Aircraft

Palo Alto-based SkyIMD has received US Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certificate for installing its Sky FusionPak surveillance systems on Cessna 152, Cessna 172 and Cessna 182 aircraft.

Combined with SkyIMD's ground base station, the digital surveillance system can be used for mapping missions including pipeline inspection, law enforcement, border patrol and firefighting, says the company.

Equipment on the aircraft includes a gimballed camera pod that can hold visual and infrared cameras. Missions are planned using a graphical user interface on the base station, which then loads flightpath information into a daylight-viewable flight computer on board the aircraft, a unit that also records imagery, GPS position and aircraft attitude.

SkyIMD's gimballed camera on a Cessna 182

Surveillance data is later downloaded to the base station for analysis, although a real-time link through the Iridium satellite network can be used to send imagery directly to the ground station during a mission.