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!)

Thank you Richard Glyn-Jones for highlighting this White Paper. BREAK, BREAK If you have any questions, just reachout to Richard...you can find him in the members area.

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Technology brings high-end SAR to the civil world
Smaller, lighter advanced SAR equipment is putting high-end capability in the hands of civil operators.

(Source - http://www.sentientvision.com/2017/10/20/technology-brings-high-end-sar-civil-world/)

Nowhere has the relentless march of technology and development been more prevalent than in the field of airborne search and rescue.
Advances in sensors, cameras, data transmission technology, navigation systems and airframe design, to say nothing of the rise of unmanned aerial systems, have transformed a task that by sheer cost and logistics was originally the preserve of government and military agencies alone.

Freed from the belt-and-braces survivability requirements of military users, civil electro-optical and infrared sensors, radars and communications products have become lighter, smaller and easier to integrate. Interface and usability advances mean a single operator can perform roles that previously required several, and single and twin-engine aircraft and helicopters now have capability previously only found in large, heavy and complex military platforms.

Such is the availability of these technologies on the civil market that defence forces around the world are relinquishing their civil search and rescue roles to contracted civil operators. These operators are often proving they can do it more cheaply and in some cases better, with a culture and concept of operations geared directly to the civil surveillance and rescue tasks that make up the bulk of any national program.

In many cases advances have been aimed at improving performance of traditional systems such as radar and infrared. But some innovators have turned traditional doctrine on its head, repurposing existing technologies in ground breaking new roles.

Australia’s Sentient Vision Systems has turned airframe mounted digital cameras in to “optical radar”, offering the “track while scan”, wide area surveillance capability and interrogation functions of traditional radar from an optical system that emits no energy, minimises data transmission requirements to ground stations and uses a simple graphical interface that also allows users to slave an aircraft’s primary sensor to any desired contact with the click of a mouse.
ViDAR uses airframe-mounted single or multiple 9-megapixel cameras, which scan the ocean’s surface in a 180-degree arc from any UAS, helicopter or aircraft, imaging a swathe of ocean up to 20 nautical miles wide. Its onboard software autonomously detects any object on the surface of the ocean, flags it on the sensor operator’s screen, and captures and displays a digital still image.

Operators simply watch the passing ant trail of images across their screen to see what the aircraft is detecting in its assigned surveillance area. With a mouse click they can cross-cue the aircraft’s primary sensor, such as an infra-red or daylight TV camera turret, to investigate the contact. ViDAR’s onboard processing system ensures only detected targets are transmitted for analysis, dramatically reducing bandwidth requirements.

In US Coastguard trials ViDAR identified small boats at a range of 17.7 nautical miles, a life raft at 3.7 nautical miles and a mannequin representing a person in the water at 1.5 nautical miles. In trials on small unmanned aerial systems, ViDAR demonstrated that it could search an area 80 times the size of a standard UAS in a single sortie.
ViDAR is already in service aboard the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s four highly modified Challenger 604 search and rescue aircraft, and with the Royal Australian Navy on Boeing’s Insitu ScanEagle unmanned aerial system and has been demonstrated with the US Coast Guard, EMSA and the UK Unmanned Warrior exercise.
For Simon Olsen, Sentient Vision’s Director of Business Development, Strategy and Partnerships, ViDAR has the power to ease the workload of search and rescue operators, mitigate sensor operator fatigue on long sorties, and give operators a greater choice of airframes capable of performing the task at hand.

“At the tactical level ViDAR reduces the workload for search and rescue operators and increases the probability of a successful contact, particularly on long and intense sorties,” he said. “Its ability to detect and display objects in the water that may not be readily visible to the human eye reduces a sensor operator’s workload, allowing them more mental acuity to manage the mission and maintain situational awareness.

“But at the strategic level ViDAR has the power to change acquisition decisions in hardware and aircraft, to change capability mixes,” he said. “Offshore patrol vessels previously dependent on shore-based aerial surveillance can now deploy their own. What could previously only be accomplished with a manned aircraft can now be accomplished with a tactical unmanned aerial system, and missions that previously needed large aircraft can now be accomplished with smaller, more cost-effective airframes or helicopters.

