VCS-4586 Capabilities Guide

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Discover VCS-4586

VCS-4586 is an integrated command, control and information system designed for controlling and monitoring unmanned vehicle systems. It is the world’s first commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) control station software developed in accordance to STANAG 4586.

VCS-4586 allows operators to simultaneously control multiple vehicles of varying types from a single workstation and common user-interface. Vehicles and their associated sensors can be controlled and monitored in real-time though the software’s intuitive and user-friendly interface that can reconfigure itself to support the functionality of the vehicles it is controlling.

Easy to train and easy to operate, our software has been the platform of choice for unmanned vehicle system applications around the world. Our software has been used to operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), unmanned ground vehicles, air/sea target drones and loitering munitions for over 15 years. It is a suitable fit for all unmanned vehicle applications from civil to military, mini to large. It is considered a robust and proven platform and has been used to operate the AAI Aerosonde and RQ-7B Shadow, Boeing ScanEagle, Aurora Flight Sciences GoldenEye 80, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1C Sky Warrior, Meggitt Training Systems Barracuda, Hammerhead and Vindicator, Northrop Grumman MQ-5B Hunter and many more. Our software is installed in all the U.S. Army’s One System Ground Control Station shelters and has accumulated nearly 500,000 hours of operational use.

Interoperability with STANAG 4586

CDL Systems has been an active participant in the development and evolution of the NATO interoperability standard for unmanned vehicles: STANAG 4586. This standard establishes a common control protocol to promote UAV interoperability. It is regarded to be an effective standard for military and emerging commercial unmanned vehicle applications.

In the STANAG 4586 architecture, VCS-4586 communicates with the unmanned vehicle and its payloads through the Vehicle Specific Module (VSM), a component designed to translate the STANAG 4586 protocol to the vehicle’s native protocol and to encapsulate vehicle specific functionality. VCS-4586 can assume control of vehicles connected to a STANAG 4586 compatible VSM or communicate directly with vehicles that natively support the STANAG 4586 protocol. This enables the interoperability of unmanned vehicles and their sensors, irrespective of type, using a common operator interface.

In addition to developing VCS-4586, CDL Systems also develops VSMs for all unmanned vehicle applications.

Operator Software for Unmanned Vehicle Systems.

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Integrated Real-Time Video

Unmanned vehicles are primarily used for remote sensing applications. Access to real-time video from an Electro-Optic/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor is crucial to ensuring that mission objectives are consistently and effectively met. VCS-4586 includes an integrated video suite featuring:

• Support for analog video (NTSC, PAL)

• Support for digital video (MPEG-2 and H.264 with KLV

metadata (MISB 0601.2), as defined in STANAG 4609)

• Software-based decoding for digital video eliminating

the need for a dedicated video card

• Export of video and metadata to external C4I nodes (e.g.

remote video terminal (RVT) applications)

• Configurable textual and graphical overlays indicating

vehicle location and heading, sensor bearing and

elevation, height above target and slant range and

numerous other parameters

Live sensor and video data can be manipulated using built-in features that give the operator the ability to:

• Specify sensor stare-point by clicking on video display or map

• Toggle between EO, IR and EO/IR fused modes

• Dynamically control sensor zoom

• Operate sensor using a joystick

• Capture and save still video frames as images (JPG, TIFF, lossless NITF2.1 with metadata)

• Pause video and associated metadata in real-time

• Measure geographical distance and bearing between any two points on video display

• Use hotkeys to access commonly used functions

• Adjust video brightness, contrast, hue and saturation for viewing

In order to readily interface with a variety of sensor platforms, VCS-4586 supports several common sensor operation modes:

• Inertial (stare-point remains at a fixed coordinate and can be manually slewed)

• Point-at-Coordinates (stare-point remains fixed at designated coordinate)

• Heading hold (stare-point remains at a fixed heading and can be manually slewed)

• Autotrack (stare-point tracks the image at the center of sensor field of view)

• Rectangular- and strip-based wide area search patterns

VCS-4586 Capabilities & Features

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Interactive Map for Enhanced Situational Awareness

Map-centric functionality.

Situational awareness is key in ensuring mission effectiveness and operational safety. An interactive map serves as the primary situational awareness component of VCS-4586. It provides real-time geo-referenced position and direction information of all operational components including vehicles, sensors and data links. By clicking directly on the map, the operator can:

• Assume system-wide control of a vehicle/sensor in a multiple vehicle/sensor operation

• Specify a heading or loiter point for a vehicle• Specify a stare-point location for an EO/IR sensor• Define and modify mission waypoints• Capture and save screenshot of map (JPG, BMP,

PNG, XPM, NITF2.1 with metadata)

• Adjust map zoom from 13% to 800%

Design based on commonly used standards.

Every application and mission is unique. To accommodate a wide range of common standards and operator preferences, the map supports:

• Latitude and longitude (DMS, DMM), MGRS and UTM coordinate systems

• Over 30 commonly used geodetic datums (WGS84, NAD27, etc.)

• Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) Level 0, Level 1, Level 2

• Import of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) raster formats (ADRG, CADRG, CIB)

• Common Operating Picture (COP)

• MIL-STD-2525B symbols and tactical graphics

• Importing of scanned maps, digital maps, satellite imagery, and other geo-referenced

imagery

Manage targets, restriction zones and points of interest with object layers.

