Defence Research and Development Canada
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Communications Success Stories
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Early Electronics Projects
DREO vs. the Fax Machine
There are many examples of technologies developed at DREO that, when released into the world, had a significant impact on communications and electronics. Sometimes, though, the relationship was reversed. What follows is an example of communications technology coming into DREO, and having an impact on its daily operations.
When the fax machine made its debut in office technology (in the 1980s), it caused a bit of a stir at DREO. There were procedures to be followed for external communications, and the possibility of having fax machines in individual offices put into question the designated route of information in and out of the establishment. Administrative staff members recall many lengthy discussions on this issue.
This was the dawn of near-instantaneous, inexpensive communications, resulting in a multiplication of the number of senders and receivers participating in the process, and a dramatic increase in the volume of messages. The fax machine forced DREO to make adjustments to its communications protocol, and foreshadowed the introduction of e-mail, which was just around the corner.
CANEWS
In the mid-1960s, researchers working in electronic warfare at DRTE were beginning to think about applying the new minicomputers to EW receivers. The work became known as Project Zander, and was supported by the Canadian Navy. It developed into the forerunner of the CANEWS Electronic Support Measures system, in use today on all Canadian warships. Further development of the CANEWS system was contracted to Canadian Westinghouse Ltd., and MEL Ltd. of the UK. This work produced a Service Test Model in 1980, and the EW sections of the DREO Defence Electronics Division assisted in the technical evaluation trials. When the Navy decided to procure the system, MEL UK set up a Canadian subsidiary, MEL Defence Systems Ltd., in Stittsville, to manufacture the CANEWS system. This was the first Canadian all-EW company. The Division also participated in the design activities for the upgrade for CANEWS, CANEWS-2. This work was done in close association with industry, so that technology could be transferred smoothly when the time came.
SARSAT
The objective of the Search and Rescue Satellite (SARSAT) Project was the development of systems that used satellites to quickly locate aircraft and ships in distress. The project was both international (involving Canada, the US, France, and later the Soviet Union), and interdepartmental (involving DND, the Department of Communications, and External Affairs). This made for an extremely complex management arrangement, but it was a resounding success.
CRAD assigned the SARSAT project to DREO, with Rod Hafer acting as Project Manager. Much of the technical development was carried out by CRC. In 1980 the project was renamed COSPAS-SARSAT after the USSR and other countries agreed to work to common specifications and share each other’s satellites. (COSPAS was the name of the analogous Soviet project.)
The system made use of Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) which had been in use in commercial airplanes since the early 1970s, and the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, the equivalent marine transmitting device. The satellite would act as a simple repeater, receiving the ELT transmission and re-modulating it onto a down-link signal carrier. The signal would be received on the ground at a Local User Terminal (LUT). The Doppler shift would be measured as the satellite passed over the transmitter, and this, with knowledge of the satellite orbit, would allow for the calculation of the latitude and longitude of the location of the transmitter. This would then be relayed via a Mission Control Centre to a nearby Search and Rescue authority for action.
Canadian industry made significant contributions to the SARSAT project. SPAR Aerospace built the repeaters mounted on the American-built satellites. Canadian Astronautics Ltd. of Ottawa built the Local User Terminal that was installed at DREO, as well as providing LUTs to the United States. SED Systems Ltd. of Saskatoon designed and built the Mission Control Centre installed at CFB Trenton.
Heading West?
In 1974 the Minister of National Defence, Hon. James Richardson, announced the creation of a new Defence Research Establishment, to be located in the Winnipeg South riding (his riding), and called Defence Research Establishment Manitoba (DREM). The Earth Sciences and Defence Electronics Divisions from DREO and the Recoverable Radar program at CRC were to be moved there from Ottawa. This would be consistent with the decentralization of government departments that was the policy of the government of the day. It was said that the presence of these programs would stimulate the development of high tech industry in the area.
Much time was spent planning the layout of the new building. DREO personnel were working with the architect to ensure that their requirements would be met. Bev Young of the Electronics Division was the DREO point of contact, and it seemed that his desk in Building T5 was always covered by large blueprint drawings. Rumour was that the CRC people who were affected had nicknamed their proposed wing of the building the “Pelletier Wing” after Hon,. Gerrard Pelletier, then the Minister of Communications (that is, not the minister responsible for the move). Ken Peebles reported the results of a trip he made to Winnipeg, discussing the availability of different types of housing (complete with photos) that was within reach of the different sites that were under consideration for the new Establishment. There were various responses to this “opportunity”—some people were anxious to go, and others were just plain anxious.
Work continued at DREO, and a couple of years later the project was quietly dropped as the Hon. Barney Danson (from Toronto) was the new minister and he had decided that such a move was not necessary.
The results were immediate, even while the system was still in its R & D phase. Roy McPherson, who served as Deputy Project Manager and System Evaluation Manager on the project, recounted an often-repeated anecdote:
“[On] 9 September 1982 (less than three months after COSPAS-I was launched), a small aircraft crashed in a remote mountain valley in Northwestern B.C. The plane was 90 kilometres off its planned route and rescuers faced days of frustrating searching of many square miles of extremely rugged terrain before they would have found the crash site. Instead, COSPAS-I detected the ELT transmission and relayed it to the LUT at DREO. After processing, the location data was sent to the MCC at CFB Trenton, which passed the information to the local RCC for action. Within hours, the survivors were being airlifted out from the crash site to safety, demonstrating the practicality of the system.”
By the close of the demonstration and evaluation period in 1985, the system had provided data for 194 distress incidents worldwide, involving 529 people, of whom nearly 500 were rescued.
DREO completed its role in the project in 1985. In the summer of 1991, the Canadian SARSAT system was declared fully operational and passed into the realm of the day-to-day operations of search and rescue.
SEASAT
SEASAT was a remote sensing project aimed at providing data for ocean studies. It was an international project with the US in the lead role. In Canada, the participants were DREO’s Earth Sciences (Remote Sensing) and Defence Electronics Divisions.
DREO’s Remote Sensing Section accepted responsibility for the development of a recorder (to capture in real time the radar signals from the satellite), and signal processor (for later processing the information). Both were to use optical techniques. This work was contracted out to industry, but DREO also undertook development of these tools in-house, in case industry was not able to deliver the product. It was this foresight that ensured that an optical data recorder and an optical signal processor were in place at Shoe Cove, Newfoundland, in time for the launch of the satellite, in July 1978.
The optical recorder was designed to record the demodulated downlink signal for the SEASAT satellite via a receiver and satellite dish installed at Shoe Cove. The signal was displayed on a cathode-ray tube as a very small spot that swept across the screen. It was this that was imaged onto moving photographic film. The movement of the film was synchronized with the movement of the satellite. The resulting exposed film was unintelligible without the use of the second Canadian contribution to SEASAT, the optical processor.
DREO actually had two optical processors ready, the one it had contracted out, and the other that was developed in-house as a backup. The contracted processor produced continuous imagery of 50- to 75-kilometre wide swaths, hundreds of kilometers long.
The SEASAT satellite was operational for only three months before its power supply failed. However, by that time it had provided an enormous amount of high quality information. With a good recorder and processor system, the space data could provide resolution to one metre.
