25 February 2014 - novel electro-optic infrared technology themed competition presentations

Centre Defence Enterprise

for

Room 1 – Themed Competition Briefings

CDE themed competition

Novel electro-optic infrared technology

Novel EOIR session scope

Military context

Technical challenges

Q&A

Case study – 2d3 Sensing

Themed competition

Requirements

Bounded

Specific

What else is on offer today?

CDE overview

Enduring

Proposals

Networking

Military Context

UNCLASSIFIED © Crown copyright 2014 Dstl

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www.defenceImagery.mod.uk

Demands of the soldier

• Longer ranges • Higher resolution • Multi spectral • Size, weight and power (SWAP)

© Crown copyright 2014 Dstl

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Longer ranges

• Outperform enemy sensors – Want to see the enemy before they can

see us

• Greater stand-off – Harder to be detected – Improve survivability


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Higher resolution

• Better target identification • Better battle damage assessment • More accurate targetting


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Multi spectral

• Harder to find the enemy – Smaller targets – Better camouflage and concealment – Cluttered environments – Battlefield obscurants


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Multi spectral

• Exploit other parts of the spectrum – Use of thermal imagers during day to detect – Demands for combat identification

• Near IR beacons can no longer be used at night

• Thermal beacons too bulky or hard to detect


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Size

• Optics – Conflict between larger optics and

physical space on weapon system or in payload bay

• Bulk – Unbalances weapon – Need for bipod/tripod – Increase risk of damage


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Weight

• Dismounted soldier already overburdened – Typically carrying 56kg (40kg maximum,

25kg optimal) – Heavy weapon sights or hand-held

imagers difficult to keep stable – Need to carry both optical sights and

image intensifiers/thermal sights for night time operations


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Weight

• Unmanned Air Systems – Demand for smaller lighted systems

• Brigade Revivor • Company Desert Hawk • Section Black Hornet

– Limited to one sensor at a time


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Power

• Battery technology cannot keep up with demands of the soldier

• Batteries make up a disproportionate part of the soldier’s burden

• Need increased endurance for less power – Systems kept running all the time so they are immediately

available


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Novel Electro-optic and Infrared Technology


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Background • Novel ideas and concepts that will shape EO/IR

technology over next 25 years – Optical components (materials, detector, lasers…)

• Underpinning sensor technology that will impact the land (base protection, vehicles, dismounts), air (manned, UAV, space) and maritime (above water) domains

• Seeking low TRL (2-3) concept demonstrations • Expect to fund up to 10 projects

– expect 3-4 to go forward under phase II funding


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Future requirements for sensor technology

• Operations in complex environments – Clutter, occlusion & obscuration, day/night, weather

UNCLASSFIED © Crown copyright 2014 Dstl

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• Operations in complex environments • Difficult target set

– Fleeting, discrimination of activities, long range


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• Operations in complex environments • Difficult target set • Intelligent sensors

– Computer assisted identification of threats

– Sensors designed to complement processing


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• Operations in complex environments • Difficult target set • Intelligent sensors • Reduced integration costs

– Up-grade legacy platforms with minimal integration cost – Conformal sensors


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Current systems • Current EO/IR systems are very capable and already

provide multi-mode operation

– Laser spot tracker & range finder – All mounted on a two-axis gimbal


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Image provided courtesy of Northrop Grumman

Emerging technology • Next generation systems likely to include:

– Larger format cameras • thermal imagers and colour visible sensors

– Active imaging using designation laser • 2D imaging • 3D imaging

– Image processing • super-resolution • image stabilisation


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EMRS DTC – Hydravision – Selex ES

Current constraints • Multiple optical apertures

– Multiple different sensors and fields of view

– Aperture diameter • sets diffraction limit. • controls sensitivity and

integration time – Current approach limited by

• multi-band materials • optical coatings • legacy approaches


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Courtesy of L3-Wescam and FLIR Technologies

Current constraints • Multiple optical apertures • Sight line stabilisation

– Vibration of the platform limits performance – Expensive to develop and implement highly stable pointing

system – Needs to be pointed accurately for duration of camera

integration time – Detector sensitivity and the aperture size (F-number) control

the integration time


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Current constraints • Multiple optical apertures • Sight line stabilisation • Cryogenic cooling

– Current thermal imaging cameras need to be operated at ~100K

– Cooling engine adds size, weight and power (on the gimbal)


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Current constraints • Multiple optical apertures • Sight line stabilisation • Cryogenic cooling • Inefficient laser designator system

– Diode (808 nm) pumped Nd:YAG – 1.064 µm, Q-switched laser – Nd:YAG pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) – 1.57µm – Diode (50%) x Nd:YAG (50%) x OPO (30%) = 7.5% – Plus cooling to remove the heat!


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Current constraints • Multiple optical apertures • Sight line stabilisation • Cryogenic cooling • Inefficient laser designator system • Compatibility with legacy standards

– NATO STANAG 3733 decrees (ref) - 1.06 µm, high-energy, Q-switched laser

– Q-switched lasers don’t naturally align with other laser requirements (see later)


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Current constraints

• Multiple optical apertures • Sight line stabilisation • Cryogenic cooling • Inefficient laser designator system • Compatibility with legacy conventions • Beam and sight-line steering

– Mechanical systems (gimbals) are limited in speed of response – Pointing stability drives up the weight which impacts the power

and size


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Current constraints • Multiple optical apertures • Sight line stabilisation • Cryogenic cooling • Inefficient laser designator system • Compatibility with legacy conventions • Beam and sight-line steering • Traditional optical focussing

– High magnification needs long focal length (even folded) – Optical systems have substantial depth (size)


