The Technology
Detection of hostile fire in real time in the field is a well-known problem. Modern low intensity conflicts and acts of terrorism are stressing the need for military and law enforcement agencies to locate sporadic sources of hostile fire. The impact of gun detection systems on the battlefield depends not only on performance parameters of the single system but also on the abundance of the system among fighting forces. Silicon based sensors, in particular CMOS Image sensors, have revolutionized low cost imaging systems but to date have not been used for gun muzzle flash detection, due to performance limitations, and low SNR in the visible spectrum.
High operating speed in Geiger mode enables reconstructing fast temporal shooting pulses at high sampling rates by utilizing self-propagating electron avalanche breakdowns. The use of hyper-sensitive pixels in CMOS technology provides all of the advantages of CMOS imaging technologies as well, which enable a real time signal processing and implementing correlation recognition algorithm, practically eliminating readout noise and false alarms. CMOS also allows for integrating the sensor and auxiliary circuitry. In addition, by means of a narrow band optical filter, the sodium and potassium discharge present in explosives is also detected.
Advantages
- High detection sensitivity at high speed
- Improved signal to noise ratio
- Reduction of false alarms
- Low cost and miniaturization
Applications and Opportunities
- Military and law enforcement agencies
- Positron emission tomography (PET)
- Luminescence measurements for diagnostic of cancer tissues
Business Development Contacts