Sense and Avoid (SAA) Radar Improvements

The burgeoning use of UASs in all classes of airspace may cause situations where other aircraft, whose paths and missions are independent, intrude on each other’s airspace. This situation resulted in the requirement for a sense-and-avoid (SAA) sensor that will satisfy FAA’s due regard and see-and-avoid guidelines for piloted craft. To address this need, the Air Force has developed electro-optical SAA systems. However night and inclement weather limitations inherent in these systems, coupled with their inability to measure range reliably necessitated a multi-sensor approach, requiring the employment of a radar system to aid in performing this function. TSC is offering an innovative solution, denoted Airborne SAA Radar (ASAAR), which exploits recent advances in such areas as MMICs, ADCs, and FPGAs. The resulting dual-frequency design that is a very lightweight, small form radar that has no moving parts, yet can provide full visibility over the SAA FOR, and is capable of range, Doppler, and angle detection and track at high data rate. TSC will demonstrate the feasibility of this design in Phase I, culminating with a preliminary design of a prototype for Phase II demonstration testing and commercialization. BENEFIT: The technology developed in this project will facilitate the implementation of a SAA radar for UAS and other military aircraft. Since the technology can also be applied to other airborne radar functions (e.g., AMTI and NCTR), additional potential applications are envisioned. Although the primary application of this technology will benefit military functions by providing a collision avoidance capability for UASs and other aircraft as, the commercial/dual use of this technology may also include collision avoidance capability for civilian aircraft.