Night-vision airborne camera calibration equipment SBIR goes to Bodkin Design
Newton, MA--A $150,000 U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award went to Bodkin Design & Engineering (BD&E) to develop calibration equipment for airborne nighttime reconnaissance cameras (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2011/07/low-light-imaging-iccd-emccd-and-scmos-compete-in-low-light-imaging.html). The technology developed under this program may reduce costs and enhance the Air Force’s capabilities to simulate real-world environmental conditions during laboratory testing. Under this contract, BD&E will develop a scene simulator (http://www.bodkindesign.com/products/calibration-instruments/blackbody-theory/)--a low-background-temperature differential blackbody (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2010/05/bodkin-launches-new-website-for-blackbody-calibrators-for-ir-sensors.html)--to conduct performance tests at background temperatures ranging from -40°C to 100°C.
In order to reduce the risk associated with expensive flight tests, ground test facilities are used to mimic operational conditions. Innovative approaches will be applied to create an infrared scene projector capable of producing realistic target simulations over a wide range of temperatures, particularly in the colder range for night-vision applications (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2010/02/photonics-applied-night-vision-night-vision-devices-offer-incredible-backyard-and-battlefield-views.html). Hardware and techniques researched and refined under this contract have extensive commercial and military applications (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/defense-and-security.html) where broad-temperature thermal characterization is required.
This nine month project is funded by the SBIR program established by the Small Business Administration Office to ensure that the nation's small, high-tech, innovative businesses are a significant part of the federal government's research and development efforts.
Bodkin Design and Engineering has been providing concept development, prototype design/build, and engineering services to commercial, military, and research communities since 1992. BD&E holds contracts with the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Department of Homeland Security, National Aeronautic and Space Agency, and the Missile Defense Agency. In addition, BD&E has overseen the successful introduction of products ranging from miniature infrared cameras and spectrometers, to heavy equipment for railroad yards.
SOURCE: Bodkin Design & Engineering; http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/4/prweb10524369.htm
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.