Aerial Surveillance

Written by Erin Flynn Jay

CGF 2010 Volume: 2 Issue: 3 (July)

 Unmanned Aircraft Can Reach Targets In A Fraction
Of The Time It Would Take A Surface Vessel. 

The U.S. Coast Guard’s future plans envision the use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to extend the reach and range of their patrol boats and cutters. An unmanned aircraft can be dispatched to take a closer look at a suspect vessel, reaching destinations much quicker than surface vessels.

While no commitments are forthcoming in the nearterm, these aircraft are certainly on the Coast Guard’s long-term acquisition radar. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been using unmanned aerial vehicles since 2005. The Coast Guard has partnered with CBP and is attempting to develop some synergies.

CBP owns a total of seven MQ-9 Predator aircraft that they have sensorized for a whole number of missions. “They have the Raytheon Multi-spectral Targeting System B, which is an electro-optical/infrared [EO/IR] system giving the MQ-9 significant detection capability,” said Lieutenant Commander Damon Williams of the Joint Program Office for UAS with CBP. “It has a daylight camera capable of HD images, a sensitive IR sensor, a laser target marker, a laser illuminator and other capabilities. It’s really the eye in the sky we associate with aerial surveillance platforms.”

When it comes out of the factory, the MQ-9 aircraft has Lynx synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which provides notable capability. This has all sorts of capabilities, among which is change detection, a powerful tool in disaster response, said Williams.

Just recently, CBP integrated the Raytheon SeaVue sea search radar onto the first version of the Guardian maritime aircraft. This, along with other notable upgrades, makes the MQ-9 more functional to the maritime environment. “The SeaVue also has the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Labs Ocean Surveillance Initiative software package, ocean surveillance initiative. It overlays the Raytheon human machine interface and can be used to fuse radar images from several different airframes operating the system,” said Williams. “This is a potentially game changing technology that CBP is moving ahead with implementing.”

Because UAVs are so nascent to the Coast Guard missions, Williams said they have yet to use them functionally or operationally. “CBP on the other hand has been using them operationally since 2005. It’s a real game changing capability—the ability to provide persistent surveillance on the land or maritime border is something that we never really had in this way before,” said Williams. CBP has used them most notably on the southwest border, but they also have a persistent presence on the northern border.

“The Coast Guard is interested in the technology, which is one of the reasons we have partnered with CBP and are attempting to develop some synergies—not only for operation but also for systems development,” he concluded. “Unmanned aerial systems hold the potential of being a real augment to the Coast Guard’s current aviation capabilities, but the Coast Guard is not doing it quite yet. We are trying to get there, and this joint effort with Customs and Border Protection is one of our first steps.”

According to Jordan Willoughby, the deputy director of UAS for CBP, a demonstration is being orchestrated by some vendors on a persistent, aerial surveillance capability. “In this case, we will use conventional manned aircraft with sophisticated cameras that get a large snapshot of an area and are able to drill down on any portion of the image to glean necessary information for mission completion,” Willoughby said.

FIRE SCOUT UAS UNDER DEVELOPMENT

The Northrop Grumman-built MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical unmanned aerial system is an autonomous, unmanned helicopter currently under development with the U.S. Navy. Based on an FAA-certified Schweizer Aircraft commercial airframe with more than 20 million flight hours, it is powered by a mature, reliable Rolls Royce turbo-shaft engine that uses standard NATO heavy fuel.

Fire Scout features a modular architecture that accommodates a variety of electro-optical/infrared and communications payloads. “These payloads provide ground and ship-based commanders with high levels of situational awareness and precision targeting support with an endurance of more than seven hours,” said John VanBrabant, a manager of maritime Fire Scout business development at Northrop Grumman. “The Navy has also identified radar as a firm requirement for Fire Scout, which will give it a wide area search capability. Northrop Grumman is now working closely with the Navy to identify the most cost-effective way to add radar to Fire Scout.”

Fire Scout is designed to take off and land autonomously on any aviation-capable warship, and at prepared and unprepared landing zones in proximity to ground troops. It is also fully interoperable between land and sea-based tactical control systems.

Fire Scout’s ability to operate at low ground speeds makes it particularly well suited for supporting U.S. Coast Guard missions such as drug interdiction, search and rescue, reconnaissance and port security. It can also acquire and track targets in complex and urban terrain, said VanBrabant.

During a recent deployment in the eastern Pacific aboard the USS McInerney (FFG-8), Fire Scout played a critical role in a successful drug interdiction mission executed by a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment stationed aboard the frigate. During a flight test off the McInerney, Fire Scout’s EO/IR sensors detected a “go-fast” boat typically used by drug traffickers in the area. “For several hours Fire Scout monitored and fed live video of the drug traffickers’ activities to the frigate,” said VanBrabant. “Eventually, the Coast Guard law enforcement detachment was able to move in on the ‘go-fast’ when it stopped to refuel, and capture 60 kilograms of cocaine. Another 200 kilograms of cocaine were thrown overboard by the traffickers.”

DATA LINK FOR AERIAL SURVEILLANCE

The Cubic Common Data Link (CDL) family of data links is designed for and ideally suited for aerial surveillance missions. The CDL is the U.S. military’s worldwide standard data link for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data, including full motion video, infrared video and radar imagery produced by a variety of sensors on a wide range of aircraft. The Cubic Mini CDL offers encrypted data rates up to 45 mbps in a small-size package weighing less than two pounds.

