Blighter Unveils Rapid Deployment Radar/Camera System for Border Security Hot Spots

  • Blighter Scout features 360-degree e-scan radar and low light camera and thermal imaging system, and integrated radar tracker and is designed for vehicle or trailer mast deployment
  • Blighter Scout enables detection and tracking of targets – humans at 7.4 km, vehicles at 22 km – in hilly and mountainous areas due to radar’s unique PESA technology and its 20 to 40-degree elevation beam coverage
  • Blighter Surveillance Systems to launch Blighter Scout at Eurosatory in Paris, France (16-20 June) and at DVD in Millbrook, UK (25-26 June)

Cambridge, UK, June 6, 2014 – Blighter Surveillance Systems (www.blighter.com), 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.

Blighter Scout 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-degree continuous elevation beam coverage – which can be increased to 40-degrees 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 for Blighter Scout 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 4×4 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.”

Blighter Surveillance Systems delivers an integrated multi-sensor package to systems integrators comprising the Blighter radars plus cameras, thermal imagers, trackers and software solutions. Its ITAR-free systems are used worldwide in commercial, government and defence markets in area and asset protection for national border security, homeland security, critical infrastructure protection such as airports, coastal surveillance, and in military applications.

Blighter radar solutions are used at Heathrow and other international airports, by the British Army for force protection, and in numerous asset protection and border security applications, including monitoring the Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), a buffer zone which runs 250 km across the Korean peninsula and separates North and South Korea.

For more information about Blighter radars or other products from Blighter Surveillance Systems, please visit www.blighter.com, telephone +44 1223 491122 or email [email protected].

Blighter Surveillance Systems will be unveiling its Blighter Scout surveillance solution at Eurosatory in Paris, France on 16-20 June (Hall 5, Stand K511) and at DVD, Millbrook Proving Ground, Millbrook, UK on 25-26 June (Stand SP49).

Photography to accompany this press release is available via the link below:

Blighter Scout System Mounted on Mast
Blighter Scout System Comprising Blighter Revolution 360 Radar and Chess Dynamics Hawkeye MR Camera Mounted on 4×4 Pickup Truck

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About Blighter Surveillance Systems (www.blighter.com)

Blighter Surveillance Systems is an electronic-scanning radar and sensor solution provider delivering an integrated multi-sensor package to systems integrators comprising the Blighter electronic-scanning radars, cameras, thermal imagers, trackers and software solutions. Blighter radars combine patented solid-state Passive Electronic Scanning Array (PESA) technology – utilising digital beamforming (DBF) on transmit and receive – with advanced Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing to provide a robust and persistent surveillance capability and an unmatched combination of high reliability, accuracy and performance with a low cost of ownership. Products are manufactured under a BS EN ISO 9001:2008 certified management system. Blighter Surveillance Systems is a Plextek Group company, a leading British design house and technology innovator, and is based at Great Chesterford on the outskirts of Cambridge, England.

Media contacts:

Martin Brooke (for Blighter)
Martin Brooke Associates
Tel: +44 1223 882174
Email: Martin Brooke

Nick Booth
Blighter Surveillance Systems
Tel: +44 1223 491122
Email: Nick Booth