Cambridge Pixel to support rocket launches in Australia

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.” For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]