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Fiquei tão espantado com o novo OLS, que resolvi colocar aqui, já tinha lido aqui um bocadinho, creio que postado pelo Carlos, mas creio ser um avanço muito maior do que parece:
Since the 80's development of IRST systems was nearly stagnant. Existing systems were considered sufficient for their tasks until recently. The Russian Mig-35, an upgraded Mig-29 is now available for export has a new IRST system integrated with optical and laser systems, and it poses a significant challenge even to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Dassault Rafale. This system is unique in the amount of tasks it can perform when compared to older IRST systems. It can provide targeting solutions for ground and air targets at up to 15km. It can detect missiles thanks only to the warmth generated by air resistance on their nose and can provide the pilot with a detailed trajectory and it can do all these tasks across the full 360 degrees of the battlefield compared to its contemporaries that usually only provided a certain amount of coverage in front of the pilot.
New MiG-35 OLS video
By Pavel | April 6, 2007 on 5:21 pm | In Aviation Video, Mikoyan, Smotr, MiG-35 |
Amazing material about new Optical Locator System (OLS) of MiG-35. Smotr program from NII PP - Science and research institute of precise instruments, which has won the MiG corporation tender for the new MiG-35 OLS.
Russian language, translation inside the post.
The newest Russian fighter MiG-35 has become a star of latest airshow “Aero India 2007″. Visitors weren’t able to get their eyes out of this plane. Foreign pilots had felt a big luck if they were able to have a test flight on 4++ generation fighter.
But from the most beginning almost nobody has paid attention to some new features in the overall view of the plane. Only most attentive experts have spotted the new shape of the onboard OLS (optical locator station) and some new elements on the plane. It says a lot for the specialists. MiG corporation team didn’t make a secret out of it - on the airshow in Bangalore MiG-35 has presented completely new Russian product - OLS. It has attracted a lot of specialists’ attention, today in the world there is no similar systems.
It looks like the development of such a system took dozens of years. But current project has started only several years ago. It has begun from the visit of MiG specialists to the NII PP - Federal space agency science and research institute of the precise instruments.
Viktor Shargorodsky, NII PP general designer: “One day we met RSK MiG deputy chief designer and he has asked us a simple question: “Do you know avionics?”. We answered him that in general yes, but never had such developments. He said that it is very good and gave us several technical task definitions to check. And asked us not to discuss it with professional avionics designers.”
Such unusual request was explained very easily. MiG engineers were looking for people who could do OLS development from zero, ignoring existing experience. Only this way it was possible to make a completely new system in short time period.
MiG engineers have defined basic points of the optical locator system development:
- multispectrality. System should work both in visible and IR ranges
- integrity. TV and IR systems, laser ranging system should be united in one solid construction
- system should work on wide angles, up to 360 and identify shapes of aerial and ground targets
Before this meeting with MiG specialists, NII PP was dealing mostly with space technologies - it was developing devices for the communication and instruments for the space vehicles movements parameters measuring.
Viktor Shargorodsky, NII PP general designer: “By that time we had good experience. Our orbit ranging systems for the tasks of mapping were in space for about 50 times already. It was built the net of laser stations to detect changes in space vehicles evolutions. We had a very good progress in laser space communication systems too.”
Right now you may see the newest laser communication system. Soon this exact device will be delivered to the ISS and will provide Russian spacemen with stable wide data channel with Earth. Space devices from the GLONAS (Russian global navigation system) net are equipped with NII PP instruments.
Even on the satellites of the GPS and Galileo systems there are deflectors created here, in the NII PP.
It is well-known that devices on the unmanned space vehicles should meet two main requirements. The First one is reliability.
Viktor Shargorodsky, NII PP general designer: “If some device becomes unserviceable it means failure of all the mission, it is loss of really big money. It is cost of spacerocket, space unit, it’s unfullfilled obligations.”
Second requirement: devices should be built using hi-tech technologies. Besides, it should have maximal functionality, minimal weight, meet extremely wide requirements by the temperature and mechanical influence, and in addition - should work without any service for a long time.
Viktor Shargorodsky, NII PP general designer: “We get used to it. We always had to do really reliable high-tech devices. This what starting requirements were again.”
Technical solutions tested on the spaceships were put into basement for the new OLS complex of MiG-35 fighter.
It was announced tender on the new OLS for the MiG fighters and terms were defined.
Viktor Shargorodsky, NII PP general designer: “We have put a task for a very small time limits, it’s very unusual for the development. Besides it was the first time we met business relationships, when it is “now or never”. There is no time to wait. There is nobody to complain to. And there is nobody to ask for additional funds.”
Main competitors of the NII PP in this tender were developers of the first OLS with their huge experience.
Viktor Shargorodsky, NII PP general designer: “And then it started. When the first test flights took place, everybody started to believe in us because of results we have shown.”
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “New OLS is much more effective. Two-three times only by range. Old OLS didn’t have TV channel, so it means no picture at all - no TV, no IR. That’s why some of the functions just was impossible to implement.”
At the end of the story NII PP has won the tender on the OLS complex for the MiG-35 fighter.
OLS, as well as radar, allows to detect targets and aim weapon systems. But, unlike the radar, OLS has no emission which means - can’t be detected. OLS works like a human eye - it gets picture and analyzes it. Usually it’s been said radars are the eyes of the plane. But to be exact, it’s more locator device, like whales has. But OLS is really the eyes of the plane and they are very sharp.
OLS works not only in visible bands. Very important part of “plane vision” is IR picture. NII PP engineers has chosen more short-wave bands for the matrix, which has increased sensitivity of the complex in several times and has increased detection range greatly.
