KEYW unveils Aeroptic aerial mapping system at National Guard Conference

The KEYW Holding Corporation’s subsidiary, KEYW Corporation, will formally unveil the Aeroptic Mapping System August 22-25 at the 2014 National Guard Association (NGAUS) Conference & Exhibition in Chicago.

With a 10-year legacy of mapping around the globe, Aeroptic is a fully integrated airborne solution that provides high-resolution, wide-area map data for both civilian and military applications.

“Aeroptic is a commercially available mapping system that supports every mission in which the National Guard engages, ranging from incident assessment and disaster response in Domestic Operations (DOMOPS) to reconnaissance and situational awareness on the OCONUS battlefield,” said Kevin Gunde, Executive Vice President, Surveillance and Exploration Systems. “Aeroptic can be deployed on a variety of fixed- and rotor-wing platforms, including the National Guard UH-60 Blackhawk.”

KEYW developed the Aeroptic solution with image quality, positional accuracy and ease of use in mind. The system integrates best-of-breed components including a full-color electro-optical (EO) camera, GPS/IMU, and user-friendly geo-processing software based on non-proprietary open standards. The system itself is compact, light-weight and ruggedized for deployment in harsh environments.

The rapid-refresh EO camera captures imagery of extraordinary quality by employing advanced noise reduction, state-of-the-art image sharpening algorithms and high-end lenses with innovative configurations. The interchangeable lenses offer multiple focal length options that enable the Aeroptic camera to acquire high-resolution visible-band imagery with sub-meter geo-positional accuracy from varying flight altitudes without surveyed ground control points.

Aeroptic offers the option of processing imagery in the air or on the ground, producing unclassified, wide-area ortho-mosaic maps in near real time. Generated imagery products are ready for immediate ingest into standard commercial viewing tools and GIS packages.

“No expertise in GIS or cartography is needed to make full use of the Aeroptic system,” said Gunde. “With just eight hours of training, the typical user can produce content-rich image maps ready for distribution within minutes after acquisition.”