The Due Regard Radar (DRR) is a collision avoidance air-to-air radar with the initial Engineering Development & Manufacturing (EDM) model developed in late 2014.  The EDM DRR was used to assist the Federal Aviation Administration in the creation of the Minimal Operational Performance Standards (MOPS), enabling Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) to fly in National and International Airspace. The EDM DRR is comprised of a two-panel Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) antenna and a Radar Electronics Assembly (REA) that give the RPA pilot the ability to detect and track aircraft across the same Field-of-View (FOV) as a manned aircraft. AESA technology allows DRR to track multiple targets while simultaneously continuing to scan for new aircraft. Flight tests of a pre-production DRR are underway on both a manned aircraft and a Predator® B RPA.

DRR is a key component of GA-ASI's overall airborne Detect and Avoid System (DAAS) architecture for Predator B. The DAAS must detect and avoid cooperative (i.e. equipped with a transponder) and non-cooperative (i.e. not equipped with a transponder) aircraft. Detection and tracking of cooperative aircraft is performed by the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). By tracking non-cooperative aircraft, DRR enables a collision avoidance capability onboard the RPA and allows the pilot to separate the aircraft from other air traffic in cooperation with Air Traffic Control (ATC).

GA-ASI partnered with the FAA, NASA, and several industry partners from 2014 through 2017 to mature a DAA capability onboard NASA's Ikhana RPA in furtherance of the MOPS independent verification and validation. The initial MOPS (DO-366) designed for UAS Group 4 & 5 was approved by the RTCA Program Management Committee (PMC) on May 31, 2017. The EDM DRR is in low-rate production and currently being used by several customers.  An upgraded version of the EDM DRR currently under development, known as the Air To Air Radar (ATAR),will be in compliance with FAA Technical Standard Order (TSO C-212).

 

Features/Benefits:

• High-performance, actively electronically scanned array antenna
• Air-cooled antenna and radar electronics assembly
• Detects and tracks any aircraft in Field of View (FOV) regardless of equipment onboard
• Feeds tracks through DAAS to remote pilot
• Enables due regard operations in international airspace
• Facilitates full and safe integration of RPA into the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS)