Building Airborne Imaging Systems

Modern airborne imaging systems do far more than capture video. Overwatch Imaging builds intelligent payloads that combine high-resolution cameras, embedded AI, and stabilized ISR gimbals to detect, identify, and track objects in real time. Their systems are used across defense, public safety, and critical infrastructure, where reliable imagery can directly influence operational decisions.

The Network Behind the Camera

Inside an airborne imaging payload, Ethernet ties everything together—cameras, onboard computers, AI accelerators, storage, radios, and mission systems.

As cameras get better and onboard AI becomes more capable, the network has to keep up. These payloads spend their lives in vibration and temperature extremes. So the network needs to not only be easy to integrate and reliable, it needs to be incredibly rugged.

The Challenge: Reliability Matters

Like many embedded system developers, Overwatch Imaging started with commercially available Ethernet switches and industrial embedded networking products. On paper, many looked like they would work. In practice, reliability was inconsistent.

Some switches would run for months before failing without any obvious explanation. Others couldn’t be customized for the specific needs of an embedded airborne platform, limiting connector options and port configurations.

The team wasn’t just looking for an Ethernet switch they weren’t sure existed.

The Solution: Finally, the Right Fit

Then Overwatch Imaging discovered BotBlox.

The broad BotBlox product lineup gave the team access to different port counts, connector options, 2-wire Ethernet, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet as requirements changed from one program to the next. Demonstrated environmental testing and consistent product availability, even through the global chip shortage, gave the team confidence that the hardware would be there when they needed it.

The Results: Proven in the Air

Most importantly, it proved reliable. As the team put it: “It works, and others don’t.”

Their switches have operated in demanding airborne environments without a single in-field failure. And as imaging systems continue to evolve, Overwatch Imaging plans to keep building around compact, rugged embedded Ethernet hardware that can evolve alongside them.

Two of Overwatch Imaging’s product families: forward-looking ISR gimbals for object detection and nadir-looking multispectral systems for wide-area imaging.