RQ-7 Shadow UAV undergoing maintenance
U.S. Army leaders are asking engineers at AAI Corp. in Hunt Valley, Maryland, to install the Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) on two RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to enable these small UAVs to send radar, streaming video, imagery, and other data to ground stations in near real time. AAI won a $12.6 million contract from the Army Contracting command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, to install Tactical Common Data Link equipment on two Shadow UAVs. The Shadow UAV is a trailer-mounted, catapult-launched, UAV for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps and is about 11 feet long with a 13-foot wingspan, has a gimbal-mounted stabilized electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) camera, as well as other sensors. The unmanned aircraft has a maximum takeoff weight of about 300 pounds. The TCDL is a secure data link designed to send encrypted data and streaming video to ground stations at high speeds. The data link uses a Ku- narrowband uplink for payload and vehicle control, and a wideband downlink for sending radar, imagery, video, and other sensor information to ground stations at speeds from 1.5 to 10.7 megabits per second over distances as far as 120 miles.