Boeing [BA] on Friday said it has acquired a small United Kingdom-based business unit called 2d3 Sensing that specializes in motion imager processing used in ground control stations for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Boeing said that 2d3 will become part of its Insitu subsidiary, which develops and makes small UAVs for the United States military. 2d3’s software is currently on Insitu’s ScanEagle and Integrator UAV systems and Boeing said the acquisition will enable further integration of the U.K.-based company’s video analysis and other capabilities into Insitu and other Boeing platforms.
Boeing paid $25 million in cash to 2d3’s parent, OMG plc, a technology group that provides image analysis products for the entertainment, defense, life science, engineering and consumer electronics market, OMG said. 2d3 has 40 employees in the U.K. and U.S. and posted $8.2 million in sales and $732,460 in operating profit for the 12-month period ended Sept. 30, 2014, according to OMG.
“Insitu has a long history with 2d3 and by integrating them into the team we can further leverage the unique capabilities the company offers,” Ryan Hartman, Insitu’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “The services they provide highlight ways in which computer vision and image processing technologies can be used to enhance and analyze full motion video data captured and recorded during live missions.”
OMG said it is divesting its 2d3 subsidiary due to lumpy and difficult-to-predict revenues in the defense business.
“Annual revenue and profit performances can often be dependent upon the outcome of one large deal or subject to variations and scale of changes in public sector spending,” OMG said in its press release. “Tier 1 customer relationships take significant time to build and in order to maintain its strong market position, continuous investment in 2d3 technology and product is required.”
Terms of the deal include 90 percent of the purchase price paid upfront and the remaining 10 percent in 18 months.
2d3’s customers over time have included the U.S. Air Force’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Squadron Operations Center, the U.S. Navy, and the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory. The company also has commercial customers.