ASOG member Richard Glyn-Jones introducing VIDAR technology to Peter Walker for the Guardian 400 MEA aircraft at IDEX19 in Abu Dhabi.
ASOG Desk Editor's Posts (392)
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At IDEX19 in Abu Dhabi this week, ASOG members Marcus and George introduced soon-to-be members Peter Walker (VikingAir global ISR missions) and Colin Steven (Special Mission Aircraft UAE).
Here’ s Part 2 and 3 of Douglas Glover (Aviation Photographer) series on “Is my pilot safe?” It’s a great read regarding Airborne Sensor Operator CRM best practices and lessons learned, i.e., across all sectors manned/unmanned, commercial, public safety and defense. Is there anything you can add?
ASOG Desk Editor
Image: Wikicommons (U.S. Navy Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Bradley Sapp)
If ASOG had a must read list (Humm, note to self), this post would go on it….”Is my Pilot Safe? – Part I.” I’m looking forward to Doug’s next post.
Fox-3 Photography, Posted by Douglas Glover, Saturday, January 19, 2019
One thing I learned in my career (plus life) is to keep one-eye on what is trending. The article below is a good example of Geospatial trends. What trends do you see in your sector, e.g., EO/IR, SAR, LiDAR, Acoustics, Aerial Surveying, Airborne Law Enforcement, C4ISR, RPA, Manned Aircraft, Aerial Fire Fighting, Maritime Patrol, Training, etc.?
Posted: Monday, January 14, 2019, | Author: Qassim Abdullah
ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick)
Image: Terabass, Wikimedia commons
Some of you in the group might be interested in these conferences around the world, i.e., professional development. The focus of some of these academic conferences is on Aerial Surveying, and Aero photogrammetry + other sensors/problem sets. Look at the list below and see if something is interesting. For me, once my Gulfstream G-5 is out of phase MX, I’ll fly around the world and attend a few…especially the conferences in Bali ;)
Open Science Research Excellence - Aerial Surveys and Aero Photogrammetry
Some of you might have seen this article on Linked-In, its an article published by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. I think it compliments the point of “How to speak ASO like a pro!” What do you think?
“Cracking the code: Aviation English”; By staff writers; Jan 14, 2019
I remember as a new aircrew member being overwhelmed with all the unfamiliar things I had to learn. There were so many procedures and systems to keep track of, and people and departments to memorize! Every day I heard a new term, jargon or acronym and had to ask someone "O.K. what does that mean?" or try to figure it out from the context in which the unfamiliar term was used.
Here are 21 Terms, Jargon and Acronym links that relate to the 101 of our profession (Aviation and Remote-Sensing) and to specific ASO professional sectors (Commercial, Public Safety, and Defense) to help you speak like a professional ASO in your industry domain. There are many more, however, if you know of other sites that offer useful terms, jargon, and acronyms that other professionals can learn from, please share. Once the list is complete, I’ll post them in the “Link Library.”
Aviation:
Airodyssey.net / Reference - Glossary
Wiktionary / Appendix: Glossary of Aviation, Aerospace and Aeronautics
CFG / Aviation Jargon: 45 Terms Aviation Enthusiasts Should Know
FPV Quadcopter Acronyms, Terminology, Glossary
Remote-Sensing:
Ideo Columbia Education / Remote Sensing Glossary
Canadian GIS and Geospatial Resources / Geomatics Acronyms and Abbreviations
Civil/Commercial – Aerial Photography:
Find Aerial Photography / Glossary
Digital Photography School / Photography Terminology: A Glossary of 71 Photographic Terms
B&H / A Glossary of Digital Photography Terms
Civil/Commercial – Aerial Surveying:
Remote Aerial Surveys / Glossary
Public Safety – Airborne Law Enforcement:
Wikipedia / Law Enforcement Jargon
Public Safety – Aerial Search & Rescue:
Greater Philadelphia Search And Rescue / Search and Rescue Glossary and Acronyms
Fire Service Information / Basic Glossary Of Fire Fighting and Rescue Terms
Public Safety – Aerial Firefighting:
Fire Fighter Exam / Fire Service Acronyms and Terms
USDA Forest Service / Fire Terminology
Defense – Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance:
Military.Com / Military Terms and Jargon
Wiktionary / Appendix: Glossary of U.S. Navy slang
Defense – Electronic Warfare:
ATI / Glossary of Electronic Warfare Terms
ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick Ryan)
At a ceremony held at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s headquarters, London on Monday evening, representatives from Smith Myers, Biggleswade and Leonardo Helicopter, Yeovil, were presented with the RAeS Team Silver Medal award for their teamwork developing the Redstreak Mobile Phone Detection and Location System.
