Fort Hood, Texas, is the first of five planned sites to install the Army's newly procured Ground Based Sense and Avoid (GBSAA) radar system.
The system's components — including multiple 3-D radar (LSTAR), data fusion, tracker, classifier, separation algorithms, displays and more — are integrated to open up any airspace to unmanned aircraft systems that don't have the ability to safely navigate in airspace with other traffic.
The GBSAA system is intended to replace visual observers, on the ground or in a chase plane, that currently provide any UAS with the capability to see and avoid manned and nontransponding aircraft.
Managed by the U.S. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems Airspace Integration Concepts (USAIC) product directorate, the GBSAA system at Fort Hood will collect data from two MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS companies for safety analysis and will help the project team understand the challenges as the system transitions from the operational needs of airfields to restricted areas and then to Military Operating Areas.
"We are very excited to finally see this come to fruition," said Viva Kelley, product director for USAIC, in a news release. "The whole team has been working very hard on this program since its inception. I am very proud of my team's accomplishments, and in the end, it will provide the Army with a safer and more effective way with which to conduct UAS training and testing."
Site preparations have already begun to add GBSAA functionality to the additional sites.
