Flight Safety System for Unmanned Air Vehicle

Abstract

A Flight Safety System (RAFS) for multiple, reliable Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV’s) capable of flying Over-the-Horizon (OTH) and outside test range airspace. In addition to the flight safety application, the described full-duplex data link is suitable as a backup command and control link for UAV’s, and for sensor control & data exfiltration. The IRIDIUM satellite system was selected to provide the communications link and because of its global coverage and requisite data throughputs. A Risk Reduction activity ensued to quantify IRIDIUM performance. Hardware and software was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of using IRIDIUM in a flight safety scenario.