Previous Silver Team Medallist include The Beagle 2 Mars Mission Engineering Team
A joint Smith Myers and Leonardo Helicopter team brought diverse skills from different domains to engineer an innovative and effective SAR capability.
The team’s vision was to enable a SAR helicopter to have the capability to locate and communicate with a person in distress possessing a standard mobile phone. This system had to work in areas of no cellular network coverage and effectively configure the mobile phone as a rescue beacon.
Leonardo Helicopters experience in airborne system design, development and evaluation together with Smith Myers’ expertise of advanced telecommunications design, produced Redstreak.
Redstreak demonstrated detection ranges of 32km with accuracies of better than 100m. Whilst locating the individual, Redstreak provides both voice and text communications.
Redstreak can locate individuals not detectable by other sensors and large search areas can be covered rapidly. The search is quicker, safer and more effective.
The Redstreak system is used on the AW101 Norwegian All Weather Search and Rescue Helicopter, possibly the most advanced SAR helicopter in the world.
The systems avionics certification covers both rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
Peter Myers managing director of Smith Myers said “Despite the distance between the two sites, the team quickly gelled and rapidly produced flying prototypes. The professionalism and expertise of both companies ensured a well-designed and thoroughly tested system. Redstreak/Artemis gives SAR crews an effective alternative where previously looking out the window was the only option”.
If You Want to Know More
Redstreak (also known as ARTEMIS) is a development of existing designs by Smith Myers, with new location estimation algorithms and redesigned hardware to meet the exacting international standards required by modern avionics on fixed and rotary wind aircraft (DO160G and MilStd 810G).
Smith Myers ARTEMIS has also received recognition from the following:
British Engineering Excellence Award 2017,
Critical Communications Award 2018,
ADS Security Innovation Award 2018.
Smith Myers are a UK SME (30 people) with a 30-year track record of innovative leading edge design, employing the latest radio techniques such as Software Defined Radio and Smart Linear Power Amplifier design. This, in addition to embedded protocol design on the latest Field Programmable Gate Arrays, permitted a radical and effective alternative to traditional direction-finding methods.
The ARTEMIS technology is also available in a smaller package for use on Search and Rescue drones. This system offers the same user interface, but at lower ranges of operation. Used in search scenarios including: coastal paths, cliffs, open sea, avalanche, poor visual conditions etc.
ASOG members, one of our supporters (Airborne Technologies in Austria) wanted to share their latest accomplishment with the Airborne Sensor Operator community/ASOG, i.e., with a focus on the Sensor Operator.
Traditions represent an important element of our Airborne Sensor Operator professional culture. They reinforce the structure and foundation of our skill-set and our vocation. Tradition reminds us that we are part of a history that defines our past, shapes who we are presently and who we are likely to become in the future. Once we disregard the meaning of our traditions, we’re in danger of damaging the underpinning of our professional identity. The backbone of why traditions matter to Airborne Sensor Operators is:
• Tradition reinforces values such as integrity, personal responsibility, a strong work ethic, and the value of being selfless.
• Tradition provides a medium to provide positive role models and highlight the standards that matter.
• Tradition validates the contribution the profession provides to society and unites members of the profession.
• Tradition contributes a sense of professional belonging. It brings individuals together and enables people to work together at a common level or perspective.
As ASOs, we must strive to utilize every opportunity available to us to reinforce the professional values and standards that we see are the core of our profession. The alternative is professional mediocre. As a famous writer once said,
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
Marcus Garvey
What are your thoughts...Does tradition matter for our profession?
ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick)
If you call yourself a professional ASO, are you able to identify what-is-what 70 to 80% of the time while collecting information real-time? Based on your industry sector (commercial, public safety or defense), can you identify, describe, and predict the actions of the primary objects in your view be it from an active or passive sensor?
An ASO is“Top-Gun” material if he or she can go beyond saying “I see something interesting” to “I see X and Y together and if this continues Z will happen,” i.e., real-time airborne Sherlock Holmes skills.
