Hood River, OR, May 28, 2014 -- ConocoPhillips, in the first commercial use of a UAV permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration, used Hood Tech Vision’s imaging systems to survey ice and marine life for environmental purposes.

From: Hood Tech Corp Vision, Inc., Hood River, Oregon
Date: May 27, 2014
Subject: Hood Tech Vision’s UAV Imaging Systems--Alaska
Contact: Dr. Andy von Flotow, Hood Tech Corp Vision, Inc., 541-387-2288, [email protected]

While much attention is being paid to regulatory and political matters, commercial uses of UAVs continue to accumulate (http://www.suasnews.com/2014/05/29279/drones-give-energy-companies-high-hopes-for-safer-work/?utm_source=sUAS+News+Daily&utm_campaign=ca5ce78714-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b3c0776dde-ca5ce78714-303664173). “One such use was authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“Last year, Houston-based ConocoPhillips launched several UAVs from a ship in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea as part of a test to see if they could conduct surveys of ice and marine life often required by environmental regulations.

“Those flights marked the first FAA-approved commercial operation by unmanned aircraft.
“Environmental monitoring now typically involves a pilot, co-pilot and four researchers in a helicopter taking notes…A UAV, on the other hand, can take images without putting humans at risk, and beam them to researchers in real time.” Hood Tech Vision’s imagers have aided in several environmental surveys, showing that precise images are important contributors to the survey’s successes.

When Hood Tech began producing 800-gm video-camera turrets in 1998, it enabled an entirely new class of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Hood Technology Vision now designs and manufactures imaging and video processing systems at the highest level of the National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale (NIIRS): level 9. Hood Tech Vision matches embedded stabilization technology with electro-optical lenses that zoom up to 200 times. This results in a field of view of 0.3 degrees, in a package that weighs from less than one to six kg.

Hood Tech Vision imagers consume as little as one-fifth the power common for such systems, increasing the power budget to other sensors for Multi-INT missions. Designed for manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), boats, land vehicles, and towed and stationary mounts, the reliability and utility of Hood Tech’s daylight and thermal imaging products has been demonstrated during 800,000 hours of use in a variety of temperatures, humidity, dust, smoke, haze, and other environmental factors (http://www.hoodtechvision.com).

Dr. Andy von Flotow founded Hood Technology in Hood River, Oregon in 1992. Along with the design and manufacture of stabilized imaging systems, Hood Tech:

Develops, tests, and manufactures launch and retrieval systems for UAVs
Operates controlled launch and quiet wind tunnel test facilities
Monitors blade vibrations in industrial turbines and jet engines, including diagnostic methods that predict possible future failures.

The Hood Tech web site is: www.hoodtech.com

Contact:
Andy von Flotow
Hood Tech
1750 Country Club Rd.
Hood River, OR 97031
541-387-2288
[email protected]
http://www.hoodtech.com