Unmanned Systems Technology 006 | ECA Inspector Mk2 USV | Antenna systems | Northwest UAV NW-44 | Unmanned ground vehicles | Navigation systems | Lunar X challenge

says. “For some customers we propose a secondary comms link based on satcom, but that depends on what they want exactly. Although NATO and the US in particular are pushing hard for standardisation and compatibility among comms systems, and widespread adoption of solutions such as the Tactical Data Link (TDL) family – Link 16, Link 11 and Link 22, for example – this does not yet seem to be a major concern for ECA as far as the Inspector Mk2 is concerned. HMI A lot of development effort has gone into the Inspector Mk2’s control system and human-machine interface (HMI). As with all ECA’s vehicles, the HMI is based on two screens and a single interface through which the operator plans the mission and controls the USV and its sensors and effectors, or supervises it during autonomous operation. In the standard configuration, the upper screen serves as a map display and the lower shows the vehicle instruments and controls plus camera imagery. Depending on what a customer wants, ECA can offer another control station dedicated to the payloads. “Sometimes if we have an electro-optical device it is useful to have a specific screen for it,” Clavier explains. “But it is possible to let the USV go about its mission and allow a single user to focus on payload control.” The distance at which the craft can be controlled remotely, and thus its effective operational radius – and therefore range – depends on antenna height