Lockheed Martin Procerus Technologies is launching today a new quad-rotor small UAV at AUVSI 2012. The new vehicle is a rugged, five-pound VTOL quad rotor has mission endurance of up to 40 minutes, including extended extended hover, perch and stare missions. Typical missions support military, law enforcement and civil or commercial aerial reconnaissance in crowded areas, unreachable by fixed-wing unmanned aircraft systems. The system uses a gimbal mount providing continuous 360-degree panning capability, carrying daylight video and infrared sensors, augmented with laser illuminator.
According to Todd Titensor, senior manager of Lockheed Martin Procerus Technologies, the new system is quiet, can operate day or night in challenging weather conditions and has longer operating time than other VTOL platforms. The collapsible VTOL platform folds into a man-packable unit that requires no tools for assembly.
The system utilizes the Kestrel 3 autopilot developed in-house at Procerus. The system is controlled via wireless hand controller, which provides an easy-to-use interface for intuitive, untethered vehicle operation. For full ground control station capabilities, the Virtual Cockpit v3.0 features a user-friendly 3-D map interface, powerful mission planning tools, in-flight re-tasking and full waypoint navigation.
At the AUVSI exhibition Procerus Technologies’ provided more details about its new miniature payload – ‘Perceptor’. This lightweight dual-sensor gimbaled payload was designed to provide high-quality video surveillance for small and micro unmanned aircraft systems. Perceptor is equipped with electro-optical and infrared imaging sensors and an optional laser illuminator, the 200-gram (7-ounce) Perceptor provides continuous 360-degree panning and high-definition video imagery day or night in all weather conditions. The payload package also includes a high-speed, high-bandwidth digital internet protocol data link that delivers video and high-resolution imagery more affordably and eliminates the need for multiple data links.
