JSBSim S-Function for Matlab/Simulink

Quick introduction first: My name is Brian Mills and I've been employed in the commercial flight sim industry for 8+ years.

Recently I've been working on an S-Function that integrates JSBSim (the default flight dynamic model for FlightGear open source flight simulator) into Simulink. Anyone who has read the interview with Curtis Olsen about the utility of using FlightGear for HIL testing will probably be very interested in this. By bringing JSBSim into Matlab/Simulink, a UAV designer can develop and test the FDM model within Simulink, and once completed, can then develop control systems and sensor models using Simulink tools. This means an entire UAV vehicle and guidance control system could be developed and tested using an established flight simulation product running in Simulink.

If anyone is interested in testing this please PM me and I can email you the .rar. Its about 28MB. As an alternative, I hope to upload the project to Mathworks.com soon and get it on the JSBSim-Matlab sourceforge site

FYI, this is still "beta" and there is more work to be done. Also, since many people do not have access to Matlab, I hope that in the near future a version for the free ScicoLab can be released.

Boeing highlights UAV capabilities in tactical network

Boeing representatives point to last week’s demonstrations in Australia as a milestone in demonstrating “for the first time the ability to deliver streaming video over a mobile, ad hoc tactical network from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to a Chinook helicopter and ground troops.”

The network-centric demonstration took place March 16-18 at the Boeing Defence Australia Systems Analysis Laboratory in Brisbane, Australia, where personnel from Australia’s Army, Navy and Air Force viewed the new network’s capabilities on actual “flight representative” hardware.

According to Tom DuBois, Boeing Rotorcraft Systems architect and Technical Fellow for Avionics and Software, the demonstrations grew out of Boeing’s participations in the Battle Command on the Move demonstrations held at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in July 2008.

Acknowledging that these demonstrations are frequently dubbed “C2 on the Move,” DuBois clarified that “command and control is just one of the many applications that could work on this tactical communications network. My key message is that these ‘net ready’ technologies are available today.

They may not address 100 percent of the U.S. Government’s Global Information Grid (GIG) requirements but they are good enough to get out there; they are good enough to put into the field; warfighters can use it for advantage in fighting their wars’; this stuff is near term; and we are proving it.”

Part of the demonstration included the integration of this new networking capability onto existing platforms.

“We can provide an add-on kit,” he said. “In fact, we actually brought what that kit that would be in the back of the Chinook would look like, displays and all. We also brought the device that would go into the UAV. In our case we picked the Scan Eagle UAV because it was in the Australian Defence Forces inventory, and we packaged a radio down to about 3 lbs, where it fits as a cylinder. And then we had another station that could be in a Tactical Operations Center to see the ‘God’s Eye View’ of everything that is going on across the mission, since everybody would be basically networked together.”

Although a Scan Eagle was not flown for the demo itself, video was taken from a Scan Eagle flight at China Lake. That video file was placed on a laptop computer with the computer output going to the radio package, which then posted it to the network.

“We also had ground troops hooked in, represented by multiple laptops that we had in the laboratory there. And we also had some handheld units. So we basically demonstrated how a UAV would post its video to the network and how a ground troop could pick up that video on their handheld display. And the same kind of information would be shown in the back of the Chinook,” DuBois said.

The “backbone” of the network was a Harris “Sea Lancet” radio, which provided a minimum of 10 megabits per second.

“That was great, DuBois added, because that supported up to four video streams simultaneously.”

The Future Combat Systems SOSCOE [System of Systems Common Operating Environment] provided the ‘middleware’ for the demonstration architecture.

He continued, “One of my other points is that we are really showing a tactical communications network here. This is not ‘point to point’ data links. Right now, if you were a customer and you wanted to get your UAV to talk to your helicopter or ground troops, you have to buy a special point-to-point datalink system to do that. We found a way where you don’t have to do that, which is the beauty of this whole system. It’s a true network. It’s not just a point-to-point datalink like a TCDL or something like that. Basically anybody on the network can post information for anybody else to pick up.”

Asked about comparisons to the U.S. VUIT-2 system now deployed in theater, DuBois responded, “Right now that VUIT-2 services Apache and the UAV quite nicely, I would imagine. But it doesn’t put anything on the network. There’s no real network there.

Who else is about to tie into it? Who else can see what that video has on it? Only the people in that Apache. If we get the need to use a VUIT-2 we could look at interfacing to it. But my answer would be, ‘Use our network instead.’ It takes the UAV video; posts it to the network; gives you everything that VUIT-2 does, with a network.”

One of the “issues” raised by the networking capability involves the expansion of “Level IV” UAV control to the ground forces.

