Under a contract with the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), UTC Aerospace Systems’ Sensors Unlimited business has developed the world’s highest resolution indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) Near Infrared/Shortwave Infrared (NIR/SWIR) imaging sensor, the Charlotte, NC-based company announced October 31. The new sensor includes a 16 megapixel photo-detector array on a 5 micron pitch, providing roughly 16 times more detail than the company’s existing high definition sensor, released in 2012, which has a resolution of 1.3 megapixels. UTC Aerospace Systems is a unit of United Technologies Corp.
The first-of-its-kind sensor is hybridized to a matching silicon CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) read-out integrated circuit and packaged into a hermetically sealed focal plane array. Imaging electronics were also designed and developed to integrate the focal plane array into a complete imaging camera.
UTC Aerospace Systems developed the sensor for the U.S. Navy’s Spectral and Reconnaissance Imagery for Tactical Exploitation (SPRITE) program and has delivered four prototypes to the service as part of a 3-year, $9.7 million award.
“Our newest SWIR camera uses groundbreaking technology to provide operators with a higher resolution and greater level of detail than ever before,” said Michael Daugherty, program manager, UTC Aerospace Systems. “For the warfighter, this means an improved ISR situational awareness capability. We’re honored to support the U.S. Navy and look forward to continuing to support the SPRITE program in the years ahead.”
Source: UTC Aerospace
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