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In its latest flight campaign, Cassidians Barracuda Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) takes autonomous technology to the next level. This flexible, multipurpose demonstrator is laying the technological foundation upon which future UAVs will be built.

Campaign promises

The main objective of Cassidians Barracuda demonstrator is to spur the evolution of UAV systems tech-nologies. Working with a dedicated field-demonstration tool developed entirely in-house (in comparison to an off-the-shelf unmanned aerial system), the Barracuda team has

full access to all systems, software and capabilities. In developing the flight campaigns for the UAV, Project Manager Bjrn Baurs-Krey and the Barracuda Project Management Team consult Cas-sidians technology management and business development depart-

ments to see what capabilities they envision for UAV systems and what needs they may foresee. They also involve their customer, the German Air Force, under the frame of the Generic System Study Contract (Agile UAV in Network Centric Envi-ronment) with the German Ministry

of Defence (MOD). We ask them in workshops, What are the future capabilities you need? What would you like to use your UAV system for? says Bjrn. They come back to us with their ideas and require-ment papers, and we say, OK, lets see which technologies can

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help you achieve these tasks. For us, these fl ight campaigns are a proof of concept.

The Barracuda was developed over the course of three years, de-buting with a successful fi rst fl ight in 2006. A crash followed in its early stages, but the UAV was rebuilt over the following two years. Bar-racuda no. 2 debuted in 2009, and its fi rst test focused on basic recon-naissance capabilities. After three years and two campaigns of in-creasing complexity, the Barracuda took on its most advanced test se-ries yet during the summer of 2012. For these fl ight tests, the team dis-assembled the aircraft at its home base in Manching, Germany, and boxed it up for transport to Goose Bay, Canada which was no small feat. The Barracuda weighs around three tons with a 7.2-metre wing-span, measuring 8.2 metres from nose to tail, the largest fl ying UAV of this kind built in Europe.

Right place, right time

Upon arrival (and meticulous reas-sembly) this past June, the mission was to test two different scenarios within what is known as a network-centric environment: the focus of the Barracuda fl ight test was on the cooperation between two fl ying assets, wherein one asset produc-es information for the other asset to use and benefi t from. In the case of the fi rst scenario, described as Sensor-to-Shooter, the Barra-cuda participated in a coordinat-ed mission with a surrogate UAV,

which was simulated by a manned aircraft. Equipped with electro-op-tical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors, the Barracuda acted as a recon-naissance aircraft whose goal was to fi nd a target on the ground and to deliver its exact geo coordinates to a partner aircraft delivering a simulated generic effector.

The team then complicated this confi guration with an online mission re-planning. For success-ful execution of the mission, both aircraft need to be at a dedicated place at a specifi c time in order to successfully complete the cooper-ative mission. The team employed the Barracudas autonomous 4-D Navigation to achieve this goal the aircraft knows both where to go and what time to arrive. We want-ed to prove that the Barracuda can change its fl ight plan online in or-der to avoid any threat to its origi-nal route and still arrive on time for the planned illumination, explains Bjrn. We started with a mission plan and a dedicated fl ight path for both aircraft, and we began to test different set-ups. When the sur-rogate UAV communicated that it couldnt arrive in time, the Barracu-da was able to react, registering the fact that the fi rst aircraft was late and had changed its fl ight path. The Barracuda system then further provided the pilot with a new route that would reunite the two aircraft over the target at the same time.

The second scenario that the team ran was called Sensor Data Fusion and Attack. Whereas the fi rst test tackled the problem of a

stationary target, this one focused on a moving target, synthesising multiple feeds of information from different sensors: the Barracudas own EO and IR with an internal vid-eo stream. The surrogate UAV fi rst employed its radar the newly de-veloped SmartRadar from Cassid-ian to detect all moving objects on the ground, and this information was relayed to the pilot working in the Barracudas ground station. The pilot could then select different moving targets to investigate, and upon the objects selection, the Barracuda automatically changed its fl ight path to follow it. We simulated that this information was given to a command post, and the command confi rmed the followed object as target or requested to approach the next object, Bjrn elaborates.

The major goal of sensor data fusion is to get more accurate in-formation from objects observed by different sensors, says Bjrn.

When working with multiple sen-sors, each sensor on its own is failure-tolerant, but all the sensor information combined is what we term data fusion, wherein the accuracy of this information is en-hanced. The Barracuda is now ca-pable of taking the radar information from one aircraft together with its own video information (via intelligent video processing called change detection that reveals the position and speed of the target, for exam-ple) for successful data fusion. The combined information gives a more accurate position of the moving tar-

get, Bjrn states. You have very precise information about where the target is, how fast its moving and in which direction its going.

An in-house production

The Barracuda continues to distin-guish itself from other UAVs in the fi eld, starting with the design team it was conceived entirely at Cas-sidian. We have complete knowl-edge of the aircraft, says Bjrn. To have an autonomous aircraft fl ying, you need capable engineers who understand how the fl ight control and mission systems work. For us, its our system. And the system theyve developed is at the forefront of UAV technology. We were the only ones in Europe to use ATOL [automatic take off and landing] right from the beginning. The Bar-racuda has never been steered with any controls. It was always taking-off and landing and fl ying based on waypoints, and was executing the fl ight by itself automatically. There are no buttons, no control stick to give throttle or thrust. It has always been an automatic system.

As for where the Barracuda is headed next, Bjrn and his team are currently in discussions with the MOD and Cassidian internal stakeholders about their next fl ight campaign in 20142015. Were talking about which technologies can be furthered. Were thinking about the next things that can be done. From here on the ground, it looks like the skys the limit. Jess Holl

Final preparations before flight (l.); ground station (r.) with the payload operator, UAV pilot and head of flight tests; external view of Barracuda (inset), video signal being transmitted in real time

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