This week’s theme is ride along with an Airborne Sensor Operator (ASO) – Aerial Photographer and Cinematographer. If you’ve ever been interested in this type of ASO work, check out the collection of videos posted here (Part 1 thru 3). Overall, the presenters provide a good overview of airmanship, safety and the science & art of getting the right picture! ASOG

If you want an audio definition of our profession, i.e., Airborne Sensor Operator, check this out! Also, you can find the printed version on our webpage and on Wikipedia.

The problem facing many strategic, high growth markets that leverage real time video is no optical system or camera is optimized to deliver high-quality actionable video in every environmental condition. There are many applications that can benefit from Instant Visual Clarity in compromised video streams including: Security & Surveillance, Artificial Intelligence, Computer and Machine Vision, Autonomous Vehicles, Urban Traffic Monitoring, Smart Cities and Video Analytics. The quality of the video captured from all optical systems is compromised by a variety of factors. Even the most advanced wide-dynamic range, highdefinition, thermal or infrared cameras are restricted by optical physics and environmental challenges. The following conditions have the most significant effects on capturing high quality, actionable video:

Adverse Lighting caused by night, low light, backlight and extreme contrast like sun glare, headlights and infrared imaging are challenging environments that distress the quality of video. These conditions significantly impact the image quality taken by all camera systems, rendering them ineffective and incapable of delivering meaningful and actionable video.

Extreme Weather conditions impact the visibility of all camera systems. The image quality from cameras operated outdoors can be severely compromised by the effects of severe rain, snow, dense fog, mist or haze removing any chance of capturing actionable data.

Airborne Particles in the environment can also negatively impact the quality of the imagery delivered by the camera. Representative challenges in this area include the impact of sandstorms, smoke, smog, dirt and dust, all of which degrade visibility and the camera’s ability to capture quality video.

The demand for Instant Visual Clarity is rapidly increasing throughout global markets. Realtime, actionable video requirements are expanding across all industries including: Government, Military, Law Enforcement, Healthcare, Maritime, Industrial, Transportation, Agriculture, Retail, Energy and Public Utilities.

Governments and industries are committing significant additional resources to Security & Surveillance. Governments across the world are investing in high quality Video Surveillance Systems as part of their border control, security and anti-terrorism infrastructure. All Security & Surveillance applications can instantly benefit from instantaneous visual clarity.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines: any device that perceives its environment and takes action that maximizes its chance of successfully attaining its goal. AI problems include reasoning, planning, learning, perception, and the ability to move and manipulate objects. For example, Artificial Intelligence enables autonomous planning or calculations for robotic systems to maneuver through an environment. Information about the environment is being provided by computer vision systems, acting as a vision sensor for the robot. Computer Vision addresses how computers can be utilized to derive a high-level understanding (from digital images or video) to automate tasks and enhance the performance of the organic, human visual system and analytical process. Computer Vision is concerned with the theory behind artificial systems that extract information from images. Computer vision systems leveraging ProHawk can extract substantially better data for scene reconstruction, event detection, video tracking, object recognition, 3D pose estimation, learning, indexing and motion estimation. The growth of the market is mainly driven by the increasing adoption of computer vision in autonomous and semiautonomous vehicles, military, industrial and consumer drones; and the rising adoption of Industry 4.0 manufacturing automation and data exchange.

Autonomous vehicles employ embedded software, sensors, and communications systems trending towards advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. True level 5 autonomous driving, full autonomy in any and all conditions, will not be achieved without ProHawk technology. Elon Musk, CEO of a leading autonomous vehicle company, Tesla, has said publicly, “Once you solve cameras for vision, autonomy is solved: if you don’t solve vision, it’s not solved…You can absolutely be superhuman with cameras.”

Successful implementation of smart city projects heavily depends on technologies – data communications, cloud, mobility, and sensors that seamlessly tie together to form an IoT ecosystem. Typical smart city projects target traffic flow optimization, public safety violence eradication, efficient street light utilization, and parking. Smart cities are enabled by smart cameras that will make sense of what they see in real time.

Governments, industries, commercial organizations all use advanced video analytics for security and to improve operational efficiency. Instant Visual Clarity is essential to key, common video analytics uses including License Plate Recognition, Object Recognition and Facial Recognition.

About the Author: Bob Brown is CEO and CTO of Prohawk Technology Group, the leading provider of Instant Visual Clarity solutions. Bob has over 30 years of experience in software and systems; he has an extensive background in storage management, network management, internet collaboration, telecommunications, and computer vision. www.prohawkgroup.com

Shared by:  ASOG Member Mike Coppage

One of ASOG’s goals is to look forward into the future, i.e., professional ASOs tracking and being informed of the next tech changes. With that, is “Blockchain” going to be a major player in the future for Airborne Sensor Operators, i.e., from an aviation, systems and data management perspective?

