WASHINGTON, 25 Feb. 2008. Officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington are tapping three defense companies to continue developing an emergency air-management system called the Real Time Airborne Management System (RAMS).
The companies developing RAMS are the ITT Corp. Space Systems Division, the Harris RF Communications division and Pictometry International Corp., all of Rochester, N.Y. RAMS is to provide emergency response teams with vital situational awareness information during disaster situations in which critical infrastructure is heavily damaged.
The three companies are working under terms of phase-2 Homeland Security small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant totaling $750,000.
"The concept for this type of real time image capture system evolved with the demand for rapid data during 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina," says Charles Mondello, Pictometry's executive vice president of corporate development. "When disaster strikes, the need for instantaneous imagery becomes critical. Until now, there really hasn't been a reliable way to get that kind of visual information as quickly as it is needed."
In Phase I of the project, Pictometry, ITT, and Harris developed a real-time imagery capture and distribution concept using an innovative architecture and data dissemination strategy designed to support decision making in the early days of a major disaster to speed response and protect lives.
A more detailed working system using this technology will be created over the next two years as part of Phase II.
For more information contact ITT Space Systems online at www.ssd.itt.com, Harris RF at www.rfcomm.harris.com, or Pictometry at www.pictometry.com.
