Smart Sensors

Thermal imagers provide unrivalled vision capability - day or night. However the human operator has limitations when asked to undertake long surveillance actions. To combat this, ISS is developing a range of 'intelligent' or 'smart' sensors in conjunction with Waterfall Solutions, Europe's leading exponent of high performance signal processing. These will enable automatic detection and tracking of targets and, because the machine will not tire or be distracted, the probability of detecting (say) illegal migrants is dramatically enhanced.The first of these new SmartSensors is based on a standard computer linked to one of our thermal imagers. The computer will analyse the incoming IR video information and using a sophisticated algorithm automatically detect potential targets and track them. This configuration is ideal for:

• Border surveillance
• Intruder detection
• Perimeter protection
• High value installation protection

Because the algorithms have been 'trained' and optimised using our high performance thermal imagers, the probability of detection has been maximised whilst minimising false alarms.

Additional developments are planned, each targeted at enhancing security and surveillance capability.