Like me, if you’re interested to know more, I found these articles to help me understand this new technology and how it might affect my professional ASO future. What do you think…Blockchain or Blockhead technology?

Disrupting aviation with Blockchain

Blockchain in Geospatial Applications, what is a blockchain and how is it relevant for geospatial applications?

ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick)

(Image: Wikimedia commons - Toni Lozano)

One of our members, Mike Coppage who works for ProHawk Group at the Kennedy Space Center shared what their group is currently working on. If you’re interested or want to stay informed of current technology related to our profession, click the link (ProHawk Group) or reachout to Mike. Also, big thanks to Mike, ProHawk Group just became an ASOG Supporter.

As many of you know, fire season is in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere with devastating effect and will start up in the Southern Hemisphere soon. With that, I want to highlight how the Airborne Sensor Operator participates in this very important public safety operation.

Historically and currently, the backbone of aircrew members getting the job done is the pilot career field (both fixed wing and rotor). However, as most of us know, with the advent of new technology in our industry, more and more sensors, different type of aerial platforms, mission management systems, etc. are being employed. Along with that, ASOs are slowly becoming an important part of this industry sector.

One area of the Aerial Fire Fighting operation that requires ASO expertise is “Reconnaissance or Patrol Flights.” According to “Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations” (Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management National Park Service U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Agriculture Forest Service, 2017)

     “The purpose of aerial reconnaissance or detection flights is to locate and relay
     fire information to fire management. In addition to detecting, mapping, and
     sizing up new fires, this resource may be utilized to provide ground resources
     with intelligence on fire behavior, provide recommendations to the IC when
     appropriate, and describe access routes into and out of fire areas for responding
     units. Only qualified Aerial Supervisors (ATGS, ASM, HLCO and Lead/ATCO)
     are authorized to coordinate incident airspace operations and give direction to
     aviation assets. Flights with a “Recon, Detection, or Patrol” designation should
     communicate with tactical aircraft only to announce the location, altitude and to
     relay their departure direction and altitude from the incident.”

An example of this type of mission and capability is the Colorado State PC-12 Multi Mission Aircraft. Click on the hyper link below and get a commander brief of this Capability and its role in Aerial Fire Fighting.

Colorado Multi Mission Aircraft & CO-WIMS 

Again, I just wanted to highlight or share how our profession is becoming an important member of this critical public safety team. Part 2 and 3 of this series are just referenced information you might find interesting and informative regarding Aerial Fire Fighting.

If you’re an Aerial Fire Fighter or SME and want to share more about Aerial Fire Fighting with your fellow ASOs or future Aerial Fire Fighting candidates, please let us know your thoughts on what it is like, training requirements and the future of sensor ops, both manned and unmanned.

ASOG Desk Editor

I wish I could have been at this years Farnborough Airshow. However, it was great to see other ASOG members connect and network. Thank you, Georg, for the field report. (L to R: Marcus Gurtner, Georg De Cock, Peter Myers)

Post from: Grant Reid

Interesting report for those that enjoy how we got to where we are, and particularly why we did what we did.

Top EO/IR Technology, Platforms and Uses by the U.S. DOD 

As a Sensor Operator, we are always striving to optimize the equipment to get as much out of it as we possibly can. I am always impressed by the ingenuity a line Operator has over an instructor that deals with a rigid training system designed to ensure 'every Operator does this the same way, so they get the same expected result. Once in the field, it is a different story. When I was but a young Naval Aviator (no, I didn't know Admiral Nelson when he was a Lt), our Det Commander used to have a tactics round table every week. I continued that same line with all my Padawan to get them to realize that the manual is not the Bible, but a book of not so sutle hints on what the system is capable of; if you put your mind to it. The worse thing that could happen is you need to do a power dump to reset to defaults.

As the Training Supervisor here at L3 WESCAM, I know that all of our instructors get excited when they meet Operators that believe they have reinvented the wheel. Please think logically and say to yourself, "if I do this, I should be able to see this......". Then try it and record your results under as many environmental conditions as you can. And Logic would dictate that you not do this during a mission. Saying, Grant, said to try it won't cut it during the hotwash with the JTAC holding a club with your name on it.

That is all for today. I'll randomly send things down the Pipe as I get them. When I get things on MatriX C130 and MatriX UH60 or updates on the MX 8, i'll let you know.

This week I was doing some research and came across this NASA website: NASA - User Resource - Remote Sensors. I think some of you might find it interesting from a professional development perspective or as a new ASO. The site gives a good overview of remote sensors and specific applications & projects, i.e., from both air & space. I’ll add it to the “Remote Sensor Centric” section of the ASOG library.

