Photonics/​Optics

Optics

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Briefs
Unmanned Systems

Army Researchers Develop Chemical Threat Scanning on the Fly

U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center researchers are developing a way to scan for chemical biological agent on surfaces on the fly. It is called Hyperspectral Threat Anomaly Detection, or HyperThreAD for short. Read on to learn more about it.

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Articles
Defense

Next Level Rugged Fiber Optic Interconnects: A New Era of High-Speed Data Transmission in Defense

In addition to the high level of complexity, the upcoming generation change from fifth- to sixth-generation fighter jets poses major challenges for component suppliers and accelerates the pace of technological competition. Read on to learn more.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Everyday Life, Improved by Light: GRYPHON’s Photonic Discoveries

GRYPHON will leverage recent developments in nonlinear photonics and photonic-electronic integration to develop microwave sources with noise performance that meets or exceeds that of the best discrete oscillator modules. Read on to learn more about the endeavor.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Space Lasers: Aiming Towards Next Leap in Global Communications

Space lasers are transforming the world. Not the far-off future of science fiction, but the universe of how data and communications flow today — everywhere from deep space missions to countless applications here on earth, including consumer internet services, military operations, and banking transactions. Read on to learn more.

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Briefs
Aerospace

Streamlined Microcomb Design Provides Control With The Flip of a Switch

Researchers at the University of Rochester describe new microcomb lasers they have developed that overcome previous limitations and feature a simple design that could open the door to a broad range of uses. Read on to learn more.

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Researchers Demonstrate the First Chip-Based 3D Printer

Imagine a portable 3D printer you could hold in the palm of your hand. Researchers took a major step toward making this idea a reality by demonstrating the first chip-based 3D printer. The prototype chip has no moving parts, instead relying on an array of tiny optical antennas to steer a beam of light. Read on to learn more.

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Technology Report
Unmanned Systems

AutoSens: Nodar’s Plan to Make Park Assist Tech Better, Cheaper, Cleaner

Park assist technology seems like low-hanging fruit in the assisted and automated driving space, but anyone who’s attempted to use one of these systems might have...

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News
Energy

MEMS Drive Wants to Shake up Automotive Sensor

Advanced optical image stabilization (OIS) technology used in mobile phones should have a home in the automotive world. Specifically, using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to move an...

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

NRL Research Physicists Explore Fiber Optic Computing Using Distributed Feedback

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers have outlined a novel contribution in fiber optics computing in a paper recently published in Communications Physics Journal that brings the Navy one step closer to faster, more efficient computing technologies.

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News
Data Acquisition

CES 2024: Aeva Launches 4D Lidar for SAE Level 4 Trucks

Daimler Truck announced that Aeva will supply its latest Atlas 4D lidar for the Freightliner Cascadia truck platform and collaborate with Torc Robotics to integrate the technology....

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Physicists Develop a New Type of Antenna

This research and demonstration presents a simple technique for a remote Rydberg-atom-based RF sensor, which was verified for distances of up to 30 m between the passive sensing unit and the base station — currently limited by the length of the hallway used in the demonstration.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

How Laser Communications Innovation is Finally Coming of Age and Driving Innovation in Defense

Though laser technology has advantages over radio, and those advantages are growing as innovation accelerates, what is essential to realize is that they need not be in competition.

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Spatial Calibration for Accurate Long Distance Measurement Using Infrared Cameras

All commercially available camera systems have lenses (and internal geometries) that cannot perfectly refract light waves and refocus them onto a two-dimensional (2D) image sensor. This means that all digital images contain elements of distortion and thus are not a true representation of the real world.

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Towards Greater Sensitivity: A Brief FTIR and Infrared-Based Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy Comparative Study

Cavity Ring-Down spectroscopy (CRDS) is a newer IR absorption-based technique made possible by the use of tunable pulsed lasers. Rather than using a broadband (blackbody) emitter as is done with traditional IR techniques, a pulsed laser is tuned across wavelengths into an optical cavity.

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Briefs
Aerospace

Determining Optical Material Parameters With Motion in Structured Illumination

Ellipsometry measures the amplitude ratio and the phase difference between polarized light reflected from the surface of a film and determines the refractive index or thickness by fitting the experimental data to an optical model that represents an approximated sample structure.

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Briefs
RF & Microwave Electronics

Deep Image Prior Amplitude SAR Image Anonymization

Synthetic Aperture Radar images are a powerful tool for studying the Earth’s surface. They are radar signals generated by an imaging system mounted on a platform such as an aircraft or satellite. As the platform moves, the system emits sequentially high-power electromagnetic waves through its antenna.

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Free-Space Quantum Communications in Harsh Environments

The project aims to explore the possibility of all-weather secure quantum communication using macroscopic quantum states of light.

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News
Automotive

Owl AI’s 3D Thermal Sensors See Further into the Dark

The race to develop low-cost and effective sensors for automated driving requires all-day effort. Getting sensors to accurately identify the world around them is easiest on a clear, sunny day, but that solves just part of the problem.

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Articles
Photonics/Optics

Making Sense of Next-Gen ADAS Sensing

“I don’t expect [SAE] Level 3-capable vehicles to ship in significant numbers until 2030,” asserted Rudy Burger, of Woodside Capital Partners, during May’s AutoSens 2023 conference in Detroit....

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INSIDER
Imaging

Filtered Rayleigh Scattering Enables Laser-Optical Measurement of Turbofan Thrust

Pratt & Whitney and Virginia Tech announced a pioneering new technology for calculating thrust using lasers to enable high-fidelity measurement of key gas...

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Briefs
Aerospace

Overcoming Performance Limitations of Distributed Brillouin Fiber Laser Sensors

Distributed fiber sensors are a powerful tool for structural health monitoring and environmental sensing due to their ability to remotely monitor the strain at 1,000s of locations using low-cost optical fiber.

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Electro-Optic Materials Research

Here, a summary of the main lines of effort for the Electro-Optics Materials Research program including its goals and major accomplishments of the past five years.

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Lidar Vs. Everybody in the Onboard Sensor Race

Despite the industrywide realization that SAE driving automation Levels 4 and 5 are not imminent and instead long-term goals, development continues on the sensors that power current and future...

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Technology Report
Semiconductors & ICs

Lumotive’s New LCM Underpins Next-Gen Lidar

“The future happened yesterday” is an appropriate description of the rapid pace of development in automated-driving technology. The expression may be most accurate in sensor tech where, for...

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INSIDER
Software

AFTC Gains New Test Capability

As weapon system designers continue to innovate for the defense of the nation, the Air Force Test Center must advance the test capabilities available to develop and prove the superiority of those systems...

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Articles
Photonics/Optics

Designing Multi-Channel Microwave Radio Systems Using Optical Interconnects

Imagine if it was possible to build multi-channel microwave radio systems leveraging optical rather than copper interconnects.

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Articles
Software

Keeping Your Silicon Cool

Onboard electronics continue to evolve rapidly. Components are smaller. Systems are more complex. The sophisticated electronics components that make up modern vehicles require precision heat dissipation for...

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Modeling Optical Time and Frequency Generation and Transfer Systems

The research was closely tied to work that was led by Nathan Newbury at NIST, and the principal goal was to support the development of advanced laser sources.

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News
Manned Systems

SAE International Extends Call for Abstracts, Seeks Submissions for AeroTech Conference

Engineering Events staff at SAE International in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, have extended the call for abstracts through September 21 for the...

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