Sensors Unlimited wins InGaAs R&D contracts
The company , based in Princeton, NJ, has won four small business innovation research (SBIR) contracts aimed at exploring new imaging opportunities using InGaAs-based photodiodes. The contracts have been awarded from several different government agencies, including the Department of the Navy, the Missile Defense Agency, and the National Science Foundation.
One program will support the development of a dual wavelength InGaAs/InGaAsP pyrometer used to measure high temperatures. The second will allow Sensors Unlimited to develop an InGaAs focal plane that is sensitive throughout the visible, near-IR, and short-wave IR wavelength bands, thus reducing the inventory of cameras needed for imaging application.
The third contract involves the development of a phase-sensitive focal plane array designed for use in surveillance and covert communications. Finally, Sensors Unlimited will develop Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes for photon counting applications in the 0.9 – 1.7 micron wavelength band, which enable 3D imaging.
DARPA funds night vision project
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has awarded Sensors Unlimited a nine month, $890,000 program to develop the industry’s first all-solid state night vision 640 x 512 pixel (25-micron pitch) room temperature InGaAs camera. The 0.9-1.7 micron camera will enable imaging under moonless night conditions with no perceptible image lag.
Sensors Unlimited’s high resolution InGaAs shortwave infrared (SWIR) night vision camera will be used in DARPA’s Multispectral Adaptive Networked Tactical Imaging Sensor (MANTIS) program. The goal of MANTIS is to provide the soldier with multispectral imaging information while exploiting network access for collaborative visualization between soldiers. The US Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) will monitor the contract.
“The high resolution and high sensitivity will detect a camouflaged man at 100 m under starlight-only conditions,” stated Martin Ettenberg, Director of Imaging Products at Sensors Unlimited.
Camera permits staring and ranging imaging
In June, Sensors Unlimited received a US Air Force contract for the first phase of a 33-month program to develop a high frame rate, high bandwidth, low noise, focal plane array and camera for active tracking, wave front sensing, laser ranging, imaging, and scoring.
"For the first time, staring and ranging imaging will be possible with a single camera,” said Christopher Dries, Sensors Unlimited’s VP for R&D.
"This pioneering, dual mode sensor/camera that we have proposed is made possible by Sensors Unlimited’s patented technology that allows low noise, high sensitivity pin photodiodes and high speed, high gain avalanche photodiodes to be fabricated within each pixel of the focal plane array. Despite sharing space within the pixel, each photodiode exhibits full optical fill factor."
In addition to Sensors Unlimited, two other companies received six-month, phase 1 contract awards to assess and demonstrate their technical approaches for the Advanced Detector. At the end of phase 1, one or possibly two contractors will be selected for phases 2 and 3 of the program. If fully executed, the Sensors Unlimited program will total $3.7 million and will culminate in the delivery of two advanced cameras to the Air Force.
