Low Cost, Intelligent, Intensified 360 Degree Surveillance System for Day/Night Use

One of the continuing needs in military and civilian law enforcement operations is area and perimeter surveillance. Even with the aid of advanced sensors, such functions are still manpower intensive and prone to oversight due to sheer boredom when there is no activity over extended periods of time. These consequences can be extremely serious. The problem is more acute under low light level conditions when features and movements are difficult to discern. The development of an intelligent, panoramic viewing, night-vision surveillance system is proposed. The system makes use of the innovative integration of two mature technologies that have been developed by the proposing firm with previous DoD, DoE, NASA and commercial support. One is a state- of-the-art high resolution and high sensitivity image intensifier coupled to a video camera which is capable of viewing from full-daylight to very low-light level conditions. The other is a compact and sophisticated video image processing unit implemented in hardware by using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) to provide real-time processing and artificial intelligence to the system. These two technologies will be combined with a conical mirror resulting in an imaging system which will provide a panoramic view around the clock and will incorporate real-time state-of-the-art intruder detection. Such a system will drastically reduce the cost associated with viewing a large area with intensified technology. The Phase I effort will concentrate on the integration of these developed technologies into a functioning surveillance system and demonstrate its operation. Upon completion of Phase I, the Phase II effort can then be focused on performance optimization and packaging to produce a compact, light weight and rugged unit that can be produced in quantities at attractive cost to meet both defense program and civilian needs.