Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/22418-blighter-unveils-rapid-deployment-radarcamera-system-for-border-security-hot-spots

Blighter unveils rapid deployment radar/camera system for border security hot spots

Systems & Subsystems

June 9, 2014

Blighter Surveillance Systems, a British electronic-scanning radar and sensor solution provider, has unveiled Blighter Scout, a lightweight e-scan radar and camera surveillance system designed for rapid deployment in border security hot spots and other similar security applications.

Featuring the Blighter Revolution 360 Passive Electronic Scanning Array (PESA) radar, low light camera, thermal imaging system and an integrated radar tracker, Blighter Scout is designed for mounting on vehicle and trailer masts for field deployment in just minutes.

It provides a low cost and lightweight mobile surveillance capability for situations where fixed towers are prohibitively expensive, impractical to build or simply ineffective due to the terrain or environment.

Mark Radford, CEO of Blighter Surveillance Systems, said: "Blighter Scout enables security forces to deploy our surveillance platform to exactly where it's needed. For example, to monitor a hot spot on an extensive border or to follow intruder routes as they adapt to the seasons or in reaction to ground interdiction."

Blighter Scout detects small and slow moving targets – even in cluttered environments - due to the radar's coactive Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) Doppler fast-scan processing. The radar can detect a walking person at 7.4 km (4.6 miles) or a large moving vehicle at 22 km (13.7 miles) and then cue the camera system to follow and identify targets.

With its wide 20° continuous elevation beam coverage, which can be increased to 40° via a simple built-in manual tilt control – Blighter Scout can operate in hilly or mountainous areas scanning hill tops and valleys in a single sweep.

Blighter Scout integrates with a range of electro-optic camera systems. The standard complementary system is Chess Dynamics' Hawkeye electro-optic platform featuring the Piranha MRTV or LRTV high sensitivity colour daylight TV cameras and a Piranha TV wide field of view context camera, with an option for cooled or uncooled thermal imagers.

The Blighter Scout radar and camera surveillance system are integrated and controlled through the BlighterView HMI 2 command and control (C2) software platform enabling auto-cueing with manual override. An optional video tracking application also allows the camera system to automatically follow an intruder once the radar has cued it to the target location.

"Blighter Scout can be supplied in a palletised form complete with a standard telescopic mast ready to slide onto the back of a standard 4x4 pickup truck or other surveillance vehicles/trailers," added Mark Radford. "The complete system requires only a single mast as the electro-optic platform is mounted on top with the radar rotating around the mast section directly below it."