What's next for the Pentagon after the Replicator programme?
Although the Replicator initiative has made several accomplishments, there are still multiple gaps to plug across the US Department of Defense (DoD) and its services.
uAvionix, PrecisionHawk team for LATAS
uAvionix and PrecisionHawk have teamed up to develop a new generation of Low Altitude Traffic and Airspace Safety (LATAS) hardware for UAS.
Under the teaming arrangement, PrecisionHawk’s LATAS system will be integrated with uAvionix’s Ping ADS-B system. This will allow UAS equipped with LATAS to receive alerts of nearby manned aircraft equipped with ADS-B technology.
The team will also explore how a combination ADS-B plus LTE surveillance device can be used to increase safety while mitigating risks of ADS-B spectrum congestion.
uAvionix will work to directly integrate the PingRx and LATAS chipsets into a single hardware platform so it is possible for LATAS to fit on nearly any UAS. The goal is to add an additional layer of risk mitigation for UAS operators, regulators and airports, and to advance the level of operations that can be achieved with UAS, particularly those operated beyond visual line-of-sight.
Christian Ramsey, vice president of business development for uAvionix, said: ‘With an integrated device, algorithms can determine the best frequency on which to broadcast the drone's position depending on factors such as the availability of LTE networks or the presence of nearby manned aircraft.
‘The Ping system can listen for nearby aircraft and only broadcast the drone's position via ADS-B if a manned aircraft is nearby. This is an incredibly efficient use of spectrum while being interoperable with existing manned aviation.’
The team expects to test the concept under PrecisionHawk's track of the FAA Pathfinder programme in early 2017.
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