“By virtue of this system you can do that,” he said. “Now we ran into an operational issue with the Australians. They did not want to relinquish [UAV] control to just anybody. They wanted to make sure that control was with whoever had control of the UAV and was putting in the waypoints for it.

We actually had to turn that feature off…That information is done through what is called metadata. And the metadata we can send to a UAV has the GPS coordinates as well as the command and control for what the aircraft goes and where you want to point the sensor. So we can do all those things from anybody on the network, because everybody can send that same metadata anywhere.”

He added, “If you do this, someone can say, ‘Hey, you on the ground, I’m going to let you take over this UAV and point it to where you want. Go take it. It’s yours.’ And he can just put in the waypoint commands and where he wants to point the sensor. If he’s on the network he can do it.”

By Scott R. Gourley - North America Editor

Tracking your UAV in a 3D environment

NB: Edited earlier post with new link to script download site. Also, if you check the arcscripts site there is a flip book animator for the application that will iterate through georectified images in the order you set based on a timer, or manually (this allows you to move backward and forward), or you can click the image in the list to have it display. Allows you to set the transparency of the image so you can see the base layers beneath. Will post the live GPS feed task for ArcGIS explorer to ArcScripts in the coming weeks. Has support for Thales digital radios proprietary sentence. Hope some of you like it and can use it for your applications.

Hey Guys,
I'm a developer at ESRI and work on a product called ArcGIS Explorer. Its a free 3D mapping application you can download from the ESRI website. Now I don’t mean to plug ESRI here, but this application is free, and you have a clean entry point to add custom coding to it.
At our developer summit back in April I presented and wrote a sample app that positions a 3D glyph (model) of the millenium falcon above Area 51. I added some code to predict where you will be in a straight line based on your current lat / long, alt, speed and bearing. Running the task you are able to change its speed, bearing, pitch and roll. I didn't add code to overcome gimle lock however.
So, if you can provide the lat/long/alt and bearing, you will have an instant tracking solution for your UAV. The code for the sample is located here:
http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=15900
and you can download ArcGIS Explorer from here.
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/explorer/index.html
I made the code as generic as I could, its written in C#, and all of the drawing is in OpenGL. Take a look at the code and you should easily spot where to plug in the coordinates.

I've also written a live GPS task that we will release probably later this year (not source code however).
Few snap shots from Visual Studio

This parses NMEA and shows you your position bearing etc. I’ve added the ability to track your movement which creates pushpins on the surface. The added pushpin content is what we call a result. A result when double clicked will show you a popup. A popup can contain anything from text, to a web ref, or a locale file on disk. Here you’ll see I am referencing a picture of a car.

So, imagine not only your position being shown, but if you are taking stills, or capturing stills from a video stream, you could create a pushpin on the ground below your position, write the image to disk, then write the location and file name into the Popup’s description. Then as you see above you would have something that conveys a lot of information.
Also, I’ve written a Geotagging task that will be available later this year. Sorry but I have no control over the release times, except for sample code. Geotagging will enable you to send the image to anyone with mapping software that can open geotagged images, and it will place them exactly where the coordinates tagged to the image specify.
It would be interesting to hear from any of you interested in this, ideas, issues, let me know. Not knocking Google, I think its great (virtual earth rocks too), but a lot of this type of functionality you only get with the pro version I think.

Edan Cain

German Forces Test Stabilized Camera System For Mini-UAV

Copyright: Bental Industries

by Staff Writers
Frankfurt, Germany (SPX) Nov 14, 2008
German Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement assigned UAV manufacturer EMT with testing of the MicroBAT 275, Bental's latest development of a stabilized camera system for light weight UAVs. The intention of the tests is to equip close range UAVs in the field with Bental's stabilized camera system.

"With the use of Bental's stabilized camera system we hope to improve the picture quality of surveillance flights by our close range unmanned aerial vehicles," says Guenter Freiwald, Project Manager Close Range UAV at the German Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement.

Headquartered in Israel, Bental manufactures electrical motion systems for aerospace and defense applications. Bental's latest development, a stabilized gimbal with daylight or night vision camera MicroBAT 275, optimally suits for integrating imaging sensors usually only found on larger platforms into light weight UAV.

"Our stabilized camera system MicroBAT 275 has a diameter of 2.75 inch and a weight including housing, of only 350g," says Oliver Kittan, representative of Bental in Germany, "This likely makes it the most light-weight and compact camera system of its kind in the world."

Several UAV manufacturers have already integrated Bental's stabilized camera system into their platforms. Among them are ITL with their UAV Lightener, and Oto Melara and Celin Avio with their UAV Ibis.

