Engineering news
A tracking system called Hyperion that uses eye-safe lasers could enable aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and even orbiting satellites to transmit vital data to ground stations more securely, quickly and efficiently.
The development of Hyperion has been carried out by a joint team through Innovate UK’s Highly Innovative Technology for Aerospace (HITEA) programme: the University of Oxford with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and Airbus Group Innovations with Innovate UK support. A proof-of-concept system has been successfully tested in-flight. A range of 1km has been achieved, however work to extend this range is already under way.
Professor Dominic O’Brien, who has led the Oxford team, said: “Hyperion has the potential to enable extremely lightweight, low-power data terminals for UAVs, allowing flight-time to be extended, or smaller aircraft with enhanced capabilities.”
The optical system aims a laser with a wavelength of 1550 nanometres up from the ground towards the target aircraft, which is equipped with a specially designed reflector that captures the beam, modifies it with the data to be transmitted and then sends it back to the ground where it can be decoded and ‘read’.
With its optimised aircraft tracking capability and secure high-speed data link, Hyperion offers key advantages over traditional radio frequency (RF) communications that are potentially vulnerable to interception and jamming and rely on an increasingly crowded part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The EPSRC said that unless alternatives are developed that can supplement radio communications, it will not be possible to cope with the huge volumes of data that need to be transmitted from the skies in years to come.
It is hoped Hyperion could allow UAVs engaged in disaster monitoring, surveying, search and rescue and other humanitarian missions to send detailed images more rapidly back to the ground for analysis. It could also enable airliners of the future to offload huge amounts of technical and performance data gathered by sophisticated on-board sensors to ground crews during final approach to an airport, speeding up maintenance procedures and cutting turn-round times.
Yoann Thueux, research team leader at Airbus Group Innovations, said: “Hyperion has clear potential to develop into a technology solution addressing the requirements of UAV operators, who need real-time access to increasing amounts of mission data for surveillance, agriculture and disaster relief. Hyperion could also address the needs of the space sector, by allowing data download from microsatellites in low Earth orbit.”
It is hoped that, with further development, Hyperion could potentially begin to be introduced into commercial use within 3-5 years.