Hood River, OR, March 04, 2016 -- Hood Tech Vision worked with Sentient to design and release a new manned aircraft “pod” featuring VIDAR, which declutters background so that manned search and rescue, and ISR, are enhanced.

From: Hood Tech Corp Vision, Inc., Hood River, Oregon
Date: March 3, 2016
Subject: Hood Tech Vision Releases New Pod Featuring VIDAR
Contact: Dr. Andy von Flotow, Hood Tech Corp Vision, Inc., 541-387-2288, [email protected]

Hood Tech Vision has announced a new version of the self-contained, removable sensor pod it has created to operate on manned aircraft. The latest Hood Tech Sensor Pod features Vidar to allow searchers to find items of interest in a noisy background. Developed with the software company Sentient, the new pod allows small aircraft and remote operators to distinguish rescue objects such as a small raft from surrounding waves or other noise in the background. The new Hood Tech Vidar Sensor Pod has been used to track boats, submarines, and even whales. “Released earlier this week, this innovation makes our pods truly state-of-the-art”, said a Hood Tech Vision representative. “We have not only persistence, zoom capability up to 200X, and round-the-clock capability, but also now the ability to pick someone or something out of a noisy background to present it for search and rescue or to a researcher.” Hood Tech Vision offers lease or purchase of the Vidar-equipped pod (which can fit to NATO lugs), as well as aircraft leases for search and rescue or for operator training purposes.

When Hood Tech began producing 800-gm video-camera turrets in 1998, it enabled an entirely new class of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Hood Technology Vision now designs and manufactures imaging and video processing systems at the highest level of the National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale (NIIRS): Level 9. Hood Tech Vision matches embedded stabilization technology with electro-optical lenses that zoom up to 200X. This results in a field of view of 0.3 degrees, in payloads that weigh from less than one to six kg. Hood Tech Vision imagers consume as little as one-fifth the power common for such systems, increasing the power budget available to other sensors for Multi-INT missions. Designed for manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), boats, land vehicles, and towed and stationary mounts, the reliability and utility of Hood Tech’s daylight and thermal imaging products has been demonstrated during more than 900,000 hours of use in a variety of temperatures, humidity, dust, smoke, haze, and other environmental factors (http://www.hoodtechvision.com).

Dr. Andy von Flotow founded Hood Technology in Hood River, Oregon in 1993. Along with the design and manufacture of stabilized imaging systems, Hood Tech:

- Develops, tests, and manufactures launch and retrieval systems for UAVs
- Operates controlled launch and quiet wind tunnel test facilities
- Monitors blade vibrations in industrial turbines and jet engines, including diagnostic methods that predict possible future turbine failures.

The Hood Tech web site is: www.hoodtech.com

Contact:
Andy von Flotow
Hood Tech
3100 Cascade
Hood River, OR 97031
5413872288
[email protected]
http://www.hoodtech.com