Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/274231
e edge oF TECH www.vanguardcanada.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014 45 forms in sufficiently reduced scale to maintain useful endurance and flight performance. Optical sensors, primarily colour and infrared, have simultaneously reduced in size while advancing in performance. So much have these form factors improved that it is now common to combine color (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors in single sUAS payloads (EO/IR). Employed correctly, EO/IR payloads can simultaneously store and transmit both EO and IR still images or streaming video. These sensor groupings add new mission capabilities and flexibility, providing more information in a single flight – more than twice as much when data from two sen- sors is combined into novel forms of information. Optical sensors are also seeing enhanced performance in areas such as low-light illumination by pairing sensors with light sources, or with light intensifiers for which additional light sources are not required. Sensor miniaturization in commercial applications such as high definition optical sensors from smartphones, and gas micro-sen- sors from industrial use, is now benefiting military customers. This is a strong countercurrent against the standard technology transfer flow. The benefits of commercial technology are being realized in many other areas, providing previously unavailable technology at comparatively low costs. Consider, for example, the types of imagery processing and analy- sis tasks which are currently backhauled to reach sufficient process- ing horsepower. It is still vital to bring this information, such as live FMV (full motion video) or advanced 3D environment model- ing, to remote command cen- ters. However, many tasks can now be brought forward to advanced forces by leveraging low-footprint commercial soft- ware. For example, with a rug- ged field laptop and the appro- priate software, a set of images gathered by sUAS over a target of interest can very quickly be processed into accurately geo- referenced 2D image mosaics and detailed 3D models. Di- rect access to enhanced infor- mation on the ground greatly enhances forward reconnais- sance and tactical planning. Faster, better, smarter Continued systems evolution will naturally bring successive sUAS generations that fly faster, further, and longer than previ- ously possible, with still higher flight performance. Future systems should deliver much more, however, including new payloads, more autonomous capability, and the ability for still more plug- and-play systems integration. Beyond optical sensors, there is a growing interest in other sen- sor types, groupings, and independent payload systems approach- ing viable form factors for "backpack-able" sUAS. These include a range of chemical, radiation, gas, and other particulate sensors for scenarios such as CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiologi- cal, Nuclear, Explosive), acoustic sensors to identify direction of attack, multi- and hyper-spectral imagers, signal interception, meshed communications relays, and more. The availability of these new payloads will make possible new applications and mis- sion profiles, and aerial vehicle designs should allow for ongoing and flexible integration of new payloads not yet commercialized. Autonomous system intelligence will also continue to advance at a significant pace. For software-engineered platforms, there is still significant opportunity to automate additional high-value tasks and even missions, and further improve human factors in user-system interaction. Modern sUAS must be upgradeable plat- forms with sufficient onboard processing capability and a robust infrastructure to take advantage of these advancements. As military forces continue to replace legacy analog equipment with digital, many opportunities will be unlocked in network in- tegration. Unmanned aerial systems can be a critical data source to many networked systems and, even more powerfully, provide multiple data sources which can be combined to produce novel information greater than the sum of the parts. Moreover, sUAS could be a network endpoint by accessing and acting on information from the network, or be brought within a mesh network. Only fully digital sUAS will be ready to leverage these integration opportunities.