MiG-35 OLS may see USAF stealth planes very nicely as well. Today it’s impossible to hide the plane from the complex of powerful optics with IR vision.
Viktor Shargorodsky, NII PP general designer: “Stealth technology today is mostly decreasing it’s visibility in radio bands. But for the optical bands, especially in IR ranges the main parameter is temperature. And you can do nothing about it. Engines have great flow of hot air which can be detected perfectly from the big range if we are behind the plane. If we are going face to face, so first of all we still see some part of this flow and second we can see the front edges of wings which meet air flow and become warm too.”
NII PP engineers solved one more problem, very well-known among the military pilots. On fast speeds of modern fighters every piece of dust makes great harm to the glass of OLS, the glass becomes blurred. It causes great decrease of all the complex effectiveness. New OLS uses leuco- sapphire to be a second firm material after artificial diamonds. Time of life for such a glass is much longer. Leuco-sapphire is clear for all the OLS emissions and doesn’t corrupt the signal, which is extremely important for the optical systems.
All these innovations have allowed to receive unique results.
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “During the OLS tests we got MiG-29 detection ranges up to 45 km from the tail and 15 km from the front. Ranging device effective range for the aerial targets is 15 km, for the ground targets - more then 20 km.”
New OLS is intelligence system of technical vision to work in realtime of fast combat environment. In air combat complex allows:
- detect not-afterburning target on the 45km range and more;
- identify this target on 8-10km range;
- estimate aerial target range up to 15 km.
For the ground targets complex allows:
- tank effective detection range up to 15 km, aircraft carrier - 60-80 km;
- identify the tank type on the 8-10 km, aircraft carrier type - 40-60 km;
- estimate ground target range up to 20 km.
Viktor Shargorodsky, NII PP general designer: “First one was the optical-locator system for the MiG fighter, that time it had no MiG-35 designation yet. First of all, we liked to work on it very much, very exciting task and field, besides we were able to use and apply our space experience very effectively.”
When MiG corporation got new OLS, they decided to improve it. So it was born the whole complex of four optical systems.
Besides the OLS it were:
- on the right air intake body - downward-looking station, which in addition to the down hemisphere targets detection and identification can be used for the mapping;
- on the wingtips - two laser emission detectors
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “Object-glass of the laser detector is based on the fish-eye idea, it allows field of view to be even a little bit bigger then all the hemisphere. This device allows to detect the moment when external laser is emitting and to estimate the direction to it.”
And the last parts of complex are two lenses of the attacking missiles detection.
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer:
“Information about coming missile is being analyzed from the three stages of its progress: the missile launch, the work of main propulsion unit and on the distances less then 5 km missile can be detected by the warm head.”
The effective missile launch detection range is more then 50 km.
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “Our system allows to evaluate the level of missile danger - on the distances more then 5 km we need to detect, if this missile is dangerous for the plane.”
New complex consist of many technological know-how’s. In fact, it is an aircraft device built by the space standards. Complex uses unique laser. In the previous OLS it was used laser based on the pump lamps. Its effectiveness was very low - up to 90% of all the energy was lost on the warming, not to the laser beam. In the NII PP for the first time OLS uses laser with semiconductor pump. As a result, laser effectiveness has grown up greatly.
All the units are united into one system with help of interface unit. Complex is checking aerial field constantly and is able to detect dangerous objects by itself.
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “In addition, our system has high-level calculation unit. As a part, there are three CPUs of the Pentium4 level. They help to analyze the picture, allow system to work in overview mode, detect targets on long distances and on the sun-lighted clouds background.”
In the first time this complex uses fiber channel for the data transmission. Fiber was adopted especially for this complex. It passes digital signal and the transfer speed reaches 600 Mbit/s - it’s brilliant parameter.
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “For example, this is one of the IR detectors. This is narrow-field detector. Here all the data are being passed by the fiber channel.”
Besides, new fiber channel is very reliable - by the words of the engineers it will work even if heavy tank goes over it.
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “Actually this is almost the first time when fiber channel is being used in the combat aviation, so we had to go through many doubts of the aviation specialists. It was known that fiber channel is unreliable, that it often brakes down and that plane vibrations affect the data transmission.”
More of it, new complex has totally new optical-electronic flight videoregistration system with a hard drive. It records everything that pilot sees.
Optical electronic complex gives a pilot totally new abilities. From now on not only all the information, but picture of the target will appear on the monitors in several modes by the pilot choice. In general, new complex can provide pilot with picture of what’s going on around the plane in most useful view, which of course will increase the chances of the fighter-pilot in modern air combat.
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “Pilot can choose to see the picture from the front OLS in visible TV mode, or mixed visible and IR view. Pilot can change the level of information mixing. From the laser emission detectors pilot receives only coordinates of the emitting objects.”
Young specialists of the institute took very active part in the development of the new complex. Actually this NII PP project for the MiG-35 is the first one after USSR fall, where main part of the development was done by young specialists.
Viktor Sumerin, NII PP deputy general designer: “Our success was supported by the fact this development was handled by the very young team. There is a backbone of very experienced space engineers and there are young people with clean brains. They have no fear to use modern technologies and solutions.”
OLS created in NII PP is not just another modern instrument. This is the totally new device which completely fits the idea of 5th generation combat plane. Already today parameters of the OLS are about ten times better then the ones of old systems. But NII PP is not going to stop. The next stage of the development will be to upgrading the optical complex intelligence level and to combine it with onboard radar.
Using high technologies engineers are going to improve their OLS. “Space-born” eyes of the newest Russian MiG-35 fighter will become even more sharp.
http://www.aviapedia.com/video/new-mig-35-ols-video
