Drones

Drones

As drones become more commonplace in both military and commercial applications there are more payloads for these drones that include optical systems. The vast majority of optics in drones are cameras for use in surveillance in the visible and infrared and in object/machine vision tracking for drone guidance. Also finding their way into the drone payloads are LIDAR systems for numerous applications including landscape surveying, agricultural applications and traffic monitoring. Seattle Photonics has worked a number of these systems and assisted with the development of the payload avionics and optical hardware. Low mass and low power consumption are key parameters for designs meant to be used on payloads. Also of importance in camera systems is the use of drones during nighttime hours, so fast optical systems are often required for high light gathering capacity. These optical systems are also required to be ruggedized and they need to work over wide temperature ranges.