German developers are demonstrating in Ukraine a new drone called HCX, which is immune to interference and radio frequency detection because it communicates with its operator via a fiber optic cable.
Small drones are omnipresent in this conflict; Ukraine plans to build more than a million this year. But radio frequency interference has also intensified. In a recent speech, the French army’s chief of staff, General Pierre Schill, claimed that 75% of the drones in Ukraine had been destroyed by electronic devices. war, severing the link between the drone and its operator, suggesting that the drone’s reign could soon come to an end.
The HCX made by HIGHCAT, founded in Konstanz, Germany, unwinds a fiber optic cable in flight. This provides a high bandwidth awareness link that is insensitive to radio interference. And since there is no radio broadcast, neither the operator nor the drone can be positioned and aimed.
Jan Hartmann, co-founder of HIGHCAT, explains that the cable only exerts a force of about 250 grams on the drone, so it does not interfere with flight. It has a variety of flights up to 12 miles/20 kilometers. The drone drops the cable like a trail of breadcrumbs, so it doesn’t get tangled.
“The fiber is strong—flying over trees and water is not a problem,” Hartmann says. “Flying in circles is also very good and the drone can even fly backwards. “
Previous efforts to expand fiber optic guidance for drones include DARPA’s Close Combat Lethal Recon (CCLR) in the early 2000s and a Russian drone captured in Ukraine in March. DARPA eventually abandoned fiber optics for radio and the CCLR became the SwitchBlade. used by US forces. The Russian drone appears to have been an experimental style and only one example has been seen. Some missiles, such as the TOW, use guidance over copper wires, but they only bring signals and do not transmit video.
((There are also drones tethered with a thick cable that transmits force and data, but they are limited to flying over their base station and are therefore necessarily static towers or electronic warfare platforms). )
Fiber optics have gained little interest in the future because radio works so well and interference wasn’t considered a problem. But in Ukraine’s intense electronic warfare environment, drone brands will have to keep replacing their operating frequency due to the intensity of interference. Some combat vehicles now feature several roof-mounted drone jammers to create a protective “bubble” several hundred meters in diameter, while both sides now deploy a large number of backpack jammers and anti-drone cannons, rifle-like pistols that fire a narrow radius beam. Waves.
“The generation was designed with the front lines in mind, especially the existing advances in Ukraine,” says Hartmann. “We sought to create a COTS [Commercial Off The Shelf] formula that could not be hindered by enemy combatants. “
The HCX drone can fly unhindered in maximum intensity electronic warfare. But getting it into the paint wasn’t easy.
“The fiberglass should not be too easy to unwind, otherwise it will come off on its own due to the impact of the propeller,” says Hartmann. “In addition, the fiberglass will not have to twist when unwinding, otherwise it will break. The Fly-By-Fiber generation uses specially wound and coated fiberglass spools, which are installed using a special winding technique.
DARPA’s Close Combat Lethal Recon Drone, a Fiber-Optic Guided Loitering Munition for Urban Combat
Fiber optic steering involves a huge penalty for the radio. The maximum HCX payload is five pounds/11 pounds, however, some of this load is absorbed through the fiber optic cable coil. Six miles of cable weighs about 3 pounds, so a drone with a full 12-mile coil only has about five pounds of payload. However, Hartmann notes that this is more than enough for a 10x optical zoom camera with thermal imaging. Or a decent-sized ammunition.
Other benefits come with a popular 1000Base-T connection with a speed of 1000 megabits per second, approximately one hundred times that of a radio link, ensuring a clear, high-definition view of the flight. And while other FPV drones lose their connection when they descend below the radio horizon during the final dive over a target, a fiber optic drone will maintain communication.
The fiber optic connection provides a clearer picture than the radio knowledge link.
In principle, this type of drone can also explore the interior of buildings or tunnels. Radio bandwidth limitations mean that only a few radio-controlled drones can operate in an area, but HCX drones can fly without interference.
The HCX could also later serve as a fiber optic cable, a high-capacity link for combat positions, which could be used when other means of communication are blocked.
The other generation that evolved to fight interference is autonomy, with AI-equipped drones completing their missions after wasting communication with the operator. Fibre optic communications have the merit of being able to transmit video photographs in real time, while a stand-alone drone will have to do so. Wait until you can return to radio diversity to download data.
Hartmann says HIGHCAT is in talks with several potential customers/sponsors but can’t give details. Later this month, a team will travel to Ukraine to demonstrate HCX and show how genuinely it works. The plan is to test it in a controlled environment opposed to a jammer, but drones can get much closer to real Russian jammers.
“If you want to see it first-hand, this is possible,” says Hartmann.
HIGHCAT aims to have the HCX ready for production in November and at that time could produce 3,000 games per month in combination with its business partner ODM GmbH. If HCX is successful, others will most likely follow suit, and drones with fiber optics features will most likely proliferate. Which is bad news for anyone who relies on blockers themselves.
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