Hyperspatial Imaging Could Speed Up SAR Efforts

The Civil Air Patrol is about to get a new pair of glasses, courtesy of Boeing and a company called NovaSol. Fifteen CAP aircraft will be equipped with "hyperspatial imaging" devices that allow them to see 3-D images of a search area.

Government Computing News quotes Col. Drew Alexa, head of the Civil Air Patrol’s Advanced Technologies Group at Maxwell AFB (AL), said hyperspectral imaging sensors on a moving aircraft detect objects on the ground by picking up light reflected from those objects. The $5 million dollar contract also gives rescuers a visual computing network that allows users to see a 3-D view of satellite images.

“Traditionally we have flown low and slow to physically eyeball the objects of our reconnaissance,” Alexa said. “Hyperspectral imaging will just multiply our effectiveness by providing us with a better set of eyeballs.”

The CAP says that same technology will also be used in drug-enforcement efforts, homeland security and post-disaster missions.

FMI: www.cap.gov