Former NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin was a strong proponent of high-definition video. He started an HDTV workgroup four years ago and required NASA to go all-digital by 2003.
Thanks to this dedication to HD, the video department of Dryden Flight Research Center on California's Edwards Air Force Base stays on top of new technology better than most.
Dryden's Western Aeronautical Test Range (WATR) is host to the comings and goings of NASA's experimental aircraft and sometimes space shuttles, which the video department is charged with capturing in 720p.
Under the direction of Tony Trent, video systems lead at WATR, the team recently deployed a 360-degree tracking pedestal that rotates a Panasonic 720p camera to follow aircraft from takeoff to landing, at distances up to 100 miles. The pedestal, known as the HD Long Range Optics Tower, sits between two runways and is controlled by remote.
Sitting a camcorder on a pedestal means that in-camera monitoring is highly impractical. To monitor recording, Dryden purchased an Astro Systems 6in. LCD monitor. The DM-3000 supports various HD formats.
“Anytime you go out to the field, definitely the smaller and the cheaper the better,” Trent says. “It's much better than dragging around a rackmount CRT monitor.”
Trent speaks from experience here. He witnessed the demise of a $10,000 CRT monitor being “dragged around” in the field, troubleshooting the recording of an experimental aircraft flight.
Trent says he's interested in Astro Systems' new line of HD monitors that display waveform and other readings in addition to video on a single screen.
