the team is exploiting its own SAR system – called GAMASAR – not just for imaging but also for positioning. Although SAR is inherently independent of visibility and weather conditions, enabling persistent navigation through clouds, smoke or darkness, SAR’s active emission signature introduces significant operational risks. “SAR transmission bursts disclose your location,” Mendes notes. “Operational use must be tightly controlled to avoid compromising mission security.” Because the company owns the full SAR hardware and software stack, they can customise its use flexibly. Importantly, SAR sensors inherently include a receive chain, essentially functioning as software-defined radios. This dual-use capability allows the UAV to perform passive RF sensing in addition to active radar imaging. In addition to its own GAMASAR, Tekever has also integrated IMSAR’s NSP-3 on the AR3 Mk9. In this installation, the sensor sweeps across the aircraft’s track from left to right. Advantages of this include enabling the sensor to cover a larger area in a single pass and instantly switch its gaze from one side to the other to address a target of interest, all potentially while allowing the UAV to remain on the best course to avoid threats. By passively capturing signals of opportunity, such as commercial wireless, broadcast and even unintended emissions, the system can construct an RF environment map to aid with positioning. This approach is typically not feasible on small UAVs owing to the antenna aperture, RF front-end requirements and the heavy processing load. However, Mendes notes that advancements in onboard compute capability now make real-time RF mapping increasingly practical, even for Group 2 and Group 3 class platforms. Tekever’s navigation architecture fuses VBN (EO/IR), SAR (active and passive modes), thermal VBN, and RF signals of opportunity into a cohesive localisation framework. Intelligent task management dynamically activates different algorithms and sensing modes depending on mission phase and environmental conditions. Zero comms missions In contested environments, communication links are just as vulnerable as navigation systems. Similar to its siblings in the Tekever range, the AR3 is engineered to maintain operational flexibility under electronic attack and, if necessary, to complete missions without any communications at all. Its baseline autonomy enables the UAV both to follow pre-planned waypoints and to react dynamically to sensor inputs and payload data during the mission. “There are missions – and we’ve done many – where you have to execute Tekever AR3 | Dossier NDAA Compliant 24kW Power Output 120V Input Voltage All Hargrave ESCs are built upon our flight-proven GateKEEPER core, bringing together everything we’ve learned from over one million flight hours and enhances it with CAN and many more advanced features to take your UAS to new heights. hrgv.tech/UST63 megaDRIVE HP The ESC Trusted for High Power IP67 � DUAL CAN � USB-C � PROPELLER PARKING � REGENERATIVE BRAKING � CONFIGURABLE DATA LOGGING � CAN SIGNAL FALLBACK � SELF CORRECTING MEMORY
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