Solutions · Surveillance

UAV Surveillance Camera: Persistent Aerial Monitoring

Monitoring an area, a route or a boundary over long periods

Surveillance is an endurance problem before it is an imaging problem. The payload has to be light enough to keep the aircraft airborne, sharp enough to identify what it finds, and steady enough that the operator can stay on an object while the aircra.

30x – 55x zoom
Thermal imaging
Target tracking
3 – 15 km ranging

Request a quotation All product categories

A drone surveillance camera has to do three things in one sortie: find something worth looking at, decide what it is, and keep looking at it while somebody acts on the information. Finding is a wide-field problem, deciding is a zoom and resolution problem, and keeping it in frame is a stabilisation and tracking problem. Payloads fail on the third one far more often than on the first two.

For a uav surveillance camera, the practical specification is therefore a 30x zoom or better on the visible channel, a boresighted thermal channel for the hours after dark, a rangefinder that geolocates what the operator is looking at, and enough onboard recording that the sortie survives a dropped link. Everything else is detail.

What surveillance missions need from a payload

Wide to narrow without a break
Continuous zoom lets the operator sweep a wide field and then close on a single object. A stepped lens loses the object at the moment of switching, which is usually the moment it matters.
Thermal for the night half of the mission
An uncooled 640 x 512 channel at 40 mK or better finds people and vehicles against cold ground, and does not need the aircraft to carry a visible illuminator.
Tracking that survives occlusion
Targets pass behind masts, trees and buildings. A tracker with a motion model re-acquires the object instead of leaving the operator to find it again.
Geolocation from the payload
A laser rangefinder converts the tracked pixel into a coordinate the ground station can map, hand over or archive.
Endurance discipline
A 240 g head buys flight time; a 5 kg turret buys reach. Surveillance missions usually sit in the 1 kg to 5 kg band because that is where the two balance.
Recording and playback
Dual-channel recording with timestamps means the sortie produces a usable record rather than a live impression.

Payloads for surveillance work

Four classes of mission, with the models that fit each one.

Mission pattern	Model	Visible	Thermal	Ranging	Weight
Urban patrol, short endurance	HQ-115T	1920 x 1080, 30x zoom	640 x 512, 25 mm	1.5 km	≤ 1 kg
Long watch from a multirotor	HQ-135T	1920 x 1080, 40x zoom	640 x 512, 35 mm	3 km	≤ 1.4 kg
Route and boundary coverage	XQ-155T	1920 x 1080, 30x zoom	640 x 512, 55 mm	5 km	≤ 2.2 kg
Continuous thermal zoom	XQ-200T	1920 x 1080, 30x zoom	640 x 512, 40 – 220 mm	9.5 km	≤ 5 kg
Wide-area, long endurance	XQ-254T	1920 x 1080, 30x zoom	640 x 512, 40 – 220 mm	15 km	≤ 10 kg

Five surveillance payloads

From a 1 kg three-axis head to a 10 kg turret with a 15 km rangefinder.

Drone surveillance camera for persistent aerial monitoring

HQ · 3-axis · EO + IR + LRF

HQ-115T

The one-kilogram workhorse: 30x zoom, thermal imaging and a 1.5 km rangefinder.

Visible: 1920 × 1080, 30x zoom 4.3 – 129 mm
Thermal: 640 × 512, 25 mm fixed
Laser: 5 m – 1.5 km (± 1 m)
Weight: ≤1 kg

HQ · 3-axis · EO + IR + LRF

HQ-135T

The flagship of the compact range: 40x zoom, thermal imaging and 3 km ranging on one stabilised cage.

Visible: 1920 × 1080, 40x zoom 4.25 – 170 mm
Thermal: 640 × 512, 35 mm fixed
Laser: 15 m – 3 km (± 1 m)
Weight: ≤1.4 kg

XQ · 2-axis · EO + IR + LRF

XQ-155T

A 55 mm thermal lens and 5 km ranging for platforms that can carry 2.2 kg on the hardpoint.

Visible: 1920 × 1080, 30x zoom 4.3 – 129 mm
Thermal: 640 × 512, 55 mm fixed
Laser: 50 m – 5 km (± 1 m)
Weight: ≤2.2 kg

XQ · 2-axis · EO + IR + LRF

XQ-200T

A continuous-zoom thermal channel from 40 mm to 220 mm plus 9.5 km ranging on a 5 kg pod.

