Albuquerque engineering firm Transparent Sky has new technology meant to help people see the world around them.
The company offers wide area motion imaging (WAMI), which is meant to use high-resolution photographs capturing a large area to generate a "kind of video-like map of the world," Transparent Sky CEO Steven Suddarth said in an interview with Albuquerque Business First. In doing so, users can see changes in the environment or activitysuch as moving vehicles.
"I saw the technology and realized it could link with some other work ... to make it real-time," Suddarth said. "You could respond within minutes or maybe even seconds when something bad happens.
"We are the only ones in the world ... that can make wide, three-dimensional images while we're in flight," Suddarth added.
In 2010, he and his wife Deborah founded Transparent Sky, which has roughly a dozen employees with an office in Albuquerque plus a hangar facility in Edgewood. While there is opportunity in government contracting, that's not the end goal for Transparent Sky.
"Our real goal is not to be a government contractor ... our real goal is to make products and get them out into the hands of people and make our money off of sales of products," Suddarth said.
Transparent Sky is now planning to launch its next generation of products on the market.
It now has two new versions of its "WAMICam," which can cover a maximum of about seven square kilometers (for the small version) and up to about 30 square kilometers (for the larger version).
Plus, the Air Force — which Transparent Sky says is one of its first customers — purchased a WAMI sensor for use in upcoming military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, according to a release from Transparent Sky.
Transparent Sky's new WAMI sensor "builds 3D models of surveilled areas instantly, as the data is being collected," according to the release.
