SBIR-STTR Award

Providing defense to ships against asymmetric threats under all weather and traffic conditions requires both broad spectrum sensing and highly mobile platforms. We propose broad spectral sensing with co-located visible, infrared (IR) and terahertz (THz) sensors that are small, light and low-power enough to be mounted on a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This approach takes advantage of the considerable effort the Navy has already invested in UAVs, and combines it with the high promise of co-located broadband sensor systems. By enabling ultralight low-power sensors that fuse images from three spectral regimes, we offer a new broadly applicable approach to counteracting asymmetric threats.

Benefit:
Deployment in screening personnel at building entrances, in airports, and in other open spaces. Possible application to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for counter-terrorism.

Keywords:
sensor fusion, sensor fusion, terahertz, UAVs, Sensors

The Phase II component of this project will scale from the gigahertz to the terahertz regime the new antennas, pulse generators, detectors and modulation concepts modeled and demonstrated in Phase I. Phase II efforts will focus on arrays for generating and detecting broadband radiation from 50 GHz to above 0.5 THz (where atmospheric absorption is minimized) for sensing concealed threats. Portability and even compatibility with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is enabled by solid-state pulsed sources and compatible ultra-wideband antennas that will be fabricated and integrated in the Base-level effort. Reflection spectra from various targets will be determined, and work will be done on integration with UAVs in cooperation with the Naval Research Laboratory. Further work on commercialization will be pursued through market research and completing a business plan. In the Option-level effort, an antenna and pulser array will be assembled for scale-model demonstration, followed by development of a coherent exciter subsystem, and finally an array at the THz scale will be realized. The systems to be developed will serve both Navy and commercial interests for enhanced security through spectroscopic imaging and weapons detection.

Benefit:
Imaging techniques using broadband terahertz radiation can be used for detecting concealed weapons or energetic materials. The systems being developed in this effort are closely related to millimeter-wave imaging systems, which are also being pursued commercially for imaging by several firms, such as Brijot, Trex, Qinetic and Millivision (passive cameras functioning as radiometers) and Safe-View (active portal using holography). The distinction is the very wideband nature of the THz generators, antennas and detectors being developed in this effort, in contrast to the narrowband and usually passive millimeter-wave cameras commercially available now. Active illumination means that the systems under development will function in all conditions, and the images will have spectroscopic information to assist in identifying threats, particularly on personnel.

Keywords:
security, spectroscopic imaging, terahertz, ultrawideband antennas