SAHA Expo 2024 – Aselsan declares war on UAS with new passive detection, jamming and spoofing systems

Paolo Valpolini

At SAHA Expo 2024 Aselsan, the Turkish defence electronic giant, exhibited a series of systems aimed at defeating one of current most insidious threats, that of unmanned air vehicles, UAVs in short. Beside hard kill systems, one passive detection system and two soft kill systems were unveiled at the Istanbul event

Detecting the threat is the first step to defend yourself; beside radars and optronic systems, Aselsan is now adding a passive acoustic system, the SEDA 100, to further increase the overall probability of detection in difficult scenarios.

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The system, which has a total weight of less than 25 kg, comes in the form of a tripod which supports three series of arrays each with six microphones, for a total of 18, providing an azimuth coverage of 360° (the array layout allowing to have one sensor every 20°) and an elevation coverage of 90°. Each microphone is installed on an arm, the overall diameter of the array being under 1.5 metres. Those sensors operate in the 0.1-16 kHz band frequency, and can detect, classify and track micro- and mini-UAVs, Aselsan giving a probability of detection of more than 95%. As examples the company mentions the detection distances for some of the most widely used commercial UAVs often used as the base for First Person View (FPVs) drones; 1 km for DJU Phantom 4, 1.5 km for DJI Matrice 30T, 1.6 km for Talon, 3 km for Mugin, 0.5 km for DJI Avata, Mavic 3, Air 3 and Mini4 Pro. The drone library that allows not only to detect a UAV but also to identify it is under continuous development. Detection to classification time is around one second, in clear and calm air conditions.

The SEDA 100 can simultaneously detect up to 10 UAVs. The system is ruggedised, being designed to cope with the US MIL-STD-810G standard, the company also declaring a minimum IP65 ingress protection, which means the system is dust tight and is protected from water jets.

Aselsan experts told EDR On-Line that the new acoustic detection system is the perfect complement to radars and optronics where certain topography generates problems with radars. All figures provided above are in optimal conditions. In urban conditions the SEDA 100 will probably operate at its best when installed on a high building. It can obviously be installed on a vehicle, however performances on the move might be degraded due to the noise generated by the engine and wheels versus the low noise typical of FPVs.

Once detected and identified, UAVs must be neutralised, and beside hard kill solutions such as the Korkut 25 unveiled at the same exhibition, Aselsan showcased for the first time one jamming and one spoofing systems, respectively known as Kangal FPV and Bukalemun.

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The Kangal FPV is a reactive jammer that detects the up-link and down-link frequencies used by FPVs, and jams them, following any possible frequency shift used by FPVs to avoid being jammed. The Kangal FPV is a software-based, Direct Digital Synthesis-based (DDS), Field Programmable Gate Arrays-controlled (FPGA) swept jamming system allowing full 360° spherical coverage when using an omni-directional antenna, as the one visible at SAHA Expo, however directional antennas are also available for specific situations. It covers a wide frequency spectrum, Aselsan not specifying it, which allows to disturb signals used in remote control and video transmissions, as well as navigation signals used by GPS, Galileo, Glonass and Beidou GNSS systems, as well as data-link and telemetry data, all these being jammed simultaneously. The whole unit weighs less than 25 kg and can operate for over one hour on batteries, or unlimited if linked to a main power source. Aselsan is in the final testing phase and the Kangal FPV should soon enter service.

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Beside jamming, spoofing is the other technique used to neutralise FPVs, this mode allowing to lure the navigation suite, the system thinking to be at the right place while in fact it is somewhere else. The Bukalemun, chameleon in Turkish language, provides static and dynamic deception. In the first case it sends a constant GNSS signal, so the drone thinks to be somewhere else, while when being used in dynamic spoofing mode it can change the signal taking the drone where intended. As time is a critical issue in GNSS signals, according to Aselsan sources the Bukalemun is designed to fool the Kalman filter by swiftly modifying signals to avoid raising an alarm. The system is contained in a 620x620x320 mm box that operates on batteries, with an over one-hour operational time, or unlimited when connected to a main power source. Software algorithms were perfected over time and now prototypes have been completed and validated, and delivery will happen in the same timeframe of the Kangal FPV.

Photos by P. Valpolini

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