and classification of surface contacts as well as more efficient sensor utilization and improved operator interfaces. RACAS is currently under development by ONR and NAVAIR as a Sense and Avoid (SAA) initiative for transition into the MQ-8. Analysis has shown that RACAS antenna hardware could be upgraded so as to simultaneously support both SAA and tactical modes; however, these must be implemented so as not to cause undue additional DO-178 and DO-254 certification cost as required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for SAA. 

Navy SBIR Award

Title Adaptive Radar Detection Approaches for Low-RCS Maritime Vessels in Highly Variable Clutter Conditions 

Abstract

This propose effort will determine the feasibility of and continue development of innovative methods in support of simultaneous tracking and imaging for Pulse Doppler radar systems. Future missions of airborne ISR radar systems will require detection of moving targets in the presence of clutter, jamming, and other background interference noise using the maritime moving target indicator (MMTI) waveform and to automatically classify the targets using high resolution imaging waveforms such as high range resolution (HRR) and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR). As computational capabilities become increasingly available, the use of advanced signal processing software to simultaneously process radar data for the purpose of detection and automatic target recognition (ATR) becomes more practical.