Coreco partners with Japanese firm on high-speed imaging
Coreco Imaging (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is partnering with Tokyo Electronic Industry Co. to design a high-speed inspection system that provides 100% reliability in consumer durable goods inspections. The new inspection system consists of a Coreco Imaging X64-CLP frame grabber, the latest addition to the X64-CL series of camera link digital frame grabbers for the 64-bit PCI bus, and a TELI high-resolution, high-speed CMOS camera that was designed exclusively for the X64-CLP board. In addition to the consumer durable goods market, the new inspection system should find use in semiconductor manufacturing, packaging, electronics assembly, and continuous web inspection.
Daktronics to install LED display at Paris racetrack
Daktronics (Brookings, SD) has been chosen to manufacture and install its ProStar large-screen LED video display for the Hippodrome de Paris Vincennes, one of the premier horse racing facilities in Europe. The ProStar display will be the company's largest video display in Europe, measuring approximately 27 ft high by 67 ft wide (352 pixels high by 880 pixels wide with pixels on 23-mm spacing). It will provide live video images, direct "real time" racing information and instant replays of racing action in more than 4 trillion shades of color.
Sensors Unlimited wins new imaging contracts
Sensors Unlimited (Princeton, NJ), a provider of indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) technology, has received a subcontract from Battelle (Columbus, OH) for a 12-month, $530,000 program to develop what the company says will be the first all-solid-state InGaAs shortwave infrared (IR) range-gated camera system. Battelle develops technology and manages laboratories for government and commercial customers. The prime contract was issued by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (Adelphia, MD). Under the subcontract, Sensors Unlimited will develop a new focal-plane array and camera featuring range-gates shorter than 200 ns.
In related news, Sensors Unlimited received a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) for a nine-month, $890,000 program to develop an all-solid-state night vision 640 × 512 pixel (25-um pitch) room-temperature InGaAs camera, sensitive from 0.9 to 1.7 um. This camera will enable imaging under moonless night conditions with no perceptible image lag for use in DARPA's Multispectral Adaptive Networked Tactical Imaging Sensor program.
High-energy laser testbed contract targets sensing and tracking
Boeing has been awarded a contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory (Kirtland Air Force Base, NM), for a mobile testbed to enable development of beam control and fire control solutions for tactical high energy laser weapon systems. The 48-month contract, valued at $23 million, will include ground and airborne demonstrations of integrated sensing and beam control techniques developed by Boeing Laser & Electro-Optical Systems to address targeting in clutter and laser energy propagation and aim-point maintenance. The Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX) testbed will utilize a modular, open architecture to allow integration of advanced sensing subsystems and techniques such as polarimetry, multifunction active illuminators/laser radar, short-pulse imaging, hyper/multispectral sensing, and advanced tracking solutions.
Headwall acquires Agilent diffraction-grating business
Headwall Photonics (Fitchburg, MA) has acquired the spectral module and holographic diffraction-grating business of Agilent Technologies (Palo Alto, CA) through a management buyout. The deal included funding and asset list value in excess of $8 million and includes all manufacturing assets, technology rights and supplier agreements, along with a longstanding customer base.
Also in the news . . .
Nova Biomimetics (Solvang, CA) was awarded four SBIR contracts by various offices of the U.S. Air Force and Missile Defense Agency to develop and test new variable acuity superpixel imaging focal-plane array sensor technology. . . . Fairchild Imaging (Milpitas, CA) and Agilent Technologies signed a licensing agreement concerning Agilent's ultra-low-noise CMOS image sensor technology. The pact gives Fairchild exclusive license to CMOS technology, designs, manufacturing rights, test equipment and residual inventory of devices and cameras developed by Pixel Devices International, which was acquired by Agilent earlier this year. . . . Cambridge Display Technology (Cambridge, England) is closing the plant it owns in Oxford, England, and moving those staff and operations to Cambridge. The firm is also relocating all process-development activities to its Godmanchester facility.