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Morepod
Multi-Optical Reconnaissance Pod
MOREPOD was a TV/Laser/FLIR reconnaissance system packaged in a pod for carriage under the wing of Navy P-3 ocean surveillance aircraft. On front of the pod was a stabilized gimbal for pointing two TV cameras and four ultra sensitive laser detectors. One TV camera had a 100X telephoto lens which required the gimbal to be extremely stable. There was also a FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed) system that provided night vision and a TV picture of infrared radiation of ships and their wakes. The FLIR and TV/Laser gimbals could be controlled independently or together. There was also a digital video tracker for hands free tracking of ships and a microcomputer for analysis of laser intercepts and overall control of all subsystems in the pod. Inside the aircraft was a control panel and complement of video and data recorders. The pod was 11 feet long and weighed 1,100 pounds.
I was the system engineer on MOREPOD overseeing it's development and personally designing the servo system to stabilize the TV/laser gimbal, the FLIR interface, computer interfaces and control panel interface. It was TI's first computer controlled military system and I wrote the control software. I then spent several months in the lab integrating all the subsystems together and seeing it through acceptance testing and integration on the P-3 aircraft. This was my baby and I literally ate and slept MOREPOD (missed meals and sleep) for two years and even drove the rental truck when we delivered the system. I was later the program manager on the development of a MOREPOD II that had updated subsystems available with newer technology and lessons learned from deployment of the first MOREPOD.