Don’t forget, if you know of any good webpages that relate to the Airborne Sensor Operator profession (commercial, public safety, defense), send it to me at pryan@aso-group.org, I’ll add it to the Link Library.

ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick)

Great photo of Richard Glyn-Jones And George De Cook meeting for the first time. Plus, I heard Gustavo Duarte, Marcus Gurtner, and Pierre De Backer was able to rendezvous. Again, this is one reason for ASOG, i.e., to promote networking between ASOs and industry.

What aircraft does this Airborne Sensor Operator cockpit position belong? Also, what sensors and flight systems did they operate?

Here’s a short post to let the other ASOG members know how the Police Aviation Conference – Europe went for those ASOG members who attended this week in Warsaw Poland. We’ll share the official conference report when it’s released.

Overall, we had a great time! The best part was meeting fellow members in person. We were able to share experiences (there I was stories etc.), network and open doors for future opportunities. Plus, we were able to absorb a good amount of top-notch information related to the full spectrum of Public Safety Aviation operations, new technologies, and aircraft.

In a nutshell, day 1 focused on the Police Tactical Flight Officer (a.k.a. ASO) with briefings on roles & responsibilities, systems, and simulator training. Day 2 and 3 covered many police aviation topics ranging from Safety Management Systems (SMS), unmanned operations and an introduction to the Airborne Sensor Operators Group. Again, many more professional development presentations were given besides these.

If you want to know more about how the event was, reach out to any of your fellow members who attended an ask:

• Patrick Ryan
• Gareth Davies
• Adrian Harrison
• Bryn Elliot
• Georg De Cook
• Mark Keogh
• Gustavo Duarte
• Peter Myers
• David Domoney
• Bob Moll

Also, according to the PAvCon organizers, they have a soft plan to run the program same time next year but at an airfield near Rome, Italy. We’ll keep everyone posted on details as time goes and for those interested to start making plans.

More Too Follow!

ASOG Desk Editor

As part of the mission of ASOG to inform the public of the different types of Airborne Sensor Operators in the profession, we’ll start collecting and sharing videos that depict in a visual way the duties, responsibilities, equipment and general perspective of each type of ASO in their specialized industry sector.

To start things off and with the European Police Aviation Conference right around the corner, we’ll start with this clip.

If you have a video that you want to share, please post on the blog board or send me a link and I’ll post it right away.

ASOG Desk Editor

One of the purposes of ASOG is to help individual members with their professional ASO career. One way is for individuals to show they go "above-and-beyond" by participating in professional groups or associations that positively further their professional career field.

As many of you know, ASOG is just that, a young but growing professional group that focuses on the ASO profession and the aerial work industry. So, to show you’re serious about your career as a Sensor Operator / Aircrew Member and you’re just not punching-the-clock at the end of the day, add ASOG and other related professional associations to your resume.

Here’s an example of what your resume “Professional Associations” section might look like:

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• Airborne Sensor Operators Group (ASOG)
• Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI)
• Airborne Public Safety Association (APSA)
• American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing (ASPRS)
• Association of Old Crows (AOC)

Again, the above is just an example. However, what associations do you recommend for your specific professional ASO industry sector, i.e., commercial, public safety or defense?

ASOG Desk Editor

ASOG Members,

The ASOG ASO Search and Rescue Working group just completed the 1st edition of the ASO Search and Rescue (Public Safety / Maritime / Fixed-Wing) Training Guide. As an ASOG member, you can “Log-In” and find the guide (and in the future other training guides) in the “Career Center/Training and Cert.” area of the website (which will link you to the final document developed in the working group).

As you know, one of ASOGs goals is to codify the standards, techniques and procedures across the different aerial work industry sectors related to the Airborne Sensor Operator position or profession. This is our first guide under the category of “ASO Training.” The intent of these guides is to “what to expect to study” fashion regarding general knowledge for fulfilling the responsibilities of a crewmember and a basic understanding of specific ASO operations. The means to obtain this knowledge can be accomplished via self-study (internet, books, etc.), learning from peers or by taking a course.

If you have any questions, inputs or comments regarding this guide, please send me a note. Our/your guides are living documents and have the Lat/Long space to change. If you are interested in developing a training guide on your specific ASO position, please let me know, we’ll get a working group started.

Before I close, I would like to recognize the members who led the way in developing this guide. Both members are truly Subject Matter Experts in both Maritime/SAR operations and training. Michael Sheehy and Glen Moratti, my hat is off to you! Super effort on taking time out of your busy schedules and sharing your top-level experience and knowledge with our global profession…”Good On You!”

Thank you Everyone!

Cheers!

ASOG Desk Editor (Patrick Ryan)