Page 1 of 35 Achieving Over-The-Horizon Requirements Using Low Earth Orbit Satellites (LEOS) Presented by Eric Saikin
Page 2 of 35 Customer Requirements To meet customers evolving requirements for threat representative systems in simulated tactical situations requires capabilities not currently available
Page 3 of 35 Customer Requirements Multiple (up to eight) air-launched targets in an Over-The-Horizon (OTH) engagement on a range with limited support Ability to support fleet training Ability to support open ocean exercises
Page 4 of 35 Low Earth Orbit Satellite Ground Station CONOPS
Page 5 of 35 LEOS/CIS System What is it? Low Earth Orbit Satellite (LEOS)/Command Interface Simulation (CIS) System Portable system for use at remote sites to control multiple vehicles over-the-horizon Interoperable with existing range equipment
Page 6 of 35 Command & Control Data Link Low Earth Orbit Satellite Utilizes low earth orbit satellite modems for data link for command and control of vehicle Vehicle GPS location and performance data is transmitted back to ground station via satellite modems Bandwidth of satellite modem is sufficient to control vehicle Globalstar currently has greater bandwidth than IRIDIUM
Page 7 of 35 Command Interface Simulation Self-contained and portable and provides everything needed to conduct a complete mission at a remote site Complete mission planning, checkout, control, situational awareness, and data reduction Ethernet backbone enables extremely robust and flexible system using off-the-shelf components Ground Station
Page 8 of 35 Features Small, lightweight, portable, and expandable system High-speed Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) enables all information to be shared amongst connected components Off-the-shelf, ruggedized laptops provide reliable, replaceable, low maintenance equipment Interoperable with existing range equipment by passing data back and forth LEOS/CIS System
Page 9 of 35 Features (cont’d) CIS System can connect to the internet via firewall if needed LEOS can utilize Iridium satellite data service, in lieu of Globalstar, with reduced bandwidth LEOS/CIS System can be used to control water or land vehicles Basic concept can be expanded to REPLACE existing target/UAV control systems LEOS/CIS System
Page 10 of 35 IRIDIUM Test The flight test on 22 October 2002 demonstrated the ability to: Plan and simulate a flight path Modify and download an updated flight plan prior to launch via a remotely located Radio Frequency (RF) data link Automatically control the flight path without operator intervention Modify the flight path during the mission using an OTH data link Perform payload operations during manual and automatic flight operation
Page 11 of 35 Hardware NAL Research Corp IRIDIUM Data Modem Cloud Cap Technology Piccolo Avionics (Navigator) Vehicle Interface Box
Page 12 of 35 Flight Segments The flight lasted approximately 51 minutes and consisted of three segments: Manual control using the normal flight control system to verify operational functionality OTH control of the vehicle Manual control of the vehicle during the recovery sequence
Page 13 of 35 Flight Path
Page 14 of 35 Segment Summary The vehicle was declared operationally functional after 11 minutes of flight OTH control of the vehicle lasted for 36 minutes Normal recovery operations were performed upon command release from OTH system flight control During the OTH controlled flight segment, no pitch or throttle adjustments were made by the operators
Page 15 of 35 IRIDIUM Dropout The IRIDIUM satellite communications link experienced one dropout lasting approximately 48 seconds Simplistic redial software not optimized for fast reacquisition Expect to be able to significantly reduce this time
Page 16 of 35 Wide Turns
Page 17 of 35 Straight Leg Cross Track
Page 18 of 35 ITCS Data Rates Frames Per Second Uplink (Bits / Second) Downlink (Bits / Second)
Page 19 of 35 Data Rates IRIDIUM – 1200 bps Globalstar – 7200 bps
Page 20 of 35 Demonstration Flight Test First Flight – ability to control target using commercial Low Earth Orbit Satellites Universal Replacement Auto Pilot (URAP) Switch between three preplanned missions Downlink GPS location and vehicle parameters for situational awareness display Evaluate ability to control vehicle manually
Page 21 of 35 Globalstar Satellite Orbits Low Earth Orbits ~700 Miles Up
Page 22 of 35 Globalstar Gateway at Clifton, Texas Building 189 San Nicolas Island, CA URAP Equipped BQM-74E with LEOS DKW (Globalstar Satellite & 900 MHz) Globalstar Satellite Low Earth Orbit ~700 Miles up Uplink Command Sent to Airborne LEOS DKW Over Globalstar Satellite Link and 900 MHz Line-of-Sight Link (~0.35 Sec)
Page 23 of 35 Global Satellite “Mutual Footprints” Globalstar Satellite Footprints ~3000 Mile Diameter
Page 24 of 35 Globalstar Data Link Testing Data rate – 7.2 Kbps Measured latency (92 samples) – 699 ms one-way Measured connect/reconnect time (18 samples) – 6.8 sec Connection time Tests were run from one to three hours without a disconnect (engineers terminated the test) Reconnect time After one minute with no power – modem reconnects in five seconds Indicates very robust data link
Page 25 of 35 URAP Low Altitude Sea Skim Capability with Satellite and UHF Control Links UHF Link (Line-Of-Sight) Globalstar Satellite Link (Over-The-Horizon)
Page 26 of 35 Airborne Transponder (DKW) and Globalstar Antenna
Page 27 of 35 San Nicolas First Flight Mission Plan in Falcon View Launch Point Way Points Action Points 3 missions with 3 turn radius for 60, 45, and 30 degree bank angles
Page 28 of 35 Situational Awareness Display Vehicle Flying in “Tube”
Page 29 of 35 Launch PadControl Building San Nicolas Island
Page 30 of 35 BQM-74E on Launch Pad
Page 31 of 35 Globalstar Ground Station
Page 32 of 35 LEOS Ground Terminal
Page 33 of 35 Vehicle Control Panels
Page 34 of 35 Situational Awareness Display
Page 35 of 35 Results All objectives met Vehicle switched missions when commanded Operator had no problem controlling vehicle in manual mode Satellite data link worked as expected