The various dynamic entities that appear on the map are organized into object layers. Object layers are used to facilitate and enhance situational awareness by showing the operator information necessary for the mission. VCS-4586 allows a high level of interaction with the various objects appearing on the map enabling operators to:

• Designate and manage lists of targets and points of interest• Use the MIL-STD-2525B symbol set to designate hostile, friendly, neutral and unknown targets• Command an EO/IR or Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor to monitor a designated target or

point of interest• Send a Tactical Communication (TACCOM) message with target information through C4I

infrastructure• Specify multi-sided “no-fly” and “no-look” zones• Interface with external third-party applications through the API to display customized

overlays on map

• De-clutter map by specifying which layers or information to hide

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Mission Planning and Management

A comprehensive mission editor.

VCS-4586 allows operators to automate certain vehicle and sensor tasks, thereby allowing them to focus on mission objectives. The following types of missions can be automated:

• Flight routes (specified as a series of waypoints for vehicle to

travel across)

• Contingency routes (specified action to be taken in the event

of link-loss or other emergency)

• Search patterns (specified zone of interest to be systematically

searched by sensor)

Mission editor features include:

• Real-time creation and modification of flight/contingency

routes and search patterns

• Point-and-click selection of mission waypoints on map

• Manual entry of location coordinates, altitude and speed

parameters of mission waypoints

• A 2-D terrain display to illustrate the position of route mission

waypoints relative to terrain profile

• Mission validation to indicate terrain violations, airspace

constraints and data link coverage outages

Vehicle management.

VCS-4586 specializes in multiple vehicle control and allowing operators to effectively manage sensor platforms and focus on mission tasks. To facilitate this, VCS-4586 features a high level of autonomous vehicle control. Using the point-and-click user interface, operators can send mission, loiter and other control commands to the vehicle with the software determining and executing the optimal course of action. These actions are executed in a manner that keep the vehicles within their respective operational envelopes. The user-interface is engineered based on human factors considerations that keep the operator fully aware of commanded intentions and vehicle status.

Built-in flight modes.

A number of automatic flight modes commonly used by UAVs are available to the operator:

• Points Navigation (configurable loiter pattern: circular,

racetrack, hover, figure-8)

• Mission (vehicle flies pre-planned mission route)

• Camera Guide (loiter point determined by sensor stare-

point location)

• Launch (initiates vehicle specific launch sequence)

• Autoland (initiates vehicle specific automatic landing

sequence)

• Waveoff (initiates vehicle specific behavior in the event of

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an aborted landing)

Vehicle specific configurability.

VCS-4586 can dynamically update its user-interface based on STANAG 4586 configuration messages as the operator switches between different vehicles and sensors. Components such as digital readouts and instrumentation specific to those vehicles and sensors appear on the user-interface while unnecessary components are hidden from view. This vehicle specific configurability keeps the interface de-cluttered, organized and relevant, thereby increasing the operator’s overall effectiveness.

Data link management.

VCS-4586 supports omni, line-of-sight (e.g. Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL)) and satellite data links. It allows operators to configure, control and monitor ground data terminals (GDT) and airborne data terminals (ADT) by enabling them to:

• Set up data link parameters by initializing and managing data link frequencies, rates and

encryption codes

• Auto-align data link pedestal antenna azimuth and elevation

• Use built-in auto-tracking algorithms to automatically track vehicles by adjusting antenna azimuth

and elevation

• Determine optimal data link location in operational area

Operational Safety

Operator awareness is crucial in operating multiple vehicles and sensor platforms efficiently and safely to effectively achieve mission objectives. VCS-4586 is the product of extensive human factors research and every facet of the software is engineered with a strong focus on operational safety and considerations that enhance operator awareness. The software is designed to keep the operator informed of the overall system status and to provide indications of abnormalities in real-time. Some design features include:

• Consistent software-wide color scheme to clearly distinguish

downlink and uplink parameters

• High level of autonomous vehicle and sensor control

• Automatic safety features (e.g. automatic minimum altitude

clearance)

• Popup warning, caution and advisory (WCA) messaging system

• Color-coded WCA messages to indicate level of severity

• Intelligent synchronization on vehicle takeover

• Support for audible alerts and messages

• Over 75 built-in messages originating from 14 subsystems

• An API for easily adding customized WCA messages

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Deployment and Integration

Network-centric functionality.

VCS-4586 is designed as a robust network-centric platform highly adapted for connectivity to third-party applications and C4I infrastructure. Its design enables it to directly connect to vehicles, sensors and data links as network nodes and allows easy integration of external applications through the built-in VCS-4586 API.

Easy to train, easy to operate.

An intuitive point-and-click interface for vehicle and sensor control and high levels of autonomy for automating operator tasks means that operators don’t need extensive training. Instead, operators are able to focus their attention on mission and sensor management. Operators use a similar user-interface for all vehicles, eliminating the need for onerous cross-platform training.

The built-in simulator application can be used for basic operator training and mission rehearsal. VCS-4586 can be integrated with various synthetic terrain environments offering operators the ability to train and rehearse with unprecedented realism. Virtually any synthetic environment can be integrated through the VCS-4586 API which gives public access to all internal variables. Some existing integrations include VCS-4586 and:

• CAE STRIVE and Medallion S

• MetaVR VRSG

• Microsoft Flight Simulator X

• MultiGen-Paradigm Vega Prime

• Multiple Unified Simulation Environment (MUSE)

• Simlat ST-1

Versatile system integration.

VCS-4586 is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software solution. Whether it’s run on a state-of-the-art Linux platform with two high-resolution monitors or a stripped down ruggedized laptop with a low-resolution display, the software is engineered to work. The VCS-4586 user-interface is designed to make effective use of screen real estate and to take advantage of Linux, Solaris and Windows operating systems. This hardware flexibility affords a high level of customizability in the ground control station design and setup.

For more information on VCS-4586 or CDL Systems products and services, please contact

Sundeep Kharey at skharey@cdlsystems.com.

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0029246 3/2013

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