FLIR Systems has announced the launch of its latest high-performance maritime surveillance sensor system, the SeaFLIR 280-HDEP.

FLIR Systems has also announced that the Taiwan Coast Guard, which is acquiring the upgraded long-range visible and thermal imaging sensors for deployment across three shipbuilding programs, has made orders worth $14.6 million for this technology. 

“With its advanced technology, the SeaFLIR 280-HDEP is ready for any maritime mission scenario and provides unmatched support for battlespace agility and awareness,” says FLIR Vice President and General Manager of Sensor Systems Tim Durham.

“The 280-HDEP is the first maritime gimbal in its class to leverage edge processing to provide low-latency, AI capabilities that enhance the detection of objects of interest. For defense and commercial maritime operators this means reduced cognitive workload and improved effectiveness, which is especially important with the shift toward expeditionary naval deployments with expansive areas of open water to surveil.”

According to FLIR Systems, the SeaFLIR 280-HDEP is designed for full-time, all-weather maritime duty. The system provides long-range target detection, identification, and tracking to support a variety of missions, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR); maritime search and rescue; interdiction; covert operations; Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) constabulary; and disaster recovery.

Building on the success of the company’s SeaFLIR and TacFLIR series of sensors, the SeaFLIR 280-HDEP is also equipped with new features that were requested most by FLIR customers for enhanced reliability and open architecture processing, including: “a modular, scalable control electronics unit capable of hosting high-power video processing and trained Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) from FLIR and third-party solutions; Optional Display Interface Boards (DIB) to display up to six independent video streams; a new optional vision processor and graphics processing unit, plus an embedded digital video recorder with over 150 hours of video and/or thousands of still image capacity; a removable solid-state 1TB hard drive, so that once capacity is reached, customers can swap it out for a spare drive and keep recording; and a new configuration that allows full fiber connection directly at the turret, simplifying cable management.”

Through Kolead Aerospace Co., Ltd., the first delivery of the SeaFLIR 280-HDEP to the Taiwan Coast Guard was made in July.