Hood Tech’s Imaging Systems Tested by Canadian Navy for Use in the Mediterranean and the Arctic

May 24, 2012 - PRLog -- The Ottawa Citizen reports in an opinion piece that the Canadian Navy has been testing Hood Tech’s imaging systems, and the UAVs that carry them, for use in the Mediterranean (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/drones+here+Canada+ready/ 6639727/story.html).  The Canadian Navy has already used Hood Tech’s UAV-based images in the Gulf of Aden to help interdict drugs, and has also employed them on brief Arctic expeditions.
Concentrating on the utility of airborne imaging systems such as Hood Tech’s, the author goes on to ask whether Arctic surveillance might be best accomplished by more extensive use of those systems, and to question whether “transformative” cost savings might be achieved to the point of replacing other equipment.  He believes the time is right to consider the level of savings, reliability, and the avoidance of collateral damage that are achieved through the use of systems like Hood Tech’s imagers.  
When Hood Tech began producing 800-gm video-camera turrets in 1998, it enabled an entirely new class of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).  Hood Technology Corp. Vision, Inc. (Hood Tech) designs and manufactures imaging and video processing systems at the highest level of the National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale (NIIRS):  level 9.  Designed for manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), boats, land vehicles, and stationary mounts, the reliability and utility of Hood Tech’s daylight and thermal imaging products has been demonstrated over more than 600,000 hours of use in a variety of temperatures, humidity, dust, smoke, haze, and other environmental factors (http://www.alticamvision.com).
Hood Technology was founded by Dr. Andy von Flotow in Hood River, Oregon in 1993.  In addition to stabilized imaging systems, Hood Tech:
•   Develops, tests, and manufactures launch and retrieval systems for a variety of UAVs and
•   Monitors blade vibrations in industrial turbines and jet engines, a diagnostic method for predicting possible future failures.
•   Web site:  www.hoodtech.com