German UAV manufacturer, EMT, is currently testing integration of Bental's camera system into its UAV systems. "The low weight of Bental's stabilized camera system, MicroBAT 275, predestines it for use in EMT's family of UAVs", says Kittan.

Solar UAV to set a new World Record

A team of students from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa is working on a new solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which they hope will soon break a 17 year old world aviation record. Although solar aviation is nothing new, it is still considered to be in its infancy. The work done at the Technion as well as elsewhere around the world is starting to attract the attention of the aviation industry with the hope of creating green aircrafts with a much higher endurance threshold. Sunrise I - the first ever solar powered drone took to the sky at Camp Irwin Bicycle Lake, California on November 4, 1974 It was built by the U.S. Company Astro Flight after receiving a contract through Lockheed to build a flight demonstration model of a solar powered drone. The Sunrise I used over 1000 solar cells located on the wings to produce about 450 watts of power. Sunrise I had a 32 foot wing span and weighed 26 pounds and had a service ceiling of about 20,000 feet on a clear day. A year later an improved version named Sunrise II took its first flight. The Sunrise II with it's 4480 solar cells delivered over 600 watts and weighed only 4 lbs (1.8kg). With more power and a lighter weight the climb rate of the Sunrise II reached about 300 ft per minute or 20,000 ft per hour and the service ceiling was estimated to be about 75,000 feet (various command and control issues limited this number considerably). Gossamer Penguin (Credit: NASA) The next step in solar aviation came in 1980. The U.S. Company AeroVironment (who invented the ultra-light airplane), backed by the Dupont Corporation, attempted to build a solar-powered piloted aircraft that could fly from Paris, France to England. The first prototype, called the "Gossamer Penguin", was fragile and not very airworthy, but led the way to an improved version called the "Solar Challenger". The Solar Challenger had a wingspan of 14.3 meters (47 feet) and a weight of 200lbs (90kg). It had 16,128 photovoltaic cells that covered the wings, with a total output power of a whooping 2,600 watts. The Solar Challenger was capable of reaching an altitude of 12,000 feet, and in July 1981 the aircraft became the first to cross the 163 miles (262km) distance from Paris to Manston in the UK only using solar power. Solar Challenger (Credit: Astro Flight) The success of the Solar Challenger sparked an increasing interest among the US Government regarding solar flight the and the funding of research into high altitude long endurance solar powered drones. Due to this, AeroVironment was able to begin work on the High Altitude Solar (HALSOL) drone project, which was first launched in June 1983. HALSOL is a simple flying wing, spanning 98 feet (30 meters). The main wing was made of carbon fiber Styrofoam and Kevlar covered by thin Mylar plastic film making it light and extraordinarily strong. The development of the HALSOL was conducted in secrecy and nine HALSOL flights took place in the summer of 1983 at the Groom Lake base in Nevada (where the legendary F-117 stealth bomber, which entered service the very same year, was tested). The flights were conducted using radio control and battery power, since the aircraft had not yet been fitted with solar cells. HALSOL's aerodynamics was validated, but the tests led to the conclusion that photovoltaic technology had not matured enough at that time. It took more than 10 years before the HALSOL project was revived, this time by NASA. The now modified solar aircraft named Pathfinder reached an altitude of 50,500 feet on September 11, 1995, setting a new altitude record for solar-powered aircraft. Three years later modifications to the Pathfinder resulted in a longer-winged version called Pathfinder-Plus. On August 6, 1998, the modified aircraft was flown to a record altitude for propeller-driven aircraft of 80,201 feet. The goal of the flight was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion and systems technology developed for the Pathfinder's successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes within the 100,000-foot range. The Pathfinder-Plus incorporated several improvements to the original Pathfinder. One of the more noticeable features being stronger solar cells with 19% efficiency (the original Pathfinder had only 14%) developed by SunPower Corp. in Sunnyvale, California. The new silicon solar cells boosted the maximum potential power from about 7,500 Watts on Pathfinder to about 12,500 Watts on Pathfinder-Plus. Pathfinder Plus (Credit: NASA) The Centurion, like its immediate predecessors Pathfinder and Pathfinder-Plus, was a lightweight, solar-powered, remotely piloted flying wing that demonstrated the technology of applying solar power for long-duration, high-altitude flight. The Centurion had more than twice the wingspan of the Pathfinder and about 2/3 more than the Pathfinder-Plus (98 feet in the Pathfinder and 206 feet Centurion). The Centurion's test flights were done by NASA in 1998 and a year later was modified and renamed the Helios (after the Greek sun god). Helios on a test flight during 2001 (Credit: NASA) Helios is the most ambitious of NASA's solar UAV projects to date. With a 247-foot wingspan (greater than a 747 Jumbo Jet), 62,120 bi-facial solar cells and a projected maximum flying altitude of 100,000 feet, the Helios is the peak of two and a half decades of solar aviation research. Like its predecessors