Millimeter-wave data acquisition for terrain mapping, obstacle detection and dust penetrating capability testing

The DLR project ALLFlight (Assisted Low Level Flight and Landing on Unprepared Landing Sites) is devoted to demonstrate the usage and evaluate the characteristics of different sensors for helicopter operations within degraded visual environments, such as brownout landing. In cooperation with the NRC flight tests on a Bell 205 were conducted to gather sensor data from a 35 GHz pencil beam radar for different designated use of millimeter-wave data. A set of three different focuses were tested – terrain mapping, obstacle detection and dust penetration. It is planed to evaluate the capability of mmw radar data in fusion with other sensors data for the usage as the only really dust-penetrating sensor for fighting the brownout problem. On the one hand in comparison with other sensors during normal conditions the radar delivers a much worse angular resolution on the other hand it might be the best sensor for remaining on the safe side during a brownout. In this paper the flight trials at NRC will be presented and a description of the radars general capability will be shown. The reader will have a look into the concept of multi-sensor-fusion as attempted in the ALLFlight project