Revolutionary Image Technology (RIT)
The
Revolutionary Image Technology, RIT, is an image acquisition experiment that
with its cameras will acquire digital pictures from a balloon at a height of
100,000 feet. The payload for the RIT balloon experiment consists of a set of
pressure vessels. The pressure vessels contain the RIT-specific elements of
the balloon payload and provides a 1 atmosphere environment for the cameras
and computer electronics. The vessels themselves and the support structures
for the equipment in the vessels were designed by the NRL RIT team, along with
the imaging custom software and filters. The internal computer structure and
the camera power and control electronics deck were designed and built by Silver
Engineering, Inc. (SEI). Silver Engineering, Inc. contributed to the RIT program
providing electrical, mechanical and manufacturing support. SEI designed and
manufactured;
Computer Platform Structure; Consisting of 16 - 933Mhz single
board computers with a digital video camera PCI interface board and a 73 GB
hard drive peripheral for each computer. Four 30 volt input power interfaces
were converted to the required operating power inside the structure which was
then dispersed via four quad back planes. Networking is provided by an 8 and
16 10/100BASE ethernet switches.
Camera Power and Control Deck; Consisting of a camera control
module designed by SEI known as the Camera Synchronization Unit (CSU) and power
interfaces for powering the 16 cameras. SEI also provided all data cabling in
the camera pressure vessel to the 16 cameras.
Payload Controller; SEI provided design support for this
module along with integrating the electronics and designing and building it's
cable interfaces.
Computer
Platform Structure
Original
RIT Rack System
Camera
Power and Control Deck
Click on above
photos to enlarge
Click
on above photos to enlarge
The
original RIT system was designed for deployment on a blimp. The system was integrated
into shipping containers that could easily and safely be mounted into the blimp.
SEI contributed in the hardware design, system interface design and the system
integration.
Click on
above photos to enlarge