the Helios was built by AeroVironment and has been used on the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program. The Helios applies hybrid technology – solar energy using photovoltaic cells by day and fuel cells by night. The Helios was designed to be the forerunner of high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles that could fly ultra-long duration environmental science or telecommunications relay missions lasting for weeks or months without using consumable fuels or emitting airborne pollutants. On August 13, 2001, Helios demonstrated its capability when it reached an unofficial altitude record for non-rocket-powered aircraft of 96,863 feet. Unfortunately, on June 26, 2003 during a test flight over the Pacific Ocean near Kauai, Hawaii the Helios prototype was lost due to a structural failure caused by control problems. Existing and future solar powered UAV projects Heliplat concept (Credit: York University) In recent years European countries are taking a more central role in the development of High Altitude / Long Endurance (HALE) solar powered UAVs. Several projects are either on going or being planed for advanced solar powered vehicles. From 2000-2003 a team from the Politecnico de Torino in Italy together with a team from the University of York in the U.K developed a concept for the Heliplat - a Very-Long Endurance Solar Powered Autonomous Aircraft (VESPAA). Heliplat and other VESPAA UAVs could play the role of a "pseudo satellite", with the advantages of being closer to the ground, more flexible and at a cost much less than a real satellite. SOLITAIR concept (Credit: German Aerospace Center) Heliplat-like HALE flying above a major city will be able to cover an area 1000 km across, and process a predicted 425,000 cell phone conversations simultaneously. This means a user community of 8.5 million per unit (although this does not take into account data transmission). Skysailor concept in Mars (Credit: EPFL) While the Heliplat was designed to have a large wingspan (70 meters), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is currently designing a much smaller HALE known as the SOLITAIR. The SOLITAIR will only have a 5.2 meter wingspan and four solar panel sections embedded into its body that will use small engines to rotate towards the sun. Like the Heliplat, the SOLITAIR is also being developed in order to replace some of the tasks currently done by satellites. Other interesting projects currently under development in Europe are the Zephyr light weight HALE UAV developed and tested by the U.K. company QinetiQ, and the ultra-light weight (2.5 kg) Sky-Sailor developed by the ETH university in Zurich, Switzerland for a possible future mission to mars. Sunsailor UAV project atat the Technion Sunsailor in flight In 1990 Dr. Wolfgang Schaeper from Germany set the world distance record in a closed circuit for a small (Category F5) solar Radio Controlled Flight UAVs. Schaeper's 190km record approved by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) stood unchallenged for more than 17 years, but now a team of nine students from the Technion is developing what they believe might be the next contender. In July 2006 the team tested the SunSailor, a 90 watt ultra light weight solar UAV capable of 11 hours of sustained flight using 84 20% efficiency A300 solar panels. During the first attempt to break the record the team reached only 25km before the SunSailor crashed to the ground due to flight control problems. The team immediately began work on a second prototype, appropriately named SonOfSunSailor, which took to the skies only two months later. After a 40 minute successful flight test the team was optimistic that the SonOfSunSailor (an improved version with an output of 140 watt) would be able to break the record. On September 4,2006 another attempt was made which ended in another crash. Although, solar aviation is nothing new, it is still in its infancy. To date only prototypes and demonstrators have been using solar energy as their main source of power. No commercial or known operational military UAV is currently using solar energy. But the Technion's small experimental drone has sparked some interest in the industry. The Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI), one of the largest manufacturers of UAVs in the world, decided to give support to the SunSailor and its team. A third attempt is planned for around May 2007 and with the previous problems fixed the team believes it can break the world record. Ramtech rocket TFOT recently covered several other ground braking projects developed by students from the faculty of aerospace engineering in the Technion. Students, under the supervision of Prof. Benjamin Landkof and Robert Zickel, worked on developing a concept for UAV to UAV refueling. A different team worked on developing a small canister launched UAV equipped with day/night cameras and weaponry (both lethal and non lethal). Both projects as well as the SunSailor were put on display at the 47th Israel Annual Conference on Aerospace Sciences, that took place on February 21, 2007 in Tel Aviv and at the Technion. In 2006 TFOT covered another Technion project to develop a high speed ramjet rocket called Ramtech which was successfully tested on May 9of that same year, near the coast of Palmachim. Sunsailor interview To lean more about the Sunsailor, TFOT talked to Professor Omri Rand, head of the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the Technion as well as interviewed Idan Regev from the IAI (who was one of the nine students who worked on the project). Idan Regev with the Sunsailor's wing Q: When did the SunSailor project begin and how many people participated in it? A: The project began on spring 2005. 