Kestrel: force protection and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) persistent surveillance on aerostats

David R. Luber; John E. Marion; David Fields

doi:10.1117/12.923594

3 May 2012 Kestrel: force protection and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) persistent surveillance on aerostats

David R. Luber, John E. Marion, David Fields

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8405, Defense Transformation and Net-Centric Systems 2012; 84050L (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.923594
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2012, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Abstract

Logos Technologies has developed and fielded the Kestrel system, an aerostat-based, wide area persistent surveillance system dedicated to force protection and ISR mission execution operating over forward operating bases. Its development included novel imaging and stabilization capability for day/night operations on military aerostat systems. The Kestrel system's contribution is a substantial enhancement to aerostat-based, force protection systems which to date have relied on narrow field of view ball gimbal sensors to identify targets of interest. This inefficient mechanism to conduct wide area field of view surveillance is greatly enhanced by Kestrel's ability to maintain a constant motion imagery stare of the entire forward operating base (FOB) area. The Kestrel airborne sensor enables 360° coverage out to extended ranges which covers a city sized area at moderate resolution, while cueing a narrow field of view sensor to provide high resolution imagery of targets of interest. The ground station exploitation system enables operators to autonomously monitor multiple regions of interest in real time, and allows for backtracking through the recorded imagery, while continuing to monitor ongoing activity. Backtracking capability allows operators to detect threat networks, their CONOPS, and locations of interest. Kestrel's unique advancement has already been utilized successfully in OEF operations.

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David R. Luber, John E. Marion, and David Fields "Kestrel: force protection and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) persistent surveillance on aerostats", Proc. SPIE 8405, Defense Transformation and Net-Centric Systems 2012, 84050L (3 May 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.923594

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KEYWORDS

Surveillance

Surveillance systems

Sensors

Intelligence systems

Imaging systems

Reconnaissance

Image resolution

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