Air Force chooses Gatekeeper airborne video recorders for use on AC-130 gunship aircraft
U.S. Air Force officials, through Sterling Computers in Dakota Dunes, S.D., is buying 25 Gatekeeper Viperfish SDI-1 HD airborne digital video recorders for about $350,000 for use with the L3 Wescam MX-15Di digital multi-sensor, multi-spectral airborne imaging system.
The Air Force chose the Viperfish HD video recorder to capture 720-pixel or greater resolution over a HD SDI interface from L3 Wescam's MX-15Di sensor, Gatekeeper officials say.
Other requirements included synchronized audio, carry-on carry-off external storage media and various Military Standards including MIL-STD-461F electromagnetic interference/conductance (EMI-EMC), and MIL-STD-810G environmental including explosive atmosphere.
The Viperfish HD video recorder, from Gatekeeper division Deep Development Corp. in Abbotsford, British Columbia, records 720-by-486-pixel video at 30 frames per second with zero latency, company officials say.
Related: Physical Optics Corp.'s digital video recorder system to fly on Sikorsky helicopters
It combines a 1 GHz processor, the Linux real-time operating system, and wavelet compression, and enables users to view and record video simultaneously. It has a minimum of a 100-gigabyte hard drive and removable USB 2.0 removable drive. It has 10/100 megabit Ethernet and operates in temperatures from -20 to 70 degrees Celsius.
The L3 Wescam MX-15Di electro-optical sensor pod is for medium-altitude covert intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions and homeland security applications aboard aerostats, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The airborne sensor pod has visible-light and infrared cameras; multispectral imaging that blends matched images from several sensors to uncover detail in each frame; enhanced local area processing (ELAP); real-time image enhancement to enhance contrast during the day, at night, and in low light; high-performance haze penetration; solid-state inertial measurement unit (IMU); and works in several digital and analog output formats.
For more information contact Gatekeeper Systems online at www.gatekeeper-systems.com, Deep Development Corp. at www.deepdevelopmentcorp.com, or L3 Wescam at www.wescam.com.
