Smart Terrain-Following Radar Scan Scheduling for Early Obstacle Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional terrain following/terrain avoidance radars are heavy, expensive, and difficult to maintain, with limited field of regard and high SWAP costs, and they fail to detect obstacles early enough to prevent collisions, especially for unmanned aerial systems and rotary platforms.
Innovation Solution
A smart scanning method for terrain following/terrain avoidance radars that utilizes critical terrain points, quality metrics, potential towers, terrain/obstacle databases, and mission data to schedule radar scans, integrating active and passive data for efficient obstacle detection and navigation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional mechanically scanned radars are used for terrain following, then terrain avoidance capability is provided, but system weight, cost, and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies multi-functionality by enabling a single radar system to perform both terrain following/avoidance operations and other radar functions (such as weather detection, target acquisition) that would traditionally require separate dedicated systems. This reduces overall system weight, cost, and complexity while maintaining reliable terrain avoidance capability through intelligent scan scheduling that prioritizes TF/TA operations when needed.
2Reliability
If continuous scanning of large volume space is performed, then terrain following guidance is provided, but field of regard and platform turn rate flexibility are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamics by making the radar scan schedule adaptive and flexible rather than fixed. The scan controller dynamically adjusts scan parameters (azimuth, elevation, dwell time) based on real-time terrain data, aircraft state, and mission requirements. This allows the system to maintain terrain following guidance while adapting to varying field of regard requirements and platform turn rate capabilities through intelligent scheduling algorithms.
3Reliability
If radar scans are performed frequently to detect obstacles early, then collision detection capability is improved, but radar resources and processing time are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by using pre-computed terrain data and obstacle databases to predict potential collision hazards before they are detected by active radar scanning. The system proactively schedules scans based on predicted risk areas and terrain features, allowing obstacle detection capability to be improved without requiring frequent comprehensive scans. This reduces radar resource consumption and processing time while maintaining reliable collision detection.
4Reliability
If dedicated radar systems are installed for TF/TA operations, then terrain following performance is optimized, but size, weight, and power requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves the SWAP cost issue by making the radar system universal, capable of performing both dedicated TF/TA operations and other radar functions. Through intelligent scan scheduling and processing algorithms, the same hardware resources are allocated dynamically to different functions based on operational needs, eliminating the requirement for separate dedicated radar systems while maintaining optimized terrain following performance.
Data Source
AI summary
A Terrain Following/Terrain Avoidance (TF/TA) radar that receives terrain information and known obstacle information from a plurality of databases; receives radar data from the TF/TA radar; fuses the terrain information and known obstacle information with the radar data; adds unknown obstacle information to the fused data to generate scanning schedule information; and utilizes the scanning schedule information to schedule a next radar scan by the TF/TA radar.