IR Drone Camera Provides Bird's-Eye View of Rochester at Night (with video)

Flying 15,000 feet over downtown Rochester at night, a midwave-infrared (MWIR) sensor from Exelis captured in detail the movements of cars and pedestrians.

The company’s CorvusEye 1500 system captures high-resolution visible and IR motion imagery during the day and night over an area up to 1.24 miles in diameter, and can be used to track movements that may be connected to hazardous or illicit activity.

“The advantage of CorvusEye is that it provides context from the air for situations that may be dangerous or inaccessible on the ground — and it can do it day or night,” said Dwight Greenlee, Exelis’ director of regional surveillance. “Most traditional airborne imaging systems can zoom in to provide coverage of an area about the size of two football fields. The important activity could be happening outside of this limited view.”

The turret and sensor package has a diameter of 15 in. and weighs <95 lb., meaning it can fit on most midsize unmanned and manned aircraft. It can generate up to 10 high-resolution views of different areas of interest simultaneously. Exelis launched the IR sensor in October as a companion to the daytime electro-optical sensor it released in May.

For more information, visit www.exelisinc.com.