N101-078 TITLE: Dual Well Focal Plane Array (FPA)

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Sensors, Electronics, Weapons

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: FNC: EMW FY11-01 – Precision Urban Mortar Attack (PUMA)

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OBJECTIVE: Design and build an inexpensive, imaging sensor that could be read much like a Charge Couple Device (CCD). The Dual Well FPA differs from a conventional CCD FPA in that each pixel in the FPA would have two charge wells -- charge well A and charge well B. The FPA would have the ability to gate imagery in well A to detect laser energy at 1064nm (with pulse durations as short as 10ns, pulse repetition rates as high as 20 KHz, with as little as 25 uJ per pulse) and charge well B could be used as a passive imager to provide video imagery at frame rates up 60 hertz.

DESCRIPTION: The current state of technology in FPA imaging systems has provided a number of technologies (silicon, InGAs, HgCdTe, and CMOS imagers) that are sensitive to near infra-red energy, making many of them useful for detecting laser energy at 1064nm. The problem with using a conventional imager to provide a see-spot capability for a laser designator system is that in order to capture the reflected laser pulse energy, the imager must be gated in time to coincide with the time of arrival of the reflected laser pulse from the target. By gating the imager to "see" the laser spot and not allowing the charge wells to charge except when the laser return is expected, the imager sacrifices all surrounding video imagery. That is, the only thing that is often seen in the video frame is the laser spot itself. The resultant scene is often too dark to discern any details except for the spot because the charge wells within the FPA did not receive enough photons from the surrounding scenery to produce a useful image due to the limited gate time allotted to the laser pulse. (The gate time of the laser is minimized to limit noise.) In order to overcome this phenomenon, the FPA could be gated sparingly to see some of the laser pulses and could operate as a passive imager the remainder of the time. This approach sacrifices frame rate in the passive imager and sacrifices the ability to see each laser pulse. With a dual well FPA, one well (well A) could be gated at the laser pulse repetition rate while the other well (well B) could be operated in the passive mode for conventional imaging and a video processor could interleave the gated image with the passive image to produce a composite image that contained the background imagery as well as the laser pulse imagery.

PHASE I: Develop Dual Well FPA design that includes specification of technology employed, and estimates of cost.

PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate a prototype Dual Well FPA in a realistic environment. Conduct testing with a laser designator system.

PHASE III: this technology is expected to transition to the PUMA FNC, and, if successful, may become part of a micro-pulsed laser designation system that is widely used within military applications.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: These Dual Well FPA’s could be used in a variety of military, civilian, and law enforcement application. They could be used in security, surveillance, and border control systems where gated imagery with active illumination could be blended with passive imaging applications. Active illumination could be a strobe light at micro-pulse intervals at visible or near infra-red wavelengths and the subject would not even be aware that they were being imaged.

REFERENCES:
1. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/

2. www.dtic.mil/ndia/2008gun_missile/FreemanBryan.pdf

KEYWORDS: Inexpensive, CCD, Dual-Well, FPA, focal plane array, laser designator

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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