UK-France team to develop gigapixel camera for aerial surveillance

2018-01-08

UK-France team to develop gigapixel camera for aerial surveillance

20 Dec 2017

IMAO and Resolve Optics funded via Horizon 2020 SME Instrument scheme.

High-spec surveillance option

A UK-France collaboration has won €1.68 million to speed their development of a gigapixel-resolution camera suitable for aerial surveillance applications.

Limoges-based IMAO, which specializes in high-quality aerial imagery captured by its fleet of eleven aircraft, is partnering with high-specification lens maker Resolve Optics on the project.

They won support via the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 “SME Instrument Phase 2” funding scheme, which provides grants to small and medium-sized enterprises for near-to-market development.

Thanks to the funding for the "Aerial BCP2 project, the two firms are set to improve the resolution of their current 660 megapixel camera prototype to the gigapixel level.

Resolve Optics said in a company release: “Using ultra-large-format, low-distortion lenses custom-designed by Resolve Optics, IMAO was able to create a prototype aerial surveillance camera. Its patented design, which associates three optical chambers, a matrix of sensors, and three ultra-large-format lenses, represents a disruptive development in the field of aerial data acquisition.”

Prototype development

The two companies say that the prototype 660 megapixel camera is already capable of producing images up to three times larger than the standard image size generated by other large-format cameras on the market.

According to IMAO, its “B66” camera features a pixel size of 6