Controp’s Recent Image Processing Solution (by European Security & Defense)

At the Defense and Security Equipment International 2019 (DSEI 2019) exhibition in London, the Israeli company CONTROP Precision Technologies announced a new system intended to combine the capabilities from two of its current offerings – the TORNADO-ER land-surveillance system and the multispectral SPEED-ER. Launched about six months ago, TORNADO-ER combines a 400 mm thermal imaging (TI) camera with another of 100 mm focal length.

Both are based on 3-5 micron sensors and have fields of view of 1.38 and 5.58 degrees respectively.The entire system weighs 75 kg, and incorporates two-axis gyrostabilizer gimbals that are able to counter the effects of vibration if the device is mounted on a ship’s mast.

TORNADO-ER can create a panoramic view at elevations ranging from +20 to -20 degrees, scanning a full 360 degrees in azimuth every three seconds, and automatically detecting moving targets as small as minor surface craft or swimmers. 

SPEED-ER was announced about a year ago. It uses the same pattern of gyro-stabilized gimbal, in this case offering elevation ranges of +20 to -35 degrees, or +70 to -10. It teams a TI camera based on a cooled 3-5 micron 640 x 512-pixel detector, a high performance SWIR (0.9-1.7 micron) camera with a 640 x 512 pixel detector, a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel wide field-of-view (FOV) color day camera and a 1,920 x 1,440 pixel narrow FOV color day camera.

A 1.54-micron eye-safe laser rangefinder can also be installed as an optional extra. Most of the SPEED-ER cameras are fitted with a continuous zoom lens. The x5 optical zoom lens of the SWIR camera has a maximum focal length of 2,500 mm, giving FOVs down to 0.22 degrees, while the x30 optical zoom lens of the TI camera has a maximum focal length of 1,400 mm, giving FOVs down to 0.39 degrees.

The narrow FOV TV camera has a dual lens offering angular coverages of 0.8 and 0.2 degrees. Both products offer image processing capabilities which include local automatic gain control (AGC), video enhancement, automatic scanning, and an automatic video tracker. Given the complimentary nature of the two systems, CONTROP has decided to offer them in teamed form for tasks such as coastal surveillance role.

TORNADO-ER would provide wide-angle surveillance, passing targets of interest to the SPEED-ER, so that the latter would provide the detailed imagery needed for identification and threat assessment. The combination can cope with the visibility effects of high levels of humidity, and offers a detection range of more 50 km, CONTROP’s Senior Director Marketing Nir Bar Natan told European Security and Defense on the day that the system was announced.