Flight safety officers need to accurately track targets, experimental aircraft, and ordnance in real-time during development and sample tests and during live firing exercises to inform any flight termination decisions. Using transponders to provide location data by responding to radar signals, (as shown in figure 1) has been proven reliable, but traditional transponders employ fixed frequency technologies and older designs are creating scheduling, time, and cost issues.
This white paper examines how the use of modern transponders can reduce setup time, lower costs, and require less future planning and maintenance than traditional designs.