Puerto Rico Case Resolution

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Performance Characteristics
Object Speed: Systems Toolkit (STK) reconstruction determined the objects drifted at
approximately 3.6 meters per second (8 mph) in a straight line over land, consistent with the
recorded wind speed of 4.4 meters per second (9.8 mph) from the east/northeast.2
The objects’ apparent high speed is attributable to motion parallax. Motion parallax is an optical
effect that induces an observer to perceive that a stationary or slow-moving object is moving
much faster than its actual speed when viewed from a moving frame of reference. The more
quickly an observer moves relative to an observed object, the more pronounced this effect is. In
this case, the aircraft's flight speed, the sensor’s zoom, and the change in relative positions of the
aircraft and the objects influenced their perceived behavior and performance characteristics.
Object Flight Path: STK reconstruction integrated the aircraft's position with key sensor
parameters (e.g., elevation, azimuth, and slant angle) to model the objects’ flight path. The IR
sensor first detected the objects near the northeastern side of the airport at an altitude of
approximately 200 meters (656 feet). The objects drifted southwest at wind speed before the IR
sensor lost contact with them over the airport's central parking apron.
AARO reconstructed the sensor’s look angle by plotting the aircraft's position and the sensor's
view-to-ground projection onto a map (Figure 1). The reconstruction demonstrates that the
objects remained over land during the encounter.
Apparent Separation: AARO assesses with high confidence that the recording captures two
objects traveling near each other rather than a single object splitting or replicating. The objects
visibly separate multiple times within the first minute, suggesting that the video depicts two
objects the entire time. Separation occurs at approximately 00:29.56, 00:40.76, and 00:47.00
seconds (Figure 2). The IR sensor’s view of the objects changed from side-on to top-down as the
aircraft gained altitude. The sensor’s steeper viewing angle from a higher altitude likely made the
objects' separation more visually dramatic near the end of the video (Figure 3, Image C).
Apparent Transmedium Behavior: The STK reconstruction demonstrates that the objects did
not exhibit transmedium performance characteristics. “Transmedium” refers to objects that
transition between two or more domains, e.g., space, the atmosphere, or water, in ways not
attributable to known technologies. The objects remained over land throughout the video.