13th March 2006
UK’s Metropolitan
Police select Skyquest VMS for new EC145 helicopter
fleet
Skyquest Aviation, the UK manufacturer of specialist airborne surveillance equipment, today announced that the UK’s Metropolitan Police have selected their VMS (video management system) for installation in their new fleet of EC145 helicopters.
Under the contract Skyquest will supply a comprehensive surveillance suite for each aircraft giving the police new capabilities in airborne surveillance. Each aircraft will be fitted with 5 multi-function mission displays and multiple digital video recorders. Operators, regardless of their position in the aircraft, can select any sensor image or multiple sensor images to be called to their display and then send them to microwave downlink or recording equipment onboard the helicopter.
Touch screen interfaces on the displays enable users to control other equipment such as moving maps, radar & number plate recognition computers on their screens without the need for multiple control panels. The man-machine interface has been developed jointly by Skyquest and the Metropolitan Police to enable each airborne observer to get maximum use from all the equipment carried onboard the aircraft.
In addition to the surveillance equipment Skyquest have also been chosen to supply an external hoist camera system to enable the pilot to view firearms hoist operations. The camera images can also be recorded onto one of the onboard video recorders for training and mission briefing purposes.
John Herbert, Managing Director of Skyquest, said that “a number of other UK and international police forces were shortly to sign orders” and that "Skyquest had received considerable interest in their new VMS system from both military and paramilitary customers worldwide”.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SYSTEM OVERVIEW PDF
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