Land: Aussie innovation – beyond a Shadow of a doubt | ADM March 2013

When the Operational Test and Evaluation phase of Army’s Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aerial System highlighted the need for a system to archive video footage and other data received from the air vehicle, Australian industry and Defence stepped to the fore.

The Shadow 200 system had been acquired with an interim solution but, after the US decided not to proceed with a permanent replacement, it was left to Australia to develop an indigenous Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (PED) system.

In what can be arguably viewed as a model example of co-operation, DSTO developed the requirements and helped to establish a Defence/Industry team comprising General Dynamics Mediaware, an Australian technology company supplying high-quality compressed domain digital video processing products, and DMO via the JP129 Phase 2 Project Office and Unmanned Aerial Systems Management Unit (UASMU).

A rapid development was required to have the PED system operational and deployed to Afghanistan to coincide with the next rotation of personnel, then due to take place in late 2012.

So successful was its development and deployment, the UASMU/General Dynamics Mediaware team won the 2012 ADM DMO/Industry Team of the Year Award, for the sustainment and logistic support category.

Shadow 200 Tuas

The AAI RQ-7B Shadow 200 system was selected as a Military off-The Shelf (MOTS) solution to the revitalised JP129 Phase 2 in August 2010, with an Initial operating Capability set for 2013, or earlier if possible.

Two complete systems have been acquired, comprising eighteen air vehicles (five for each system plus attrition reserves), four Ground Control Stations, vehicles, catapult launchers and support systems and training. Each system is capable of being transported by air, in the RAAF’s Hercules or C-17As, and intended to be compatible with the various vehicles being acquired by Land 121.

The RQ-7B uses EO/IR sensors to provide near real-time reconnaissance imagery during airborne surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance missions. It is capable of day and night operations and can transmit full motion video to a Ground Control Station up to 125 km away and capable of recognising ground targets up to an altitude of 8,000 feet.

The first system was delivered 18 months ahead of schedule in August 2011 and OT&E was conducted throughout the remainder of the year, culminating in it being deployed to Afghanistan and being declared fully-operational on the 31st March last year. The second system was delivered in April 2012, 12 months ahead of schedule.

Last December, then Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare announced the signing of a $7.2 million five-year contract to provide Australian-based training for operators and maintainers. This training is due to begin at Enoggera in April 2013 and will be conducted by Aerosonde, AAI’s Australian-based subsidiary.

With the Life of Type of the Shadow 200 system planned to last just 10 years, a further phase of JP129 will consider its replacement later in the decade.

PED overview

The video feed received from the Shadow platform is analogue, which makes its archival and dissemination difficult to manage and the system was originally delivered with a Data Archiving and Retrieval (DAR) capability to archive both video and voice data.

The interim, non-integrated DAR system was purchased separately from AAI to support the initial deployment of the Shadow system to Afghanistan and it was intended that a US – developed integrated solution would be acquired at a later date. However, the Americans decided not to proceed with the fully-integrated DAR, prompting DSTO to develop an alternative and compliant solution in the form of the PED.

“After the Shadow OT&E process, it was realised that having a digital video archival system would be beneficial and in fact it was in the original specifications, but Shadow couldn’t do it as it was bought off the shelf,” explained Wing Commander Rob Perticato, Project Manager of JP129/2. “So DSTO put us in contact with General Dynamics Mediaware, an Australian company who could provide that sort of capability.”

The PED system essentially takes the analogue video feed that comes off the air vehicle, digitises it and fuses it with telemetry from the platform and then stores it on a hard drive. The heart of the system is General Dynamics Mediaware’s D-VEX software, a video exploitation system.

At the same time a Cockpit Voice Recording subsystem was developed, to both reduce operator workload and to provide valuable data in the case of an incident or loss of an air vehicle. The D-VEX software is compliant with the NATO standard for Motion Imagery Standards Profile (STANAG 4609), which is a means of embedding telemetry and other Metadata in a video file.

