turrets are Elbit, Flir, L-3 <strong>Wescam</strong>, Thales, Raytheon, Sagem, Selex Galileo, Tamam and Zeiss (in South Africa), but mention must also be made of Cloud Cap. Better known for its flight management systems and inertial measurement sensors, this firm also produces a range of small and lightweight turrets called Tase. Cloud Cap’s Tase, for example, is used in a belly retractable mount inside the Arcturus T-20 belly-landing light drone. Another, and perhaps less publicised company specialising in lightweight stabilised payloads, is Controp, whose 990- gram Stamp stabilised turret was recently tested onboard a six-kilo Innocon Micro Falcon in Israel. The Stamp is available as the day vision D-Stamp and the night vision U-Stamp. There is no ending to progress. A major breakthrough was made by Flir, which unveiled its new high-definition filming turret at the 2009 Paris Air show. Unsurprisingly known as the Star Safire HD, this ball has (to our knowledge) not yet been officially adopted for drone use, but its performance has to be seen to be believed. Not only can it allow an observer to perfectly spot a man at a range of well over 17 km, it also offers a perfect image correlation between its different sensors. In other words, whatever the zooming factor in use, one can switch from infrared to colour and Apart from being renowned for its autopilots, Cloud Cap has also developed a number of lightweight gyrostabilised turrets. This T2, for example, is the largest and similar to the one fitted to the Arcturus T-20 (quod vide). It has a 200° slew rate and weighs 2.27 kilos. (Cloud Cap) instantly obtain the same picture in the other mode (and vice-versa) without requiring any reframing or adjustment. It is instantaneous, clean and sharp. As for definition, the results are staggering, provided one uses a high-definition display. On a much simpler scale, images can also be improved to simplify their exploitation. Z Microsystems, for example, has developed an algorithm which, applied to drone footage, is said to dramatically enhance the operator’s ability to extract information. The next technological leap in terms of drone sensors came in the form of the radar. Here too, the acceptance of these devices by drones results from their miniaturisation, but not exclusively: the main challenge came under the name of power – and not only the wattage required, but also the amount of juice the onboard generator could produce. Drone AAI 5 Armada International 31, 35 AUVSI C3 AV (Aerovironment) C4 Defensys 2010 33 DRS Technologies 7 Elbit Systems 13 Honeywell 25 Index to Advertisers radars have been around for a while now, particularly for maritime surveillance, but the emerging trend is the synthetic aperture type. Many will remember the truly amazing frames (both in ground mapping and moving target indicator form) that the prototype of the Northrop Grumman J-Stars (a non-solicited development, it should be reminded) ushered to the Gulf area produced in 1990. Well, almost similar results – albeit at shorter ranges – can now be obtained from a Selex Galileo Picosar installed on rotarywing aircraft as small as the Schiebel Camcopter S-100. Quite naturally the same Picosar can also be used onboard the Selex Falco fixed-wing drone. The advantage of the radar is twofold: it ‘drills’ through night and bad weather, and its moving target indicator function allows the observer to spot an object (car or person) that would otherwise be difficult to perceive at long range. Talking of moving target indicators, and to conclude this overview on sensor novelties, Northrop Grumman has recently announced that it had completed testing of its Vader onboard a Twin Otter. Developed for long-endurance drones, this radar has demonstrated its ability to detect individuals and animals walking over a wide area. Unsurprisingly, the Vader programme is sponsored by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Office. Roadside bomb detection is the subject of an article in Armada 3/2010 page 24 – and indeed one of the best ways of finding hidden roadside bombs is to first track those who emplace them. Better still is to be able to track these people on their way back in the hope of discovering their base. Drones and Sar radars could soon prove to be a vital tandem in this unique form of warfare, which sees a very odd confrontation between rudimentary and sophisticated techniques. a L-3 Communications 11, 13 Northrop Grumman C2 RADA 31 Raytheon 15-17 Saab 27 Sagem 9 Schiebel 29 Trimble 23 Compendium Drones 2010 Supplement to issue 3/2010 Volume 34, Issue No.3, June/July 2010 INTERNATIONAL is published bi-monthly in Zurich, Switzerland. Copyright 2010 by Internationale Armada AG, Aeulestrasse 5, LI-9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Head Office: Armada International, Hagenholzstrasse 65, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland. Phone: +41 44 308 50 50, Fax:(+41 44) 308 50 55, e-mail: mail@armada.ch; www.armadainternational.com www.armada.ch Publisher: Caroline Schwegler Publishing Director: Stephan Soder Editor-in-Chief: Eric H. Biass Editor/Artwork: Johnny Keggler Administration: Thomas Schneider, Marie-Louise Huber Regular Contributors: Roy Braybrook, Ian Kemp, Thomas Withington, Paulo Valpolini Controlled circulation: 22,388, certified by ABC ABC/WEMF, valid from autumn 2009. Advertising Sales Offices Austria, Benelux, Switzerland Cornelius W. 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POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Armada International, c/o PO Box 437, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437. ISSN: 0252-9793 36 armada Compendium Drones 2010
It’s so big we had to add a day. 24–27 August 2010 Colorado Convention Center Denver, CO, USA We may be outgrowing convention centers, but fortunately there are still more days in the week to grow into. That’s what happens when you fill 392,000 square feet with more than 350 exhibits, indoor air, ground and maritime demonstration areas, indoor static space, 140 presentations and daily networking events. Add more than 5,000 attendees from the world over and the only way to do it all is to add a day. So we did. Be there, when the world of unmanned systems comes together. symposium.auvsi.org
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