FALCO UAV EO/IR Sensors

I would like to discuss EO/IR sensor side of the house not only with this article but with the current platform (FALCO UAV) I am flying in Africa. 

The continuing challenge for the military is maintaining a technological edge in Electro Optic and Infrared (EO/IR) sensor systems. Adversaries are becoming more sophisticated in their tactics and technologies, and the U.S. military's efforts to maintain the technological advantage have grown in importance and difficulty. One way sensors are evolving is dual-purpose use for weapons and situational awareness. Navy leaders want targeting and surveillance sensors to be operationally available for intended missions, so NAVSEA is augmenting them for situational awareness to alleviate the wear and tear on special-purpose sensors (Wilson, 2016).

On the FALCO, the sensor package consists of Wescam MX10 EO/IR and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The Payload Operator Upper Monitor has a map of the area concerned in plain view, the complete route of the planned mission and the current position of the Air Vehicle, all North-Oriented. It also shows the field encompassed by the sensor and all the telemetries. The Wescam MX10 Panel allows controlling and monitoring the Payloads equipment during the flight when the Payload Operator does not use the Hand Control Unit.

On the payload operators control stick, the control function button when depressed displays; 

·       The payload status field indicates the status of the MX-10 Payload

·       The sensor field indicates the type of sensor that is in use

·       The FOV, PAN and TILT fields indicate the related parameters of the MX-10 Payload

·       The Invert YES or NO field indicates if the payload sensor has turned upside down and the image too

The FALCO also has a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) installed in the nose of the UAV. The SAR allows the Operator to control the on-board PicoSAR operation, by means of the SAR Computer, the two Monitors and the Mouse-Keyboard. The upper Monitor is the Tactical Display and displays the map and the telemetries of the PicoSAR, while the lower Monitor displays the images transmitted by the Airborne PicoSAR. The Tactical Display shows the map where the operator defines the Point of Interest (POI) to analyze by using the SAR.

One pervasive trend in EO/IR sensors is shrinking size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP). "As you get better performance out of smaller sys- tems, you can send a small UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] rather than a large manned aircraft or light tactical vehicle instead of a large platform. As more of them become man portable, more tasks can be accomplished from the ground rather that the air. Distance and operating conditions will see new systems providing commanders with greater flexibility in achieving their objectives." Also, "The EO provides day capability, IR day and night, but EO has better range capability; it is more interpretable. Long-term, we're looking at better sensors and more sensor fusion and AITR [aided target recognition]. We will see a continuation of wanting more resolution, more stand-off, which will require larger, better FPAs [focal plane arrays]. I'm skeptical of truly novel optical enablers; the big thing will be putting a larger aperture on these sensors." (Wilson, 2016).

For the ground units the FALCO has the capability to transmit the feed via The Remote Video Terminal (RVT) Kit permits the EO/IR video acquisition from the UAV and displays for the ground operator the EO/IR Sensor footprint, the UAV position and the RVT position.

The RVT Kit comprises the following items:

1.     One Terminal

2.     One hand held Transceiver GPS-integrated;

3.     One RVT Omni Antenna and one RVT Omni Antenna

 

The Remote Video Terminal (RVT) comprises:

1.     One RVT Rucksack that includes one Receiver Unit, one Battery Pack and one Antenna Unit.

·       the Receiver Unit comprises a pre-amplifier, a demodulator, a decrypto section, the GPS receiver and antenna, and a Wi-Fi interface;

·       the Battery Pack provides an autonomy of not less than three hours to the Receiver;

·       the Antenna Unit is composed of two Omnidirectional Antennas.

2.     One Rugged Laptop that allows viewing all information provided by the Receiver via Wi-Fi.

The FALCO does not have Night Vision Goggle capabilities like typical ground personnel. The IR portion of the wescam MX10 sensor allows the FLIR thermal imaging system driven by  vision to see through the dark, fog, smoke, foliage, and camouflage. A person's heat and their heat signature shows up brightly on this thermal image device and you'll be able to see weapons, cars, animals, and people in day time and night time.

Wilson, J.R. (2016 January 19). EO/IR sensors boost situational awareness. Retrieved from http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/print/volume-27/issue-1/special-report/eo-ir-sensors-boost-situational-awareness.html