HQ series · Two-axis · EO

HQ-64DB two-axis gimbal camera

A two-axis gimbal camera that packages EO (electro-optical) into a 240 g head measuring Φ64 × 88.5 mm. Two fixed visible cameras — a wide and a narrow channel — at the lowest weight in the series.

Weight 240 g
Two-axis stabilised
EO Dual 2688 × 1520
AI detection & tracking

CE / RoHS documentation available on request
Export compliance statement available on request
Calibration and test report supplied with every unit

What the HQ-64DB is

The HQ-64DB is the pair of daylight lenses and nothing else: two 2688 × 1520 arrays, at 8.5 mm for the wide view and 25 mm for the narrow one, on two stabilised axes in 240 g. There is no thermal core, no laser and no third axis. That absence is the product. With no long-wave core to house, the head fits Φ64 × 88.5 mm and weighs 240 g, and it writes a single file per sortie rather than two channels to reconcile afterwards. Detection is 0.73 km on a person and 3.3 km on a vehicle, identical on either lens.

Two daylight focal lengths, one recording

A wide array for the search and a narrower one for the detail, both 2688 × 1520, both feeding one file.

EO / wide

2688 × 1520 at 8.5 mm

The search field. 0.73 km on a person, 3.3 km on a vehicle.

EO / narrow

2688 × 1520 at 25 mm

The same array on a longer lens: same detection figures, a narrower slice of the scene.

Why two focal lengths instead of one

A single wide lens finds things; a single long lens reads them but searches badly. Two fixed groups at 8.5 mm and 25 mm cover both ends without a zoom mechanism, and because the change is a switch rather than a motorised travel there is nothing in the head to drift between the two positions. The operator keeps the wide frame for the sweep and flips to the narrow one once something in the picture needs a closer look. Both arrays are 2688 × 1520, so the narrow channel resolves the same detail as the wide one instead of trading resolution for focal length.

Daylight EO imagery from a HITS camera payload with vehicles detected and boxed automatically — Daylight frame, vehicles boxed automatically.

What dropping the thermal core buys

240 g, the lightest head in the series. The published draw is 10 W / 20 W, the same as the two-sensor head beside it, so this is not a power saving: the gain is mass, and on a hand-launched aircraft every gram comes out of endurance. The second gain does not show on the scale at all. One imaging path means one stream to record, one file to hand over and no boresight to preserve between two channels. On a daylight task that is a simpler aircraft, not merely a lighter one.

Fixed-wing UAV fitted with a HITS stabilised imaging payload

A thermal core is worth its mass when the task runs after dark or through smoke. When it does not, that mass and the extra stream are cost with no return, and a head built without them stays lighter for the whole sortie.

Stabilisation and mechanical design

Two axes, no roll correction

Pitch and yaw are stabilised; roll is the aircraft’s job. Each axis runs on a brushless motor fixed straight to the frame, encoding in the loop, so no reduction gear introduces lash or step noise. Boresight holds to ≤ 100 μrad (1σ) at ≥ 60°/s.

240 g, Φ64 × 88.5 mm

Mass is 240 g and the envelope Φ64 × 88.5 mm, the smallest in the series and the reason this head suits hand-launched and backpack-carried aircraft. It runs on 11–28 VDC and draws 10 W / 20 W.

Detection and tracking at the edge

Detection without a downlink

People, vehicles, vessels and aircraft are identified by a module on the payload, not the ground. Boxes keep appearing when bandwidth falls away, and no image is transmitted for a processor. Twenty targets at once, one actively locked.

Occlusion, and the file afterwards

The tracker follows a selected target through rotation and scale change, and picks it up again once a mast or a building stops hiding it. Everything is written to storage inside the head, so a pass recorded through a bad link is still on the card when the aircraft lands.

Airframe integration

A light head still needs a defined mount, a defined bus and a defined set of documents.

Mount and mass

Quick-release face, vibration-isolated base, adapter plates for a different bolt circle. At 240 g and Φ64 × 88.5 mm the head drops onto a small multirotor or a hand-launched airframe without a bespoke bracket, and both numbers are catalogue limits, so the structural case is closed before a prototype exists.

Bus and housing

Between 11 and 28 VDC in, RS-422, RS-232 or TTL for commands, SBUS or MAVLink where the autopilot uses them, H.264 or H.265 over 100 Mbps Ethernet for imagery, and 128 GB of internal storage. Sealed against dust and rotor wash, rated −20 °C to +60 °C running and −40 °C to +70 °C stored. The layer is shared across the range and described on the technology pages.

HITS payloads on display stands at an industry exhibition

Beside the rest of the range

Two axes, one control protocol. A crew that already flies a three-axis turret can add this head to the same ground station without a second integration.

