Cambridge Pixel, a British engineering business for radar-based systems, announced that it is supplying visualisation software that will support rocket launches from Australia. Adelaide-based Southern Launch, a bespoke space launch service provider, will use Cambridge Pixel to assist with the visualisation of tracking data from rockets launched from their two launch facilities in South Australia.
Southern Launch uses several radars including a RADA ieMHR 3D radar to track the position of vehicles launched from their two launch facilities. The RADA radar provides data in the form of track reports using RADA’s own proprietary data format. To display this data, Cambridge Pixel’s solution first converts it using their SPx Track Manager software, which was specifically enhanced for this project.
Once converted, the track reports are supplied to the web-based SPx Viewer-3D application. This provides multiple views of the rocket’s trajectory including conventional 2D and 3D views with a map or terrain underlay and range-height indication (RHI). It also displays other details including point of origin (POO) and point of impact (POI) coordinates. SPx Viewer-3D also displays target positions from Marine AIS Transponders to support over-water operation.
The supplied system also allows the automatic steering of video cameras to follow the position of the rocket during flight using Cambridge Pixel’s SPx Camera Manager application. Finally, all radar track data, AIS positions and camera video streams are captured by Cambridge Pixel’s SPx RDR multi-channel recording software.
Rob Baker, Flight Safety Specialist at Southern Launch, said, “We contacted Cambridge Pixel because of their 3D track visualisation capability and their ability to quickly incorporate support for track data from new manufacturers. Support for camera control and data recording is a very useful addition to these core capabilities.”
Andrew Haylett, Principal Engineer at Cambridge Pixel, commented, “Our SPx Viewer-3D software was designed exactly for this type of application, and we were able to support a new radar protocol easily due to our modular design approach. We are excited to be supporting Southern Launch with software solutions as they continue to expand their space launch capabilities.”
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Just so you know, Southern Launch do not have two launch facilities in South Australia. They have ONE launch facility and another in an environmentally protected conservation zone which has yet to receive even a single approval from any government agency and is deeply disliked and unwanted by the community. Please get your facts right and do not publish mistruths, thank you.
This is a media release from the company Southern Launch. Feel free to contact them directly.
If this was a “media release” then it should have been revealed accordingly, otherwise it should be directly attributed to APDR. As it reads, there is no source or author assigned to the article.
And as Concerned Citizen has said, Southern Launch has only one launch site. That site is just for test rockets to sub-orbital.
There’s a lot behind Southern Launch’s claims over Whalers Way that is deeply disturbing and wrong, so would APDR accept a media release about that?
Dear Mr Troubled – I see you continue to write every time you see a media release on this topic. Feel free to contact the company with your complaint.