L-3 Wescam selected for US border surveillance excercises

L-3 Wescam has announced that it was part of a three-member industry team deployed by the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency to participate in exercises to help detect, identify and track illegal activity along the US border.

Funded by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate, the event was formulated to evaluate a new surveillance system for use by the CBP on border missions. Working partners for these exercises were Raven Industries and Logos Technologies.

According to the company, L-3’s Flexible Area Surveillance Technology (FAST), a fully integrated surveillance solution, performed flawlessly throughout the evaluation. The solution includes an aerostat platform, a Wescam electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) imaging system, connectivity to a ground control centre and the ability to view acquired surveillance footage from ground stations.

For demonstration purposes, the solution also included the Kestrel EO/IR sensor from Logos Technologies.

For this evaluation, the aerostat was equipped with Wescam’s MX-15 sensor. Its ultra long-range imaging capability and leading EO/IR technology successfully uncovered critical visual detail while operating from an altitude of 2,000 feet during daylight, lowlight and night-time evaluations. Through communications and command centre operations, ground agents were able to utilise the detailed full-motion video produced by the MX-15 to respond quickly, more efficiently and with greater security.

L-3 Wescam reported that the successful process demonstrated ongoing detection and tracking of numerous individuals of interest. The system’s MX-GEO Gen. 3 technology proved to be a key performance tool during the demonstrations. The MX-15’s effective and accurate ease-of-use control suite supported operators in determining accurate geographical locations and reduced operator workload by automatically focusing the image and providing assistance in tracking objects.