Low-cost inflatable lighter-than-air surveillance system for civilian applications

Jason S. Kiddy; Peter C. Chen; John B. Niemczuk

doi:10.1117/12.479322

14 August 2002 Low-cost inflatable lighter-than-air surveillance system for civilian applications

Jason S. Kiddy, Peter C. Chen, John B. Niemczuk

Proceedings Volume 4708, Sensors, and Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) Technologies for Homeland Defense and Law Enforcement; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479322
Event: AeroSense 2002, 2002, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

Today's society places an extremely high price on the value of human life and injury. Whenever possible, police and paramilitary actions are always directed towards saving as many lives as possible, whether it is the officer, perpetrator, or innocent civilians. Recently, the advent of robotic systems has enable law enforcement agencies to perform many of the most dangerous aspects of their jobs from relative safety. This is especially true to bomb disposal units but it is also gaining acceptance in other areas. An area where small, remotely operated machines may prove effective is in local aerial surveillance. Currently, the only aerial surveillance assets generally available to law enforcement agencies are costly helicopters. Unfortunately, most of the recently developed unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are directed towards military applications and have limited civilian use. Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) has conceived and performed a preliminary analysis of a low-cost, inflatable, lighter- than-air surveillance system that may be used in a number of military and law enforcement surveillance situations. The preliminary analysis includes the concept definition, a detailed trade study to determine the optimal configuration of the surveillance system, high-pressure inflation tests, and a control analysis. This paper will provide the details in these areas of the design and provide an insight into the feasibility of such a system.

Citation Download Citation

Jason S. Kiddy, Peter C. Chen, and John B. Niemczuk "Low-cost inflatable lighter-than-air surveillance system for civilian applications", Proc. SPIE 4708, Sensors, and Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) Technologies for Homeland Defense and Law Enforcement, (14 August 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479322

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