Eyes in the Sky

Rugged High-Speed Cameras Capture Critical Flight Test Video Data

There is increasing demand for high-quality High Definition (HD) video for airborne applications such as Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI). Ideally, such new camera solutions can reduce the weight and difficultly of installing wiring, and enable data to be coherently combined with image data. Ethernet cameras can address these needs with built-in compression and multiple output streams. Additionally, as Ethernet-based networks have become an attractive choice for FTI applications, we see increased requirements for integrating Ethernet-based cameras with FTI data acquisition equipment, network recorders, and telemetry systems as this removes duplication of wiring and devices.

Using an Ethernet camera that supports onboard compression enables video compression to be removed from the FTI Data Acquisition System (DAS), or it can eliminate a dedicated unit. The camera can be connected via an Ethernet switch directly into the system, like any other data acquisition unit. Even better, because there is no need for dedicated hardware compression, SWaP is minimized and installation wiring greatly simplified.