At just over 700 nanometers (nm) in wavelength and a frequency of 430 Terahertz (THz), infrared waves lie at the very edge of visible light. Infrared light has innumerable uses, particularly for militaries around the world. Near-infrared illumination enables night vision technology so that security forces can spot threats, enemy combatants, or heat-emitting objects without being detected. Infrared imaging can also be used in thermal efficiency mapping, short-range wireless communications, and weather forecasting.
Intellisense Systems is constantly producing new solutions that are on the cutting edge of infrared imaging. Learn more about two innovative applications of this technology:
Full Color Night-Vision
Night vision technology captures infrared radiation so that humans can get a clearer view of people or objects is low light conditions. Even though this technology has been in use for decades, it typically falls short in replicating clear human sight. Night vision goggles that amplify near-infrared or short band infrared signals often results in a green-tinted image with large blooms of light. And while thermal imaging cameras translate heat into a full spectrum of colors, it does not resemble eyesight in daylight conditions.
Color night-vision capabilities can help armed forces and law enforcement to detect friend from foe, or allied transport from enemy vehicles. The United States military wished to leverage this full-color night-vision technology to identify persons or objects at distance of at distance on a ground platform or an aircraft. Not only would the system have to capture night vision in full color, but it would also have to withstand extreme shock, vibrations, temperatures, and wind gusts during operation.
To fulfill this request, Intellisense began development on a sensor that could capture night vision in full color and HD resolution. The proposed design integrated a true-color low-light sensor with a first-of-its-kind mid-wave infrared camera with a compact long effective focal length lens. The addition of visualization software helped support the functionality of these three components. They were also compact enough to fit onto a gimbal that could be mounted onto nearly any vehicle.
Compound Eye Technology
When the U.S. Navy needed a precise, ship-relative navigation (PS-RN) system, they contracted several firms to deliver an infrared-based solution. Intellisense conceived a novel optical sensor that was based on insect-like compound eye technology, which was smaller in size, weight, and power-consumption than other sensor systems.
This compound eye design selectively tracks modulated optical signals through an array of multi-aperture sensor optics to obtain a gimbal-free (strapped down) central field of view with a 40°x40° range. It also achieves a fast initialization (≤10 ms) and real-time operation (≥30 Hz) through an array of analog photodetectors with high bandwidth and high gain in the short-wave infrared band (0.9-1.7 µm).
This technology employs multiple infrared light emitting diode (LED) beacons. Each beacon is located angularly within the system’s central field of view and calculated the carrier deck’s relative pose to aircraft. Combining powerful IR LED beacons with the high gain bandwidth photodetector array enables the tracking of multiple beacons with range up to hundreds of meters in full sunlight. Our engineering team has demonstrated real-time positioning and pose detection at range with a greater than 10:1 signal-to-noise ratio. It also does not interfere with any other night-vision devices.
Utilizing the Navy’s provided aircraft/deck motion and carrier dimension data, Intellisense was able to test this compound-eye solution with a full end-to-end simulation of aircraft landing. This simulation enables future evaluations of the system’s performance under different weather and lighting conditions and hardware configurations. Based on these prototype development and system simulation results, the engineering team created and discussed with representatives from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Navy Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) a roadmap for future transition and integration with Navy PS-RN capabilities by leveraging more cutting-edge infrared imaging technology from other Department of Defense programs.