Scott Nicholas
AeroVironment has introduced a long-range tracking antenna the company designed to increase the data transmission capacity of its Puma AE unmanned aircraft system.
The company said Tuesday the LRTA upgrade supports Puma systems equipped with Digital Data Link technology and seeks to help operators collect intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data at a range of approximately 37 miles.
The LTRA also features an M3/M4 DDL radio frequency technology designed to be compatible with various flight and ground assets such as Pocket Digital Data Link and Pocket RVT video transceivers.
Kirk Flittie, vice president and general manager of AeroVironment’s UAS business segment, said the company developed the antenna to help current Puma operators gather ISR data from a distance up to three times farther than that of a standard omni-directional antenna.
Puma UAS is built to land on ground or in water and function in harsh environments.
