HICO

Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean

The Hyperspectral Imager for the Costal Ocean (HICO) is an Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsored program to demonstrate the efficacy of space‐based hyperspectral imaging of coastlines. HICO will provide information to the Navy regarding the characteristics of littoral battle spaces. It will also give oceanographers global means to measure coastal reef characteristics, such as depth, temperature, and clarity, as well as means to track the health of reefs. HICO will be combined with the Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detection System (RAIDS) payload, launched on the first Japanese H‐2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV‐1) in September 2009, and installed on the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility (JEM‐EF) of the International Space Station (ISS). It will gather and process data for 12 months.

SDL and USU provided valuable systems engineering support to the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) through the mission definition and preliminary design phases of the HICO program. In November 2007, SDL demonstrated the lab version of the HICO onboard computer system presenting both hardware (PC/104 target computer, camera) and software elements (target executable and GUI, Labview client and GUI).

The HICO lab system successfully demonstrated:

  • Remote camera setup
  • Remote commanding
  • Capture frames at desired rate: 37.4 Mbytes/sec which was 4 times the desired rate
  • Capture frames at desired size: 10‐second acquisition time with sensor camera at 512X512, and 512 MB RAM
  • Capture frames with time stamp
  • Frame storage on target computer
  • Data transfer from target to host

Midway Island

HICO image taken over Midway Island on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009. The image is about 43 km wide and 190 km long and its orientation is from NW at top to SE at bottom.

South China Sea

Image taken over a coastal region of the South China Sea near Hong Kong, China, on Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. Size: about 43 km by 190 km. Orientation: from SW at bottom to NE at top.

Cape Town

Image taken over Cape Town, South Africa, on Oct. 30, 2009. Size: about 43 km by 190 km. Orientation: from NW at top to SE at bottom.

Baghdad

Baghdad, Iraq. The orientation of the image is from SW at bottom to NE at the top. Taken on Oct. 1, 2009.

Kabul

Baghdad, Iraq. The orientation of the image is from SW at bottom to NE at the top. Taken on Oct. 1, 2009.

Chesapeake Bay

HICO image taken over the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009. The image is about 43 km wide and 190 km long. The center of the image is at 37° 20' N, 76° 10' W and its orientation is from NW at top to SE at bottom.