What is AAD?

For those unfamiliar with the African Aerospace and Defence Expo (AAD), itis the largest joint trade expo of its kind on the African continent. Occurring every two years on the grounds of Waterkloof Air Force Base in the Pretoria, the expo draws industry leaders from all over the world. The expo is joint effort from the South African Department of Defence, the Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor), and the Aerospace Maritime & Defence Industries Association (AMD), to name a few. The event spanned five days (16-20 September), of which the first three days were reserved as a trade exhibition for those in relevant industries, and two days for a public airshow.

CreoX at the Expo

CreoX is proud to have had hardware on the expo in 2026 as well as 2024. This year, in collaboration with Etion Create, our Vehicle Camera System (VCS) was installed on an armoured vehicle alongside their tactical radios and a remote weapon station. Etion’s rugged Cheetah Nav tactical display was used to showcase their advanced navigation capabilities. CreoX’s HUMS platform and the VCS client software ran alongside Etion’s modules. See the video below for a demonstration.

Our Vehicle Camera System is a product developed within CreoX to provide a much-needed upgrade to traditional camera systems in defence applications. Historically, PAL, NTSC, and LVDS protocols have been used in most automotive and defence applications due to standardised hardware and robustness. However, these protocols have many limitations such as low bandwidth, legacy software and aging hardware. Luckily, there is a new kid on the block called GMSL (Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link). This technology is part oof a group of protocols developed to parallel data transfer with dedicated power, clock, and signal lines into one high speed serial protocol. Developed by Maxim Integrated (now Analog Devices), GMSL is the future of modern machine vision systems and is already widely used in the automotive industry for ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) and autonomous driving by car makers such as Tesla, General Motors (GM), and Mercedes-Benz to name a few. This is due to the higher resolution and frame rate requirements for real-time collision avoidance and object detection.

These companies have been a few steps ahead with development and acceptance compared to the Defence Industry, and there is a remarkable lack of adoption of GMSL technology, especially in Africa. Enter CreoX’s VCS, and the use of GMSL for the South African defence industry. We embarked on development of this product to compete and out-perform existing camera systems in terms of speed, deployability, and versatility.

About GMSL

As the name suggests, GMSL boasts an extremely large bandwidth that increases remarkably as the technology advances. There are now three tiers of this technology and each improving on the bandwidth of the one before. GMSL 2 reaches 6 Gigabits per second (Gbps) and the newer GMSL 3 a staggering 12 Gbps. Compared to a PAL camera with a mere 0.05 Gbps and LVDS which can achieve 1.5 Gbps if you are willing to accept a thick cable bundle and substantial electro magnetic interference.

GMSL allows for Power over Co-ax (PoC) via standard 50 Ohm coaxial cable or Shielded Twisted Pair (STP). Up to 24W can be delivered through the same cable that carries the camera feed, a major upgrade from dedicated data and power cables used in other protocols. Additionally, this protocol can be transmitted across a distance of 15m without any relay stations.

The expo highlighted the collaborative environment within the defence industry of South Africa by bringing companies and technologies together. We look forward as a company to have a space at the next expo dedicated to our products, see you there.

If you are interested in our VCS for your application, please reach out. We would gladly answer your call.