FLIR Systems
Wilsonville, OR
503-498-3547
www.flir.com/blackhornet.com

FLIR Systems, Inc. was recently awarded a $2.6 million contract from the United States Army to deliver FLIR Black Hornet^® Personal Reconnaissance Systems (PRS). The units delivered under this contract will support squad-level surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in the Army’s first batch order for the Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) program.

General Robotics
Beit Nehemia, Israel
+972 (0) 77 512 1020
www.glrobotics.com

General Robotics, a company that specializes in developing, manufacturing and marketing advanced robotic systems for defense and Homeland Security, manufactures an ultralight remote weapon station with anti-drone capabilities called the Pitbull. The Pitbull provides a solution for detecting and tracking all types of drones during flight, enabling their neutralization and downing.

The magneto-optical (MO) oxide layer consists of (Bi,Y)₃Fe5O₁₂ or BiYIG, bismuth garnet. This material was selected because it has a better figure of merit than the CeYIG previously used, especially at lower wavelengths (1310 nm vs. 1550 nm). A top-down deposition process was developed in which BiYIG/YIG stacks are grown on the Si waveguide with YIG on top. The stack is annealed at 800°C/5 min to crystallize both layers, with the YIG templating the BiYIG leading to garnet phases rather than other oxides, and the BiYIG is directly on the Si waveguide. Initial attempts led to a film with Bi oxide phases, because the Bi was in excess and could not escape during the anneal as occurs in Si/YIG/BiYIG stacks. Hence the composition was adjusted to include slightly more Fe, which yielded films with only garnet peaks.

Despite enormous advances in integrated photonics over the last decade, an efficient integrated phase delay remains to be demonstrated. This problem is fundamental – most monolithic thin film deposition relies on centro symmetric materials (such as silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride), which by definition do not have an electro-optic effect. Such materials have been shown to be excellent transparent materials, however they are either optically passive, or rely on very small plasma dispersion effect or power-hungry thermo-optic effect for tunability. These phase change materials have losses associated due to heating or carrier injection in the waveguides. This research shows that graphene can be used to provide electro-optic properties to traditionally passive optical materials.

The concept of an imaging system that captures both spatial and spectral information has existed for a while. An example of one such imaging system that encodes both location and wavelength into an image is a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS).

The major goals of this research project included two parts. First, an ultracompact plasmonic electro-optical (EO) modulator was to be developed and investigated for efficient intensity modulation. Second, an ultracompact and high-speed EO modulator based on a dielectric platform was to be developed for straightforward integration with existing CMOS technology. Both modulators were targeted to facilitate next-generation interconnects for integrated photonic circuits.

Researchers are testing the properties of graphene after it has been launched into the stratosphere. Two-dimensional graphene has a unique combination of being extremely flexible, harder than diamond, and stronger than steel.

A new device can increase aircraft safety during takeoff. During the first 10 seconds of the takeoff roll, the device predicts if the aircraft will reach the sufficient speed for taking off. The idea behind the innovation can be adapted both for small aircraft and large jets.

Rockwell Collins has unveiled FasTAK™, a new tactical combat targeting system and secure communications gateway for success in today’s digital battlefield.

After six years of extensive research, engineers at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center have conducted a successful test flight of an advanced tail-controlled missile system.