New Applications for World’s First Passive Optical Radar
Sentient Vision Systems will unveil its next-generation, AI-enabled Visual Detection and Ranging (ViDAR) Surface system at Indo-Pacific 2022 in Sydney this week.
The day-and-night autonomous ocean surface surveillance system can “efficiently detect, track, classify, and filter hundreds of objects” and assist the operator in focusing on targets of interest, both during normal and high threat scenarios, the company stated. The scalable solution, available pod-mounted, is designed for real-time situational awareness and can detect ships, stealthy boats, small boat swarms, buoys, persons in the water, and aircraft. It can be deployed with a range of shore-based and maritime surface platforms, manned or unmanned.
The launch of ViDAR Surface comes as the company sets its sights on further international expansion, following several recent contract awards, including: selection for a US DoD Foreign Comparative Technology (FCT) test that will see ViDAR systems integrated into a USMC UAS; a Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard contract that will see ViDAR deployed on new helicopters and current patrol aircraft; European and Middle Eastern applications; and selection for a A$2.1 million ($1.47 million) Australian government grant to establish a sovereign in-house manufacturing facility for ViDAR search and surveillance pods.
The ViDAR system – the world’s first passive optical radar – is currently in use with several customers, including the US Coast Guard, and, in 2021, Sikorsky announced it would evaluate the technology as a maritime ISR enhancement for the MH-60 Seahawk. According to Paul Harris, Sentient’s Director of Business Development, these developments place company – which won the Indo Pacific 2022 SME Innovation Award ahead of the start of the expo – in “pole position” to grow markets as well as its share of these markets. “We are determined to remain the key driver of this technology set and its various applications across civilian and defence markets,” he noted, adding that the company has put in place a senior team to realise this expansion, meet customer requirements and boost R&D investments.
The company’s flagship products include Kestrel software for land and maritime surveillance and ViDAR.
