The truth is complicated. — Traitor

Insitu, which makes the Scan Eagle UAV, an unmanned aerial vehicle that’s about one quarter the size of a Predator, has successfully flight tested L-3’s Bandit digital data link onboard their Integrator unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

Insitu is integrating the Bandit digital data link into their ScanEagle, NightEagle and Integrator robot planes. Insitu’s Integrator UAV supports multiple communications and sensor systems, transmitting a broad array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data simultaneously.

ROVER, which stands for Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver, allows real-time video to be streamed to laptops.

The technology got a black eye this week when it was reported that Iraqi insurgents were intercepting live video feeds from Predator drones using software programs like SkyGrabber — normally used for satellite television reception.

Unfortunately, the current ROVER terminal “receives only unencrypted data (pdf). L-3’s Bandit version of ROVER, is using the Advanced Encryption Standard. That should make it harder for the enemy to watch. Corporations like DirecTV, with only money to lose, ALWAYS encrypt their video.

Insitu’s entire family of UAS are ROVER 4 and ROVER 5 (pdf) compatible.

Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS), communications satellites, the milsats designed to replace the aging DSCS system, are now operational. WGS-3 launched this month. The Wideband Global SATCOM features multi-beam X-band communications through phased array antennas, and the first satellite capable of cross-banding signals between X-band and Ka-band. Each WGS can route 2.1 to 3.6 Gbps of data. It will relay video from drones, among other things. WGS 1 covers the Pacific, while WGS 2 is over the Indian Ocean and provides coverage for Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of Southwest Asia, and new WGS 3 is positioned over the Atlantic at 12 degrees West.

WGS was designed as a gap filler, but has only 20 percent of the bandwidth of the canceled TSAT program. The military has historically relied primarily on commercial Ku-band satellite communications for drones. The $26 billion Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program was canceled this year. Two more Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites will be procured as alternatives. The first AEHF satellite (SV-1) is planned for a launch in 2010.

There are least 3 tiers of UAVs:

• Small/Micro UAVs: Hand launched, short range like the Raven and BatMav
• Tier I UAVs: Low altitude, long endurance. Like the Dragon Eye and Gnat 750 and ScanEagle.
• Tier II: Medium altitude, long endurance (MALE). Like the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper
• Tier III: High altitude, long endurance. Like the RQ-4 Global Hawk.

While larger UAVs like the Predator or Reaper can use satellite links, most smaller UAVs cannot, limiting their range to 50 miles or so, line of sight, although repeaters are extending the range and providing coverage behind hills.

A cluster of free-flying spacecraft modules wirelessly share resources and functionality to synthesize the capability of a much larger “virtual” spacecraft in Darpa’s F6 program (pdf) for Operationally Responsive Space.

System F6 incorporates an “open source” format, a new and radical concept in spacecraft systems. All software source code, interfaces, standards and operating systems will be available to everyone, including the public. Fractionated spacecraft bond together wirelessly. It may be incorporated into UAV swarms made by Aurora Flight Sciences and others.

Milsat Magazine (pdf) reviews the latest in satellite control for UAVs. Larger satellites and smaller electronic packages may become miniaturized, just like newer satphones, that utilize spotbeams from Terrastar and ICO.

Insitu will offer the Bandit encrypted digital data link as an option on ScanEagle and NightEagle platforms. The modular design of the aircraft enables the digital data link to be retrofitted onto systems in theatre. Drones now account for 36% of the planes in the Air Force 2010 budget.

Journalist Jeremy Scahill says Blackwater operatives run the U.S. military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the CIA’s predator strikes in Pakistan. Two separate US missile strikes killed at least 14 militants in northwest Pakistan this week, according to officials.

Related Dailywireless articles include; Predator Video Downlink Hacked, CIA’s Drone War in Pakistan, UAVs On Parade, Tracking Salmon, San Diego State: Wildfire GIS to Go, Shape Shifters in Paris, Suitcase X-Band, Tracking al-Qaeda, UAV’s Expand Roll, Mountain Rescue UAVs, E911 & Triangulation, Swarming UAVs, RF-ID Tracking from Space? and HDTV from Aircraft.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 12:44 pm.