The Coast Guard would eventually like to see UASs extend the reach and range of their patrol boats and cutters. “An unmanned aircraft can be dispatched to take a closer look at a suspect vessel, using its speed to close on the target in a fraction of the time the surface vessel would take,” said Kevin Govea, a senior program manager at Cubic. “Such functionality was recently proven by the successful drug interdiction operation. The interdiction was enabled by the persistence and stealthy surveillance of the Navy’s MQ-8B Fire Scout. The Cubic data link is a critical part of the Fire Scout system, allowing the ship to control the unmanned system and receive video from the Fire Scout platform.”

Lockheed Martin provides the video for both long range surveillance maritime patrol aircraft (LRS MPA) on the Coast Guard HC-130J aircraft and the medium range surveillance maritime patrol aircraft (MRS MPA) on the Coast Guard HC-144. “This C4ISR capability retains the all-weather mission capability to perform the MPA roles in the Coast Guard’s area of responsibility through a combination of asset independence and interoperability,” said Teresa Redder, a senior program manager of aviation domain for Lockheed’s Coast Guard program. “Independence is achieved through a sophisticated array of onboard sensors and systems, while interoperability provides an effective information sharing process that creates synergy with other Coast Guard assets.”

C4ISR CAPABILITY

The following is an overview of the C4ISR sensor and communications equipment suites:

• The multi-mode radar (MMR) provides a long-range surface and air search capability designed to detect small targets at sea as well a large targets at long range. Modes include a weather mode, imaging capabilities with both synthetic aperture radar and inverse synthetic aperture radar modes. The MMR also provides for search and rescue transponder detection and display.
• The electro-optical/infrared sensor system provides real-time video in daylight and night conditions. The cameras operate in full light, low light and IR wavelengths for imaging. The EO/IR turret mounted sensors can be slewed to provide 360 degrees of azimuth coverage under the aircraft.
• The radio direction finder capability covers the VHF and UHF frequencies [30 to 406 Megahertz (MHz)] throughout 360 degrees of azimuth and provides for a display true bearing to the emitter source. It also provides distress call monitor operating on established distress frequencies (121.5 MHz, 243 MHz, 406.025 and 406.028 MHz) and space system for the search of vessels in distress/ SAR satellite-aided tracking beacon detection, including position message decode when available from the beacon.
• Automatic identification system (AIS) provides ship identification, position, course and speed for received signals from AIS equipped vessels. The C4ISR communications suite, which includes the international maritime satellite system, in conjunction with the mission sensors and computing infrastructure, will provide the connectivity to process sensor data and provide real-time or near real-time information into the USCG’s common operational picture via the Coast Guard command and control system, noted Redder.

The LRS MPA–HC-130J has the endurance and reach to cover all of the Coast Guard areas of responsibility, and it will retain the same role in the USCG’s logistics as the legacy LRS MPA–HC-130H aircraft. Redder said it is a flexible aircraft that can be launched on a logistics aviation demand mission, ferrying an entire HH-65 helicopter or parts for a helicopter and a cutter with diversion capacity to any LRS MPA mission in route.

SCANEAGLE UAS

Insitu’s ScanEagle UAS has been in theater with the U.S. Navy since 2005, on 15 types of vessels with more than 14,000 operational flight hours and 1700 sorties. The ScanEagle has a small operational footprint—its system can fit on any size USCG vessel and it operates on heavy fuel, which is safer and readily available.

Its modular design helps minimize maintenance and repair commitments, and it can be ready for missions within 15 minutes notice with a 98 percent success rate. In April, Insitu announced that its ScanEagle recently exceeded 300,000 combat flight hours, making it a leader in Group 2, the small tactical class of UAS. It also accounted for approximately 22 percent of the 550,000 hours that the U.S. Department of Defense estimated unmanned aircraft flew last year, supporting numerous combat missions for the U.S. armed services.

“Through these in-theater operations, we’ve proven the reliability of ScanEagle and consistently demonstrated that our systems are ready to execute any mission over land or sea. Our continual commitment to advance our technology contributes to this milestone, distinguishing Insitu within the UAS industry,” said Bill Clark, vice president of emerging programs at Insitu.

Since ScanEagle’s first operational flight in 2002, Insitu has rapidly developed and delivered tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance solutions to better serve the warfighter. In response to requests for enhanced nighttime imagery, ScanEagle can be converted to NightEagle to include a cooled mid-wave infrared imager. Other aircraft configuration advancements include a heavy fuel engine for improved safety and ease of military supply chain logistics integration, and a muffled engine for reduced acoustic signature.

Upgrades to Insitu’s family of UASs include a mode C transponder for airspace deconfliction and an automatic identification system for maritime vessel identification. Most recently, Insitu introduced the NanoSAR payload, which penetrates adverse weather conditions, battlefield obscurants, camouflage and light foliage, allowing radar-enabled broad-area searches over land and sea.

Future deliveries to the warfighter will include digital video data encryption, single-channel groundto- air radio relay and heavy fuel engine electronic fuel-injection. These advancements will enable ground forces to see real-time encrypted, secure video and metadata from Insitu UASs using small laptop devices. Additionally, ground forces will be able to relay voice and data with an extensive end-to-end reach. Engine performance will also improve, especially in extreme temperatures and at high altitudes.

“Serving warfighters over the past five years has helped us fine-tune our engineering, production and field services operations. The result has been increased agility and enhanced ability to deliver our systems rapidly anywhere in the world,” said Alvin Jackson, vice president of sales and marketing at Insitu. ♦

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