Scenario

The Army has an interest in the constant monitoring of large areas. This is often done with the use of aerostats: blimps that are deployed with sensors payloads such as long-range camera systems. With these cameras, operating bases that can maintain persistent surveillance over wide regions can be established.

Problem

Maintaining surveillance with an aerostat means constantly collecting video over long distances. These collected videos suffer from degradation due to atmospheric turbulence. This effect can be noticeable in subjects as close as a kilometer away but become even more pronounced the further the range and the hotter the environment. This means that while you can collect extremely long range imagery from these platforms, information can be lost due to atmospheric effects.

ATCOM

ATCOM has been integrated and tested with persistent surveillance aerostats. It has shown the ability to remove the warping and scintillation that can occur in long range videos those enhancing the level of detail that can be discerned. This feature is able to work in real time, as the operator moves the camera and watches subjects.