Friday, December 3, 2010

Persistent surveillance capability for small UAVs

U.S. Navy researchers are asking persistent surveillance experts at Logos Technologies Inc. in Arlington, Va., to build prototype persistent surveillance systems for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for field evaluation.

Officials of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, Va., awarded Logos Technologies a $9.5 million contract this week to develop and produce four prototype Lightweight Expeditionary Airborne Persistent Surveillance System (LEAPS) 59-megapixel persistent surveillance systems for field testing.

Logos also is working with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, N.J., to develop aerostat-based persistent surveillance to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability that is quick to deploy, easy to relocate, and less expensive than orbiting satellites.

LEAPS is a lightweight expeditionary airborne persistent imagery surveillance system that Logos developed under ONR supervision that will enable Navy and Marine Corps. surveillance experts to observe, record, and analyze activity over city-sized areas. Logos demonstrated the LEAPS system last spring during tests in Swansboro, N.C.

Current LEAPS technology weighs less than 50 pounds, and can be flown on a variety of manned aircraft, says Logos President Greg Poe. "By reducing weight to less than 50 pounds, we are able to conduct persistent surveillance from many smaller UAVs that support our military forces.," Poe said after last spring's tests, during which the system collected more than 20 hours of data over five sites, where it recorded exercise activities in rural and densely populated areas.

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