Drone Based Analyzer Launched for ATC Air Navigation Signal Inspection

At Airspace World 2023 in Geneva, Rohde & Schwarz launched its R&S EVSD1000 VHF/UHF nav/drone analyzer, designed to provide accurate and efficient drone inspection of terrestrial navigation and communications systems with outstanding accuracy and measurement repeatability.

Rohde & Schwarz believes that civil aviation requires accurate and reliable navigation systems for optimizing Air Traffic Control (ATC) and ensuring the essential public safety while mitigating aircraft risks, delays and costs. According to the company, terrestrial air navigation systems, such as landing systems or en-route navigation systems, require unique test and measurement capabilities.

The R&S EVSD1000 VHF/UHF nav/drone analyzer is a signal level and modulation analyzer for medium-sized drones. It is believed to be the only instrument that combines measurements of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), Ground-Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS) and VHF Omnirange (VOR) ground stations in a single box. The mechanical and electrical design is optimized for drone based, real-time measurements of terrestrial navigation systems with up to 100 measurement data sets per second.

The analyzer provides high-precision signal analysis in the frequency range from 70 MHz to 410 MHz, a critical requirement for drone based terrestrial navigation signal measurement systems. This also includes the needed measurement repeatability to ensure that results from drone measurements can be compared to flight and to ground inspections in line with ICAO standards.

Rohde & Schwarz believes its analyzer is ideal for drone-based ground station testing in the perimeter of an airport. At 1.5 kg, the instrument’s weight allows usage of a medium-sized drone to perform measurements on ILS/VOR systems in line with the ICAO standards.

Customer benefits include reduced runway blocking times compared to conventional methods (manual measurements, mast measurements), significantly reducing costs while providing the necessary measurement repeatability, measurement precision and GNSS time and location stamps. While streaming measurement data during a drone flight via the data link to a PC on the ground, the analyzer can buffer this data internally to ensure that no results are lost if the data link is lost. This ensures gapless measurements and easy reporting.

Source