Irvine Sensors Receives $3.1m R&D Contract Developing 3d System To Produce High Resolution Images From Low Resolution Cameras - Company Business and Marketing

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, Oct 9, 2000

Irvine Sensors Corporation (Nasdaq: IRSN; Boston: ISC) has announced that its Advanced Technology Division (ATD) has received an approximate $3.1 million research and development contract, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Funding will be incremental, based on technical achievements during the contract, with the first material funding increment expected in the Government's 2001 fiscal year, which begins this month.

The goal of the 36-month contract is to demonstrate a three-dimensional (3D) imaging system that can build up high-resolution images using low-resolution optics. The planned demonstration will combine several proprietary Irvine Sensors technologies in a camera sensor module capable of time-delayed integration of reflected laser pulses. Integration of such pulses would allow assembly of an image "slice-by-slice" as each subsequent reflection is added to prior ones. Because of the time delay, each subsequent reflection would be from a slightly different surface of the object being viewed. The resulting assembly would be a rotatable 3D image of much higher resolution than any single image obtainable through the camera's optics.

This approach requires both 3D physical architectures of the type achievable using Irvine Sensors' Neo-Stack stacking technology and time-integrating, image-processing software. Irvine Sensors has developed such software under prior government contracts. RedHawk Vision, Inc., a recently-formed subsidiary of Irvine Sensors, is now selling the first commercial version of this software designed for professional users. One of the goals of the new 3D Imaging R&D contract will be to extend this proprietary software to gigahertz (GHz) per pixel processing speed, versus the kilohertz (KHz) per pixel processing currently available, to support the rapid build-up of 3D images.

According to John C. Carson, Irvine Sensors' Sr. Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, "The physical architecture required to achieve useful 3D imagery is challenging. Under this new contract, we will be attempting to extend our 3-dimensional technologies to include area interconnections, a significant milestone for both this application and our overall Silicon Brain development."

Irvine Sensors Corporation, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, is primarily engaged in the development of high-density electronics, miniature sensors and sensor readout circuits, miniature cameras, optical interconnects, image processing and recognition devices, and low-power analog and mixed signal integrated circuits for diverse system applications. It generally seeks to commercialize these technologies through independently financed and managed subsidiaries.