The reason I’m posting this blog is based on a note from a fellow ASOGer Grant Reid highlighting a skill-set area that defines an ASO. Here’s part of his message that got me thinking about this post. (Also, strip out the defense aspect of his message and replace it with your specific target sets, e.g., agricultural targets/surroundings, urban area structures/surroundings/human behavior patterns, etc. when you read his point):
“Note for ASO is ship, aircraft and weapon system recognition. I know my old boss will read this and agree that although your primary job is to be an integral part of the flight crew, you aren’t worth a hill of beans if you can’t pick out the differences between Russian and Chinese systems. I remember when going thru training in Comox, that my wife knew ships, aircraft and weapon systems just as well as I did (she ran the slide deck for the guys on my course at night - she was very unforgiving).
Modern non-military ASO deal with the same in that they must know every type of vehicle identifiable from the air.
The point is to know your job and do it to the best of your ability.”
I agree with Grant, there is more to the ASO job than just operating systems, checking-off the target deck and making sure that each mission lands safely. It consists of knowing your collection operating environment, i.e., in some ways being an airborne analyst. An ASO should develop a sense of knowing what is important, what ‘matters,’ and it comes from knowing your environment intimately.
What do you think?
ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick)
“I met up with Jean-Philippe (R) at the show, was really great meeting him and Pascal Vetter (L) and talking about airborne radar.
Kind Regards,
George”
George Beaumont (Center of picture)
George DeCock (L) meeting our new member Marco Zanata (R) at Combat Helicopter Conference in Bucharest Romania this week.
ASOGers’ Richard Glyn-Jones (R) and Jean-Philippe Auneau (L).
“I met Jean-Philippe Auneau today at Euronaval so more good connections through ASOG!
Best Regards,
Richard Glyn-Jones”
George Beaumont (L in the picture) wanted the group to know he’s at EURONAVAL this week. Go by and say Hi as a fellow ASOGer.
"DIADÈS MARINE is at EURONAVAL 2018 on the GICAN stand (E10/F17) introducing the industry to our advanced, high performance radar solutions. Feel free to come by the stand to talk detection, surveillance and radar or to see our latest airborne solution the C-RANGER-100 in action!"
ASOG members Richard Glyn-Jones (L) and Piet De Backer (R) meeting for the first time at EURONAVAL 2018.
ASOG veterans Peter Myers (L) and George DeCock (R) welcome soon-to-be ASOG member Vince Macri at the Helitech 2018 conference & exhibition in Amsterdam last Wednesday.
OK…let’s be honest…how many ASO’s (non-rated-pilots) have wondered what would happen if their fellow crewmember the pilot “all of a sudden” was incapacitated...I would say many. Here’s one program that was developed over 35 years ago by AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) called the “Pinch-Hitter” course to help with this situation. According to AOPA, the course is:
“Designed to help non-pilot flying companions learn how to safely land an aircraft in the unlikely event of pilot incapacitation. It includes an introduction to the principles of flight, a basic overview of instruments and radio communications, and a scenario-based training guide.
Participants are encouraged to first take the free Pinch Hitter™ online course from the AOPA Air Safety Institute (ASI), and then use this training syllabus to further guide instruction. ASI recommends using a certificated flight instructor (CFI) or an experienced, proficient pilot for the ground and flight instruction portions of the syllabus.
While pilot incapacitation is extremely rare in general aviation (GA), completing this syllabus will help non-pilots be more knowledgeable and better prepared in the event of an actual emergency— they may even decide to pursue additional flight training.”
PINCH-HITTER AOPA - AIR SAFETY INSTITUTE
Besides the primary purpose of this course, I think it’s also a great program for any small and medium size aerial work firm that uses or participate with part-time (non-rated-pilot) Sensor Operators or Secondary ASO Professionals (Photographers, Non-TFO police officers, Research Scientist, etc.) to improve the level of airmanship of each crewmember. The course is not time consuming or expensive compared to other safety or flight orientation training programs, but it’s methodical, economical and effective for small operations and freelance professionals.
Bottomline and just my two-cents, if I were an Aerial Work Business Owner, Aerial Work Pilot or a new ASO or Secondary ASO professional, I would encourage this program for all my crewmembers and fellow ASOs. If you know of other programs like this, let the group know.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Benjamin Franklin
ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick)
AAD 2018 (See Event Calendar) presently going on in Johannesburg South Africa. ASOG members Luthando Prinsloo (L) and George De Cock (R) with Adeel Carelse (soon-to-be-ASOG member!)
