Vigilant Aerospace Systems has completed another series of ground and flight tests focused on improving airborne radar tracking for its FlightHorizon PILOT-M onboard detect-and-avoid (DAA) system.
FlightHorizon PILOT-M uses ADS-B In and onboard radar to track cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft, evaluate potential conflicts and provide avoidance guidance to a remote pilot or integrated autopilot.
The testing is part of a USD 1 million development project supported in part by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology through its Industry Innovation Program. The project is being conducted in collaboration with Oklahoma State University’s Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education.
The latest series of tests evaluated how effectively the system filters radar clutter when the sensor is exposed to movement and vibration.
“Radar installed on an aircraft must distinguish real airborne traffic from unwanted returns generated by the ground, vegetation, buildings and other objects,” explains Vigilant Aerospace. “Sensor movement and vibration add complexity because stationary objects can appear to shift between radar updates. Effective filtering must remove these unwanted tracks without filtering out actual aircraft.”
The company reports that during the tests, the filtering process rejected unwanted tracks while the system successfully tracked multiple Cessna 172-class aircraft at distances of approximately two kilometres.
The team installed the radar and supporting systems on an airborne test platform to refine the filtering process under flight conditions. This work exercised the onboard sensors, computing, communications, data flow and power systems together in a dynamic operating environment.
During the flight, FlightHorizon PILOT-M processed radar data onboard the aircraft and relayed radar tracks to the ground display. The test provided additional data for refining how the system removes unwanted returns caused by aircraft vibration, movement and changes in the radar’s position relative to the ground.
The results will inform the next phase of integration and testing that will further fine-tune the radar-filtering process and prepare the system for testing on larger UAS.
For more information