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    Thales Magic Atols

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    ThinkDefence
    The document summarizes Thales' MAGIC ATOLS product for automatic take off and landing of unmanned aerial vehicles. MAGIC ATOLS uses X-band radar technology to accurately measure the position of UAVs for autonomous take off and landing without relying on GPS. It can operate in all weather conditions from up to 5km away. The system includes a ground radar unit, ground beacon, and small air beacon installed on the UAV. It has been tested on over 160 flights and is used for the Watchkeeper UAV program. Thales also offers a similar solution called MAGIC ATOLS RW for ship-based take off and landing of rotary-wing UAVs.

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    Thales Magic Atols

    Uploaded by

    ThinkDefence
    4K views24 pages
    The document summarizes Thales' MAGIC ATOLS product for automatic take off and landing of unmanned aerial vehicles. MAGIC ATOLS uses X-band radar technology to accurately measure the position of UAVs for autonomous take off and landing without relying on GPS. It can operate in all weather conditions from up to 5km away. The system includes a ground radar unit, ground beacon, and small air beacon installed on the UAV. It has been tested on over 160 flights and is used for the Watchkeeper UAV program. Thales also offers a similar solution called MAGIC ATOLS RW for ship-based take off and landing of rotary-wing UAVs.

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    The document summarizes Thales' MAGIC ATOLS product for automatic take off and landing of unmanned aerial vehicles. MAGIC ATOLS uses X-band radar technology to accurately measure the position of UAVs for autonomous take off and landing without relying on GPS. It can operate in all weather conditions from up to 5km away. The system includes a ground radar unit, ground beacon, and small air beacon installed on the UAV. It has been tested on over 160 flights and is used for the Watchkeeper UAV program. Thales also offers a similar solution called MAGIC ATOLS RW for ship-based take off and landing of rotary-wing UAVs.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    4K views24 pages

    Thales Magic Atols

    Uploaded by

    ThinkDefence
    The document summarizes Thales' MAGIC ATOLS product for automatic take off and landing of unmanned aerial vehicles. MAGIC ATOLS uses X-band radar technology to accurately measure the position of UAVs for autonomous take off and landing without relying on GPS. It can operate in all weather conditions from up to 5km away. The system includes a ground radar unit, ground beacon, and small air beacon installed on the UAV. It has been tested on over 160 flights and is used for the Watchkeeper UAV program. Thales also offers a similar solution called MAGIC ATOLS RW for ship-based take off and landing of rotary-wing UAVs.

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    The document discusses automatic takeoff and landing (ATOL) solutions and their limitations. It introduces MAGIC ATOLS as a solution aimed to enable safe and accurate ATOL in all conditions.

    Current solutions like GPS, lasers and radars have limitations such as dependence on satellites or weather, narrow beams requiring search time, and lack of fail safes. Basic radar solutions also have position measurement issues during landing approaches.

    MAGIC ATOLS aims to enable all-weather ATOL without external information through wide-area instantaneous acquisition and accurate continuous position measurement. It provides autonomous and stable guidance for landing.

    www.thalesgroup.

    com

    THALES MAGIC ATOLS PRODUCT


    Automatic Take Off & Landing On Land and Sea

    2 /

    Summary

    ATOL function preamble / context Existing Solutions & Limitations MAGIC ATOLS FW Solution MAGIC ATOLS FW Description MAGIC ATOLS RW

    3 /

    Preamble / Context

    ATOL (Automatic Take Off & Landing) function


    Take Off and landing phases are critical for RPAs
    ATOLS are used during Take Off & Landing phases to measure RPA position In order ATOLS associated with RPA Flight Control automatically control the flight path to insure safe Take-Off or Landing whatever the environment without the need of an external pilot

    To mitigate risks, to limit skilled field operators Today primary ATOL function is mainly based on (D)GPS and altimeter information process - with back-up solution

    Safer ATOL function is nedded for all conditions

    4 /

    Existing Solutions & Limitations


    GPS only based solutions
    Depend on satellites Can be jammed Elevation measurement precision affected when Air Platform is near ground (association with RALT is mandatory)

    LASER Based Solution Risks


    Weather dependant solution (short range) Important search time due to the narrow pencil beam space scanning (or additional optical capture system is needed) Track lose risk when facing wind shear conditions No fail safe mode (in case of reflector failure) Power consuming for mirror de-icing Limited growth potential

    Not satisfactory in all conditions

    5 /

    Existing Solutions & Limitations


    Ka Band RADAR Based Solution
    composed of a moveable narrow beam fix frequency ground radar and an airborne transponder subsystem, presents risks due to the Ka band and design: High power transmission needed to reach all weather requirement Installation constraints on board (due to the transponder installation), and on the ground component More search time required due to the narrow pencil beam space scanning System integration constraints No fail safe mode (in case transponder failure)

