Infrared receiver system
Infrared receiver system
DRS Technologies, Inc., recently announced that it has been awarded a $6.3 million contract to develop and demonstrate a new near-mid wavelength infrared active detection receiver system. The system will be based on the company's Mercury Cadmium Telluride (HgCdTe) electron avalanche photodiode (e-APD) focal plane array (FPA) technology. The receiver will be an ultra-sensitive infrared detection system designed for use with a laser illumination source for detecting land- based threats.
The contract is sponsored by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA) and was awarded to DRS by the US Air Force Research Laboratory with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
Work for this research and development contract will be accomplished by the company's DRS sensors and targeting systems – Infrared Technologies Division in Dallas, Texas. DRS is expected to deliver the receiver by November 2008. The total contract award could reach $13.7 million, if a $7.4 million option is exercised.
“This award provides funding to take the next step towards productizing DRS's e-APD technology for the electro-optical threat warning market” said James M. Baird, President of the company's surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition (RSTA) segment. “The APD receiver will form the key enabling technology and subsystem on which the major system integrators can design next-generation electro-optical threat warning systems.”
