• New N5S antennas enhance the Blighter B400 series radar’s effectiveness in border, area and perimeter security applications
• Unique modular approach dramatically drives down through-life costs for ground radar systems

CAMBRIDGE, UK, October 17, 2012 – The reach of the market leading Blighter® B400 series electronic-scanning ground surveillance radar system (www.blighter.com) has been extended to 15km with the introduction of its N5S extended-range antennas. This will enhance the Blighter B400 series radar’s effectiveness in border, area and perimeter security applications.

The N5S field interchangeable antennas concentrate the elevation beamwidth of the B400 series radar down to 5° allowing new and existing users of the radar to detect – out to 15km – both walking humans in very flat terrain and small boats over water. The new antennas complement the existing M10S and W20S antennas which feature elevation beamwidths of 10° and 20° respectively and provide detection in either normal terrain (to 10km) and hilly terrain (to 5km).

Mark Radford, director of the Blighter Group, said: “The Blighter radar is the only ground radar system on the market that can provide this modular plug and play capability – other ground surveillance radars are marketed in fixed man detection range steps, typically ‘man at 5km or 10km or 15km’. In contrast, our modular system allows customers to hold a common set of radar units and antennas which allow them the flexibility to configure the radar to 5km or 10km or 15km with one set of equipment according to their surveillance application and the presenting terrain.”

The Blighter B400 series radar is itself a modular design that allows a variety of configurations to be created to suit a multitude of different surveillance scenarios. The main radar unit contains all the waveform generation and signal processing brains for the modular system, plus a set of PESA (Passive Electronically Scanned Array) e-scan modules. Auxiliary radar units containing only the PESA e-scan modules can be plugged into the main radar unit allowing the radar to be configured as a 90°, 180°, 270° or 360° electronic scanning radar.

“Anyone buying a Blighter radar can be sure that they will be getting the very latest technology, with the highest reliability due to its solid-state design and PESA technology,” added Mark Radford. “The inherent modularity – now with the addition of the N5S antennas for extended range – means that we are able to dramatically drive down the through-life expenditure of our zero maintenance ‘fit and forget’ system, which is extremely attractive to customers!”

Blighter B400 series radars featuring Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing are particularly well suited to border, area and perimeter security applications due to their long-range detection capability. Human intruders can be detected at ranges in excess of 15km and vehicles in excess of 20km.

Key benefits of these radars include: ultra-high reliability, zero-maintenance, operation over complex terrain including hills, 24-hour all-weather capability, ability to detect crawlers, very low false-alarm rate, low power consumption and low data communications bandwidth.

Blighter radars, developed by Plextek, a leading British design house and technology innovator, are used worldwide in commercial, government and defence markets in area and asset protection for national border security, homeland security, critical infrastructure protection, coastal surveillance, and in defence applications. Blighter radars provide an unmatched combination of high reliability, accuracy and performance with a low cost of ownership.

For more information about the Blighter range of advanced radars, please visit www.blighter.com, telephone +44 1223 491122 or email.

Photography to accompany this press release is available via the link below:

Blighter B400 Series Radar with N5S Antennas

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About Plextek and Blighter (www.blighter.com)

Blighter is a family of advanced ground surveillance radars developed by Plextek, a leading British design house and technology innovator. Blighter radars combine patented solid-state electronic-scanning technology with advanced Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing to provide a robust and persistent surveillance capability. The electronics scanning system in Blighter uses Passive Electronically Scanned Array (PESA) technology, an enhancement of the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) used in older radars. Blighter’s PESA technology is inherently lower power and runs cooler than AESA technology.

Blighter radars are used worldwide in commercial, government and defence markets in area and asset protection for national border security, homeland security, critical infrastructure protection, coastal surveillance, and in defence applications. Prime contractors and systems integrators can combine the radars with long-range cameras, thermal imagers and other sensors to provide wide-area, 24-hour, all-weather rapid detection and identification of potential security threats over land or water.

First developed in 2003, Blighter radars provide an unmatched combination of high reliability, accuracy and performance with a low cost of ownership and are designed for use in extreme weather conditions and in the most difficult terrain. Plextek is based at Great Chesterford on the outskirts of Cambridge, England. Blighter products are designed and manufactured in the United Kingdom.

Media contacts:

Martin Brooke (for Blighter)
Martin Brooke Associates
Tel: +44 1223 882174
Email: Martin Brooke

Nick Booth
Blighter Surveillance Systems
Tel: +44 1223 491122
Email: Nick Booth