    The Ka narrow beam solution has challenges

    6 /

    Existing Solutions & Limitations


    Landing sensors based on basic radar technology
    present position measurement perturbations when the measured elevation angle is a "low angle" (typically during the last phase of the landing approach) perturbations on main signal amplitude & phase are due to a parasite signal reflection off the ground

    RADAR ANTENNA r1N r12 h1NN a h12 h11

    h2

    UAV

    h2 r11 i
    R21 R2N

    Sol Rel

    dr d

    Plan horizontal

    Image

    Basic radar solutions are unsatisfactory

    7 /

    THALES MAGIC ATOLS FW solution for Customers needs

    Safe, accurate and stable guidance


    All weather utilization Wide area instantaneous acquisition Autonomous (doesnt need any external information as GPS, Inertial Navigation System data , , ) to measure RPA position: RPA landing possible when GPS is denied Accurate and continuous RPA position measurement Very easy to deploy and set up by non skilled operators Product suitable for all types of fixed wings RPA (TACTICAL, MALE, HALE) Easy to integrate within RPA System

    Customers needs have been the driver for development

    8 /

    THALES MAGIC ATOLS FW solution


    Overcomes existing limitations, copes with Customers needs and provides accurate and stable guidance for Fixed Wings RPA
    Ground Beacon Unit (GBU)

    Air Beacon Unit (ABU)


    14 cm x 14 cm x 5 cm 500g 5,5 in x 5,5 in x 2 in 1,1 lbs

    Low power, large beam, horizontal polarization X band Ground Radar X band Air Beacon X band Ground Beacon
    Ground Radar Unit (GRU)& Power Control Unit (PCU)

    MAGIC ATOLS FW X Band offers an innovative solution

    9 /

    MAGIC ATOLS FW: element description

    RADAR ANTENNA r1N r12 h1NN a h12 h11

    h2

    UAV

    h2 r11 i
    R21 R2N

    Sol Rel

    dr d

    Plan horizontal

    =h2/d
    Image

    SN

    Si S2 S1

    Frequency modulation computation to determine elevation


    Fm=2h2/d

    h1i

    Ground Radar Unit (GRU) receivers & transmitters

    Amplitude modulation

    Patented algorithms to determine elevation

    10 /

    MAGIC ATOLS FW: Typical installation


    Small and light elements (and associated containers) Easy for transportation

    Easy transportation

    11 /

    MAGIC ATOLS FW: typical installation


    Take-off & landing direction
    TouchDown Point area

    450m >20m ATOLS GRU 60m 10 deg 300-400m Prepared Strip ATOLS GBU 40m

    >100m Obstacle Free


    Class 2 Runway (Visual) - Exclusion Zone

    60m

    UAV position measurement

    <1000m

    orders

    Ground Radar Unit


    UAV Ground Control Station

    Ground Beacon Unit

    Air Beacon Unit

    Data Link

    Simple installation and set-up aside prepared or unprepared runway Less than 30 min. installation time with 2 soldiers ( the system provides full automatic calibration and installation report) All type of runway nature

    Easy installation aside strip

    12 /

    MAGIC ATOLS FW CONOPS


    Acquisition area ~10 Km UAV acquisition & recognition (one of five) Air Beacon switched on Operator check Operator decision to launch the automatic Tracking area landing sequence ~5 Km

    CONOPS:

    GCS GBU

    GLIDE PATH

    Automatic Calibration phase (GRU & GBU)


    GRU TD

    1 2 3 4

    UAV detection & recognition + azimuth & elevation measurement Tracking (azimuth & elevation & range & speed measurement) Taxi guidance: tracking (azimuth & elevation & range & speed measurement)

    Easy CONOPS

    13 /

    Data exchanges with RPA system

    UAV GCS UAS System data link

    RPA position measurement (relative & absolute)

    MAGIC ATOL Air


    1 Beacon

    MAGIC ATOL
    Ground Elements

    Easy integration within RPA system

    14 /

    Integration
    1
    MAGIC ATOLS GROUND RADAR is interfaced with the UAV GCS via a full duplex Gigabit ETHERNET / fiber optic cable Ground Radar Output Data: UAVs measured position (Distance, Azimuth, Altitude) in relative position and in absolute position coordinate provided in WGS84 (Word Geodetic System 1984 used by GPS), UAV speed, bearing GCS order acknowledge - Installation consistency report - Bite report Input Orders and Information From UAV GCS: Orders: calibration, operation, maintenance mode gate - channel (frequency) choice UAV system clock coordinate of the 6 installation points: under run, take-off, touch down, threshold, Ground Radar, Ground Beacon

