Unique Simulation Space Improves Radar Maintenance

Unique Simulation Space Improves Radar Maintenance

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The US Defense Department’s leading C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) support provider is hosting a unique space capable of simulating a vast range of munitions to test radars undergoing repairs.

According to defensenews.com, the Pennsylvania-based Tobyhanna Army Depot is responsible for mending and repairing damaged C4ISR equipment after it is damaged in the field. Upon repair, these systems must be tested to ensure they will work once shipped back to front lines. The new development enables Tobyhanna’s a simulations of rockets, artillery and mortar allowing for repair and testing to be conducted at the same facility and in a much faster pace.

Constantine Georgiades, a production engineering technician: “We use that test to qualify the radar at the end once it is repaired. Once it is tested here it goes back to our unit that sent it in for repair.”

In eight months, the chamber paid for itself, Georgiades said, adding that during the surge of troops overseas, they were pushing radars through the facility very rapidly.

Foam cones surround the entire chamber, which creates a clean radio frequency area and simulates a large, outdoor environment that tricks the radar into thinking it’s outside.

“Because we’re in such a compact space, if this was exposed to any metal, the radar pulse would be reflected back to the receiver and blind it or cause the radar damage,” Georgiades said. “The nice thing about that is the radar becomes very sensitized to the clean environment and we can tell if there are any issues with the receive path on the lower end because if you put it in a cluttered environment and there was a problem already in a clean environment, the radar wouldn’t track properly.”