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June 6, 2023: Diamond Aircraft has announced a variant of its flagship special mission aircraft DA62 MPP for environmental surveillance missions. The new turnkey solution, designated DA62 VANGUARD, willbe outfitted with the AI-driven multi-mission TK-8 smart sensor from Overwatch Imaging and the TC300 EO/IR gimbal from Trakka Systems.
The DA62 MPP VANGUARD’s unique configuration is targeted at customers who have a requirement for affordable airborne environmental surveillance solution with low operating costs that can be flexibly used for various missions. Perfectly suited for applications such as automated fire mapping, vegetation analyses, flood mapping, wildlife monitoring, oil spill mapping, 3D modeling and many other missions, like border security or search and rescue.
With the TK-8 five spectral bands (RGB, NIR, SWIR, LWIR and MWIR), this new Diamond Aircraft special mission turnkey solution can detect anomalies, interpret them through its AI control, and deliver the results to the operator in the aircraft or to the decision makers on the ground – all in real time. Thus, in acutely dangerous situations involving forest fires, fire sources and fire histories can be analyzed and fed into GIS systems to provide critical information to prevent worse. It can also be used to monitor forest health for proactive prevention or as a coordinator aircraft with wildfire intelligence capabilities. Advanced software means that not only wildfire missions can be flown, also Change Detection and Search and Rescue Missions make the VANGUARD a versatile civil-protection aircraft.
“We’re honored to be selected by Diamond Aircraft to support the Vanguard configuration of the impressive DA62MPP,” said Greg Davis, founder and CEO of Overwatch Imaging.
“Overwatch Imaging has a proven track record supporting time-critical detection and monitoring roles for users who depend on accurate, timely and automated airborne intelligence for missions that matter around the world. We’re proud to continue that tradition in partnership with Diamond Aircraft and its customers.”
The TK-8 covers a large area to solve a common problem as human-intensive imaging systems require highly trained and alert observers who are tasked with locating small objects of interest in vast and challenging environments. This manual method of airborne searching can be inefficient, ineffective, labor-intensive, and time consuming. The Trakka TC300 has a 360° field of view. This allows the operator to have a closer look at the situation on the ground.
Adam Boniecki, Business Development: “Trakka Systems is proud to be a partner of Diamond Aircraft and excited to support the monitoring of global environmental changes. The TC-300 allows for easy integration with other mission critical systems, like the Overwatch system and other A.I. technologies in this vein. These partnerships strive to bring cutting edge solutions that represent just a glimpse of the ongoing advancement in airborne surveillance.”
About the DA62 MPP
The Diamond Aircraft DA62MPP (Multipurpose Platform) is a modern twin-engine aircraft designed for a variety of specialized missions. With a range of over 1,000 nautical miles, the DA62MPP can stay airborne for extended periods, allowing it to conduct surveillance and monitoring operations over large areas without the need for frequent refueling. Compared to larger, more expensive aircraft, the DA62MPP is a cost-effective solution for these missions - with a fuel burn of approximately 9 gal per hour, operating costs are extremely low, especially in environmental monitoring where CO2 is a major concern.
Inquiries: www.overwatchimaging.com/contact Overwatch Imaging 33 Nichols Parkway, Suite 390 Hood River, Oregon 97031