Air Force chooses Gatekeeper airborne video recorders for use on AC-130 gunship aircraft

ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia, 5 Feb. 2016. U.S. Air Force reconnaissance and surveillance experts needed high-definition (HD) digital airborne video recorders for use with and electro-optical sensor payload on the Air Force AC-130 gunship. They found their solution from Gatekeeper Systems Inc. in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

U.S. Air Force officials, through Sterling Computers in Dakota Dunes, S.D., is buying 25 Gatekeeper Viperfish SDI-1 HD airborne digital video recorders for about $350,000 for use with the L3 Wescam MX-15Di digital multi-sensor, multi-spectral airborne imaging system.

The Air Force chose the Viperfish HD video recorder to capture 720-pixel or greater resolution over a HD SDI interface from L3 Wescam's MX-15Di sensor, Gatekeeper officials say.

Other requirements included synchronized audio, carry-on carry-off external storage media and various Military Standards including MIL-STD-461F electromagnetic interference/conductance (EMI-EMC), and MIL-STD-810G environmental including explosive atmosphere.

The Viperfish HD video recorder, from Gatekeeper division Deep Development Corp. in Abbotsford, British Columbia, records 720-by-486-pixel video at 30 frames per second with zero latency, company officials say.

Related: Physical Optics Corp.'s digital video recorder system to fly on Sikorsky helicopters

It combines a 1 GHz processor, the Linux real-time operating system, and wavelet compression, and enables users to view and record video simultaneously. It has a minimum of a 100-gigabyte hard drive and removable USB 2.0 removable drive. It has 10/100 megabit Ethernet and operates in temperatures from -20 to 70 degrees Celsius.

The L3 Wescam MX-15Di electro-optical sensor pod is for medium-altitude covert intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions and homeland security applications aboard aerostats, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The airborne sensor pod has visible-light and infrared cameras; multispectral imaging that blends matched images from several sensors to uncover detail in each frame; enhanced local area processing (ELAP); real-time image enhancement to enhance contrast during the day, at night, and in low light; high-performance haze penetration; solid-state inertial measurement unit (IMU); and works in several digital and analog output formats.

For more information contact Gatekeeper Systems online at www.gatekeeper-systems.com, Deep Development Corp. at www.deepdevelopmentcorp.com, or L3 Wescam at www.wescam.com.