Data link communication for rotary wing aircraft demoed by Rohde & Schwarz
NewsDecember 02, 2021
GERMANY. Rohde & Schwarz and partners have carried out stationary tests of the company's data link communication system for rotary wing aircraft on the premises of the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Aircraft and Aeronautical Equipment (WTD 61) in Manching.
According to the company, the influence of rotors on radio waves was tested on two types of helicopters, operational with the Bundeswehr, the CH53 and Tiger, as well as on the rotary wing UMAT R-350 unmanned aerial vehicle from ESG.
Officials claim that the development and demonstration of the system comes from the need for piloted and unpiloted rotary-wing aircraft of the Bundeswehr to be able to send data links through one or more rotor planes, where interference can be caused by rotor blade modulation.
The tests demonstrated radio performance against level drops, phase shifts, and diffraction at rotor blades' edges; while digital voice and data transmission was possible at a high sensitivity. In addition, a comprehensive set of data was collected to develop waveforms for broadband data transmission in the SHF frequency band, according to officials.