Visible: 1920 × 1080, 30x zoom 4.3 – 129 mm
Thermal: 640 × 512, continuous zoom 40 – 220 mm
Laser: 50 m – 9.5 km (± 1 m)
Weight: ≤5 kg

XQ · 2-axis · EO + IR + LRF

XQ-254T

The long-range pod: 15 km ranging and a 254 mm turret for maritime and border patrol aircraft.

Visible: 1920 × 1080, 30x zoom 4.3 – 129 mm
Thermal: 640 × 512, continuous zoom 40 – 220 mm
Laser: 100 m – 15 km (± 1 m)
Weight: ≤10 kg

Compare the range

Model	Series	Axes	Configuration	Visible camera	Thermal imager	Laser rangefinder	Weight
HQ-115T	HQ series	3-axis	EO + IR + LRF	1920 × 1080, 30x zoom 4.3 – 129 mm	640 × 512, 25 mm fixed	5 m – 1.5 km (± 1 m)	≤1 kg
HQ-135T	HQ series	3-axis	EO + IR + LRF	1920 × 1080, 40x zoom 4.25 – 170 mm	640 × 512, 35 mm fixed	15 m – 3 km (± 1 m)	≤1.4 kg
XQ-155T	XQ series	2-axis	EO + IR + LRF	1920 × 1080, 30x zoom 4.3 – 129 mm	640 × 512, 55 mm fixed	50 m – 5 km (± 1 m)	≤2.2 kg
XQ-200T	XQ series	2-axis	EO + IR + LRF	1920 × 1080, 30x zoom 4.3 – 129 mm	640 × 512, continuous zoom 40 – 220 mm	50 m – 9.5 km (± 1 m)	≤5 kg
XQ-254T	XQ series	2-axis	EO + IR + LRF	1920 × 1080, 30x zoom 4.3 – 129 mm	640 × 512, continuous zoom 40 – 220 mm	100 m – 15 km (± 1 m)	≤10 kg

Planning a surveillance sortie

Altitude is a trade, not a setting

Flying higher widens the field and reduces the visual signature of the aircraft, but it costs pixels on target and puts more atmosphere between the sensor and the object. Most surveillance missions resolve into a low-and-close pattern for identification and a higher pattern for coverage.

What to log, and why

Timestamp every frame: a surveillance record without a time is an anecdote.
Record both channels even when only one is displayed, because the thermal frame often shows what the visible one missed.
Write the geolocation of each tracked object, not just its screen position.
Keep the recording on the payload as well as the ground station, so a link failure does not end the record.

Working with the operator

Tracking changes the operator role from flying the camera to judging what the camera sees. That is the point: it is the difference between one aircraft watching an area and one aircraft watching a specific person.

Daylight channel, recorded from the payload: the module finds the vehicles in frame, boxes them and holds each lock while the aircraft moves.

HITS stabilised gimbal camera payload integrated under a multirotor UAV airframe — Payload integrated under a multirotor airframe, the configuration most inspection and patrol work starts from.

Surveillance payloads are usually selected from the mid and pod classes.

UAV securityPatrol and incident response on fixed sites.Read more →
EO/IR pod systemsTurrets with continuous thermal zoom and long ranging.Read more →
Night visionThermal, low-light and illumination explained.Read more →
AI trackingHow lock and follow works on the payload.Read more →

Engineering detail

Why tracking matters more than zoom

A 30x image of an object that drifts out of frame every few seconds is worth less than a 10x image that stays locked. Surveillance customers judge the payload by how long it can hold an object, which is why tracking and stabilisation sit ahead of resolution on this page.

Thermal reach sets the night radius

A 25 mm thermal lens covers a wide area but resolves few pixels on a person; a 50 mm or a continuous 40 – 220 mm thermal channel reaches much further at the cost of weight. The night radius of the mission comes directly out of that choice.

Ranging turns video into data

With a rangefinder in the loop, every tracked object carries a coordinate. For border, critical infrastructure and maritime surveillance that is the difference between a picture and a report.

Recorded payload footage

Two clips taken from the payload video feed on maritime patrol work: several surface contacts tracked at once, and a single small craft held at long range.

Coastal patrol. Several surface contacts boxed and followed at the same time by the onboard tracker.

Long-range detection. A single small craft detected and locked at range while the scene moves.

Designed and manufactured by HITS

Optics, servo hardware, stabilisation firmware and the AI tracking module are developed in house, and every unit is assembled, calibrated and environmentally tested on our own line before it ships.