In collaboration with SOAR Oregon, Hood River, Oregon-based Overwatch Imaging, which specializes in customized large-scale aerial imagery intelligence systems, has successfully completed a year-long program to upgrade the TK-X family of airborne multi-camera payloads’ autonomous image processing capabilities.

The TK-X family of Overwatch payloads include multiple cameras in “an actively stabilized, nadir-oriented mount with automated step-stare camera pointing controls,” which allows for the quick collection of high-resolution multi-spectral imagery.

Also included in the payloads are “embedded GPU-based onboard image processing, with customized software performing real-time multi-image registration, image-based object detection, and image mapping.”

“Overwatch payloads include the latest embedded processing hardware, so we are pushing the state of the art in terms of GPU-based compute-intensive onboard image processing,” says Nick Anderson, co-founder and design engineer at Overwatch Imaging. 

To make sure that each customer receives the exact payload necessary for each unique application, each version of the TK-X Overwatch payload is customized to meet specific customer requirements for size, weight and power, spectral and spatial resolution, and image processing features.

“We are running machine learning derived algorithms, tailored to our customers’ specific objectives, to create real-time results and affordable, actionable intelligence over very large areas from long-endurance UAS and small aircraf,” Anderson adds. “This capability opens up so many use cases for commercial and civil users.”

During the SOAR Oregon grant program, Overwatch improved a variety of software image processing features in its toolkit, such as automatic real-time image enhancement and real-time small object detection, both of which are regularly requested by commercial and government end users.

This software also supports Overwatch’s business growth into new application areas, including night-time linear infrastructure inspections, wide-area anti-poaching surveillance, large farm system precision agriculture and forest fire management.