In June 2022, Canada announced its $38.6 billion plan to modernize North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) over the next two decades. This is the largest investment in Canada’s NORAD capabilities in a generation and Canadian companies like D-TA Systems are ready and able to deliver these capabilities. However, there is no requirement for Canadian content mentioned within the project, something D-TA Systems believes should change.
BY JAMES CARELESS
Founded in 2007 by Dr. Dipak Roy, Ottawa’s D-TA Systems designs, develops, and manufactures spectrum processing solutions for demanding applications. D-TA’s products cover virtually all aspects of Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) from spectrum creation to spectrum sensing, while offering complete turn-key solutions for all EMSO missions.
Dr. Roy is the company’s Executive Director and the driving force behind D-TA Systems’ many EMSO innovations. He is also a member of the Electronic Warfare (EW) Technology Hall of Fame, having been inducted by the Association of Old Crows, a global EW professional association.
“D-TA’s products are the results of ‘out of the box’ thinking, technical innovation, and no-compromise development that fulfills the company’s mandate to cut deployment risk, time, and cost by orders of magnitude,” said Dr. Roy. “All D-TA products, including Electronic Intelligence/Electronic Support Measures (ELINT/ESM) Radar, EW Emulation and Extreme-SWaP optimized products for disposable EMSO missions, are based on just two subsystems (LRUs) connected by high-speed optical cables: A smart sensor-interface unit, and a commercially available processing server. The approach simplifies system design, installation, maintenance, and future upgradeability. As well, all D-TA products use antenna level digitization, high-speed optical networks as their data backbones, and software centric processing.”
A TRULY CANADIAN SOLUTION
Since being established in 2007, D-TA has carved out three major niches: Over-The-Horizon Radar (OTHR); EW Threat Signal Emulation for test and training; and SIGINT for spectral surveillance for threat detection. After 17 years and investing over $100 million of its investors’ money, this all-Canadian company is starting to get marketing traction and gain recognition for its product excellence in FVEYs (the Five Eyes intelligence alliance comprised of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States), NATO and QUAD (Australia, India, Japan and the United States) countries.
“D-TA has always believed that its only path to success is technological superiority and customer support,” Dr. Roy told CDR. “Again, out of the box thinking and 24/7 innovation is in our DNA. With little or no domestic support, the only way we can overcome ‘Buy American’ and other trade barriers is to have such a compelling value proposition that our customers are willing to jump through hoops to obtain our products. And that’s what they do.”
“I think our biggest accomplishment has been assembling a team of world-class talents that has given D-TA full control of the technology stack,” he added. “To achieve this goal, D-TA even had to initiate its own skill development program by establishing a lab at Carleton University to support graduate research in spectrum processing for potential recruits.”
OTHR
Over-The-Horizon Radar (OTHR) is one of D-TA’s core product categories. The company has delivered two of the largest OTHRs built anywhere on the planet. As well, D-TA has been involved in more than 20 other OTHR projects, large and small, on both sides of the border. Many of these projects are in support of various R&D, risk mitigation, atmospheric studies and building OTHR receiver test sites.
Along with BAE and Raytheon, D-TA is one of only three companies in the world with large OTHR deployment experience. “This being said, we believe that D-TA has the most advanced receiver and transmitter technologies for OTHR that far outperform the competition,” said Dr. Roy. “This is why D-TA is well positioned to participate in the multibillion-dollar Arctic-OTHR (Canada) and Homeland Defence-OTHR (U.S.) projects as part of NORAD modernization. This is also why D-TA is urging the federal government to mandate Canadian content requirements for Arctic-OTHR for the core radar technologies, as significant technical expertise exists in the country.”
EW THREAT SIGNAL EMULATION
D-TA has been involved in EW threat signal generation since 2011 for device testing and operator training. In this time, the company has delivered threat generation systems to the U.S., Canada and Europe for indoor/chamber-based testing of radar warning receivers and ESM systems. D-TA also supports over-the-air testing for both short and long ranges.
Meanwhile, D-TA’s Portable Electronic Warfare Test System (PETS) is designed for end-of-runway and dockside testing of aircraft and ship’s ESM systems. The PETS+ system is for long range testing at 50 nautical miles or further for the air combat training of pilots.
“Our value proposition stems from the fact that D-TA’s threat signal emulation approach is signal-type agnostic, and can create a dense electromagnetic environment without dropping any signal,” Dr. Roy said. “Legacy systems are unable to do that.”
D-TA’s THREAT2 system (Theatre Replication for Advanced Test & Training) is a collection of PETS+ nodes driven by a common Command and Control centre to replicate an Integrated Air Defense System (IADS). According to the company, the THREAT2 system is the only product on the market that offers the capability for realistic air combat training in a battlefield environment.
SIGINT FOR SPECTRAL SURVEILLANCE
To help its customers detect hostile players electronically, D-TA has delivered ELINT/ESM SIGINT systems to the U.S. and various Indo-Pacific countries. Many of these systems have been deployed for ground and surface naval applications. The company also offers lightweight and compact ESM systems for UAV deployments. These systems are offered in different antenna configurations based on Field of View (FOV) and bearing accuracy requirements. A man-portable version is available as well.
“D-TA’s ELINT/ELM value proposition lies in Lowest Probability of Intercept (LPI) signal detection and high-fidelity ELINT collection,” said Dr. Roy. “These systems include OMNI and spinning direction finding (DF) antennas for high-accuracy DF. Many of these shelters have been deployed in the Indo-Pacific for detecting air and naval targets.”
A WARNING TO OTTAWA
In concluding his interview with CDR, Dr. Dipak Roy noted that — despite trade barriers — D-TA has succeeded in international markets based on the technical merits of its products. “Yet we have watched in dismay as similar domestic contracts have been awarded to non-Canadian companies,” he noted.
“This must stop!” Dr. Roy warned. “Like every other country, we must support our domestic military industrial base. Otherwise, highly innovative companies like D-TA that have created hundreds of skilled jobs and millions of dollars of tax revenues will exit the country.”
James Careless is CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief
