Following a successful showing at the 2010 edition, Tellumat once again exhibited at the African Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition, which ran from 19 to 23 September this year.
Since the last show, Tellumat’s empowerment credentials have improved to a Level 2 BBBEE rating and coupled with its value-adding supplier status, customers can now count 156,25% of their purchasing spend with Tellumat towards their BBBEE procurement total.
This is the seventh AAD exhibition since its inception, and Tellumat’s focus is on two core capabilities: Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) avionics. “The primary goal is to stage our pure defence, aerospace and air traffic management portfolios, as well as Tellumat Communication Solutions’ professional services”, said Brian Ferguson, marketing manager for Tellumat Defence.
The requirement to positively identify platforms in the combat system environment is critical, and IFF offers a unique and secure means of providing such identification. Standardisation of modes, codes and cryptographic keys ensures interoperability between different arms of service.
Equally crucial is the provision of cryptographic management systems which provide customers with the means of developing and maintaining national secure IFF capabilities.
“Utilising common industry standards, protocols and Built-In Test (BIT) capabilities enables our IFF products to be quickly and easily integrated into platforms operating in the combat environment”, says Ferguson. Similarly, Integrated Logistic Support (ILS), including test benches and IFF testers, are essential to the successful maintenance capabilities for IFF systems over their lifecycles.
Tellumat Defence launch the latest edition to its family of IFF products, the PR-4000 IFF interrogator, at the show. This medium- to long-range 19” rack-mounted IFF/Mode S interrogator offers compatibility with various cryptographic computer types.
On the UAV avionics front, Tellumat Defence continues to be optimistic. David Jackson, UAS product manager, believes UAV avionics growth will persist and even improve over the coming years and for that reason Tellumat Defence has not only started making the avionics smaller and lighter, but they have also become smarter about what they have as part of their solutions.
Tellumat used AAD 2012 as a platform to announce the arrival of its most recent customised UAV avionics range. The Flight Mission Computer (FMC), designed with capabilities that can handle communications, payloads and failures, does everything that a commercial FMC can do and is compatible with any commercial UAV.
On display was Tellumat Defence’s new Sensor Pack, combining all sensor elements into one box, offering clients a complete GPS/Inertial Navigation System (INS) product. It weighs less than 400 g and can be accommodated by any UAV size between 5 kg and 450 kg.
“Everything around a UAV is mass-based - it is the single biggest driver apart from the cost. Together our FMC and Sensor Pack can save about 18 kg and thus provide 24 litres of additional fuel depending on the UAV,” said Jackson.
Also on display was Tellumat Defence’s own lightweight, practical, rugged and weatherproof tracking system. “Equipped with two grid antennas, the small rotator is cost effective, yet viable for several users”, explained Jackson.
The DL-5000, a 3 kg payload data link unit, was also on view. It can provide radio capability over a very long distance, effectively solving the problem of small commercial UAVs currently in the market which are unable to manage data links.
For more information contact Brian Ferguson, Tellumat Defence, +27 (0)21 710 2456, [email protected], www.tellumat.com
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