U.S. Navy UAS experts are asking engineers at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems segment in Bethpage, N.Y., to develop common UAS ground control stations to fly the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk and the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) high-altitude, high-endurance surveillance UAS. BAMS and Global Hawk are based on the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 airframe.
Category Archives: Control Stations & Remote Video Terminals
Elbit – Hermes 450 and Hermes 900 Fly on Joint Flight Missions
Elbit Systems announced that it has successfully performed a series of joint flight missions of its Hermes® 450 and Hermes® 900 Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The two different UAS were controlled and operated from the same universal ground control station (UGCS), transmitting the gathered imagery, ELINT and COMINT to their station operators, while using different communications systems. To view video, click here.
Northrop Grumman Gets $3M UAS Common Architecture Working Group Contract
The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a $3.3 million contract to participate in the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Control Segment (UCS) Architecture Working Group (UCSWG). Sponsored by the Unmanned Warfare Office of the Office Secretary of Defense (OSD), the UCSWG will provide increased UAS command and control capability to the war-fighter at lower cost by using an open system architecture approach across the UAS enterprise.
Imint Partners with L-3 Communication Systems-West for Real-Time Aerial Video Intelligence
The Swedish aerial video exploitation software firm Imint and US-based L-3 Communications Systems-West, a leader in high-speed digital communication systems that connect air, space and ground systems, are partnering to provide enhanced video intelligence exploitation from airborne surveillance. Continue reading
Yale Team Develops Synthetic Vision for Real-Time Object Recognition
A research team headed by Dr. Eugenio Culurciello, associate professor of engineering at Yale University, has developed a field programmable gate array (FPGA) processor that has been specifically designed for artificial vision. It operates about 100 times faster than a laptop computer, effectively bringing supercomputing power to synthetic vision. A system using this FPGA would be capable of analysing full-motion video in real-time. It could simultaneously monitor multiple video streams, looking for certain objects or behaviours with clear possibilities for UAS applications.
AeroVironment Gets $7.8M for Raven Upgrades
AeroVironment, Inc. has announced that it received a firm fixed-price order valued at $7,800,003 under an existing contract with the U.S. Army on January 25, 2011. The order comprises 919 digital module upgrade kits for the U.S. Marine Corps. The upgrade kits allow digital Raven unmanned aircraft systems to operate using a different frequency band than provided by the regular configuration.
L-3 Communications Provides Predator Simulators to University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota has concluded an agreement with L-3 Communications to provide Predator Mission Aircrew Training System units for its training facility at Grand Forks Air Force Base. The total cost of the training facility is about $2 million, of which $1.6 million will go into furnishings and equipment, including the simulators. Most of the funding came from the state Department of Commerce
Grey Eagle – Apache Command System Being Tested
Apache helicopter pilots will soon be able to control Grey Eagle UAS directly from the cockpit. The Grey Eagle-Apache command system is undergoing testing and is expected to be ready for demonstration at the Dugway Proving Ground test centre in Utah by September.