POLARIS SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N161-057

Description

The SWIR polarimetry has potential applications for target detection, discrimination, and tracking for land and maritime. In recent years, researchers have applied imaging polarimetry to a number of applications including detection of disturbed earth, detection of objects and swimmers in water, and target detection with background clutter. SWIR band polarimetry has been recently been applied to discriminating between materials for Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF). The application space for imaging polarimetry is increasing the demand for commercially available imaging polarimeters. <br><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'></span>Polaris Sensor Technology will build a Divided Focal Plane SWIR imaging polarimeter in which a pixelated polarizer filter array will be mated to VGA InGaAs focal plane array. Processing electronics and software will also be integrated to operate the camera and generate real time both radiometric and polarimetric data products. The IFOV mis-registration issue inherent to Divided Focal Plane imaging polarimeters will also be addressed.