BMS Sells DTV Sky-Ground Link
During the opening phase of Operation Anaconda in
Afghanistan last year, a campaign to route members of the al Qaeda
and Taliban massing near the eastern city of Takur Ghar, American
commanders saw everything. They saw an MH-47E hit by massive ground
fire. They saw it make a hard landing. They saw a Navy Seal, PO1
Neil Roberts dumped out of the cargo bay and onto the ground
as the helicopter stuggled back into the air. They saw Roberts
fight a valiant, single-handed, rear-guard action to protect his
comrades and their wounded chopper, which had landed again nearby.
They saw the Navy seal killed in action. They saw what the enemy
fighters did to his body afterwards.
They saw all of this because they were monitoring the
battlefield on video. High overhead, out of sight of the
combatants, a Predator drone cruised back and forth, watching
everything. The pictures were relayed all the way back to CENTCOM
Headquarters in Tampa (FL).
Bringing It Home To A TV Near You
Now, that technology is coming home. You could
soon see it in police tactical command centers nationwide. You
might even see it on your television at home.
Broadcast Microwave Services is offering both police and TV
broadcasters the Carry-Coder, a digital video kit that beats
traditional analog technology hands-down.
Now, helicopter-borne TV transmissions have been around for 30
years or so. Those transmissions, however, have been analog in
nature, not digital. That leads to problems, like the need to track
the signal, to always keep the transmitter pointed toward the
ground receiver. The signal is notoriously weak and prone to
"multi-pathing," ghost images created when the receiving antenna
picks up signals that have bounced around in the environment.
"With digital signals, there's no loss of signal," said Jim
Kubit, a broadcast engineer at BMS. "It can see through bridges and
around walls. It uses omni-antennae, so both the transmitter and
receiver can be moving in different directions at the same
time."
The Carry-Coder, on display at HAI's Heli-Expo in Dallas (TX),
sells for about $50,000. It's DTV compliant and, with an optional
10 watt transmission booster, can reach ranges of up to 100 miles.
That ought to be good enough for those long Los Angeles County car
chases.
Police Eye In The Sky
If BMS has its way, those police vehicles could
also be watching an "eye in the sky." The same technology is being
sold to law enforcement. Business is admittedly slow among law
enforcement agencies, although "We've seen a bump in that market
since 9/11," acknowledges Steve Yanke, BMS Sales Engineer. "Think
about it. There's a compelling reason to use this new technology.
Police departments often use helicopters as observation platforms.
That's the reason a pilot is up there -- to describe what he sees.
What fits the job better than giving the commander on the ground a
look himself?"
The same technology can be used to broadcast signals from deep
inside a high-rise, where it's impractical to pull long lines of TV
and audio cables, said Kubit. Already, BMS has sold the Carry Coder
into dozens of television stations in major markets around the
country. As Homeland Security continues to muscle its way onto the
nation's center stage, as combat operations turn increasingly to
real-time video monitoring of the battlefield, you can bet these
guys are going to get a lot of calls.
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.28.25): Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)
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