Motion controller provides round-the-clock, 360 degree surveillance.
The United States Border Patrol (U.S.B.P.) is America’s frontline against drug traffickers, terrorists and illegal immigrants. With violence on the rise and perhaps as many as 850,000 people unlawfully entering the United States per year since 2000, the U.S.B.P. has their hands full.
In 2006 the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency build a “virtual fence” using steel towers equipped with infrared sensors, remotely operated cameras, communications devices and radar.
Aiding the U.S.B.P is the Night Hawk High Torque Surveillance Platform developed by PVP Advanced Electro-Optical Systems, Inc. (PVP) in cooperation with L3-CE. With an off-the-shelf DMC-4020 two-axis Ethernet motion controller from Galil Motion Control handling the azimuth and elevation motors and delivering a positioning accuracy of .05 degrees, each Night Hawk HT is capable of providing round-the-clock, 360 degree surveillance for ranges up to 20 miles.
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“The Galil controller allows the user to point the sensors at the desired target or region of interest,” says Geoff Miller, program manager at PVP.
“The sensors are used to locate and track targets at long range using narrow fields of view. This requires the ability to make very small and accurate movements to keep the targets within the field of view. Also, we are at times cued to the targets using radar or other sensors, so precise pointing is required to locate the target.”
In addition to its torque limit, tracking error and modulo position features, a key factor for PVP in selecting the DMC-4020 is that it provides both the servo controller and motor drivers as a single integrated package. Not having to purchase and integrate two separate components allowed PVP to save space, wiring, programming time and cost.
The Galil controller also sped production, helping PVP move from concept to prototype within four months, and to shipping fully operational production units in just six weeks.
"It supported rapid integration with the motors in less than one day, and uses the DMC programming language which we are very familiar with from our CPV and existing Night Hawk products,” says Miller.
According to an August 2009 article in Photonics Spectra, the DHS expects the “virtual fence” to help border patrol agents identify and intercept 70 to 85 percent of all illegal passages in the U.S. The effectiveness of such high technology, including PVP’s Night Hawk HT, is significant.
For more information visit www.galilmc.com