The Insitu ScanEagle surveillance UAV will be equipped with the ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging) payload to enhance its maritime surve...
The Insitu ScanEagle surveillance UAV will be equipped with the ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging) payload to enhance its maritime surveillance capabilities.
ViDAR is a wide area autonomous detection system for electro-optic imagery in the maritime domain. In addition to cueing ScanEagle’s primary camera turret, the payload gives operators who typically must rely on larger, more expensive aircraft to detect objects in the ocean a smaller, more cost-effective solution.
The software that runs the ViDAR payload was developed in Australia by Sentient Vision Systems, and was built into a ScanEagle payload by Hood Technologies of Hood River, OR.
Sentient and Insitu has also signed an exclusive global distribution agreement for the ViDAR software for unmanned systems within the small UAS weight class.
ViDAR fits a modular slice on ScanEagle that comprises a large backplane digital video camera that continuously scans the ocean in a 180-degree arc in front of the air vehicle.
Sentient’s ViDAR software then autonomously detects any object on the surface of the ocean, providing the ground control station with an image and location coordinate of each object detected in real time. ]
The primary sensor can then be cross-cued to the object by simply clicking on the image. In demonstrations, ViDAR has autonomously detected a fishing vessel at 14 nm, a fast boat at more than 9 nm and even the spout of a whale at 1.5 nm from the aircraft.
ViDAR is a wide area autonomous detection system for electro-optic imagery in the maritime domain. In addition to cueing ScanEagle’s primary camera turret, the payload gives operators who typically must rely on larger, more expensive aircraft to detect objects in the ocean a smaller, more cost-effective solution.
The software that runs the ViDAR payload was developed in Australia by Sentient Vision Systems, and was built into a ScanEagle payload by Hood Technologies of Hood River, OR.
Sentient and Insitu has also signed an exclusive global distribution agreement for the ViDAR software for unmanned systems within the small UAS weight class.
ViDAR fits a modular slice on ScanEagle that comprises a large backplane digital video camera that continuously scans the ocean in a 180-degree arc in front of the air vehicle.
Sentient’s ViDAR software then autonomously detects any object on the surface of the ocean, providing the ground control station with an image and location coordinate of each object detected in real time. ]
The primary sensor can then be cross-cued to the object by simply clicking on the image. In demonstrations, ViDAR has autonomously detected a fishing vessel at 14 nm, a fast boat at more than 9 nm and even the spout of a whale at 1.5 nm from the aircraft.
