Australian company Sentient Vision Systems and Austrian company Airborne Technologies GmbH are designing and building new search and surveillance pods to carry Sentient’s ViDAR optical radar.
The two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a member of the Airborne Technologies’ SCAR-Pod family for day and night operations that can be fitted to both Leonardo AW-139 and AW-189 helicopters and the Viking Guardian 400 fixed-wing aircraft.
“Sentient and Airborne Technologies have had a long productive relationship providing airborne surveillance solutions,” says Sentient Vision Systems’ founder and Managing Director, Dr Paul Boxer. “We are very pleased to be working with Airborne Technologies on this compelling ViDAR development. This collaboration will provide a fully certified, integrated Optical Radar capability for maritime search and surveillance operations throughout the world.”
Wolfgang Grumeth, CEO of Airborne Technologies, says: “A fixed installation of the ViDAR system is already flying on the Viking Twin Otter ISR demonstrator. This technology is a “must-have” for state-of-the-art SAR operations. Therefore, we are keen to offer the ViDAR system also as a flexible solution as part of our SCAR-Pod family, providing additional surveillance capabilities for existing rotary and fixed wing fleets, without extensive modification effort.”
The ViDAR Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computer Vision software scans the 180-degree electro optic and/or infra-red sensor’s imagery feed to detect targets invisible to a human operator. It then places a thumbnail image on the operator’s screen showing the bearing and range of the target, allowing for an automated cross-cue by the inspection turret.
