The EO/IR Sensors and Sensor Processing program has the objective of developing high-performance, low-cost, next generation electro-optic sensors, devices and autonomous processing to provide real-time detection, tracking, classification, and identification of air, sea-surface, and ground targets in all weather conditions. The primary interest is for systems working in the visible and infrared (near, short-wave, mid-wave and long-wave) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum; however, passive millimeter wave systems may also be of interest due to their superior atmospheric transmission properties in degraded visual environments.
Research Concentration Areas
- Long range imaging through degraded visual environments (e.g., clouds, dense fog, turbulence) to increase situational awareness and operational capability.
- Novel imaging architectures and sensors for affordable, high performance day/night persistent surveillance.
- Advanced sensor design and fabrication techniques, such as tiling, 2.5D - 3D integration, and wafer-scale processing.
- Photonic integrated circuit (PIC) based EO/IR components, such as cryogenic interconnects and preprocessing, for high bandwidth throughput.
- Novel sensor systems including ones that may not form images in a traditional sense, but are able to achieve their primary objectives through unconventional measurements augmented by sophisticated inverse processing operations.
- Questions being explored are:
- Can advanced processing algorithms significantly improve the range performance of passive imaging systems operating in degraded conditions?
- Can multiple active illumination characteristics be optimized to provide improved system performance?
- Can multiple modalities (spectral, polarimetric and quantum signatures) be exploited to provide information about targets and enhance performance under challenging conditions?
Research Challenges and Opportunities
- Enhance the affordability, yield, and performance of hemispherical persistent surveillance, tracking and targeting.
- Develop adaptive multi-mode processing and/or imaging techniques for enhanced target detection, tracking, and identification.
- Exploit novel illumination concepts, algorithms and/or phenomenology to significantly improve imaging performance in degraded visual environments.
- Explore or re-examine fundamental principles underlying light propagation, light-matter interaction, and information transport using light.
How to Submit
For detailed application and submission information for this research topic, please refer to our broad agency announcement (BAA) No. N0001425SB001.
Contracts: All white papers and full proposals for contracts must be submitted through FedConnect; instructions are included in the BAA.
Grants: All white papers for grants must be submitted through FedConnect, and full proposals for grants must be submitted through grants.gov; instructions are included in the BAA.