GDR 99 - Surveillance Systems

New Eyes for Commanders


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Top: The Outrider air vehicle, deployable from land or ship deck, takes off and lands autonomously without the use of launcher or recovery gear

Rakash Agarwala, director of business development at Alliant Techsystems, reports on the Outrider tactical unmanned aerial vehicle.

Designed to satisfy the US military's need for a compact, portable, low-cost system that can be used by front-line troops, the Outrider tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV) will provide tactical commanders with a system that delivers real-time reconnaissance, surveillance and target-acquisition data without risking the lives of air crew members.

In 1998 Alliant delivered the first Outrider system to the US Army for a formal military utility assessment. Outrider completed the programme successfully, showing its military utility at Ft Hood, Texas, as a complete system, including air vehicle, mission payload, ground-control equipment, auto take-off/autoland with GPS technology, full training, maintenance, and logistics support.

Each Outrider system consists of four dual-wing air vehicles, their mission payloads, associated ground-control equipment, a GPS launch and recovery system, and a remote terminal to provide payload information to the field commander. Also included are training courses, hands-on simulation to maintain operator proficiency and full logistics support.

The entire system is contained within two US Army high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs) and two tactical trailers for maximum mobility. The ground-control equipment is a fully integrated command, control and information system that provides real-time control, monitoring functions and situation displays. It includes a ground-control station (including two computer workstations and associated software), a remote video terminal, data link, air vehicle trailer, auxiliary trailer and a mobile maintenance facility.


On one ground-control workstation, an operator plans and monitors the air vehicle's flight. From the second workstation, a second operator directs the payload and views its real-time video imagery

Anyone with minimal training can operate Outrider safely. On one ground-control workstation the operator plans and monitors the air vehicle's flight and can choose to control the payload. From the second, the operator directs the payload and views its real-time video imagery. Both workstations give their operators full point-and-click capability. The side-by-side arrangement is also convenient for single-operator use if necessary.

The air vehicle operator maps the flight by entering a series of waypoints and payload tasks. The mission is uploaded to the air vehicle through an umbilical cable or C-band data link. Changes in the flight plan can be made mid-mission through manual override. In addition to the control information uplinked from the ground data terminal, payload video and telemetry data, as well as air vehicle status, is downlinked from the air-data terminal. The system automatically calculates fuel needed and flight duration, maps the air vehicle's altitude, displays aircraft position, direction and attitude data, and issues warnings when fuel level, engine temperature and data-link condition are out of bounds.

Mission preparation


The air vehicle control workstation provides instant recognition of aircraft position, direction and sensor orientation

Two people can assemble the modular 10-piece airframe, fuel it and complete pre-flight in less than 30 minutes. Total system emplacement time is one and a half hours. Because set-up is so easy, several tasks can be accomplished concurrently with a minimum number of people. At the same time as the vehicle is being readied for flight, the ground-data terminal and autonomous landing systems are set up in relation to the chosen landing approach path.

For autonomous take-off and landing, the air vehicle can operate from an unimproved surface any time, day or night. The crew positions the air vehicle on the take-off path, starts the engine and releases the air vehicle from its safety restraint system. During the take-off roll, the air vehicle performs a check of the engine, brakes and inertial navigation unit. It then autonomously takes off, climbs to cruising altitude, flies to the target and descends. Point-and-click mission control.

If the mission requirements change, the preprogrammed mission can be over-ridden totally or it can be modified waypoint by waypoint. If communication between the ground-control station and air vehicle is lost, the air vehicle will return home automatically. Flying time is between four and five hours. During a typical mission, the air vehicle loiters over the target, transmitting real-time images and telemetry data to the ground-control station up to 200km away.


Outrider's television camera sends back high-resolution colour images. The payload has autotrack capability and a demonstrated target location error of 80m

The standard payload is a discreet, modular unit that can be replaced quickly in the field or substituted with alternative sensors. It contains an infrared sensor and high-resolution colour video camera that is fully controlled automatically or manually from the ground-control station. The sensor contains a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor and colour television camera in one unit, and the electronics required to operate the sensors, gimbals and payload data processor.

Alternative future military payloads may include a laser designator, electronic warfare spoofing packages, countermeasures, a multispectral sensor for seeing through foliage and camouflage, ground-penetrating radar for mine detection, Lidar for shallow-water floating mine detection and millimetre-wave radar for all-weather reconnaissance.

The air vehicle operator initiates autoland simply by depressing a button on the workstation's autoland dialogue box. Outrider's autonomous landing system uses differential GPS to land with centimetre-level accuracy. Before committing to land, the air vehicle performs a self-check, verifying its GPS data and glideslope. The air vehicle flares 40ft from the touchdown point, lands automatically and brakes to a stop.

Future growth and applications

Link: www.atk.com

Outrider has the potential to accommodate such technologies as synthetic aperture radar for images with one-foot resolution at 4,500m, a digital common data link and the common automatic recovery system (CARS). It could also be adapted to commercial uses such as traffic control, border patrol, and the monitoring of hurricanes, floods and fires.