    MAGIC ATOL Air Beacon is interfaced to the UAV via a standard half duplex RS485 serial data port very limited exchange of data (on-off, frequency channel, bite)

    Easy integration with the GCS & RPA host

    15 /

    MAGIC ATOLS FW typical installation

    Air Beacon Unit

    Metallic obstacle free

    4 bolts & shock absorbers

    Easy installation within RPA

    16 /

    Operational
    Azimuth Elevation

    Accurate Position Measurement within 5 km range Reliable and accurate measurement (elevation & azimuth) For all kind of runway nature (grass, concrete, asphalt) 1 m accuracy in range 50 ms refresh time less than 100 ms latency

    Smooth & continuous accurate measurement

    17 /

    Operational
    Long range instantaneous acquisition with a wide field of view

    Wide fix pencil beam (no need to scan), 15 in elevation (-5 +15), 20 in azimuth (10), full specification Time to detect, identify, and start angular tracking of the air vehicle at long range is less than 1 second, and time to start full tracking at middle range is less than 0,5 second Can isolate up to 5 UAVs simultaneously, select one at 5 km range, and track it up to landing Confidence level information is provided during tracking Redundant skin effect & air beacon

    Authorize all types of landings

    18 /

    Operational
    Extensive test and evaluation (160 + flights) In all conditions

    WK : 100+ UK flights WK : certified by MoD airworthiness authority

    Operational within WATCHKEEPER Program

    19 /

    THALES MAGIC ATOLS RW Solution


    MAGIC ATOLS RW is dedicated for Rotary Wings UAV to take in account Navy/Army mission specificities:
    Ship movements Air platform movements Limited spot size and limited over spot security volume Position measurement refresh rate too slow for (D)GPS and possibly denied Hostile all weather environment Unprepared ground spot for army

    MAGIC ATOLS RW is successfully used within D2AD (automatic landing and deck landing demonstration) French DGA Program

    20 /

    MAGIC ATOLS RW: description / ship installation example


    2 passive small size deck sensors (Deck Sensor Unit) located on the ship deck One small size, lightweight, low consumption Deck Beacon (Deck Beacon Unit) One small size, lightweight, low consumption Air Beacon (Air Beacon Unit) One Guidance Navigation Control station
    2 Groun d/Deck Sensors Ground/Deck Beacon

    Air Beacon

    Air Beacon Unit (ABU)


    14 cm x 14 cm x 5 cm 500g 5,5 in x 5,5 in x 2 in 1,1 lbs

    Guidance Navigation Control station

    21 /

    MAGIC ATOLS RW: element description


    Two passive deck sensors, automatically calibrated thanks to the deck beacon, measure the UAV position thanks to the air beacon transmission The Guidance Navigation Control station
    )

    Rendez - Vous area

    Over Spot point

    Waiting point

    ) 35

    MAGIC ATOLS RW Ground/Deck Sensors

    Touch Down

    MAGIC ATOL S RW Ground/Deck Beacon

    receives this measure and the forecasted ship movements / ship trajectory information elaborates deck landing strategy and continuously computes UAV navigation orders (rendez-vous, waiting point, over spot point, touchdown) transmits these orders to UAV (via UAV Control Station and its associated Command & Control Data Link)

    Ship operation room Officer is the leader to start automatic decking or taking-off phase

    22 /

    MAGIC ATOLS RW: installation / integration

    Simple (3 points) ground or deck installation Air Beacon Unit is simply installed (bolts & shock absorbers) aboard Air Vehicle in order to be seen by the MAGIC RW deck sensors MAGIC ATOL RW output data, on a Ethernet link, are the following: UAV position in 3 dimensions UAV speed, bearing UAV Way Points commands BITE information MAGIC ATOL RW main input orders and information are: ON/OFF order mode (operational, standby, maintenance), system clock ship prediction movements

    MAGIC ATOLS RW

    UAV legacy system


    Air Beacon

    Deck Sensors

    UAV position measures Ship Prediction Way points

    UAV Data Link

    Guidance Navigation Control Station

    UAV Control Station

    23 /

    MAGIC ATOLS RW: D2AD Program

    French DGA take off and deck landing /landing demonstration Program: D2AD Late 2010, MAGIC ATOLS RW was integrated within Boeing UMLB system 2011 Summer tests were successfully performed:
    in Army condition (prepared, or semi prepared area) in Navy simulated condition (3 axis motion table, and 15 Knots moving trailer )

    Full scale demonstration (till sea


    state 5) will take place in 2012 on board French vessel

    24 /

    Conclusion / Questions
    MAGIC ATOLS presents numerous advantages

    Contact : [email protected]

    Alain LEZLA
    Tel: +33 (0)5 57 26 75 42 Mobile: +33 (0)6 80 08 39 63 [email protected]

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