36

OPERATIONS

Campaign

No 76

promises
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.

he main objective of Cassidians

Barracuda demonstrator is to spur
the evolution of UAV systems technologies. 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

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full access to all systems, software

and capabilities. In developing
the flight campaigns for the UAV,
Project Manager Bjrn BaursKrey and the Barracuda Project
Management Team consult Cassidians 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 Environment) 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 requirement papers, and we say, OK,
lets see which technologies can

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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

help you achieve these tasks. For

us, these flight campaigns are a
proof of concept.
The Barracuda was developed
over the course of three years, debuting with a successful first flight in
2006. A crash followed in its early
stages, but the UAV was rebuilt
over the following two years. Barracuda no. 2 debuted in 2009, and
its first test focused on basic reconnaissance capabilities. After three
years and two campaigns of increasing complexity, the Barracuda
took on its most advanced test series yet during the summer of 2012.
For these flight tests, the team disassembled 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 wingspan, measuring 8.2 metres from
nose to tail, the largest flying UAV
of this kind built in Europe.
Right place, right time
Upon arrival (and meticulous reassembly) this past June, the mission
was to test two different scenarios
within what is known as a networkcentric environment: the focus of
the Barracuda flight test was on
the cooperation between two flying
assets, wherein one asset produces information for the other asset
to use and benefit from. In the case
of the first scenario, described as
Sensor-to-Shooter, the Barracuda participated in a coordinated mission with a surrogate UAV,

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which was simulated by a manned

aircraft. Equipped with electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors,
the Barracuda acted as a reconnaissance aircraft whose goal was
to find 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 configuration with an online
mission re-planning. For successful execution of the mission, both
aircraft need to be at a dedicated
place at a specific time in order to
successfully complete the cooperative 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 wanted to prove that the Barracuda can
change its flight plan online in order to avoid any threat to its original route and still arrive on time for
the planned illumination, explains
Bjrn. We started with a mission
plan and a dedicated flight path for
both aircraft, and we began to test
different set-ups. When the surrogate UAV communicated that it
couldnt arrive in time, the Barracuda was able to react, registering
the fact that the first aircraft was
late and had changed its flight 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
first 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 video stream. The surrogate UAV first
employed its radar the newly developed SmartRadar from Cassidian 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 flight path to follow it. We
simulated that this information was
given to a command post, and the
command confirmed 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 information from objects observed
by different sensors, says Bjrn.
When working with multiple sensors, 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 enhanced. The Barracuda is now capable 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 example) 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 distinguish itself from other UAVs in the
field, starting with the design team
it was conceived entirely at Cassidian. We have complete knowledge of the aircraft, says Bjrn. To
have an autonomous aircraft flying,
you need capable engineers who
understand how the flight 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 Barracuda has never been steered with
any controls. It was always takingoff and landing and flying based on
waypoints, and was executing the
flight 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 flight
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

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