ALTICAM 09 four-axis stabilized imaging-gimbal family

The ALTICAM 09 is a family of four-axis stabilized imaging gimbals from Hood Tech Vision, supplied as complete turrets with electro-optical (EO) and EO plus mid-wave infrared (MWIR) sensor configurations. It is a gimbal payload for crewed and uncrewed aircraft, boats and vehicles, intended for day and night surveillance, wide-area search and tracking of a selected object.

The family has two variants. The 09EO3 (EO960) carries a high-definition EO camera and is listed with a weight of 3375 g. The 09EOIR3 (MWIR3.6) combines a mid-wave infrared sensor with the high-definition EO camera, offers an optional laser pointer and is listed with a weight of 3450 g. Both turrets have a diameter of 10.5 in, which is 266.7 mm, a size that integrators should check against the aircraft belly clearance and the mounting position.

Stabilization is four-axis inertial, so the line of sight stays steady while the carrying platform maneuvers, and the operator can stay locked on an object as the aircraft, boat or vehicle moves. Embedded video processing handles image stabilization and target tracking in both variants. The EO variant also lists video motion target indication (VMTI) and automatic target recognition (ATR), which flag moving objects and identify them without a separate processing unit.

Video leaves the turret as two simultaneous compressed streams, H.264 in both variants and H.265 as an additional option on the EO variant. Two streams let one feed go to a data link at reduced bit rate while the other is recorded or inspected at higher quality. The maker describes a weight and power saving of a factor of two over the industry standard, which affects endurance on platforms with limited payload mass and electrical budget.

For operation, a joystick on a remote ground station can pan and tilt the camera, and ALTIVIEW software provides camera control, a map engine with street, satellite and topographic views, saving of targets on the map, manual or automatic scanning and tracking, and management of multiple targets in single or multi-target modes. Export classification is EAR99 for the 09EO3 and ECCN 6A003.b.4.a for the 09EOIR3. Typical uses are aerial surveillance, search and rescue, border and maritime patrol, infrastructure monitoring and observation from medium-size unmanned aircraft.