CMOS Imager Will Add Video To Night Vision Scopes; Sarnoff Working With Litton Electro-Optical Systems To Create Low Light Device For Military Field Use.Business Editors PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2000 Sarnoff Corporation, the Princeton-based technology development and commercialization firm, announced today that Litton Electro-Optical Systems (LEOS LEOS Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (IEEE) LEOS Low Earth Orbiting Satellite ) will integrate Sarnoff's high-sensitivity CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. camera-on-a-chip technology with the LEOS image intensified camera system to create a video-enabled night vision system for the United States Army United States Army Major branch of the U.S. military forces, charged with preserving peace and security and defending the nation. The first regular U.S. fighting force, the Continental Army, was organized by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, to supplement local Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM CECOM Communications Electronics Command (US Army) CECOM National Center for Communications of the Civil Protection Agency ). The project was announced at the SPIE Aerosense conference in Orlando, FL. Sarnoff will be a subcontractor on the project, which was awarded to Garland, TX-based LEOS by CECOM's Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD NVESD Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Director/Directorate (US Army) ). Sarnoff will use fiber optics to couple a new active pixel CMOS image sensor A CMOS-based chip that records the intensities of light as variable charges similar to a CCD chip. Although initially used in less expensive digital cameras, the quality of CMOS sensors has improved steadily. CMOS sensors have advantages over CCDs. , with 100X the dynamic range of conventional imagers, to the LEOS Gated, Unfilmed, Halo-free image intensifier in·ten·si·fi·er n. Grammar See intensive. intensifier Noun a word, esp. an adjective or adverb, that intensifies the meaning of the word or phrase that it modifies, for example, very . Sarnoff will also provide a camera controller with analog video output. The system will have high resolution and low power consumption. "We are pleased to be working with LEOS on this exciting project," said Robert Andreas, Sarnoff's Director of Business Development for Optoelectronics. "Combining their cutting-edge image intensifiers and system integration techniques with our camera technology will give military units a powerful, lightweight videoscope for low light and nighttime operations." The complete videoscope, at approximately 4x2 inches and 290 grams, will be small and light for easy portability and use in the field. Low power requirements will minimize the need to change batteries in field use. According to Andreas, adding video to night vision scopes also permits recording of scenes and transmission to remote locations. Low Cost, High Performance The new videoscope takes advantage of proven technology for lower overall cost for CECOM-NVESD, but includes custom capabilities specifically designed to improve its performance in the field. The Sarnoff CMOS APS imager at the heart of the scope's video capabilities uses the company's proprietary XDR (1) (EXternal Data Representation) A data format developed by Sun that is part of its networking standards. It deals with integer size, byte ordering, data representation, etc. and is used as an interchange format. (eXtended Dynamic Range) technology for unparalleled intra-scene contrast. The imager allows viewers to see details in dark shadows and bright highlight areas simultaneously. Conventional cameras can show details in only one of these areas at a time. The imager is specifically designed to match the characteristics of the latest LEOS Gen IV image intensifier for the sharpest, highest contrast imagery. |
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