Mar 12, 2019   SOURCE: Diamond Aircraft

DA42 Special Mission Aircraft completed trial with Trakka TC300 via MIMO MANET

The rising demand for high efficiency and high covertness in airborne ISR operations motivates a compact design of the high performing mission sensors and payloads. Thus, Diamond's extended sensor portfolio of reliable airborne sensors has recently been extended by integrating and successfully testing Trakka's new generation single-LRU multi sensor surveillance system.

The system features advanced technology and ergonomic industrial design tested for Environmental, Electromagnetic and Mechanical Compliance under RTCA DO-160 standards. In addition, the system is providing enhanced situational awareness with an advanced HD video engine, including blending, haze reduction, localized contrast enhancement, target tracking and moving target detection, SMPTE HD video outputs and H.264 over ethernet (MISB 0601.7 compliant), advanced thermal imager sensor and geolocation capabilities.

Today’s ISR mission profile requires a quick and reliable communication interface between the sensor operator (TFO) and the decision maker in real time. Therefore, a workshop with Broadcast Solutions was conducted to update and optimise the MIMO (Multiple In, Multiple Out) MANET (Mobile Ad Hoc Network) infrastructure. The new generation of Silvus StreamCaster showed superiority performance over its competitors in regard to size, weight and it reduced the power requirements. It was very easy to integrate in the aircraft and worked well with the existing ground infrastructure.

Markus Fischer, Director Special Mission Aircraft at Diamond Austria: “Diamond Aircraft is well known for working with high sophisticated companies which are pushing technology forward like Diamond its aircraft. We are more than happy to be one of the first to test flight the TC300 on our platform and to go through a high intensive one-week test phase with outstanding positive performance results. I am happy to have a strong partner for this EO/IR sensor performance category, which is supporting Diamond during demos around the globe. No question that the demand of affordable airborne solutions increased in the past and will continue the same way. This Diamond philosophy will be key in the future for successful surveillance and border protection concepts.”

Mr. Mavrikis Nikolaos, Technical Manager at Diamond's special mission department states: "By extensive testing, the TC300, Trakka's most advanced EO/IR sensor system, has satisfyingly evolved its demands and proved to be a very reliable lightweight stand-alone mission sensor for critical ISR missions. We are particularly impressed by the TC300, because it shares Diamond's design philosophy for manufacturing reliable mission platforms, that are easy to use and intuitive for the operators.”

“The DA42 is an excellent aircraft to operate the TC-300 from. It provides an unobstructed view of targets since the TC-300 is nose mounted and an ergonomic and comfortable cabin layout for long endurance missions,” said Hakan Behrendtz, Trakka’s senior operator with over 600 flight hours experience on various fixed wing and rotor platforms.

“Broadcast Solutions GmbH is the preferred Silvus VAR in Europe and has gained a deep understanding experience in the IP-MESH technology over the past years. Information in real time such as videos and sensor-data out of a flying platform is essential to safely and effectively evaluate special threat situations and aerial and ground-based missions. The DA42 is the perfect and agile aircraft platform for easy and fast system integration to provide an IP-MESH Network (MANET) for long-range (up to 200 km) communication, providing up to 85 Mbps of data rate within the entire network,” says Alexander Normann from Broadcast Solutions Germany.

Airborne configuration

  • DA42 Special Mission Aircraft
  • EO/IR Sensor TC300 from Trakka System
  • Haivision Makito X video encoder
  • Silvus StreamCaster SC4400
  • Triad BDA (Bi-directional Amplifier), 25W

Ground configuration

  • In-house designed ground station with the support of Haivision’s media platform  
  • Silvus StreamCaster 4400
  • Triad BDA (Bi-directional Amplifier), 25W

Partner companies

View source version on Diamond Aircraft: https://www.diamondaircraft.com/en/about-diamond/newsroom/news/article/da42-special-mission-aircraft-completed-trial-with-trakka-tc300-via-mimo-manet/