SBIR-STTR Award

The current tone-based analog command destruct systems have been in use for decades and provide very little protection against interference, jamming and receiver capture by undesired sources. Additionally, the current system is totally unsecured and limited in handling modern missions where multiple vehicles are active simultaneously over an increasingly expanding air-space. A new system design is needed which provides the Range Safety Officer with secure, positive control of multiple vehicles in an extending and overlapping range environment. The proposed research approach will investigate existing and developing technologies for replacing the communications channel between the Range Safety Officer and the Vehicle with one or more alternatives. As a result of the proposed effort, RSS Corp. intends to propose a Flight Termination System design that accomplishes the above objectives with minimal impact to operations which use the current analog system.RSS Corp. anticipates that the resulting proposed design will eliminate the deficiencies of the current Flight Termination System, by providing the following improvements: Improve the use of radio frequency spectrum. Increase operational volume coverage. Allow control of multiple vehicles simultaneously. Increase security and resistance to interference. Allow ability to accept encryption and/or authentication

Initial research for the Robust Affordable Flight Termination (RAFT) System investigated existing and developing technologies for replacing the communications channel between the Range Safety Officer and the Vehicle with one or more alternatives. The specific types of vehicles addressed were Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) that require Over the Horizon (OTH) communication technology to support Flight Safety. Out of 60 potential technology candidates that included both terrestrial and space-based solutions and a subsequent examination of a small subset of selected candidate technologies, IRIDIUM was the recommended choice for the RAFT System. This project's objectives are: 1. Confirm that IRIDIUM will satisfy RAFT requirements by performing risk reduction activities. Performance to be verified include data throughput, data quality, and latency. 2. Select an optimum RAFT interface technique for accessing service networks. Multiple techniques exist for accessing the IRIDIUM network, and these alternate techniques will be evaluated, with an emphasis on latency. These techniques include a "seamless" interface via use of the ARINC AviNet/GlobalLink networks. 3. Verify the feasibility of the RAFT approach and architecture by performing an end-to-end demonstration using a UAV, or other available test vehicle