14 DAY TRIAL // A new 196 megapixel camera from Microsoft is currently available for customers worldwide. Vexcel Imaging GmbH, a company that Microsoft acquired in 2006, unveiled the UltraCamXp Wide Angle on September 15th, 2009. The new addition to the UltraCam line-up of products is designed to enable customers to leverage lower-flying airplanes in order to collect data, while maintaining a ground sample distance (GSD) similar to that of higher-flying planes and comparable image quality.
Microsoft explained that the new large format digital aerial camera system contains the same technology as the UltraCamX, but with a twist. Essentially, both the UltraCamXp Wide Angle and UltraCamX are identical when it comes down to large image format, offering at 196 megapixels, essentially 17,310 across track and 11,310 along track panchromatic pixels, with 6 µm pixel size.
The difference is however made with the new proprietary, digital, high-performance, high-resolution lens system, according to the product’s description. Microsoft explains that the wide-angle lens is responsible for making possible a shorter focal length.
“The UltraCamXp Wide Angle offers customers with lower-flying planes exceptional small-scale mapping capabilities,” noted Alexander Wiechert, business director of Microsoft and managing director for Vexcel Imaging GmbH. “A combination of the largest PAN footprint available and the ability to collect data at a rate of 2.5 Gbits per second means mapping projects can be completed in less time at lower costs.”
Microsoft explained that customers would be able to leverage the UltraCamXp Wide Angle in order to collect stereo imagery at a 1-inch GSD, while the aircraft that the digital camera is flying on travels at a speed of 110 knots. “Photogrammetric and remote sensing applications for imagery collected by the UltraCamXp Wide Angle include large-scale engineering mapping, high-resolution orthophoto production, multi-ray photogrammetry, feature extraction and classification,” Vexcel Imaging added.