Interesting post, PhilipG.
Resolution is my main concern (maybe interest is a better word) for these sensors. 1 MP is roughly 1.2 million useable pixels. Assuming the sensor is square to cover its 90 x 90 degree field of view that's a resolution of roughly 1,100 x 1,100 pixels or just 12 pixels per degree. Certainly not enough to judge accurately the aspect, or much detail in a target at much more than 3,000 metres (where one pixel covers around 4m x4m). Maybe that's too far, come to think of it. As glad rag said, "FOV anyone?" I can see why the pilot quoted earlier said he needs to eyeball the target to be able to fight it - especially being a 2D image from a single sensor.
As Maus92 has said, increasing that resolution significantly will certainly challenge processing and network speed. I think it was JSFFan that I was trying to discuss this with a couple of years ago having mentioned that the pilot can't see out the back.
I look forward to the unclassified reports on the acuity and usability of the system in due course - there may be some stuff out there, but I'm not sure the system, including the software is mature enough to be meaningful yet.
Last edited by Courtney Mil; 17th Jul 2015 at 11:17.