9 final year undergraduate students took the challenge and started designing the soon-to-be-launched SunSailor with the guidance of faculty staff and the supervision of Mr. Shlomo Tsach of the IAI. The real beginning of the project started a few months before that when one of these students, Hanan Levy, came to me with the idea of breaking a "green" world record. The idea was soon nurtured by Prof. Benjamin Landkof who made this project possible. So, that's how it all started. During the flight tests we had many undergraduates and graduates students that helped us out. Q: What was the purpose and motivation of the project? The Sunsailor team A: There were three main purposes here. One is obvious and driven by the faculty education to always going further, higher and longer, even if that means breaking the world record. The second was a more selfish one, as final year students both we and the staff saw this as a great opportunity to apply all that we have learned – the theory, to reality and gaining the priceless experience of DBF – Design, Build and Fly. The third and probably the most ambitious purpose has been to set off an avalanche of solar technology use throughout the whole Israeli Hi-tech industry. Here you must bare in mind two important facts. The first being that the space and aviation industry products of today are tomorrow's every household products, i.e Magnesium lightweight structures, athletic shoe design and water purifiers are all Apollo program products. Second fact is that Israeli Hi-Tech companies set the standard for the future of millions of people in and outside of Israel. These two combined with the most appealing idea of a solar powered UAV can change the future for the better and this is the third, hidden purpose. Q: Could you briefly describe the Sunsailor project? A: The project started out with a preliminary design dictated mostly by the FAI regulations for achieving the record. After insuring feasibility the students completed the design and started manufacturing the SunSailor at the Aerospace Engineering Faculty's workshop. This SunSailor completed 6 flights before crashing. The next one, that was built after a short redesigning process was built at the Technion in between the sirens of the Second Lebanon War that were sounded in Haifa in July/August 2006. This improved version was made, with the generous help of the IAI, in a record time of 54 days. After it crashed it took only a few days until we started building the third SunSailor at the IAI with the constant help and support of the Technion. Q: What's next for the Sunsailor? A: The SunSailor intends on breaking the World record and probably a few more surprises to come. Q: What do you see as the biggest obstacle in creating a functioning commercial solar UAV? A: The greatest obstacle is probably reliability. Especially in the civil market, reliability is very important. We have noticed that these systems, being very light-weight and having many problems, starting from structure to control issues are our main concerns. The solar panels are not that reliable as they must be handled carefully and there's not much redundancy available. The last thing is the initial price. These products are going to cost almost twice as much than other UAVs of their size. However, after only a short period of usage, it will pay for itself as there's no fuel and pollution costs and time between landings is not a day or two but more likely to be a few weeks. Q: Commercial Photovoltaic cells still have fairly low efficiency (typically >20%). At what level of efficiency do you believe they will start proving to be more useful in commercial aviation (both manned and unmanned)? A: Truthfully, Solar cells low efficiency is only half of the problem. The means of energy storage such as rechargeable batteries or fuel cells is the other half. But solar cells for large scale commercial aviation will have to go a long way before they can supply the power that is needed. Even a 40% solar cell covered wing on a sunny day will barely be enough for the cruise power requirements of a small manned aircraft. Q: NASA's Helios was designed as a hybrid UAV using both solar panels and fuel cells. Do you believe this is the way to go for future solar UAVs? A: Solar power alone is not enough. During night time and even during the day (for large scales) the UAV must have an energy storage capability. Even if you fly above the clouds at a low altitude around the equator you can not catch the sun, the earth turns faster than an electric powered aircraft can, so a 24 hours flight will have to be hybrid. The Sunsailor wing in the lab Q: Could you try and estimate what are we going to see in 5-10 years in term of solar powered UAVs in the world (when will we see the first solar powered commercial / military UAV and what will it be used for?) A: In 5 years from now we will be able to see solar powered private/military small scale UAVs monitoring large areas of farms or woods and conducting various border control missions. In 10 years we will be able to see the first successful commercial Long Endurance High Altitude UAVs that will enable "semi-satellite" use for communications and observation. Finally, if Solar cells and Energy storage devices keep advancing at the current rate, I believe that 50 years from now, Hybrid HALE UAVs will substitute most of today's satellites. Q: How does the IAI see its role in the development of future solar powered UAVs (what "niche" will they occupy?) A: Currently the IAI is testing the technology and aims to apply it in the future wherever it is feasible and needed.