“ViDAR brings wide area maritime surveillance and detection within the reach of operators for whom this type of capability was previously outside the realms of technical possibility. It combines the most effective capabilities of both radar and optical sensors, without the limitations of either.”

Contact:
Sentient Vision Systems
Stewart Day
General Manager
T +61 3 9646 3331
E marketing@sentientvision.com

Besides Law Enforcement aircrews flying over major urbans areas, here’s another group doing almost the same thing but with a different focal point. This article from Rotorcraft Pro and written by Larry K. Clark is a very good and informative post on the aerial news & broadcasting profession.

Life of a News Helicopter Pilot

ASOG Desk Editor

(Image: Wikimedia commons - Peter Clarke)

Yes, I’ve thought of it many times, but, I never really drilled down to some of the details related to this topic. If you’re interested, read this white paper from the Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA). Maybe its just me, but the key words “Airlines” and “Pilots” can be interchanged with “Aerial Work” and “Aircrew”…..cybersecurity has no borders or discriminate between crew positions in an aircraft or on an RPA crew…we’re all pretty much working with some kind of remote and connected Gizmo! ...What do you think?  ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick)

Aircraft Cybersecurity: The Pilot’s Perspective

Are you ready to fly? Are you and your fellow crewmembers fit to fly? Is everyone on the crew current on their training? What is the status of your aircraft and mission systems? How is the weather? Etc.

If you’re a new Airborne Sensor Operator or an ASO as a secondary profession (scientist, photopgrapher, forester, etc.) and have not been exposed to some of the aviation safety tools out there, Part 1, 2 and 3 videos will help you get started, i.e., hopefully get you, your crewmembers and flight organization ready to fly! Also, if you feel like you’re Just-Winging-It when it comes to the flight environment you participate in (organization, crewmembers, etc.), take extra notes!

O’, I don’t want to be over dramatic, but flying can get out-of-hand quickly. This video makes that point, especially at low-level. Think Safety!

O.K., now that you got a view of how things can go wrong during flight ops. The following video highlights a very effective aviation safety program that should mitigate flight departments or small flight operations from Just-Winging-It!

Drilling down further, the following video shows an aviation safety program that focuses on human factors, i.e., how to manage the “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” in all of us.

Posting by: Luke Aspinall (ASOG Member)

Heliwest has a Turn-Key Specialist Intelligence Gathering System available for sale or lease. The system is currently fitted to a Bo105 LS Helicopter and is also compatible with the EC135, Bell 206L or Bell 407 if required. Please note that the system is controlled under ITAR and a US DDTC Export Approval is required.

System Specifications:

MX-15 HDi

The MX-15 is fitted with HD-EOW, SDIR, LRF and Image Blending, has been maintained under a Wescam Service Plan since delivery in 2012 and has a current service plan with Wescam that expires in April 2019.

2 Position Operator Console

The 2 Position Operator Console is suitable for the Bo105 or EC135 type Helicopters and features:
• Two 17 inch Daybrite High Definition Displays with multiple HD-SDI and HDMI inputs.
• Wireless Video Dissemination in Cabin (delivering video to personal smart devices)
• Rugged i7/8GB Fanless PC
• Rugged low latency IP Video Encoder
• Integrated USB power and High-Speed Data transfer for mission data upload/download
• Combined power distribution & aircraft load shed protection
• SSD Production Grade Video Recording

a single position operator console for Bell 206L or Bell 407 is also available, fitted to a rearward facing seat track in the rear cabin.

Downlink System:

A fully integrated Video Downlink system is available, the system has a demonstrated L.O.S range out to 200 Km from the fixed receive site, and also includes a portable pelican case deployable receive system to further extend range.

If you would like more information, please contact Luke via ASOG e-mail or the following:

Manager, Special Operations | HeliwestGroup
+61 488 915 992

Big Thanks to Gary Micklethwaite for sharing this video. Its one of the best video’s highlighting what our profession is about, especially on the defense & security side of our community.