Sentient has successfully demonstrated its Visual Detection and Ranging (ViDAR) system for the U.S. Coast Guard.
The tests were conducted off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, using a ViDAR-equipped small UAV. The UAV and its operators were tasked with running search flights to locate vessels and objects in the water.
"Highlights from the demonstration include ViDAR successfully, and autonomously, detecting a fast boat at 17.7 nautical miles, a life raft at 3.7 nautical miles, a person in the water at 1.9 nautical miles and a shipping vessel at over 33 nautical miles," according to a Sentient news release. "Each time ViDAR detected an object, a small image was sent to the ground automatically; allowing the operator to move from initial detection, to classification and identification in seconds."
ViDAR, which the company likens to an optical radar, comprises a high-resolution digital camera that continuously scans the ocean in a 180-degree arc in front of the air vehicle. The ViDAR software autonomously detects any object on the surface of the ocean, providing the ground control station with an image and location coordinate of each object detected in real time.
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