Flight Landata introduces dual-swath BuckEye imaging system

High-resolution digital map provider Flight Landata in North Andover, Mass., is introducing dual-swath electro-optical (EO) capability to the BuckEye aerial imaging system, which doubles the amount of high-resolution imagery the system can gather in one flight line. “The Dual-Swath configuration of BuckEye provides a 78-megapixel imaging capability with centimeter-level spatial resolution,” says Tom Harris, president of Flight Landata. “The width of the swath and spatial resolution both vary with the altitude of the aircraft.” Larger collection areas per flight line mean the aircraft is in the air for shorter periods during acquisition, or it can cover a greater area in a given time. In addition, image processing is faster because there are fewer flight lines to fuse during mosaicking and orthorectification. The electro-optic portion of the BuckEye is a lightweight imaging system that can be flown aboard fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to acquire large-format, natural-color imagery with centimeter-level resolution. Since 2007, Flight Landata has been flying the BuckEye aerial imaging system under contract with the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center (Army TEC) to acquire ultra-high resolution imagery for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and mapping activities on behalf of U.S. military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan. For more information, visit Flight Landata online at www.flightlandata.com.