Toronto, Canada, May 23, 2012 — Optech, the world leader in the development, manufacture and support of advanced lidar and camera survey instruments, is pleased to announce the successful completion of  field trials for the new airborne Optech CZMIL Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar system.

The CZMIL system underwent field trials and validation in coastal Mississippi and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  The system flew over five sites ranging from urban areas to barrier island habitat. GPS-based ground control, Lynx vehicle-based lidar data and sonar data were collected for comparison to CZMIL data, in partnership with the University of Southern Mississippi. In Fort Lauderdale CZMIL flew offshore over the Navy’s South Florida Ocean Measurement Center (SFOMC). In addition to data acquisition over known targets, Optech collected sonar data over the project area for comparison to CZMIL. Over each site were collected Optech CZMIL lidar data, CASI-1500 hyperspectral data and Optech T-4800 metric frame camera imagery.

“With the successful completion of the field trials, Optech is poised to deliver within the next few weeks the first CZMIL system to JALBTCX,” said Max Elbaz, President of Optech, Inc. “With this final step of our commercialization process, Optech is very proud to have completed the engineering, manufacturing and delivery of this state-of-the-art bathymetric system to our U.S. Government customer. We are now moving to the next stage of our business, and over the next few months several systems will be built and delivered to domestic and foreign customers.”

Optech CZMIL was designed by Optech for the U.S. Government under the auspices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX). It was built and tested by Optech with the assistance of the University of Southern Mississippi (USM).

About Optech

Optech is the world leader in the development, manufacture and support of advanced lidar and camera survey instruments. With operations and staff worldwide, Optech offers both standalone and fully integrated lidar and camera solutions in airborne terrestrial mapping, airborne laser bathymetry, mobile mapping, terrestrial laser scanning, mine cavity monitoring, and industrial process control, as well as space-proven sensors.