Objective

The Army SBIR Program is searching for innovative solutions related to improving performance and size, weight, power, and cost (SWAP-C) and/or address supply chain issues for components of uncooled longwave infrared thermal sensors.

Description

This topic accepts Phase I proposals submissions for a cost up to $250,000 for a 6-month period of performance.

This open topic accepts only phase I submissions. The scope of this open topic is limited to resistive bolometric-type sensors and their supporting components. Bolometers are a microelectromechanical structure (MEMS) enabling detection of thermal radiation without the need to cool the sensor to cryogenic temperatures. Alternate sensing technologies (i.e., not resistive bolometers) are excluded.

The Army SBIR Program seeks proposals that focus on one or more of the following sub-topics within uncooled infrared sensors to improve the sensor or fortify a strong industrial base for sensor components. Firms are asked to self-identify which sub-topic(s) their technology relates to in their proposal submission.

1. Focal plane array.
   1. New or enhanced bolometer materials, including the body, leg, or other structures to improve sensitivity or increase fabrication yield. Materials must support the improvement of traditional bolometer structures and be easily transitioned to a semiconductor fabrication facility which supports bolometer production. They must be intrinsically low noise, possess temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) suitable for use with readout integrated circuits over a broad temperature range, withstand elevated temperatures, and possess other qualities ideal for bolometer operation and fabrication. Solutions to vastly increase the TCR are not sought. Body materials should be highly absorptive, but not at the cost of additional thermal mass; materials meant only to function as an absorbing layer are not of interest.
   2. Improved MEMS structures to enable smaller pixels. Novel resistive bolometer designs are sought to optimize performance with small (≤ 8μm) pixels.
   3. Non-traditional high-yield fabrication techniques for MEMS.
   4. Improved focal plane packaging techniques for high volume production.
   5. Improved robustness to high flux. Bolometric sensors can suffer from hysteresis or changes to material properties leading to image artifacts when exposed to intense sources of light. This seeks either material, structural, or system-level mitigation solutions.
2. Electronics and readout integrated circuits (ROICs)
   1. Low power output electronics capable of hosting calibration and image processing routines, possibly including hardware accelerated neural or other processing elements.
   2. Test chips to verify new semi-conductor process nodes to evaluate their usefulness to DoD ROIC design.
   3. Novel circuit architectures for advanced ROIC components and design.
   4. Standard compliant input/output, including laboratory hardware and support electronics for testing modules, to improve supply chain robustness.
3. Image processing for thermal imagers
   1. Novel image processing techniques for improved Soldier-in-the-loop imaging or pre-processing for input to autonomy algorithms. This could include stabilization and de-blurring due to ego motion resulting from the frame rate or thermal time constant, methods to reduce spatiotemporal noise without inducing blur or latency, super-resolution, or others.
   2. Fusion of longwave and other sensor modalities with real-time optimized output based on ambient conditions.
   3. New techniques to stitch sensors into a distributed aperture system enabling the use of sensors with different fields of view, instantaneous fields of view, resolution, etc., to enable interesting system architectures and features with low-cost camera modules.
   4. Method and equipment for characterizing the “goodness” of the above algorithms in an objective manner.
4. Longwave optics
   1. Novel or engineered optical coatings for aberration correction or increased element optical power.
   2. Optical materials to reduce reliance on germanium or other materials with an at-risk supply chain.
   3. Designs, materials, methods of manufacture, and quality assurance for reduced optical lens assembly (OLA) cost.
   4. Longwave-transmissive polymers for optical design and manufacture.

Phase I

Develop an initial design of your proposed component technology with stakeholder input focusing on burning down the highest risk items and building confidence in a future complete design. Support with appropriate modeling, simulation, engineering, or other justification to demonstrate feasibility.

Analyze the potential impact of your component technology to the uncooled sensor “ecosystem” in terms of sensor size, weight, power, cost, performance, and assured supply chain. With stakeholder input and these potential impacts in mind, define your metrics of success and specific deliverable for a phase 2 effort.

Discuss how your technology could potentially impact the warfighters’ ability to perform or enable their mission. Describe what supporting infrastructure and inputs your component technology will require to transition into full rate production, e.g., manufacturing tools, materials, training data, computational resources, or others as required. Generate an initial transition plan for your component technology including possible partners.

Phase II

Leveraging phase 1 results, design, fabricate, and deliver the prototype hardware and/or software defined in phase 1. Refine success metrics, if necessary. Define a test plan and characterize the prototype against relevant technical and defined success metrics and deliver the results in a technical data package. Define and document relevant interfaces.

Mature the transition and production plan and attempt to partner with relevant organizations such as Primes or manufacturing and integration partners. Deliver a prototype that is mature enough to enable a technology transition to the Army or relevant integrators. If relevant, the prototype should be ready to spin into low-rate initial production at the sub-component level.

Phase III

• Complete the maturation of the company’s technology developed in Phase II and produce prototypes to support further development and commercialization.
• The Army will evaluate each product in a realistic field environment and provide small solutions to stakeholders for further evaluation. Based on soldier evaluations in the field, companies will be requested to update the previously delivered prototypes to meet final design configuration.

Submission Information

For more information, and to submit your full proposal package, visit the DSIP Portal.

SBIR|STTR Help Desk: usarmy.sbirsttr@army.mil