Collision Warning System for Drones Tested

HENSOLDT’s collision warning system for civil and military UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) has entered an advanced stage of development. The radar sensor at the core of the system has already been successfully tested in flight, and work on the software required for interaction with an autopilot is well underway. A test flight to demonstrate that the sensor performance and the software-supported avoidance logic correspond correctly with the autopilot will take place in the near future.

The system’s detect-and-avoid radar uses state-of-the-art Active Electronically Scanning Array (AESA) technology, which allows multiple detection tasks to be performed simultaneously and enables very rapid target detection. The scalable radar can be used in both large military drones and smaller civilian drones.

HENSOLDT has also recently been involved in the EUDAAS (European Detect and Avoid System) programme, in which several European companies are developing the ability to integrate large military medium altitude/long endurance (MALE) drones, such as the Eurodrone recently released by the German parliament, into European airspace.

Erwin Paulus, head of HENSOLDT’s radar division, commented: “We have progressed faster than expected with our ‘Detect & Avoid’ radar. In the meantime, the complete functional chain from detection and classification to the initiation of avoidance manoeuvres is working so reliably that we are sure we will be able to demonstrate a basic system for autonomous flying in the summer.”

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