Boobook Takes Flight

Full Radar Testing Begins for Mission Systems' Miniature Airborne Sensor

Mission Systems has officially commenced full-scale flight testing of our Boobook Radar, marking an exciting milestone in the evolution of our airborne sensing capabilities. Named after the compact and sharp-eyed Australian boobook owl, this next-generation radar system is designed to bring high-performance airborne sensing to the smallest of platforms—and our latest trials are proving just how capable it is.

Boobook is not just one radar—it's a family of miniature, software-defined, phased-array radars, optimised for uncrewed aerial systems (UAS). The radar suite includes forward-looking units for detect-and-avoid operations as well as side-looking synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for detailed terrain imaging, even through cloud or at night.

High-Speed, High-Volume Data Collection

The recent flight trials, conducted in collaboration with our development partners at AMSL Aero, tested both Boobook radar configurations onboard a crewed Jabiru experimental aircraft. AMSL's sub-2kg Astiia drone, also developed in partnership with Mission Ssytems, was used to carry a radar corner reflector for this inital round of testing — proving the system's real-world viability for small UAS applications.

In these experiments, each radar unit acquired data at over 200MB per second, generating rich datasets for analysis. Combined with synchronized camera imagery, lidar, and inertial navigation systems, these flights allow us to collect high-quality “ground truth” data to validate performance and train future autonomy models.

A Testbed for Autonomy and Sensor Fusion

The trials didn’t just focus on radar performance. We also used this opportunity to test our bespoke modular sensor pod at realistic airspeeds for the first time, providing invaluable insights into system integration, aerodynamics, and in-flight stability. The pod’s architecture is designed for flexibility, enabling rapid swapping or addition of sensors based on mission needs.

In addition, the datasets gathered during the flights will support the ongoing development of our GPS-denied autonomy algorithms—critical for environments where GNSS signals are blocked, spoofed, or unavailable. These algorithms rely on fusing active and/or passive sensors and inertial data to navigate safely and accurately, even in degraded environments.

Looking Ahead

There is, of course, more work ahead. Refining the radar signal processing, improving real-time autonomy integration, and scaling the architecture for larger missions are all in our pipeline. But these successful trials represent a significant step forward in our mission to deliver high-performance radar and autonomy solutions for the next generation of aerospace platforms.

The Boobook radar project embodies our commitment to pushing the limits of what’s possible in compact, intelligent sensing—and we’re just getting started.