Defense, Security, and Sensing exhibition hits record 500 companies, says SPIE

This month's SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing symposium (Orlando, FL), held April 14 to 17, will feature a record-breaking number of exhibitors along with an expanded topical focus and talks by government-funding experts, according to SPIE (Bellingham, WA).

The SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing conference and exhibition is the largest international event for sensing and related technologies for industrial, commercial, and defense applications in optics and photonics. It will be held at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort and Convention Center. Organizers expect attendance of more than 6,000 technology researchers and developers from government, industry, and academia from around the world.

The three-day, free-admission exhibition will run April 14 to 16 and will feature infrared imaging, optics, and sensor equipment. Nine of the top ten global defense contractors will be exhibiting, along with specialized equipment, applications, and systems providers. Other free-admission events include a panel on Future Directions in U.S Government Funding; a plenary talk by Norman Augustine, retired Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, on global competitiveness and fundamental changes needed in the engineering profession; and a hot-topics session on Cyber Sensing.

A special display of robotics and unmanned systems will include:

--A germ-free mobile laboratory designed to safely analyze hazardous biological and chemical samples, and supporting newly developed analytical equipment, including Raman and FTIR (by Germfree Labs, Ormond Beach, FL)

--A real-time wireless aerial surveillance system, broadcasting electro-optical and infrared to a local ground station--to be demonstrated above the SPIE exhibition floor (by Latitude Engineering, Tucson, AZ.)

--Tactical expeditionary systems engineered to minimize launch time and maximize target time (by DRS Technologies, Palm Bay, FL)

--Potential platforms and applications for short-wave infrared imagers and detectors designed for use with long-endurance, high-altitude unmanned aircraft in a multi-mission system (by Sensors Unlimited, part of Goodrich Corp., Princeton, NJ)

--"Knight Rider," the autonomous car that participated in the DARPA Urban Challenge 2007 and was one of 11 robot cars that qualified for the final race (by the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL) [See a video clip from the SPIE Newsroom archives featuring the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge: spie.org/newsroom/x17692.xml].

Technical sessions will include 2,200 papers presented in 55 conferences, panel discussions on related topics, and a professional development program with 57 courses and workshops. See the event website for registration and other information: spie.org/defense-security-sensing.xml.

SPIE is the international optics and photonics society, founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies; it serves more than 188,000 constituents from 138 countries. For more information, visit spie.org.