EUROSATORY 2018: Local Situational Awareness System in the battlefield.

At Eurosatory 2018 in Paris, the sensor solutions company HENSOLDT is presenting its new Local Situational Awareness System (LSAS) for armored wheeled and tracked vehicles. The system will be available both as an upgrade and as a solution for newly built vehicles. The aim is to avoid direct view channels as weak points in armored vehicles without reducing optical performance in reconnaissance. In times of asymmetric threats, such as improvised explosive devices or drones, soldiers can thus remain protected inside the vehicle without losing orientation and awareness of the security situation.

"We also call this the 'see-through armor'. The system is designed to replace the human eye," explains project manager Marc Krause. With its sensor modules, each equipped with an extremely high-resolution day vision camera and two uncooled thermal imaging modules (UCM), LSAS can detect a person during the day at 300 meters. "Our uncooled thermal imaging device is already included in some of our products and has been battle-tested. An optional third UCM with a smaller field of view will also be available. This allows the user to detect a person at 300 meters even at night."

The system is modularly designed. Each sensor module will cover a 97° area. Depending on customer requirements, HENSOLDT offers up to six sensor modules per vehicle system, monitoring the vehicle's surroundings in an overlapping manner. The system's modularity also extends to the possibilities of integrating additional sensors: for supporting sensors, such as sniper detection or laser warning systems, no additional drill holes through the armor are necessary. The system architecture, especially the interfaces, are designed to be very open and compliant with the NATO Standardization Agreement STANAG 4754 (NATO Generic Vehicle Architecture (NGVA)).

This will make it possible to communicate with any Human Machine Interface (HMI) component that also complies with this standard. This allows soldiers to use monitors, tablets, or data goggles. In addition, the NGVA interface provides the capability to make data available to other systems in the vehicle network. External data from the vehicle network, such as a map with object or position markers from the Battle Management System (BMS), can be displayed on the LSAS HMI through the same interface (Augmented Reality).

Combined with an intuitive HMI concept, LSAS in conjunction with an NGVA network allows the data available in the vehicle to be individually accessible to all crew members.