A2TECH - Advanced Aviation Technology recently conducted the first flight of a small electric driven technology demonstrator that will demonstrate a new generation of Ground Control Station (GCS) systems called "RealityVISION - Unmanned Vehicle Pilot Systems", driven by the CANaerospace command and control protocol. This new GCS technology - presently under development and demonstration - will provide a new level of pilot-in-the-loop command and control mode for air, ground and sea vehicles.

Conducted at the Hoehenrain flight test facility near Munich, Germany, the flight is part of an on-going cooperative effort between A2TECH -
Advanced Aviation Technology, Stock Flight Systems, Reiser Systemtechnik and Wetzel Technology to extend the flexibility of the pilot-in-the-loop flight guidance and control of Unmanned Systems. A2TECH operated the technology demonstrator under the control of a "modular & portable" ground control station.

The goal of the initial flight was to evaluate the proof-of-concept of UAV/UCAV controllability and handling using a fighter-jet style cockpit like manned aircraft that use hands-on throttle, stick (HOTAS) and rudder, in a pilot-in-the-loop flight mode.

After several taxi-runs, the electric driven air vehicle lifted off at a speed of 10 knots. At an altitude of 50-100 meters the company´s flight operation team conducted a series of controllability tests. After a series of low-approach passes to validate low-speed handling, the fixed-wing aircraft was handed back to an EP (External Pilot) for the landing task. Michael Stock, RealityVISION test pilot and acrobatic pilot on a full-scale Pitts said: "Using RealityVISION GCS for flying a UAV is like flying a real airplane...".

The prototype of the RealityVISION ground control station used for the flight test was produced by Reiser Systemtechnik and Stock Flight Systems. A2TECH is providing the airframes and Wetzel Technology the visualization and moving map software systems. All based on its own funding.

The companies plans to conduct additional RealityVISION flight tests on bigger airframes in the near future to demonstrate the pilot-in-the-loop UAV/UCAV ability to fly in situation where autonomy is not applicable or not flexible enough.

About RealityVISION:

RealityVISION modular GCS system integrated into Unmanned Vehicles will provide the military forces with tele-operated unmanned air, ground and sea vehicles for remote combat tasks, increasing survivability by identifying and neutralizing threats and reducing risk to humans.
RealityVISION will provide task forces with remote, unmanned scout, reconnaissance and surveillance while pilot and operator remains concealed at distance.

The new GCS is fitted with advanced technology driven by the NASA standardized communication protocol CANaerospace that enables more efficient remote management of Unmanned Vehicles, and state of the art PCM communication links for the operation of autonomous, emiautonomous and pilot-in-the-loop platforms.

It also facilitates the interface between operator and platform, which enable control of reconnaissance, surveillance systems and other elements on the unmanned platform for the civil market. The new technology is also best employed to perform flight attitude tests
of UAV airframes in a development stage, where avionics is not fitted in. Also, Military Training & Simulation tasks will benefits dramatically using RealityVISION.

To obtain high-res pictures (800x600) about the RealityVISION project:
<http://www.a2tech.it/RealityVISION-GCS001.html>

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