NovAtel’s GAJT Anti-Jam Antenna On-Board Schiebel’s Camcopter S-100 UAS

NovAtel’s compact GAJT anti-jam antenna is now on-board Schiebel’s CAMCOPTER S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS). 

Schiebel focused on the development, testing and production of the CAMCOPTER S-100UAS, as well as mine detection equipment, is a long-time customer of NovAtel’s high precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning technology.

In 2015, Schiebel was evaluating NovAtel’s GAJT antenna as an option for offering anti-jam capabilities on its CAMCOPTER S-100. A Schiebel customer had an immediate operations requirement to combat GPS jamming.  The Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) nature of its GAJT antenna allowed NovAtel to supply Schiebel the requested anti-jam capabilities. In turn Schiebel was able to deploy the strategically equipped CAMCOPTER to its customer within the requested timeframe.

GAJT is a null-forming antenna system which ensures satellite signals necessary to compute position and time are always available. It is available in versions suitable for land, air, sea and fixed installations. It provides anti-jam performance comparable to much larger systems, but at a significantly lower cost. Easily integrated into new platforms, it can also be retrofitted with the existing GPS receivers and navigation systems on existing and legacy military fleets.

CAMCOPTER S-100 UAS is a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAS needs no prepared area or supporting launch or recovery equipment. It operates during daytime and at night, under adverse weather conditions, with a beyond line-of-sight capability out to 200 km, both on land and at sea. The S-100 navigates via pre-programmed GPS waypoints or is operated with a pilot control unit. Missions are planned and controlled via a simple point-and-click graphical user interface. High definition payload imagery is transmitted to the control station in real time. Using "fly-by-wire" technology controlled by a triple-redundant flight computer, the UAV can complete its mission automatically. Its carbon fiber and titanium fuselage provides capacity for a wide range of payload/endurance combinations up to a service ceiling of 18,000 ft.