“The PED system archives video onto a server and also makes it incredibly easy to search,” explained Andrew McKinnon, a Design Engineer with UASMU, who was instrumental in the development of the system.

“For example: If you were flying down a route you had previously travelled down, and you wanted to know what it looked like the last time you flew over it, you can hit just one button and the search algorithms in the D-VEX software will search all the archived footage and give you the previous imagery.”

Another feature uses a digital map which, when clicked on, will bring up all the archived imagery for the particular point or area selected. The D-VEX PED software was completely designed and developed in Australia by General Dynamics Mediaware and an early version had been trialled by DSTO during the North West Shelf Unmanned Aerial system Trial in 2006.

“We have simplified the difficult and complex task of exploiting airborne ISR video by using best-of-breed workflow technology,” Dr Kevin Moore, Chief Technology Officer of General Dynamics Mediaware, said. “The evolution of D-VEX is directly based on lessons learned from customers in the allied forces over a decade of in-theatre experience.”

D-VEX is deployed on standard IT hardware and support and maintenance is carried out by the ADF. The system is incorporated into an easily transportable, ruggedised box which is plugged directly into the GCS and there are no modifications required to the air vehicle at all. Up to six month’s worth of data can currently be archived and there are plans to expand this capability further.

“It essentially acts as a bridge between the Shadow 200 system, which uses legacy technology such as video that has an analogue feed and brings it into the modern day, where a digital feed can be fed through the network and exploited in different locations,” McKinnon explained to ADM. “We get the video, telemetry and voice communications data, translate them into a standard-compliant format and then record it.”

Design, Development and Deployment

Funding for the PED system was made available in February last year and the equipment had been designed and built by late June. It was then tested operationally at Woomera in July and August before being returned to the UASMU at Enoggera, cleaned and then shipped to Afghanistan

The nine-month rapid development process, from the release of funds through to operational deployment is a good example of what can be achieved by Defence and industry working together

General Dynamics Mediaware personnel were invited to use the UASMU facilities at Enoggera, which enabled a significant amount of the test and evaluation work to be done without having to go out into the field. The company also participated in the acceptance testing at Woomera, assisting with issues when they arose.

“The project ran smoothly with the excellent support from both DMO and DSTO. We obtained access to the US Government-controlled specifications for the Shadow 200 GCS’s proprietary metadata format in a timely manner, as we identified this critical requirement early in the process,” recalled Dr Moore.

“We had a really great time working with General Dynamics Mediaware as well as DSTO and we came together as an integrated team really well,” added Terry Bates, Manager UASMU. “It is a good example of rapid development that has been influenced by operations. Nine months is a very rapid development and the credit really goes to General Dynamics Mediaware. They were fantastic in developing and building the system.”

Further opportunities

The PED system has applications on other UAV systems and even ground-based video recording systems and, because it complies with STANAG 4609, it can be plugged into the existing ADF network.

“It’s essentially good with any sort of video footage that has some telemetry coming along with it,” McKinnon said.

As far as export is concerned, its capabilities have been discussed with the US and could conceivably be incorporated into a future spiral development path for the Shadow 200 but, given the 10 year life of type of the UAS system, there are no plans to integrate it into the GCS itself and, for ADF operations at least, it will remain a plug-in capability.

“As D-VEX enables airborne ISR platforms to derive timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence from their video sensors it could be deployed on a variety of programs,” Dr. Moore said. “Including RAAF AP-3C Orions and other ISR platforms; Navy Seahawk and MH-60R helicopters and future UAV systems, the SEA 1778 UUV project; Army Tiger ARH and Coast Guard platforms. We have also sold D-VEX in the US, Latin America and Asia.”

For the time being however, the PED system is winning accolades from its harshest critics, the men and women of Army’s 20 STA REGT, who are using it in Afghanistan every day.

“It’s a really fantastic piece of kit, which is currently deployed and the feedback from the soldiers using it so far, is that they love it,” concluded McKinnon.