TETHERED AERIAL PLATFORM AND AERIAL OBSERVATION SYSTEM

摘要

An aerial observation system (1) is described and comprises a tethered aerial platform and a plurality of ground-based monitoring devices. The aerial platform (1) carries a payload comprising a plurality of fixed focal length cameras (4) mounted at selected positions about the aerial platform (1) and communication means (5) connected to the plurality of cameras (4) for transmitting, independently to each of the plurality of ground-based monitoring devices, a data signal comprising image data captured by one or more of the plurality of cameras (4). Each ground-based monitoring device is independently operable to select and display an image area of interest from the image data contained in the data signal. By utilising fixed focal length cameras instead of the normal (but much heavier, more delicate and more power-hungry) pan, tilt and zoom cameras conventionally used in such application, sensor payload on the balloon can be reduced, robustness can be increased, and battery life improved. Moreover, multiple users are able to independently access different fields of view simply by selecting different image areas out of the image data transmitted (potentially to all base stations) from the aerial platform.