The technical focus of UFODAP is to apply current methods of science and technology to recognize, track and record anomalous objects while simultaneously collecting data from multiple sensors. It is our goal to expand a growing network of these sensor systems to other hot spots around North America and then the world.
Wayne Hollenbeck and Christopher O'Brien joined forces in 2007 and created the UFO Camera Project. The UFODAP project is a result of a collaboration between the UFO Camera Project and the work of electrical engineer/computer scientist Ron Olch. Mr. Olch had independently pursued the application of science and technology to ufology research. As a result, beginning in 2014, he developed the concept of a low-cost optical tracking system as his personal research project while a member of the Los Angeles UFO Research Group. In 2016, Wayne Hollenbeck joined the LA group and expressed interest in the work Ron had accomplished, which was directly in line with the goals of the UFO Camera Project.
This collaboration became the UFO Data Acquisition Project (UFODAP). The technical focus of the UFODAP is providing cost effective methods to recognize, track and record anomalous objects while simultaneously collecting data from multiple sensors. While this sort of capability has been investigated and other systems have been built, their design emphasis has not been on lowering costs to make practical the deployment of significant numbers of data collection sites to have a practical impact on Ufology. By “low-cost” we assume a unit cost of perhaps $2500 or less. Thus, over the last four years significant progress has been made on development of Unidentified Flying Object Data Acquisition System (UFODAS) components that are now available for use in fixed and mobile installations.
In 2020, UFODAP and the UFODATA organization formed an alliance to fund UFODAS R&D and divide the work -- UFODAP will provide data collection hardware, software and support while UFODATA will create a cloud database for upload and subsequent analysis of collected data. In addition, the initial UFODAP camera site in the San Luis Valley, Colorado will be expanded with a second camera and a multi-sensor data collection unit.