Textron’s Aerosonde Gets Overwatch Imaging Sensor for Precision Surveying
Textron’s Aerosonde small UAS will now be equipped with the TK-7 Firewatch precision survey sensor, built by Overwatch Imaging, which company officials said will boost the efficiency of wildland fire incident responders.
The TK-7 Firewatch includes a nadir-oriented multi-megapixel color focal plane array and co-boresighted infrared sensors. These sensors, combined with other technologies, will allow for advanced precision mapping and multi-image orthophoto capabilities, the companies said.
“By integrating this sensor onto the Aerosonde SUAS, we believe this will be a differentiator in the emerging civil and commercial application space by providing a more advanced and cost effective method to complete precision survey,” said Textron Systems Civil & Commercial Senior Director Dennis Racine, via a company press release.
“By supporting real-time situational awareness, which increases the safety and effectiveness of our wildland fire incident responders, the TK-7 represents a new disruptive capability platform and fills a technology gap for a core area in multiple civil and industry applications.”
The TK-7 Firewatch, which will be capable of speedily synthesizing high fidelity aerial imagery and detecting anomalies, will also have the ability to produce timely analytics and reporting, thanks to a combination of its payload capability and geospatial information systems knowledge workflows.
Overwatch Imaging founder Greg Davis said, “with Firewatch, we are delivering something much more valuable than video to wildland fire crews and forest health managers. We are delivering answers in the format those users need to see the data, in real time.”
The Aerosonde and TK-7 Firewatch sensor were successfully tested together in Blackstone, Virginia.