Lebanon gets Raven mini UAV from U.S.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 23 (UPI) -- The Lebanese military received a shipment at a Beirut port Monday of U.S.-manufactured reconnaissance vehicles as part of a Washington aid package.

Lebanese army Cmdr. Gen. Jean Qahwaji secured a military aid package from the United States during a visit to Washington in February. Washington pledged to provide the Lebanese military with the 4.5-pound RQ-11 Raven unmanned aerial vehicle for Lebanese counterterrorist activities, the Naharnet news agency reports.

The highly portable Raven won praises as a reconnaissance vehicle in Iraq, as its 38-inch wingspan offers it a distinct versatility.

A statement released Monday by the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, though not mentioning the Raven, said the United States maintains its support for the Lebanese Armed Forces.

"The overall goal of U.S. military assistance to Lebanon is to strengthen the LAF and increase its capacity to defend Lebanon's territory," the statement said.

The embassy added that the Lebanese military has received more than $410 million in equipment and training from the United States since 2006.

© 2009 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.

US uses unmanned drones to hunt Somali pirates

Washington, Fe 16: American warships off the lawless Somali coast are using unmanned drones to hunt pirates threatening one of the world's most important shipping lanes. 

Sailors aboard the USS Mahan told a news agency they have been using the spy flights daily to spot potential pirate mother ships. 

For years, the US has used drones to track potential terrorists among Somalia's warlords, but the Navy said more and more of the planes are now being used to fight piracy. 

The drones can fly more than 3,000 feet (915 meters) above sea level and relay pictures detailed enough to recognize the flags flown on fishing boats that Somalis use to avoid detection. 

The drones take still photos and videos that are instantly relayed to the American ships. The Americans can then send this material to other nations in the international anti-piracy coalition that may have ships near the suspicious vessel. Countries as diverse as India, France, China and Russia have sent ships to help patrol the Gulf of Aden. 

On Thursday, pictures taken by the drones, some of which also are equipped with night vision, helped apprehend nine pirates after a night flight relayed pictures of a skiff with a ladder onboard. A skiff had fired a rocket- propelled grenade at a merchant vessel in the area earlier. 

The American warship dispatched helicopters to provide surveillance and air cover, and it deployed a boat with a search and seizure team. 

Automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades were found and the nine men onboard were detained, although they had thrown the ladder into the sea. Still, the pictures of the ladder taken by the drone can be used as evidence, as the coalition steps up efforts to pursue the pirates through the courts as well as the waves. 

Pirate mother ships often are used to tow smaller skiffs out to sea and re-supply them. 

Previous anti-piracy efforts have been hindered by confusion over which country has the jurisdiction to prosecute suspected pirates, but the United States and Britain both signed an agreement with Kenya to try suspects in that country, which borders Somalia. 

"We have a unique capability in which we have an (unmanned air vehicle) that helps us detect the pirates and makes it hard for them to hide," USS Mahan Capt Stephen Murphy said, pointing to the images the drone relayed to the bridge of the destroyer. 

"The UAV ... can stay airborne all day and cover thousands of miles (kilometers) of the ocean and be able to spot pirates," he told a reporter during a five-day visit to the ship last week. 

Somali pirates have been preying on passing shipping for years, but September's capture of a Ukrainian ship loaded with arms helped focus international attention on the problem. The arms ship was released earlier this month and docked in a Kenyan port on Thursday. 

Pirates attacked more than 100 ships last year with a success rate of nearly 50 percent. 

The number of attacks has remained steady following an influx of warships into the Gulf of Aden late last year, but their success rate has fallen to below 30 percent. 

There also has been a recent spate of unseasonably bad weather. 

But analysts say the problem will not be solved until a stable government is established in war-ravaged Somalia. The country has not had one since 1991, and the multimillion dollar ransoms are a strong lure in a country where nearly half the population is dependent on aid. 

The embattled UN-backed government is fighting a strengthening Islamic insurgency that the US State Department says has links to al-Qaeda. 

