RPAsatcoms II = Airborne Antenna Array

This Proof of Concept ("PoC") project is a follow on from our RPASatComs Proof of Market
("PoM") Project 700335, in which we confirmed the market for an antenna with an
electronically steerable beam, embedded in the wing of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft ("RPA"),
as part of a satellite communications ("satcoms") terminal.
We are developing RPA for use throughout the world in scientific, commercial (oil, gas and
mineral exploration and production) and state (border patrol) applications. Many of these
applications require the operation of the RPA Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) in areas with
little, or no, telecommunications infrastructure. The International Civil Aviation Organisation,
known as ICAO, is drawing up regulations governing the operation of RPA and has coined
the phrase "Remotely Piloted Aircraft System" to emphasise the human responsibility for the
RPA at all times. To enable RPA to fly BLOS in a remote area requires the use of an on-board
satcoms terminal.
The use of satcoms on a RPA has also been a requirement of our potential customers,
including Fugro Airborne Surveys and Sander Geophysics (the largest geophysical survey
companies in the world) and oil, gas and mining exploration and production companies.
The shortcomings we have identified using the lightest airborne satellite data terminal known
to us is the high cost, the aerodynamic drag and the use of an omni-directional antenna that
introduces electronic interference in nearby antennas mounted on the RPA.
In this project, we propose the design, development and characterisation of a prototype
antenna array mounted in one of the removable wings of our Inview RPA. We will use data
from the on-board Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to control the phase and time delay of the
master reference signal to each of the elements in the antenna array to ensure the resultant
beam always points towards the geostationary Inmarsat data relay satellite, regardless of RPA
attitude and bearing.