Cambridge Pixel Unveils Groundbreaking Radar Interface Designed for the Growing Unmanned Surface Vehicle Industry

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, May 11, 2016 – Cambridge Pixel, a renowned developer of radar display, tracking, and recording subsystems, has unveiled USVx, a groundbreaking radar display application for overseeing radar sensors and tracking functionalities on unmanned or autonomous surface vehicles (USV/ASVs).

Cambridge Pixel’s USVx radar display software is designed for developers and manufacturers of USVs. USVx provides a cohesive display interface that features radar, track data, AIS (automatic identification system) details, contextual maps, and NMEA-0183 navigation data from the USV.

USVx boasts a robust and user-friendly graphical interface tailored for easy touchscreen interaction, allowing operators to modify range scales, remotely control radar and tracker functionalities, and monitor alerts and tracking updates. The fusion software merges AIS reports with radar tracks, enhancing situational awareness.

Unmanned surface vehicles operate independently on water, managed from a terrestrial base or mothership. A standard surveillance USV is equipped with an array of sensors that facilitate self-navigation and autonomous decision-making. Radar is the primary sensor for most ASV operations, providing essential data for navigation and obstacle avoidance.

The demand for USVs is increasing rapidly, spurred by the requirements of naval forces and commercial organizations globally seeking enhanced maritime security solutions – combating terrorism, piracy, smuggling, safeguarding coastal waters and ports, and undertaking environmental monitoring.

Mark Saunders, sales director at Cambridge Pixel, commented: “We are excited to spearhead innovation in USV technology. Our proficiency in extracting and tracking targets from radar video is ideally positioned for autonomous vessels. We are currently partnering with several leading USV developers who rely on us for our capacity to interface with various radar systems and offer modules for radar acquisition, processing, tracking, fusion, and capture.”

“With the introduction of USVx, we can now deliver to our partners a fully functional client application that provides clear, maritime-style visualization of radar video, tracks, and AIS data, alongside our SPx software suite,” remarked Saunders, “giving integrators the flexibility to utilize only the components they require for their specific solutions.”

Cambridge Pixel’s array of interoperable radar processing, display, and recording solutions is adaptable to various USV platforms, enabling localized data processing and remote display of radar and camera feeds at command centers.

“Mission data recording is another crucial element of USV operations and can be managed by our radar data recorder (RDR), which captures and archives radar video, track data, camera feeds, AIS, and navigation information from the remote vehicle,” added Mark Saunders. “The mission data stored by the RDR can be replayed through USVx for post-mission evaluation and analysis.”

Cambridge Pixel’s technology is employed in naval, air traffic management, vessel traffic, commercial shipping, security, surveillance, and airborne radar sectors. Its systems have been deployed in mission-critical roles for companies such as BAE Systems, Frontier Electronic Systems, Barco Defense, Blighter Surveillance Systems, DRS, Exelis, Kelvin Hughes, Lockheed Martin, Navantia, Navtech Radar, Raytheon, Royal Thai Air Force, Samsung Thales, Sofresud, and Tellumat.

For more information about Cambridge Pixel’s USVx radar display application, please contact: +44 (0) 1763 852749 or email: enquiries@cambridgepixel.com.

Cambridge Pixel is collaborating with its North American distributor EIZO Rugged Solutions (formerly Tech Source) at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo 2016 (Stand 1019), Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, Maryland, USA from 16-18 May. The company will be showcasing its new USVx radar display, along with its radar processing software, target tracking capabilities, and radar data recorder.