Mapping and Reconnaissance Imager, Night-Enhanced, for Sensing of Contaminants, Oil, and Unseen Threats (MARINE SCOUT)

摘要

MARINE SCOUT is a compact, lightweight, Puma and other small UAS (SUAS) compatible, multi-spectral airborne sensor payload designed to sense and discriminate oil on water (e.g.. maritime oil spills), and enable via post-processing the measurement of oil thickness in marine environments. The payload includes near-infrared (NIR), short-wavelength infrared (SWIR), and long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) sensor channels that enable the detection of oil and its byproducts, the rejection of vegetative clutter, and the discrimination of thick crude oils. The stabilized airborne payload hosting the sensors compensates aircraft roll, yaw, and forward motion - the latter using a novel, enabling forward motion compensation (FMC) technology. The airborne payload's capabilities, combined with a ground station exploitation and human interface computer, support ocean mapping and scene interrogation, producing high-fidelity, mosaiced, geo-rectified, multi-spectral image stacks along with full motion video for use by oil spill responders.