Primagraphics launches new VME-based radar tracker system
By John McHale
AMHERST, Mass. — Engineers at Primagraphics in Amherst, Mass., have introduced CAT Track, a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) VME-based radar tracking system that uses adaptive software algorithms.
CAT Track is a radar system that tracks ships, aircraft, and land vehicles for applications such as tracking naval ships, air defense, tracking airport ground movement, and monitoring commercial ship traffic.
The naval tracker "is already being used in a number of upgrade programs for worldwide customers," says Rob Beckwith, a systems consultant at Primagraphics. The device, which uses four Texas Instruments TMS320C80 digital signal processors, also is being used as a surface-mount tracker at airport runways, says John Hunter, sales and marketing director at Primagraphics.
The airport device concentrates on tracking airplanes and vehicles, and screening out hangars and other structures, Hunter explains.
In high-clutter naval environments such as coastal mine warfare, the device must run at a higher data rate than normal to eliminate all the excess noise, he adds.
The new tracker uses the Primagraphics CAT image processing and display system, which enables users to extract radar plots on one CAT processor card, while tracking on a second CAT processor or host platform, such as a SPARC processor. Scan-converted radar also can provide a complete radar tracker and display system.
Users can configure CAT Track to provide a high-resolution graphical output using its in-built Animator software, which offers a configurable graphical display of the loading and internal activity of the tracker.
The tracker supports radar inputs such as ACP/ARP, synchro/resolver, parallel digital azimuth, and serial digital azimuth. It supports plot and track outputs using Ethernet or RS-232 interconnects. System integration uses the Primagraphics high-level PARIS and PARIS-NT API libraries.
For more information on CAT Track or Primagraphics contact Bill Fox by phone at 802-362-4655, by email at [email protected], or on the World Wide Web at http://www.primagraphics.co.uk.
