Hood River, OR, USA, July 18, 2014 -- If Washington State uses a UAV for fire-fighting, it will use Hood Tech Vision imagers to capture images, see through the smoke and haze, and support the fire planning process.

From: Hood Tech Corp Vision, Inc., Hood River, Oregon
Date: July 17, 2014
Subject: Washington State Selects UAV with Hood Tech Vision’s Cameras to Monitor Wildfires
Contact: Dr. Andy von Flotow, Hood Tech Corp Vision, Inc., 541-387-2288, [email protected]

According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, if Washington State uses a UAV, it will be the one that features Hood Tech Vision’s imaging systems, including electro-optical or infrared stabilized cameras (http://www.chron.com/news/article/Wash-to-use-drone-to-monitor-wildfires-5624124.php). Hood Tech Vision’s cameras helped Alaska and other States already for such purposes (e.g. http://www.adn.com/2014/05/31/3496071/drone-helps-find-hotspots-map.html?sp=/99/188/); Washington commonly experiences wildfires, and its neighboring State of Oregon is also intending to use UAVs for fire-fighting. “We’re happy to help”, said a Hood Tech Vision representative. “We think the technology is ideal for this application, allowing fire managers to look through smoke and haze and plan how to address environmental factors.”

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 200 times. This results in a field of view of 0.3 degrees, in a package that weighs 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 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 800,000 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 1992. 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
1750 Country Club Rd
Hood River, OR 97031
5413872288
[email protected]
http://www.hoodtech.com