Airbus’s Deployable Surveillance Tower 

 

The CIS Security Solutions a business unit of Airbus Defence and Space, recently opened a surveillance sensor test site at a coastal facility in Schleswig Holstein, Germany 

The purpose of setting up operations on the coast is to test and evaluate the Actacor®  Deployable Surveillance Tower and associated equipment which will be used in the framework of border security projects in the Arabian Gulf region. The same solution will be operated by Airbus DS in Germany as a mid-term reference system. 

 

The coastal version of the surveillance tower operates with following sensors: Terma Radar Scanter Series 5202, Hensoldt NightOwl M camera and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) for vessel identification. The configuration will soon be completed by a Radio Direction Finder. 

 

The test site in northern Germany is operated remotely via a permanent fiber optic datalink which connects with the border security test lab at the Airbus site in southern Germany. The distance between the two sites is approx. 920 km.

 

The project implementation opens up the possibility of developing and testing a new generation of deployable surveillance towers. 

 

By combining market-proven tower segments as commercial-off-the-shelf products with a purpose-built sensor platform a new type of surveillance tower has been developed.  

By using fully prefabricated tower segments and a steel sensor platform a construction and deployment time of 3.5 days can be attained. All steel elements of the tower adhere to international road transport regulations. Only the provision of a mobile crane is required to construct this type of tower.  

 

The pre-cast steel concrete blocks which form the foundation are designed in accordance with the particular ground conditions of the site and can be transported by heavy goods vehicles. A hard-standing site setup area is prepared. The surveillance tower adheres to all relevant static engineering requirements up to a height of 30 metres. Due to the tower’s ease of construction and installation it can also be rapidly dismantled and repositioned should operational needs demand such flexibility.

 

The land version of the tower can integrate a ‘multi-sensor kit’, comprising a dedicated surveillance radar and a powerful electro-optical / thermal imagery (EO/IR) camera

As the installation of the tower requires only a mobile crane and additional steel welding work it offers almost 100 % independence of construction companies in third countries.  

 

Please Contact: Hugh Sinclair, Airbus Defence and Space GmbH