Session 2.4d Update: Development of a Floating Radar System for ISR Missions (Virtual)
Tracks
| Wednesday, November 15, 2023 |
| 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM |
| Nicholls Theatre |
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Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are extensively utilised for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, primarily operating submerged. However, periodic surfacing is required for acquiring positioning data or establishing communication. During these surfacing moments, AUVs are at significant risk of collisions with surface ships or boats due to their limited situational awareness. While some AUVs possess collision avoidance systems, their passive sensing capabilities are limited. This article presents a novel approach to enhance collision avoidance in AUVs by designing and developing a floating radar system based on Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar technology.
The research involves the custom design of radar antennas to meet the field of view requirements and employs Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRPs) for the RF frontend. A staged development and testing process was undertaken, progressing from lab-based experiments to real-world tests on water surfaces. It was observed that water reflections contributed to false positives, necessitating the application of scatter removal algorithms to mitigate clutter. The floating radar system exhibited promising results as a proof of concept, successfully detecting targets up to 50 meters away. The range can be extended with additional RF amplification stages and improved decoupling method between transmitter and receiver. This update presents the experimental findings and technological advancements achieved, demonstrating the feasibility of employing a floating radar terminal to enhance collision avoidance capabilities in AUVs.
Speaker/s
Dr Dushmantha Thalakotuna
Senior Lecturer
University Of Technology
Dushmantha N. Thalakotuna (M'09-SM'19) obtained his B.Sc. in Electronics and Telecommunication from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in 2008 and PhD in Electronic Engineering from Macquarie University, Australia in 2012. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in School of Electrical and Data Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. From 2013-2019, he worked in multiple roles related to radio frequency and systems engineering designing antennas, MMICs and RF systems for both commercial and defence industries. He is an inventor of three antenna patent applications and authored over 40 refereed journal and conference publications. His current research interests include metasurfaces, reconfigurable antennas, MMICs, Satcom antennas, base station antennas, reconfigurable microwave and millimetre wave circuits and periodic structures. Dr. Dushmantha was the recipient of several prestigious awards including 2023 Early Career Research Industry Fellowship from Australian Research Council. In his relatively short academic career since 2019 he secured over 2.6M from seven Defence industry projects and over 2M from non-defence industry funding.
