REVOLUTION 360 RADAR


  • Low cost, lightweight vehicle-mountable radar
  • Detects a moving vehicle at 16 km and a walking person at more than 7 km
  • 360° surveillance with PESA e-scan performance
  • Reduced SWaP architecture:
    – 50 kg mast payload
    – 70 W power consumption
  • Deployable on vehicle masts or trailer masts
  • Long life, maintenance-free positioner
  • Wide 20° continuous elevation coverage (40° coverage via mechanical elevation control)
  • Non-rotational central post for mast-top camera mounting
  • Supports both continuous ‘scan & pan’ and ‘stare’ surveillance modes

Blighter Revolution 360 is a new product from the Blighter range of ground surveillance radars (GSRs) designed to address the growing requirement for low-cost and lightweight mobile radar surveillance.  Blighter Revolution 360 builds on the reliability, low power consumption, and ground clutter rejection capabilities of the Blighter B400 series radars by introducing a unique azimuth positioner unit, based on a maintenance-free cable-drive technology.

Blighter Revolution 360 is based on Blighter Surveillance Systems’ (BSS) B402 radar system, fitted with W20S wide elevation beam antennas. This configuration offers maximum performance in the most compact size, with the 20° wide elevation beam being ideal for mobile deployment in hilly and mountainous areas. The radar can detect a single walking person at distances of up to 7.4 km, over 360° (in four 90° quadrants). However, in typical deployments faster scanning modes may be used to reduce the target revisit time to a minimum. Operating in Vortex fastscan mode, Blighter Revolution 360 can achieve a full 360° ‘scan & pan’ surveillance in just 20 seconds. Blighter’s coactive FMCW Doppler fastscan processing detects small and slow moving targets in a single 90° electronic-sweep, meaning that it can then immediately move onto the next 90° quadrant.

Blighter Revolution 360 maintains its ultra high reliability and zero-maintenance capability by use of a unique positioner that itself is remarkably simple, reliable and also maintenance free for a period of five years. The ‘cable-drive’ mechanism in the positioner is unaffected by temperature, dust, sand, ice or snow. Any accumulation of dirt or ice, if left static for a time, is simply knocked off when the positioner next moves. The cable-drive positioner uses a compact yet high performance servo motor allowing the positioner and radar to be optimally accelerated and decelerated between surveillance quadrants. The positioner has four precisely defined set positions, each at 90° to one another so that the radar is precisely pointed in each one of its 90° ‘scan & pan’ surveillance quadrants. For surveillance over a narrow sector of less than 90°, the positioner is made to stare at any azimuth angle so that the radar’s PESA e-scan beam is centred about the area of interest.

Blighter Revolution 360 actually rotates around its mast, allowing it to sit beneath an integrated electrooptic (EO) camera system without obstructing its view. Other long-range mast-mounted radars have to sit on top of the mast, thus creating a conflict with the EO system.

As standard, the radar is supplied with antennas that provide a 20° wide elevation beamwidth, which is ideal for most surveillance applications. A simple, low-cost manual elevation control is included that allows a further ±10° of physical tilt control for situations where the surveillance vehicle is high on a mountain top or deep in a valley. For situations where remote/automatic elevation control is required, an optional motorised elevation drive is available providing +5° to -9° of adjustment.

The azimuth and optional elevation positioners are both controlled directly by a serial port on the radar. This means that the entire Blighter Revolution 360 appears as a single integrated sensor with the new scan modes and 360° capability programmed into the radar unit. This makes it simple for both existing and new customers to integrate the Blighter Revolution 360 into their own command and control (C2) systems.

BlighterView HMI 2, BSS’s own C2 software platform, provides the additional controls for the new Blighter Revolution 360 scanning modes: ‘scan & pan’ and ‘stare’. BlighterView HMI 2 is designed to integrate with a wide range of 3rd party EO camera systems.


SPECIFICATION

Architectural Overview
Radar type: E-scan Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) Doppler Ground Surveillance Radar (GSR)
Frequency band: Ku band
Spectrum occupancy:
– Wide-band (WB): 15.7 to 17.2 GHz
– Narrow-band (NB): 16.2 to 17.2 GHz
Scan type: fully electronic scanning in azimuth (‘e-scan’) using a Passive Electronically Scanned Array (PESA)
Pan type: fully integrated cable drive positioner allowing 360° surveillance
Transmitter power (nominal): 1 Watt (standard power transmitter version) or 4 Watt (high power transmitter version)
Multi-radar operation: supported and unlimited
Embedded software and firmware: field upgradeable via network connection
Target Detection Performance
Maximum targets per scan: 700
Maximum detection ranges:
– Crawling person (RCS 0.1 m²): 3.2 km (2.0 mi.)*
– Walking person (RCS 1 m²): 7.4 km (4.6 mi.)*
– Moving RIB (RCS 5 m²): 14.2 km (8.9 mi.)*
– Moving vehicle (RCS 30 m²): 16.0 km (9.9 mi.)*
– Large moving vehicle (RCS 100 m²): 22.1 km (13.7 mi.)*
– Large moving vessel (RCS 1,000 m²): 32.0 km (19.9 mi.)*
False Alarm Rate (FAR): 1 false-alarm per day
Minimum detectable target radial velocity: 0.37 km/h (0.23 mph)
* HP version fitted with W20S antennas
Coverage
Instrumented maximum range: 2, 5, 8, 16 or 32 km (1.2, 3.1, 5.0, 9.9 or 19.9 mi.)
Instrumented minimum range: less than 10 m (33 ft.)
Azimuth scan angle: 90° horizontal e-scan; 360° via integrated positioner
Elevation beam: 20° vertical elevation beamwidth
Elevation adjustment: +10° to -10° (manual) or +5° to -9° (motorised option)
Fastest scan time (for 90°): 1 s
Fastest ‘scan & pan’ time (for 360°): 20 s
Target Output & Identification
Data format: QZ (custom, open-standard data format) or XML over TCP/IP
Target output port: available for cueing of pan/tilt-mounted cameras and thermal imagers
Doppler audio modes: optional
Connectivity & Software
Main I/O interfaces (for radar control and target data): 10/100 Ethernet network interface
Auxiliary I/O interfaces: RS-232 and RS-422 control lines, opto-isolated control/status inputs and isolated switched contact outputs
Software (SDK): API software library (Windows) and generic Interface Control Document (ICD) are both available to System Integrators
Electrical
Battery/regulated-PSU input range: from 24 V to 28 V (DC)
Vehicle supply input: 24 V (DC)
Power consumption (from 28 V regulated-PSU)*: 70 W (average)
Endurance*: 10 to 14 hours continuous operation from quad BB-2590 batteries
* SP version (HP version consumes 135 W)
Physical, Environmental & Reliability
External dimensions of radar unit(s) (W x H x D)*: 666 mm x 503 mm x 128 mm** (26.2 in. x 19.8 in. x 5.0 in.**)
Weight of Blighter Revolution 360 radar system (approx.)***:
– Wide-band (WB): 50 kg (110 lb.)
– Narrow-band (NB): 52 kg (115 lb.)
Operating temperature: from -32° C to +60° C (from -25° F to +140° F) Note: extended operating temperature version available
IP rating: IP66 (dust tight and protected against powerful water jets)
MIL-HDBK-217-F: 10,000
In-service reliability (estimated): in excess of five years (zero maintenance)
* SP version excluding positioner, antennas, mountings and solar shield.
** Depth of narrow-band radar units is 133 mm (5.2 in.).
*** SP version inc. positioner, antennas, mountings and solar shield (add 5 kg for HP version).