EPIR, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: A17-052

Description

EPIR Inc. and Brimrose Corp. propose to design and fabricate an adjunct sensor consisting of four spectrometers to cover the wavelength range from ultraviolet (UV) to long-wave infrared (LWIR). Each spectrometer is an integration of an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) with either Si- or HgCdTe (MCT)- based photo-detector (PD). The sensor will be used to aid the existing Missile Warning/Hostile Fire Indication Systems. Due to our success on a recently finished NASA project, our efforts in this Phase I project will be concentrated on (1) the design and fabrication of MCT PDs in the infrared ranges, (2) the design of AOTFs for the correspondent PDs, and (3) the design of the sensor system accommodating all four PDs with low size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP). In Phase II we will fabricate and demonstrate the functionality of the prototype system based on the design finished in Phase I.MCT is the dominating choice of material for infrared applications. AOTF offers excellent waveband selection capability with no moving parts, and is insensitive to mechanical vibration. The combination of MCT PD with AOTF offers significant advantages to meet the requirements and to lower the SWaP of the system.