New Tool In Maritime Surveillance Launched Image Quality Good Enough For Court, Companies Say
SAN DIEGO -- Drones launched off the San Diego coast Wednesday demonstrated how new imaging technology will make shipping lanes safer. Images: New Tool In Maritime Surveillance Launched The new technology, created by Lockheed Martin and General Atomics, allows drones to patrol hundreds of square miles of ocean, NBC 7/39 reported. The imaging technology is so advanced that it can identify people on-board ships. Lockheed Martin and General Atomics say the image quality is good enough to be used in a courtroom prosecution. "We can take very good high-quality pictures and (get) information from ranges and distances where they don't know they're being observed," said Jim Courtright, of Lockheed Martin. "We can also do electronic signature comparison. If there are radiating radars, we can tell who they are and where they are."
Drones equipped with the new technology are being called Predator B's. The drones launched Wednesday were controlled from the SPAWAR complex on Pacific Highway. Lockheed Martin says the technology has applications from everything to homeland security to search and rescue.