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Technical challenges

• Chosen to address the increasingly difficult constraints • Challenge 1 – Improving functionality and performance

of existing systems (credible, short-term solutions <10 years)

• Challenge 2 – Multi-functionality at the EO/IR system level (feasibility studies for 10-20 year timescale)

• Challenge 3 – Future concepts and systems (what is possible on longer timescale >20 years)


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Challenge 1 - Improving functionality and performance of existing systems • Require novel approaches to multi-functionality at the

optical design, detector and read-out circuitry level • Constraints to be addressed by challenge 1

– Multiple optical apertures – Sight line stabilization – Cryogenic cooling


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Reducing the number of apertures • Novel optical designs able to accommodate multiple

wavebands and multiple fields of view – Novel materials / coatings – High on-axis visual acuity plus situational awareness


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EMRS DTC - Hydravision


wavebands or multiple fields of view • Detector spectral response / functionality

– Wide band spectral response – Agile detector response (avalanche gain, polarisation, colour)


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EMRS DTC – Hydravision - BAES


wavebands or multiple fields of view • Detector spectral response / functionality

– Wide band spectral response – Agile detector response (avalanche gain, polarisation, colour)


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EMRS DTC – Hydravision - BAES


wavebands or multiple fields of view • Detector spectral response / functionality • Multi-functionality at the read-out level

– Range measurement, laser spot tracker, passive/active

• Needs a combination of optical design, detector

developments and intelligent read-out circuitry


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Stabilization constraints • Integration time of the cameras sets the pointing

stabilisation requirement – High frequency vibrations (MHz) are easily damped – Low frequency (kHz) vibrations create the greatest problem

• Larger apertures increase the light gathering – Decrease integration time – More expensive!

• More sensitive detectors will have reduced integration time – On-chip amplification


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Cryogenic cooling

• Cryogenic cooling for mid-wave cameras consumes power and volume

• Recent advances in high operating temperature (HOT) detector arrays are promising – Cold shield is becoming an important limitation – Need novel designs and materials for cold-shields

• Alternative detector approaches for example – Type II super-lattice – Barrier detector (nBn) detector structure


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Challenge 2 - Multi-functionality at the EO/IR system level • Laser designation constrains

system multi-functionality • Can we change the laser and

still provide: – Target designation, range finding

and active imaging

• But offer other laser sensing capabilities

• For example…


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EMRS DTC – Hydravision II – Airborne Technologies

For example, incoherent multi-functional capabilities such as: • High bandwidth optical communications

– Accurate pointing and tracking, fast modulation

• Multi-band infrared countermeasures – Multiple wavelengths, accurate pointing and tracking

• 3D ground mapping and obstacle avoidance – Range measurement and rapid scanning

• Depth profiling for long-range target interrogation • Active spectral sensing for material characterisation

– Tuneable laser source


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For example, coherent multi-functional capabilities including: • Stand-off vibrometry for characterisation of decoys,

engines etc – Local oscillator, Pointing and tracking

• Wind sensing for calculation of projectile and dispersion paths

• Gas sensing – exploiting the narrow spectrum of coherent sources


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Challenge 3 – Future concepts and systems

• Non-mechanical beam and sight-line steering to remove mechanical gimbal

• Lens-less or compact imaging approaches to reduce the depth of the sensor


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By U.S. Air Force/SSGT Lono Kollars, via Wikimedia Commons

Exploitation of emerging science and technology • Meta-materials and other sub-wavelength

phenomena – Focussed on the infrared waveband where material options

suitable for optical systems are limited


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By Hou-Tong Chen (Los Alamos National Laboratory) via Wikimedia Commons.


phenomena • Novel approaches to imaging through turbulence

– Exploiting redundancy in large format array, eg light-field cameras

– Dual-band sensors to measure low resolution template and high resolution at shorter (disturbed) wavelength

– Adaptive sensors operating at high frame-rate over the area of interest (lucky imaging)


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phenomena • Novel approaches to imaging through turbulence • Compressive sensing techniques

– Rapid progress but for military applications • Need to operate in poor conditions with low contrast

imagery • Can’t wait a long time to collect imagery (>10 Hz)


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phenomena • Novel approaches to imaging through turbulence • Compressing sensing techniques • Spatial light modulators

– Liquid crystal on silicon (dynamic holography) for beam steering and dynamic focussing.

– Micro-mechanical mirrors for compact optical designs. – Digital holography for lens-free imaging


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Summary Three challenges that address increasingly difficult current constraints on EO/IR systems: • Challenge 1 – Improving functionality and performance

of existing systems • Challenge 2 – Multi-functionality at the EO/IR system

level • Challenge 3 – Future concepts and systems


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Important dates • Webinar Thursday 6 March 12:30-13:30 • Proposal must be submitted by 17:00 hrs on

Thursday 8 May using CDE Portal – Mark proposals with “Novel EO/IR Technology + challenge

number 1, 2 or 3” in the title

• Contract placement to start mid-June 2014 • Phase I research projects complete 28 Feb 2015


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Further information • Total budget for the call up to £600k • Expect to fund 8-10 projects of value £30-70k • Approximately three projects per challenge • Expect to move into phase II, taking forward the 3-4

best projects

• Technical queries – [email protected] • General CDE queries – [email protected]


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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Seeing more than before: emerging imaging technologies • Aligned Technology Strategy Board (TSB) call • Feasibility studies in pre-industrial research • Deadline for applications 2 April 2014 • Emerging imaging technologies

– Multi-spectral /hyper-spectral imaging – LiDAR detector technology – Image processing – Broad waveband/novel optics

• Further info – www.innovateuk.org


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Technology Strategy Board

What next?

Interface Acorn Networking Hub

Room 2

How to submit Webinars