Summary:

SVS Inc. (Albuquerque, NM) has developed an optical tracking control system, originally for the Low Cost Space Structures (LCSS) experiment, which can now be used in both military and commercial applications. The system is based on software that integrates commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) data collection hardware, such as a video camera, with pointing hardware. SVS was purchased by The Boeing Company in 2000 and is now Boeing-SVS, Inc., offering specialized tracking of missile boosters and satellites, as well as tracking of stationary objects from moving platforms. Two products that resulted from the LCSS technology are the Opti-Trak™ series of tracking systems and the INSPECT system for transmission power line trouble-shooting.

Technology Description:

Through the Low Cost Space Structures (LCSS) experiment, SVS Inc. (Albuquerque, NM) developed a tracking control system for precision optical tracking. The system is based on software that integrates commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) data collection hardware, such as a video camera, with pointing hardware. The software analyzes output from the video, finds the object of interest, and provides a tracking signal for a control system that then moves the camera. For the LCSS, the SVS system tracked dots of laser light to align an optical system. The algorithms evolve with each application and have been incorporated into systems that track moving missiles, satellites, and cars, as well as stationary objects from moving platforms.

MDA Origins:

The SVS tracking system was developed to provide precision optical control on the Low Cost Space Structures experiment. The system was designed to track laser dots in the alignment of deployed optics.

Spinoff Applications:

The tracking system has an interface that can adapt to many different types of cameras, either analog or digital, and even several different versions of digital. The original LCSS technology, now further developed and refined, could be useful in deployed optics on space telescopes such as NASA’s Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), which is slated to have an 8-meter mirror. Eight meters is larger than can be launched, therefore, a mirror will have to be folded for launch and deployed in space. Such a mirror will need alignment on the order of 20 nanometers, which Boeing-SVS’s pointing and tracking technology can provide.

Opti-Trak™: The Opti-Trak series features several real-time tracking and image processing systems. These tracking systems use state-of-the-art commercial hardware and reconfigurable software to accommodate different applications including industrial inspections, general surveillance, image stabilization from a moving platform, and tracking of tactical vehicles, aircraft, boosting rockets, and satellites. Opti-Trak 100 has been used in BMDO’s High Altitude Balloon Experiment (HABE) pointing system and the Airborne Laser (ABL) fire control system and general line-of-sight stabilization. SVS’s integrated tracking systems provide higher precision than other COTS technology, making them better suited for high-end markets such as the military. The systems are not limited to visual data, but also can be used for near infrared (IR) imaging. A midwave-IR Opti-Trak system was used in the 2000 U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) shootdowns of Katyusha missiles at White Sands, NM.

INSPECT: INSPECT is an integrated suite of systems, including an FAA-approved helicopter-mounted image- and data-collection system, a ground processing and analysis system, and a geographic information system-capable end-user station. INSPECT integrates ruggedized, advanced gimbal and control technologies with specialized tracking capabilities, differential GPS equipment, and COTS visible, infrared, and radio frequency (RF) sensors. The helicopter-mounted portion of INSPECT records high resolution digital images and wide field-of-view video images of electric transmission lines and the right-of-way along them. The tracking system keeps the lines centered at all times, despite the helicopter’s motion and the rise and fall of the wires between support towers and over uneven terrain. The resulting images are time-tagged and geo-referenced to better than 5-meter accuracy for analysis by the ground-based processing system. On the ground, INSPECT’s software analyzes the video data for potential problem areas, such as damaged equipment or overgrown vegetation, and tags the image so that a technician can then review just that portion of the data. INSPECT speeds up the process of transmission line inspection by using a helicopter and automated data collection rather than human inspection, which could take weeks to cover hundreds of miles of wire. INSPECT’s automated video analysis also saves employees from reviewing every inch of video after it is acquired.

Boeing-SVS is working to develop an inspection system, based on INSPECT, to help fight forest fires. Multiple systems could be flown over burning terrain, with the data being relayed to a central ground station where it would be overlaid with maps. Firefighters could then use the data to develop firefighting strategies.

Commercialization:

Boeing-SVS provides optical tracking systems to companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon. The majority of these systems are used to track missiles and satellites, but they also have been used to track cars and people. SVS developed INSPECT systems with the Tennessee Valley Authority and a northwest utility provider, but neither organization chose to employ the technology. The TVA gave no reason for its decision, while the utility provider was bought by a European consortium uninterested in the already-developed technology. SVS is interested in selling INSPECT systems, and has done limited marketing of it to utility companies.

Company Profile:

SVS Inc. was founded in 1993 by three staff members but grew significantly while developing the INSPECT system. When SVS was purchased by Boeing in 2000, it had approximately 110 employees. Now Boeing-SVS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, specializing in directed-energy pointing and tracking systems. In addition to its work on the laser defense programs, SVS makes imaging products such as GeoTrak for satellite imaging and the Passive Obstacle Detection System (PODS) for aircraft obstacle avoidance. NASA has selected SVS as team leader to define design options for NASA’s Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) mission which will identify Earth-like planets around other stars.

Contact Information:

Dave DeYoung
Boeing-SVS, Inc.
4411 The 25 Way NE Suite 350
Albuquerque NM 87109
Tel:505-449-4600
Fax:505-345-8303
email: dave.deyoung@svsinc.com
web: www.svsinc.com