Stevens Institute of Technology awarded $2.365 million to investigate multi-spectrum sensor
September 23, 2008--An interdisciplinary team of professors from Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, NJ) were awarded $2.365 million to conduct research for a U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (RDECOM-ARDEC) National Small Arms Center (NSAC) Task Order Sub-Agreement (TOSA), titled "A Standalone/Networked Compact, Low Power, Image-fused, Multi-spectrum Sensor System for Target Acquisitions, Tracking and Fire Control."
The research award will be dispersed in two phases to the team of professors--Victor B. Lawrence, Hamid Hadim, Hong Man, Rainer Martini, and Bruce McNair--as follows: Phase I for a period of four months in the amount of $444,000 and Phase II for a period of 20 additional months in the amount of $1.921 million.
"The proposed project contains three major components," said professor Hadim of Mechanical Engineering, "A multi-wavelength sensor subsystem, an imaging and computing subsystem, and system packaging." The sensor subsystem is comprised of a dual laser radar system (LIDAR), together with acoustic SONAR and forward looking infrared (FLIR) image acquisition technologies. The FLIR system uses a miniature infrared focal plane array camera and, in combination with a broadband visible/near-IR video camera, can operate in daylight or darkness to provide more detailed target acquisition and/or target identification.
Packaging design of the proposed system will also be conducted while considering the extreme loading and harsh environmental conditions required by military small arms applications in which the system is to be operated.
Upon completion of the first phase, the basic concepts of the proposed multi-wavelength imaging fire control target acquisition system will be demonstrated. Upon completion of the second phase the various components of the proposed multi-wavelength imaging fire control target acquisition system and a prototype of the entire system will be demonstrated and validated in the laboratory to achieve Technology Readiness Level 4 (TRL 4).
For more information, visit www.stevens.edu.