NAVAID Calibration Drone is a mobile radio measuring complex developed by Cursir (subsidiary company, R&D department of RTS Union). It was used to pre-configure the radio equipment system at the Ulyanovsk airport. The use of Drone made it possible to reduce the number of flights of a specialized aircraft (a flying laboratory), speed up NAVAID commissioning and cut maintenance costs.
Alexander Tyurkin (Lead commissioning engineer, NPO RTS) said:
“The aerodrome of the Ulyanovsk-Vostochny airport has a difficult terrain, which complicates the preliminary configuration of the equipment. The use of a NAVAID Calibration Drone made it possible to set up the system in a short time and prepare for control flights performed by a special flight inspection aircraft.”
Vitaly Munirov (CEO, Cursir) emphasized that the use of NAVAID Calibration Drone radically changes the nature of commissioning, accelerates and reduces the cost of further flight inspections.
“Thanks to the use of a UAS platform, it is possible to perform preliminary configuration of the equipment without the involvement of a flight inspection aircraft. The cost of operating a NAVAID Calibration Drone is noticeably lower than that of a specialized aircraft, and the extensive functionality makes it possible to effectively solve a significant part of the tasks that arise during flight check of radio aids,” he said.
Background
The NAVAID Calibration Drone used by Cursir was designed for in-flight measurements of radio technical flight equipment. The Drone consists of a UAS platform, receiver and software. Due to its low weight and compact size, the receiver is placed on board an UAV. The complex is highly functional: it can be used to measure the parameters of such radio and navigation equipment as ILS, VOR/DVOR, RDF and light equipment. Compared to traditional measuring systems, carried by flight inspection aircrafts, the NAVAID Calibration Drone can significantly reduce the cost of performing flight checks by reducing the cost of performing many hour flights in the airfield area, flights between airports, also eliminating the cost of wages for flight crews.
About Cursir
Cursir was founded in Russia in 2015 to carry out scientific and practical research in the field of landing and navigation systems, as well as systems for their diagnostics and control. Resident of the Skolkovo Innovation Center.