Partnership Achieves Long-Distance Radio Link at Sea

Simpulse has confirmed that its SL200 radio communication system has carried out a long-distance video link of more than 50 nautical miles (90 km) onboard the BOREAL ISR drone off the French Atlantic Ocean coast.

The companies completed this mission as part of the RF100 program, which started in mid-2022 to validate long-range video transmissions.

According to Simpulse, radio data transmissions in the maritime environment can be affected by reflections on the surface of the water and by meteorological disturbances specific to the marine environment: the wave propagation conditions are considered as atypical compared to those in the terrestrial environment. These conditions cause weakening or even interruption of the radio signal.

Therefore, long-distance flights over the seas require a very good knowledge of these phenomena and the solutions to be implemented. The experienced BOREAL and Simpulse teams worked together to demonstrate the feasibility and validate long-distance radio ranges in these difficult environments.

The BOREAL ISR drone, designed for long-distance missions, was operated with the Simpulse compact SDR radio technology on board which adapts its data rate to the propagation conditions, used in the SL200 on-board modem and the ground tracking antenna GRS-T200.

An exhaustive data set was collected during this campaign on the transmissions propagation in the maritime environment. This collection enabled a detailed analysis of the atypical reflections phenomena and radio waves propagation for modeling them and optimized solutions to prevent them.

“Our drone has all the features to perform in the maritime environment,” said Michel Gavart, CTO of BOREAL SAS. “We are pleased to collaborate with Simpulse on this project that results in a perfect knowledge of waves propagation phenomena in such complex environments.” 

The RF100 program has previously overcome a first step in validating long-range radio transmissions in the terrestrial environment. The BOREAL UAV successfully transmitted video data at maximum rate during a flight where the drone system (embedded with Simpulse technology) and the ground station were separated by 110 km.

“Our long partnership with BOREAL is essential to test and improve our products in difficult conditions, and we are happy to participate in the success of the BOREAL ISR drone,” said Emmanuel Hamman, President of Simpulse.

The companies have demonstrated that very large-scale missions involving a high-speed radio link can be carried out, such as the surveillance of linear infrastructures, borders, and communication routes, industrial and/or sensitive sites, or the supervision of large maritime and fishing areas.

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