Bureau Report 

"Free Sky - From UAV to UAS: the third generation flight for territorial emergencies"

Fair and Shows  12:06 am - Monday Conference: "Free Sky - From UAV to UAS: the third generation flight for territorial emergencies"

Rome, Italy - Sciacchitano: "The Italian industry is leader in the domain, but a special regulation is needed" (WAPA) - "All that flies need to respect rules", with these words ENAC vice president Salvatore Sciacchitano opened his speech at the conference, immediately stressing on the necessity of having a special regulation for the use of these aircraft in the present context. And about the effort to find this regulation system as soon as possible, together with Alenia Aeronautica's business development product policy director Luciano Berardi, announces the important ENAC (Italian Authority for Civil Aviation) "Permit-to-fly" target for the SKY-Y, the second non piloted platform (UAS - Unmanned Aerial System), after the SKY-X, specifically developed as techniques and technologies' demonstrator for MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) vehicles that will have to complete territorial surveillance missions.  During the congress, within the "Sat Expo 2009" fair in Rome, also participated honourable Marco Airaghi, ministry of defense councillor for aerospace activities, Carmine Cifaldi from ENAC's aerospace products management and Andrea Sergiusti Lazzareschi from Selex Galileo (Finmeccanica group).  So far does not yet exist an ultimate definition of this technological system, but anyway a UAV can be defined as an aircraft with no crew on board piloted by a ground control station (GCS) and/or an on board system so to make it autonomous.  In a wider sense they exist since more than 50 years, but they've become famous just in these late times, unluckily because of wars like in the Balkans, in Afghanistan and in Iraq.  Born from the necessity to cover the types of missions that military "Use to identify as 'D3' (Dirty, Dull, Dangerous) like missions in contaminated areas, surveillance and recognition and other dangerous operations for the pilots' safety", engineer Sciacchitano stated. On the other hand, the use of these planes for civil purposes has become of great interest for the high reliability and low cost of these aircraft.  In the next years the world non-piloted air systems' market will touch, by 2015, $8.3 billion. A huge business in which the Italian aeronautical industry with "Alenia Aeronautica" and "Galileo Avionica" is in the front line both for platforms and for on board sensors. The non piloted and remote controlled airplanes' domain (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAV) is one of the most dynamic of the present aeronautical industry and so will be for the next years.  In 2015 the UAV sector will be an important "cake", worth more than $54 billion, divided in two main slices: the production machines (more than $27 billion) and the research and development that is globally worth more than $21 billion, about 39% of the entire domain. Finally there is a smaller slice representing operational and maintenance activities of about $5 billion, 9% of the total. The main role in this market will be played by USA and Israel that are the real catalyst of this sector.  These systems are now a crucial element of intelligence, surveillance and recognition activities, and are extending towards other kinds of operational activities, that will accelerate in the future thanks to the UCAVs (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle), among which we remind the "nEURon" project.  Regarding civil UAVs the main question today that is someway slowing their development is not the technology, but the regulation. Today, according to ENAC's vice director, there are two targets "A short term one to find a regulation system to use the UAVs, and another long term one to find an integration between manned and unmanned within the air traffic control system". (Avionews)

JPEG2000 cuts delays in digital video distribution

By	John Wemekamp CONTRIBUTOR

Digital video distribution is a major growth area – and not just on traditional surveillance platforms such as naval combat systems, maritime patrol aircraft, or armored scout vehicles. Digital distribution removes the straitjacket of wired analog distribution, with discrete cables per video source, enabling video to be distributed over multiple carriers over long distances and at high quality and high resolutions. In addition, many armored vehicles are now being equipped with local situational awareness systems offering all-around vision with the hatches closed. These vehicles may also receive downlinked images of the battlefield from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) sensors in real time.

Digital video applications

The most common applications are large, multisensor platforms with many crew stations, each one potentially able to view any-from-many video sources on one or several screens simultaneously. Distribution of analog video requires considerable cabling plus complex switching and scaling hardware at each crew station. The complexity of such systems is magnified by the recent introduction of higher-resolution, point-to-point digital video/audio interfaces with their restricted transmission distances and cable routing issues. These include the PC standards such as High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) found in modern flat-panel TVs and monitors. Some military applications achieve uncompressed digital video transmission using the ARINC 818 standard, which is based on Fibre Channel signaling (specifically FC-AV). Video compression and distribution as IP packets over an Ethernet network is a solution being adopted for large platforms. The same principles are being applied to many smaller platforms with multisensor payloads that may be required to share data and images externally across the digital battlefield.

However, compression can cause loss of clarity and detail and introduce delays into signal paths. Delay is usually unacceptable when used for fire direction or for driving a ground vehicle, making the choice of compression algorithm critical. The most familiar standards for video compression, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, add delays of typically 300 mS by using multiple frames to discriminate changes. There may also be a loss of picture integrity plus some additional recovery time if one frame is lost or corrupted during transmission. The alternative is to use frame-by-frame compression of JPEG2000, where coding and decoding operate at frame rate and any delays are limited to transmission times through a network. JPEG2000 also offers selectable compression ratios for optimum use of bandwidth. For example, with a typical compression ratio of 30:1, TV rate video only requires a bandwidth of 1 Mbps through a network.

