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AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COMAPRIL 2015 |^67

Civilian UAS – Australia z

BORDER PROTECTION

Australia is a vast continent with

a long coastline which, particularly

in the sparsely populated north and

west, is difficult to persistently

monitor. This is a perfect application

for a UAS and Australian Customs and

Border Protection has been required to

consider the application of unmanned

systems as part of its portfolio since

around 2012.

Prior to that, Customs was involved

in both real and simulated testing of

Global Hawk and Predator large UAVs

over Northern Australia.

The Royal Australian Air Force

will acquire a number of Northrop

Grumman MQ-4C Tritons for the

persistent maritime intelligence,

surveillance and reconnaissance role

in the early part of the next decade

and these will fill a large part of the

requirement. However, there is a need

for a littoral surveillance capability,

which may see the use of a smaller

UAS, possibly operating off the decks

of border protection vessels, in the not

too distant future.

MINING AND RESOURCE SUPPORT

Australia is a resource-rich country

and has enjoyed the benefits of a

mining and resource boom over the

past decade; UASs have played a role

in both the exploration and support

roles in recent times.

IPL, for example, has tested a

version of its ScanEagle equipped

with a magnetic anomaly detector

(MAD) from a merchant ship on a

mineral detection research program

in the Tasman Sea. The deployment

of minerals exploration sensors over

the vast and uninhabited regions of

central and western Australia has

obvious savings in exploration

manpower and infrastructure.

The continuous striving for

efficiency in the mining sector has

embraced automation on a large

scale and this has most recently

translated to the use of small

unmanned systems as well.

Perth-based helicopter company

Heliwest has acquired the Lockheed

Martin Indago small unmanned

the skies to autonomous aircraft and

improve the safety and efficiency of

conventionally piloted aviation

operations,” ARCAA said at the

conclusion of the trials.

SEARCH AND RESCUE

Perhaps the best-known example of

UAS applications is in the SAR and

disaster management roles that occurred

in the wake of the Japanese nuclear

accident at Fukushima, following the

tsunami. UASs with radiation monitors,

cameras and other sensors were flown

over the damaged reactor to gather

data that was far too dangerous to be

gathered by other means.

Further south, UASs were used

to inspect areas damaged by the

Christchurch earthquake in New

Zealand, searching for survivors.

Smaller unmanned platforms

equipped with thermal imaging

systems are now being used by police

forces to search for lost or injured

bushwalkers in Australia’s rugged

mountain areas.

of dynamic and static obstacles), and
a mobile aircraft tracking system
(MATS). The testing was carried out
by the Australian Research Centre for
Aerospace Automation (ARCAA),
together with the Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation and the Queensland
University of Technology on what was
believed to be the first demonstration
of ‘sense and act’ (where the air vehicle
can sense another aircraft in the vicinity
and automatically deconflict itself) and
global automated control of a civil UAS.
The work used a small airfield in
rural Queensland, where unmanned
vehicles, including an Insitu Pacific
Limited (IPL) ScanEagle, shared
airspace with a specially equipped
Cessna 172. The experiments centered
on the use of the UAS in civilian
airspace into which the ‘intruder’
Cessna was flown and demonstrated
detection ranges in excess of 10km.
“Smart Skies has researched,
developed and demonstrated real
technologies, that can potentially open

20

The weight of a

UAS in kg that

requires it to

have sensors

to detect other

aircraft (UK CAA

directive)

40

The number of

US universities

that receive

grants for UAS

research

“SMALLER UNMANNED PLATFORMS EQUIPPED

WITH THERMAL IMAGING SYSTEMS ARE NOW

BEING USED BY POLICE FORCES TO SEARCH

FOR LOST OR INJURED BUSHWALKERS”

ABOVE: The Cessna

172 used in the

Safe Skies program

to demonstrate

UAS use in shared

airspace

BELOW: An Indago

system is used in

the training of first

responders and has

been acquired by

Heliwest, a rotary

wing operator in

Western Australia