UAV Satcom / Thales AVIATOR 210U

The Thales AVIATOR 210U was specifically designed for UAVs to provide satcom connectivity for Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) operations. It replaces the Cobham AVIATOR UAV 200 in the same form factor. The 210U can be used to remotely pilot the aircraft and provide video feed for situational awareness. It is also capable of delivering video feed for surveillance activities, including Search and Rescue. The unit takes feeds from onboard sensors to send aircraft health and endurance data back to ground personnel. With two Ethernet ports and configurable RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485 serial ports, it interfaces with a wide range of customer-specific devices.

The AVIATOR 210U combines all satcom components in a single stand-alone compact unit with low weight (1.5 kg or 3.3 lb) and low power consumption: approximately 20 W in standby and 36 W maximum while transmitting. Besides DC power, the only external input necessary is INS / AHRS navigation data, due to the advanced antenna design. The 210U has a unique low gain electronically steered antenna allowing full Inmarsat / Viasat L-band hemisphere coverage to 5° elevation, where competing units only offer coverage to 20° elevation.

The AVIATOR 210U is compatible with government-grade encryption and secure communications standards including STU-IIIB, STE, TACLANE, KIV-7 and BRENT. The AVIATOR 210U suits Group 2, Upper Group 3 and Group 4/5 UAS, from small tactical drones to larger RPA / RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft / Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems) used for military, surveillance and public safety missions. Navigation data section (add after Paragraph 3, with its own heading: Navigation Data): The AVIATOR 210U steers its antenna using the aircraft's navigation data: position, velocity, heading, roll and pitch. The terminal does not contain its own INS (inertial navigation system), so this data must come from the aircraft. The AVIATOR 210U accepts navigation data from most UAV autopilots that can send position, attitude and heading over serial (NMEA 0183) or Ethernet. This includes ArduPilot and PX4 based autopilots, such as CubePilot and Auterion Skynode, plus professional and military-grade systems including Embention Veronte, Collins Aerospace Piccolo, UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía VECTOR and MicroPilot. It can also take data from a standalone INS / AHRS. Contact Air Sat One to confirm compatibility with your autopilot and configuration. If the UAV will operate in contested airspace where GPS jamming or spoofing may occur, we recommend an INS/AHRS rated for GPS-denied operation. If your aircraft does not have a suitable navigation source, Air Sat One provides inertial navigation systems for the AVIATOR 210U. [Contact Air Sat One]

Radome and Installation Requirements: The AVIATOR 210U mounts inside the airframe and must be installed under a radome or RF-transparent fuselage section with the clearest possible view of the sky. Radome material: fiberglass preferred Maximum thickness: 1.5 mm Minimum clearance between the terminal dust cover and the inside of the radome: 10 mm Other RF-transparent materials: maximum dielectric permittivity 5.2, maximum loss tangent 0.025, same thickness and clearance limits Do not use carbon fiber over the terminal. Carbon fiber blocks the satellite signal. Airframes built mainly from carbon fiber need an RF-transparent section above the terminal. Mount the terminal as level as possible on a thermally conductive plate or structure, using the six mounting points, which also provide the electrical ground.

Air Sat One provides value-added services for the UAV 200 with our SBB Class 4 Airtime Packages and our Special Mission Satcom Solutions that include Hybrid Satellite / Terrestrial Connectivity and our Flightstream™ SA services. Flightstream SA includes, among many other features, network traffic control, which gives the UAV operator the ability to prioritize traffic to make sure critical data is handled accordingly. Our video solutions are custom tailored for the UAV 200 and allow streaming video through the SwiftBroadband pipe - for more information on our video hardware and software solutions see our SatCom Video page.

• Part Number: 677-A0232
• Configuration: Single Line Replaceable Unit
• Service: Class 4 SwiftBroadband, Viasat L-band, coverage from 5° to 90° elevation
• Background data: up to 200 kbps
• HDR streaming IP: up to ~200 kbps (legacy streaming class: 32 kbps)
• Weight: 1.5 kg (3.3 lb)
• Dimensions: 241 x 157 x 63 mm
• Power: 12-30.5 VDC, approx. 20 W standby, 36 W max transmit
• Navigation input: aircraft autopilot (ArduPilot, PX4), INS / AHRS via NMEA 0183 serial, or Ethernet
• User interfaces: 2 x 10/100Base-T Ethernet; serial as 2 x RS-232, or 1 x RS-422 + 1 x RS-485, or 2 x RS-485
• Connector: single 34-way Nicomatic DMM (mates with Nicomatic D222SP34D53)
• Operating temperature: -40 °C to +55 °C; altitude to 50,000 ft; tested to RTCA DO-160G
• Mounting: six 8-32 UNC screws; install under a fiberglass or other RF-transparent radome (no carbon fiber over the antenna)
• Other: Status LED, discrete reset input, built-in web interface, USIM under cover plate

Air Sat One has kitted the tools and parts necessary for the termination of the AVIATOR 210U and UAV 200 Nicomatic connector. Not included are basic tools such as wire strippers and the Daniels Crimp Tool. Air Sat One Service Information Letter SIL-ASO-008 is included and assists with terminating the connector by providing information that is either in various documents or is not available in OEM manuals.