Science & Technology Editor

Hanneke Weitering

Thales is teaming up with Skydweller to equip the latter’s medium-altitude pseudo-satellite (MAPS), a large solar-powered drone, with a radar surveillance system designed for autonomous maritime patrol operations.
The Skydweller MAPS aircraft will feature Thales’ Airmaster S “smart” radar system, which combines artificial intelligence (AI) software with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) X-band radar. According to Thales, the AI capabilities have already been successfully demonstrated on Dassault Aviation <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/video/breguet-atlantic-2-atl2-flies-paris-air-show">ATL2</a> long-range maritime patrol aircraft operated by the French Navy.
Meanwhile, Ohio-based Skydweller has spent the past year conducting autonomous flight trials with the MAPS aircraft at Stennis International Airport in southern Mississippi. For some of those flight tests, the aircraft carried operational military payloads to demonstrate its capabilities to defense customers.
With the help of AI, Thales’ smart radar “can detect points of interest among a large volume of data and reduce the amount of information that needs to be transmitted to the ground,” the company said. Airmaster S also includes auto-tuning capabilities that automatically adapt to changes in flight or mission conditions.
Capable of staying aloft for up to 90 days, the Skydweller aircraft has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 and an ultralight carbon-fiber airframe. It can carry up to 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of payload—more than any other solar-powered, long-endurance drone.&nbsp;
“The combination of Thales’ Airmaster S smart radar with the MAPS Skydweller will make it possible to change the paradigm for surveillance missions, by offering a unique solution to current sovereignty challenges,” said Sébastien Renouard, Skydweller’s chief commercial officer for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He added that the system could provide “security to NATO, the EU, and allies of Western democracies.”

News and issues relating to civil and military unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) of all kinds and sizes, including those used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), combat (unmanned combat air vehicles, or UCAVs), law enforcement, research and other applications. Of particular focus is the FAA's planned integration of UAS into the U.S. national airspace system.

Thales, Skydweller Team on Solar-powered Surveillance Drone

Long-endurance drone adds artificial intelligence capabilities

Thales will equip Skydweller’s large solar-powered drone with an AI-enabled radar surveillance system for autonomous maritime patrol operations.

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