Documentation for the first head: control protocol, video pipeline description, three-view outline with pinout, calibration record and test report. Export screening applies to the paperwork exactly as it applies to the head.

Where the HQ-64DB is used

Three jobs where a daylight pair beats a daylight-plus-thermal head.

Daylight corridor survey
A pipeline, a road or a rail corridor is flown in light by definition, and the work is a wide sweep followed by a closer look at what the sweep turns up. The 8.5 mm channel does the sweep, the 25 mm channel does the look, and no part of the flight depends on a thermal core that is drawing power without being used. Flying it on a 240 g head keeps the aircraft small enough to launch from the corridor edge.
UAV inspection →
Construction progress records
Progress capture is a repeatable comparison: the same frame, from the same angle, on a schedule. Two fixed focal lengths remove the variable a zoom would introduce, so successive flights line up and a change is something the client can see rather than something the surveyor has to describe. One channel also means one file per visit, which is what an archive wants.
UAV surveillance →
Backpack-launched overwatch
Where the aircraft is carried in and launched by hand, every gram shows up as minutes aloft. At 240 g this head leaves the battery budget for the flight rather than for the payload, and the wide and narrow pair still gives a crew a search field and a detail field from one aircraft.
Military UAV →

Full specifications

Model	HQ-64DB
Series	Gimbal Camera Series (HQ series)
Stabilisation	Two-axis gyro-stabilised, ≤ 100 μrad
Sensor configuration	EO
Visible channel	Dual 2688 × 1520, 8.5 mm + 25 mm
Weight	≤240 g
Dimensions	≤Φ64 × 88.5 mm
Power consumption	10 W / 20 W
Detection (EO)	0.73 km person / 3.3 km vehicle

Detection distances follow the standard 1.7 m person / 2.3 m vehicle convention. Rows marked as shared are common across the HQ series.

Control software: Windows as standard. An Android version can be customised for OEM/ODM projects.

Shared across the HQ series

Video output: Ethernet, H.264 / H.265
Gimbal control: RS-422 / RS-232 / TTL, SBUS, MAVLink
Input voltage: 11–28 VDC
Operating temperature: −20 °C to +60 °C
Sealing: Sealed housing for dust, wind and rotor wash
Recording: On-board recording, imagery retained if the link drops
AI module: Onboard detection, classification and multi-target tracking
Mounting: Quick-release interface, adapters available for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) airframes

Three-view outline drawing with connector pinout, available on request.

Outline and interface drawingThree-view outline with dimensions and the connector pinout for this head. The drawing set is released with the datasheet — ask for it with your quotation and we will send the PDF for your airframe review.

Questions engineers ask about the HQ-64DB

How far does the HQ-64DB pick up a person or a vehicle?

0.73 km and 3.3 km, on either the 8.5 mm or the 25 mm lens, against the standard 1.7 m person and 2.3 m vehicle targets. Detection is the same on both channels because both arrays are 2688 × 1520; what changes is how much of the scene sits in the frame.

What are the order terms and the delivery time?

Buy one unit and it arrives as a catalogue item; change the optics, mount or protocol and the run begins at 100. Catalogue stock leaves the shelf immediately, leaving only transport in the way, while a bespoke or volume batch has its date written into the quotation. Settlement is T/T; cover runs twelve months.

Is a thermal core ever the better choice?

Only when the task runs after dark or through smoke, dust or haze thick enough to defeat the visible channel. A thermal core at 640 × 512 costs mass, continuous power and a second stream to record; where none of the three is needed, the daylight pair does the work on 240 g.

Why is there no third axis?

Because roll is already held by the aircraft on the platforms this head is built for. Pitch and yaw are stabilised to ≤ 100 μrad (1σ) at ≥ 60°/s, and adding a roll axis would add mass and volume to a head whose whole argument is that it weighs 240 g.

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.

HITS engineer testing a stabilised gimbal camera payload on the test bench before dispatch

Production line assembling stabilised gimbal camera payloads at the HITS factory

Engineer assembling the internal components of a HITS stabilised gimbal camera payload

Gimbal payloads on the calibration and environmental test rack at the HITS factory

Next steps for this payload: how it is inspected and tested · export licensing and documentation · ordering and integration FAQ

Request a quotation for the HQ-64DB

Tell us the platform, the range you need to identify and how many units you are planning. Every configuration is quoted individually, so you get a written price against your own requirement rather than a list figure that does not fit it. We answer within one working day.

MOQFrom 1 unit

Small ordersUsually held in stock, shipped straight away

Volume ordersDelivery schedule confirmed with your quotation

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15 models · 240 g – 5 kg