Electronic Military & Defense magazine was developed for engineers, program managers, project managers, and those involved in the design and development of electronic and electro-optic systems for military, defense, and aerospace applications.
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Technology The Rising Role Of Pan/Tilt Systems In Military Communications High-performance pan/tilt units are proving to be critical components in the real-time communications systems of today's network- centric battlefield. by David Gaw oday's battlefield demands flexible, reconfigurable, dynamic, and mobile solutions. At the same time, real-time sensing and communications — between humans and machines — have become a necessity to modern military strategy. Sitting at the nexus of flexibility and real-time sensing and communications is a new class of antenna systems enabled by high-performance computer-controlled pan/tilt systems. These automated antenna systems are being used for a variety of battlefield applications including: • T Point-to-point networking radio systems for long-distance battlefield communications (e.g. the WIN-T Increment 2 program) • Ground-to-air communications for real-time video downlink from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs)/ unmanned aircraft systems (UASs, e.g. AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems' Expeditionary Ground Control Station) • Flexible, portable perimeter security systems for forward-base force protection (e.g. BETSS-C) A new generation of low-cost, rugged, and automated pan/tilt systems is enabling a new class of configurable, portable, and flexible communications systems that are delivering on the U.S. Army's objectives of keeping mobile forces connected, communicating, and synchronized. and is key to implementing many innovative C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) elements. But creating these flexible, mobile, high- bandwidth networks has required some new solutions. Gaining An Advantage Antenna and communications systems designers must continually wrestle with the laws of physics. That means making smart tradeoffs regarding range, bandwidth, and coverage. There is no way around the fact that to get longer range and/or higher bandwidths, you need to have higher-gain, more directional antenna systems. Of course, the more directional the antenna is, the smaller its range of coverage. Figure 1: High-performance pan/tilt system used in antenna pointing applications One solution to finessing this tradeoff is to use higher-gain directional antennas mounted on a high-performance computer- controlled pan/tilt platform. The application level of the system can then utilize the pointing control to get more coverage when needed (scan, or point, in a different direction) while maintaining the longer-range and higher-bandwidth capabilities. Satellite-based communications systems such as flyaway antennas perform automated pointing at a given satellite. The user specifies the satellite to point at, while the system uses built-in sensors to measure position Today's Battlefield Communications Requirements Today's network-centric battlefield requires communications that are broadband, mobile, and multimedia — and everywhere, ideally down to the company level or smaller. The network-centric battlefield is providing unprecedented situational awareness, safely giving our fighters the upper hand, 20 Electronic Military & Defense ■ www.vertmarkets.com/electronics and orientation, looks up the satellite angles, and then directs the pan/tilt to point at the satellite. Search and signal strength techniques can also be used to maximize signal and overcome system errors. Ground-based point-to-point wireless links often utilize high-gain/directional antennas in order to provide maximum reach and bandwidth. These systems sometimes have a 3dB beamwidth of less than