Slew-to-cue: turning a radar track into a positive visual ID
Radar PTZ integration hands a bearing from the drone detection radar to an EO/IR turret so it lands on the target on the first move. What the pointing budget, latency and hand-off protocol have to deliver.
Detection is not identification. A drone detection radar tells you something small is at a bearing and range; a PTZ tracking camera tells you what it is. Radar PTZ integration — slew-to-cue — is the link that makes the second step fast enough to matter.
Placeholder article — mechanism outline in place.
The hand-off
The radar publishes a track (azimuth, elevation, range, and a class guess). The turret controller converts it to pan/tilt, drives the axes, and drops the target inside the wide field of view on the first move — no searching. The operator then narrows zoom and confirms type and payload, with coordinates from the laser rangefinder.
What the budget has to hit
| Parameter | Target | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Turret pointing accuracy | ≤ 0.01° | Target inside the wide FOV on first slew |
| Slew rate | ≥ 60°/s | Catch a fast crossing target |
| Cue-to-frame latency | < 1 s | Before the drone has moved out of the FOV |
| Track update rate | ≥ 1 Hz | Keep the turret ahead of the target |
[placeholder — confirm against Ga-5000 + PTZ spec]
Failure modes to design out
- Stale cue: the turret lands where the drone was.
- Frame ambiguity: two contacts in the FOV, wrong one centred.
- Coordinate mismatch: radar and turret not on the same geodetic reference.
[placeholder — how the Orbit UAV stack handles each; link RF for the model-ID cross-check]