-- BNs Security & Defence Division Delivers Two UAV Command & Control Vehicles To University of Southamptons Autonomous Systems Research Group
Alton, UK. 2 July 2015: BN Security & Defence, our specialist solutions division, has delivered two custom-built, feature-packed UAV Command and Control (CC) vehicles to the Autonomous Systems Research Group (ASRG) at the University of Southampton.
The strategic research group is funded by agencies across Europe to undertake work in autonomous systems, sensing, computing, communications and platforms that provide world class, cost-effective capabilities for scientists and business. The two new vehicles will play a central role in the Universitys engagement, providing essential command and control facilities for a range of international UAV missions - sub-sea, surface, land, air and space - including pollution monitoring, weather prediction and civil unmanned aviation.
Impressive capability in a compact footprint Designed, project-managed and custom-built by the BN Security & Defence team in Hampshire, the vehicles deliver impressive technical capability within a compact footprint. Based on a high--oofed long-wheel-base Mercedes Sprinter chassis, each vehicle has been expertly converted to provide space-efficiency and excellent ergonomics for a team of operators on the move.
The technology specified and deployed by BN Security & Defence includes specialist systems integrated with a range of Commercial Off-the-Shelf products for maximum operational performance and minimal weight load.
Each vehicle features a roof-mounted Ka band satellite dish with a pneumatically actuated 10 metre communications mast to enable secure, agile field communications and telemetry to their UAV and drones. Marine type radar systems and high quality long-range cameras enable efficient UAV system control and tracking. Smart operational features In addition to a 10kw generator and inverter system for lighting, power and air-conditioning, the vehicles include smart features to improve the working environment such as desks with inset video displays and control panels; overhead storage and cabinets, secure helium gas and fuel storage facilities; rear workshop space for repair and storage; a sliding seat system to comfortably get the team onsite and an external side awning to provide an observation point where students can follow a mission via a large externally-mounted flat screen and listen into the main control area via the integrated communication system.
Research missions by their very nature generate vast amounts of data for analysis and recording. Whilst the information gathered can be streamed via the satellite communications system, rack-mounted NAS drives inside each vehicle enable large amounts of data to be stored and analyzed efficiently on location.
Expert design & custom-builtThe technical furniture and desks within each vehicle - all expertly designed and built by BN Security and Defences partner Custom Consoles - provide four command and control positions to run a typical mission: primary radar and visual contact; avionics control, management and system health; payload operations to monitor the UAV sensors as well as cameras for imagery, with a position for airspace and virtual radar monitoring. The front driver and passenger seats can rotate and provide desk space to accommodate additional mission support. All positions have headsets to enable communication with each other as well as with the safety pilot who is typically positioned outside the vehicle, watching and landing the UAV units. Following a detailed tender process,the award of this prestigious contract to BN Security & Defence was an easy decision for the selection board.
"Their understanding of the situational awareness sector, proven craftsmanship and top quality customised vehicle design, made BN Security & Defence the natural solution partner for this project and they have exceeded our expectations," said Professor James Scanlan, ASRGs Director. "From the outset, the team engaged with us to understand our special operational requirements and worked closely with us to specify the appropriate technology and workflow we needed to perform. With these new vehicles we are confident of our ability to conduct cutting-edge earth science research and achieve a global top five reputation for cross-disciplinary excellence."
"Were delighted to have played a key role in the delivery of this project and to see the vehicles actively deployed in ground-breaking research," said Tom Haye, Managing Director BN Security & Defence. "t s a great example of how our specialist team can successfully take a concept through design to delivery and add real value tot he process with our experience and approach to innovation."
Royal Television Society DroneFest, 8 July Following recent deployments focused on maritime incident response and unmanned cargo aircraft use in remote and island regions, one of the ASRG vehicles will be showcased at the upcoming Royal Television Society Thames Valley s Drone Fest at Pincents Manor Hotel onWednesday 8 July, 18.30 hrs. For further details about this event visit www.rts.org.uk
For further information and press enquiries about BN S&D and this project, please contact:
Tom Haye, MD BN Security &Defence
T: +44 (0) 1420 592 100 | E: tom@bsnd.co.uk
Melanie O Brien, MJO CommunicationsLtd
T: +44 (0) 7851 375 247 | E: mel@mjocommunications.co.uk
-ends-
About BN Security & Defence
BN Security & Defence provides bespoke cutting-edge technology solutions to meet policing and security, cyber, situational awareness and critical communications requirements. We integrate software and hardware into fixed and mobile systems to bring the digital edge to your operations. Our solutions help tackle the problems of responding to civil unrest, criminal, terrorist and cyber threats, natu
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
-- BNs Security & Defence Division Delivers Two UAV Command & Control Vehicles To University of Southamptons Autonomous Systems Research Group 