Managing costs and distribution

JPEG2000 is appropriate for all types of video distribution, offering better quality and response at similar overall cost compared to MPEG. One example where the solution is often strongly dictated by budget is local situational awareness in an armored vehicle. This uses a number of cameras at TV resolution and will require little image processing. A typical configuration is for each camera to incorporate JPEG2000 compression, hooking up directly to the vehicle's local network and using onboard embedded computing resources to decompress and display the images on one or two local displays. By using embedded computing resources, images and annotations added by the crew could also be distributed externally through radio or satellite links to command posts or to other vehicles on the ground. Larger platforms such as naval combat systems or surveillance aircraft will host more complex applications requiring additional image or display processing; these include target tracking, identification, and classification; sensor fusion; and windowing. The image processing will be more closely integrated with many embedded computing systems and will deal with video of much higher quality. This application will distribute not only compressed sensor video via the network, but it will also have many cooperative participants sharing processed/synthetic video from many sources (for example, from one combat system display console to many others).

JPEG2000 is now a well-accepted standard for high-quality video distribution, particularly in embedded systems modules such the Orion JPEG2000 PMC module from Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing (CWCEC) shown in Figure 1. Technology improvements are set to greatly improve packaging and performance of this class of product; PCI Express is replacing older PCI and PCI-X parallel interfaces. Secondly, an FPGA can now be used for real-time JPEG2000 compression and decompression on multiple channels at HD resolutions and beyond, up to 1,920 x 1,200. These improvements make it possible to implement capability onto just a single XMC/PMC module, compatible with off-the-shelf embedded computing standards, to support DVI as well as PAL/NTSC sensor and display video streams. In addition, such a module could operate as a JPEG2000 coprocessor for the interplatform, console-to-console, or platform-
to-platform class of video distribution.

Figure 1: JPEG2000 is now a well-accepted standard for high-quality video distribution, particularly in embedded systems modules such Curtiss-Wright's Orion JPEG2000 PMC module." pbsrc="http://images5.opensystemsmedia.com/?q=90&w=870&f=1&src=http%3A%2F%2Farticles.opensystemsmedia.com%2Ffmi%2Fxml%2Fcnt%2Fdata.cnt%3F-db%3DOSP_Articles%26-lay%3Darticles%26-recid%3D3816%26-field%3Dfigures%281%29%26cb%3D1237728731" class="PopBoxImageSmall" title="Click to zoom" onclick="Pop(this,50,'PopBoxImageLarge');" src="http://images5.opensystemsmedia.com/?q=90&w=450&f=1&src=http%3A%2F%2Farticles.opensystemsmedia.com%2Ffmi%2Fxml%2Fcnt%2Fdata.cnt%3F-db%3DOSP_Articles%26-lay%3Darticles%26-recid%3D3816%26-field%3Dfigures%281%29%26cb%3D1237728731" style="width: 450px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-color: white; border-right-color: white; border-bottom-color: white; border-left-color: white; cursor: url(http://www.opensystemsmedia.com/external/PopBox/images/magplus.cur), pointer; ">

Figure 1: JPEG2000 is now a well-accepted standard for high-quality video distribution, particularly in embedded systems modules such Curtiss-Wright's Orion JPEG2000 PMC module. (click image to zoom by 1.9x)

Moving compressed video as IP packets through a network saves space, weight, and cost by making more efficient use of what is often underutilized existing infrastructure. The new generation of JPEG2000 products provides the capability to incorporate HD levels of video resolution with the compression ratios and video quality to match current and future network, sensor, and display performance.

To learn more, e-mail John at john.wemekamp@curtisswright.com.

“Falco” UAV suitable also for civilian purposes

Fair and Shows  05:56 pm - Monday Selex Galileo: the “Falco” UAV suitable also for civilian purposes

Rome, Italy - From "SAT Expo 2009". Pipeline surveillance, to prevent illegal immigration and borders surveillance its possible uses (WAPA) - “Falco” (“Hawk”) is a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) made by Selex Galileo (Finmeccanica Group), designed to acquire operational scenario in real time from several targets.  Tactical system is designed, in particular, for civil purposes, to border surveillance, both maritime and land, to prevent illegal immigration, surveillance of oil and gas pipelines, fighting illegal fishing and for advanced environment monitoring.  It can operate h24 in most critical weather conditions and vertical landing short-take-off. It has a more than 200 km link range (extendable), 8-14 hours endurance and can reach a 5.000 m. of altitude. It can be equipped with laser designation, maritime surveillance radar, infra-red camera, chaff/flares dispenser NBC and Hyperspectral sensor and auto-protection equipments. (Avionews)