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ScaleFlyt Antijamming: against interference and jamming threats

The Thales ScaleFlyt Antijamming solutions allow safe and secure long-range UAV operations against interference and jamming threats of drone GNSS navigation.

Most drones fly using GNSS as the primary source for navigation. Intentional jamming or unintentional interference can jeopardize your mission with critical impacts (loss of drone, mission aborted or range reduced) due to external signals that may overlap with satellite signals. With no protection, flying in the sphere of the jammer will immediately halt your mission.

Antijamming: to allow safe and secure long-range drone operations


ScaleFlyt GNSS antijamming protects the drone against jammers, increases the operational range of the drone in case of jamming, and provides indicators allowing the operator to redefine the drone route.

Nowadays, GPS jamming and spoofing threats are increasing. The very low power levels associated with GNSS signals make them vulnerable to jamming, whether intentional or not. This is of particular concern to military users on missions where the availability of GNSS information is critical but also for civil applications especially for BVLOS applications. Since conventional antennas are non-directional, they are not aimed at any particular point in space. Interference is received in the same way as satellite signals.

Antijam: how does it work?


Controlled Radiation Pattern Antennas (CRPAs) are the underlying principle. This involves modifying the non-directional antenna pattern to form a dynamically controlled pattern that optimises the GNSS signal-to-noise ratio. The technique of interference rejection is when the antenna is controlled to minimise the power level of interference sources (“nulls” are introduced into the antenna pattern in the direction of the jammers).

At the end, the CRPA detects the presence and directional angle of the jammer. Then, the CRPA is able to alert the pilot and cancel signals of the jammer and provides jammed-free GPS/GNSS signals. 

 

ScaleFlyt Antijamming: protect and alert during drone flights


The ScaleFlyt GNSS Antijamming add-on, dedicated to all civil unmanned vehicles, rejects GPS/GNSS jamming signals, protecting your navigation. The easiest integration combined with the high jamming resistance and the enhanced jamming indicators will secure drone operations and efficiency. The level of interference detected is available, enabling the drone operator to know the threat level intensity (low to high). ScaleFlyt GNSS Antijamming enables the jammer’s range of influence to be reduced by a factor of 10.

ScaleFlyt technology for high performance


Thanks to Thales expertise in GNSS antijamming technology for bigger platforms, Controlled Radiation Pattern Antenna (CRPA) for Helicopter/Combat Aircraft, and new Radio Frequency technology, the ScaleFlyt GNSS Antijamming solution ensures best STAP (Space Time Adaptive Processing) algorithm performance in miniaturized hardware.

The solution annuls wide band (WB) jammers, cancels continuous wave (CW) and narrowband (NB) interferers in their direction, and therefore provides full performance for the satellite outside of the nulling diagram.

The CRPA is considered the best interference protection for GNSS receivers against interference and jamming. The antenna array and the Associated Electronic Unit (AEU) perform a destructive combination of the interfering signals received, enhancing the availability of GNSS-based navigation systems.

The antijamming process is updated every millisecond to fit with the dynamic environment and fast-moving jammers, even protecting your drone against non-static jammers.