siliconchip.com.au Australia’s electronics magazine May 2019 15
Fig.5: an RAAF EA-18G “Wild Weasel” electronic
attack aircraft. The pods contain electronic warfare
equipment, such as radar and communications jammers.
“Wild Weasel” refers to any type of aircraft tasked with
destroying enemy radar and air defence systems.
Fig.6: the AOS Kelpie autonomous ground vehicle on the
loading ramp of an RAAF C-17A Globemaster III cargo
aircraft. The RAAF operates eight Globemasters, each with
a cargo capacity of 77 tonnes. See SILICON CHIP, May 2013
for more details.range air-to-air missiles, both for chas-
ing off or shooting down enemy aircraft
which threaten the Growler.
See the video titled “RAAF Growl-
er delivery complete, report” via
siliconchip.com.au/link/aaom
Kelpie Multi-purpose
Autonomous Ground Vehicle
AOS is an Australian artificial intel-
ligence company (www.aosgrp.com).
The AOS Kelpie is an autonomous
ground vehicle (AGV) that has been
designed as part of the RAAF Plan
Jericho (see Fig.6). It is an electrical-
ly-powered, off-road capable vehicle
that can be used for applications such
as patrolling a military base perimeter
or delivery of matériel from a base to
soldiers on the front lines.
It uses the iSight intelligent intrud-
er tracking system, capable of autono-
mously tracking and classifying sub-
jects of interest and applying facial
recognition to humans.
It’s a low-cost system, due to the use
of standard components, and features
a collision-avoidance system utilising
LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging)
and an optional radar system.
It is capable of speeds up to 80km/h,
can carry up to 100kg, has an onboard
video camera to transmit live video
and intelligent software agent tech-
nology with machine learning and ma-
chine vision.
Multiple software “agents” can be
teamed up to enable multiple Kelp-
ies to work with each other, and with
humans. It’s expected to be released
in 2020.ScanEagle
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN)
had a Boeing Insitu ScanEagle un-
manned aerial system on display (also
used by the Australian Army) – see
Figs.7 & 8.
It is a small, American-made re-
motely piloted aircraft that is in exten-sive use internationally. Its maximum
takeoff weight is 22kg; it’s 1.55-1.71m
long (depending on configuration),
has a 3.11m wingspan and an endur-
ance of 12+ hours at an altitude of up
to 16,800ft (5120m).
It is powered by a 28cc, two-stroke
engine. It cruises at 50-60 knots (93-
111km/h) with a top speed of 80 knots
(148km/h). The payloads are modular,
and a variety is available, such as elec-
tro-optical sensors, infrared sensors, a
Visual Detection and Ranging (ViDAR)
camera, Maritime Automatic Identifi-
cation System (AIS) and Identification
Friend or Foe (IFF) systems.
The RAN primarily uses the electro-
optical and infrared payloads.
It is launched with a pneumatic
(compressed air) launcher and recov-
ered by a “Skyhook” retrieval system
which uses a hook on the end of its
wingtip to engage a rope hanging from a
pole, the process being guided by high
accuracy GPS.Figs.9 & 10: the Schiebel Camcopter S-100 at the RAN display.