In pursuit of the US ARMY Family of Tactical UAS (FTUAS) program, Silvus Technologies Inc. has announced that it is supplying the wireless datalink used on the Aerovel Flexrotor, which is a 50-pound UAS designed for maritime and land-based operations.

A 2x2 MIMO Software Defined Radio (SDR), Silvus Technologies' StreamCaster 4200 (SC4200) features the company's proprietary MN-MIMO waveform, which supports high bandwidth Mobile Ad Hoc Networking (MANET) in a variety of environments.

Other unique features include Transmit Eigen Beamforming (a MIMO technique which boosts signal strength two to four times), dual-band interference mitigation capabilities, and a miniature form factor just 0.75” thick and the footprint of a typical business card.

“We use the Silvus radios to downlink real-time video over ranges up to 100 km, and simultaneously to access IP addresses on the aircraft and by relay to other surface stations,” explains Aerovel's Tad McGeer.

“The onboard radio provides this throughput while staying within our constraints on weight and power consumption, which are essential for Flexrotor to be both small and highly capable.”

Flexrotor only needs a 20' by 20' area for launch and recovery, thanks to its vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability. 

The UAS also easily transitions into horizontal wing-borne flight, and flies completely autonomously with no pilot intervention need after it takes off.

“Flexrotor introduced a distinct and innovative design to the VTOL UAV market. Aerovel applied this same thoughtful approach when selecting StreamCaster as the default communications solution,” says Kasey Cooper, director of unmanned systems at Silvus Technologies.

“The onboard radio provides this throughput while staying within our constraints on weight and power consumption, which are essential for Flexrotor to be both small and highly capable.”

Aerovel is working with the Army's biggest supplier of Group 1-sized UAS, AeroVironment, to compete for FTUAS. Just a few months ago, the Army released a request for proposals for a Group 2 or Group 3 UAS that seeks multiple suppliers to supply three complete systems that can perform a 96-hour continuous surveillance orbit.

Following that, the Army plans to select several aircraft to perform a two-year series of demonstrations, and the data collected during that phase will inform requirements for a fleet acquisition program.