Boeing subsidiary Insitu has partnered with Hood Technologies and Sentient to integrate maritime detection technology into Insitu-built small unmanned aerial systems such as the ScanEagle UAS.
Insitu said Tuesday it aims to equip its ScanEagle with the Visual Detection and Ranging system that is designed to scan the ocean in a 180-degree arc around the front of a drone.
The ViDAR software — developed by Sentient’s vision systems business – works to detect objects on the ocean’s surface and send their images and location coordinates to the ground control station.
Hood Technologies has incorporated the tool into a ScanEagle payload technology, Insitu noted.
Insitu also signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Sentient to offer the ViDAR software in the global small UAS market.