Sponsored by portal-mundurowy.pl, a uniformed services website, the competition was held under the honorary patronage of the Head of the National Security Bureau and the Director of the National Centre for Research and Development.

The challenge behind the development of the passive location system or PLS was to merge two hitherto separate detection systems into a single solution. No one has managed that feat before, not even the Americans.

The PET/PCL PLS is distinguished by its discreet operation as it does not emit any electromagnetic radiation. The designers assure that the device is capable of detecting stealth (or low observable) objects, which is credited to the system’s multistatic operation and coverage of a very wide range of the frequency spectrum, for both the PCL and PET subsystems. The solution provides continuous airspace monitoring and reconnaissance capabilities, operating independently of active radars.

In addition, the Passive Location System produces no signal emissions, which makes it undetectable for enemy reconnaissance systems in this respect.

The first successful application of a prototype radar of the Polish Passive Location System was during the APART GAS 2019 exercise at the proving ground in Dąbki near Darłowo with nine NATO member states and Switzerland.

The research process has just moved into the second and third stage, i.e. prototype testing (initial testing; qualification testing; revision of technical documentation) set to continue for about a year.

The world’s unique PET/PCL radio location system developed by Polish scientists and design engineers can be used in defense applications, e.g. in the missile air defense system Wisła and Narew, and in other applications such as civilian air traffic control.

The Warsaw University of Technology is represented on the project by Mateusz Malanowski, Ph.D., D.Sc., Eng. (Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology, Institute of Electrical Systems).

The winners of the Security and Defense Innovation competition were selected by a judging panel comprising representatives of the honorary patrons and the editorial board of portal-mundurowy.pl and the winners of the 2019 competition (Advanced Protections Systems SA, Military University of Technology and WB Group). For more details, visit portal-mundurowy.pl (available in Polish).