Our commercial Lidar surveying system is the "Gold Standard" for corridor mapping.
Our military Lidar system assists rotorcraft pilots landing in Degraded Visual Environments (DVE).
Our military Lidar system also supports autonomous rotorcraft flight including Obstacle Field Navigation and Safe Landing Zone Determination.
We tailor our core technology to our customer's application.
Burns Technologies was formed in August of 2016 by the four principles of H.N. Burns Engineering Corporation following the retirement of its owner/president. Burns Technologies will continue to offer the same exceptional products and services that have evolved over the last 33 years.
MFL - Multi-Function Laser Radar
The Multi-Function Laser Radar (MFL) system is an eye-safe imaging Laser Radar technology development system designed and built by H. N. Burns Engineering Corporation. The primary components of the MFL system are a nose-mounted Laser Radar Sensor Turret and a System Electronics Unit (SEU) that is mounted in the avionics bay of the helicopter.
The MFL system has two modes of operation: Approach to Landing (ATL) mode and Enroute mode. In ATL mode, the MFL provides the pilot a clear view of the Landing Zone (LZ) in Degraded Visiblity Environment (DVE) including darkness and zero visibility brownout conditions. Enroute mode provides visual and audible cues to alert the aircrew of imminent Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) and potential collision with towers, wires and cables.
The Approach to Landing mode provides a real-time perspective 3D image of the Landing Zone on the cockpit display using color-coded Ladar point clouds rendered from the pilot’s eye point. The Ladar point clouds are generated on approach to the LZ; the aircraft position and orientation are provided by a high precision Inertial Navigation System (INS). The image to the right shows the Ladar point cloud fused with Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) data. The obstacles and wires are color-coded depending on height above the terrain. Rotor strike hazards (trees, poles, wires/cables) are colored red; small obstacles (bushes, boulders) are colored yellow. Artificial runway symbols, shown in green, provide additional situational awareness.
The Enroute Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (HTAWS) capabilities provide real-time day/night, all-weather visualization of the flight path environment, including bare earth terrain as well as objects such as buildings, towers, trees and wires/cables. The MFL system fuses high resolution georeferenced Ladar data with level 2 DTED to provide a real-time view of the flight path with potential collision hazards identified in a hierarchical caution/alert system. Both visual and audible cues alert the aircrew to imminent Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) or collision with hazards such as towers, wires or cables. The picture to the right shows the cockpit display when the aircraft is within 6 seconds of a collision with the terrain on the current course.
The MFL provided the "vision" for autonomous Blackhawk flight operations testing...
EBAIR - Eyesafe Burns Active Infrared Sensor
The EBAIR outputs RGB colorized data streams (not post-processed for color)...
HOB - Height-Of-Burst Sensor
Air Force Submunition Fuze
Raytheon (Navy) Sensor
