Air Vehicle (AV): The AV, which is launched with a catapult and recovered by a parachute, does not need a runway to operate from. It can fly up to two hours with an 8 kg payload (day TV or IR) and send back imagery data from distances up to 50km and altitude of more than 12000ft. All flight control hardware and software had been developed internally at TAI.
AV Central Control Computer: Processes the data from AV sensors and ground control to generate commands for autonomous flight and payload operations. It is capable of executing emergency flight modes such as âReturn Homeâ and âFail Safeâ during abnormal flight conditions, either manually or automatically.
Ground Control Station: GCS consists of consoles for mission planning, flight and payload control, as well as power distribution units and some support equipment, in a NATO I standard military shelter. All GCS hardware and software are also developed internally at TAI. The GCS software modules are as follows:
Air Vehicle Control Software: Processes telemetry/video downlink for displaying on the console screens, sends commands to AV Central Control Computer for various modes and enables mission planning, data recording/conversion functions.
Payload Control Software: Generates payload control commands, activates/deactivates the payload functions (gimbal stabilization, camera, and video recording) and allows operator adjustments, captures instant payload images and saves them with the coordinate information of target area, allows autonomous payload operation by enabling preparation and uploading of a mission plan.
Target Coordinate Prediction Software: Processes the Air Vehicle position/attitude, gimbal position and digital terrain elevation (DTED) data to calculate target coordinates on the ground.
Directional Antenna Tracking Software: Processes the GPS data from AV and GCS to produce steering commands for ground data terminal antenna positioning system.
