This is an image of a gigapixel camera currently being developed by DARPA’s Advanced Wide FOV Architectures for Image Reconstruction and Exploitation (AWARE) program.
The ability to see farther, with higher clarity, and through darkness and/or obscurants is vital to nearly all military operations. At the same time, there is an immense need to increase FOV, resolution and day/night capability at reduced SWaP and cost for advanced imaging systems. The main driver for these requirements is to provide dismounted soldiers, ground troops and near-ground support platforms with the best available imaging tools for their combat effectiveness.
Credit: DARPA
As part of the program, DARPA successfully tested cameras with 1.4 and 0.96 gigapixel resolution at the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC. The gigapixel cameras combine 100-150 small cameras with a spherical objective lens. Local aberration correction and focus in the small cameras enable extremely high resolution shots with smaller system volume and less distortion than traditional wide field lens systems.
Credit: DARPA
The DARPA effort hopes to produce resolution up to 10 and 50 gigapixels—much higher resolution than the human eye can see. Analogous to a parallel-processor supercomputer, the AWARE camera design uses parallel multi-scale micro cameras to form a wide field panoramic image.
The AWARE program is developing new approaches and advanced capabilities in imaging to support a variety of Department of Defense missions.
The AWARE program is developing new approaches and advanced capabilities in imaging to support a variety of Department of Defense missions.
The ability to see farther, with higher clarity, and through darkness and/or obscurants is vital to nearly all military operations. At the same time, there is an immense need to increase FOV, resolution and day/night capability at reduced SWaP and cost for advanced imaging systems. The main driver for these requirements is to provide dismounted soldiers, ground troops and near-ground support platforms with the best available imaging tools for their combat effectiveness.
Credit: DARPA
Imagine Its Use On A Rifle Scope
By carrying a more accurate rifle scope, U.S. warfighters can increase their standoff distance when engaging enemies. Increased standoff distance can help protect warfighter lives. This is especially true when an infrared scope is needed for nighttime action. Technologies exist for cooled infrared imaging at greater distances, but such imaging systems are limited by size, weight and power (SWaP) to large platforms such as tanks or helicopters.
With the advent of smaller UAVs, which can provide a huge advantage to our troops, the pressure to increase performance and reduce SWaP is even more intense. Advanced Wide FOV Architectures for Image Reconstruction and Exploitation (AWARE) program responds to these needs by simultaneously pushing the envelope of imager performance through new FPA and camera designs and advanced distributed aperture sensors (ADAS) ground support systems.
The AWARE program will enable wide FOV, higher resolution and multi-band imaging capability for increased target discrimination and search in all weather day/night conditions. The imaging systems will be sufficiently lightweight and compact to be fielded on a variety of ground and air borne platforms.
The AWARE program will enable wide FOV, higher resolution and multi-band imaging capability for increased target discrimination and search in all weather day/night conditions. The imaging systems will be sufficiently lightweight and compact to be fielded on a variety of ground and air borne platforms.
Credit: DARPA
It is envisioned that the first AWARE systems will be deployed on ground and near ground assets and will improve resolution (increase distance for target ID), increase operational capability (ability to see panoramic visible scene with multiple target tracking), increase day/night visibility (mitigate brownout for helicopter landing) and search capability with LWIR, increase range and resolution with SWIR foveation, replace multiple sights now used by rifle scopes with single day/night sensor, and provide spectrometry capability using broad band sensors. In addition, the modular component technologies will have a broad impact on DoD imaging applications including targeting, persistent surveillance, sensing, and imaging with color fusion.
The AWARE program will solve the current fundamental scaling limitations in imaging systems and demonstrate a design methodology for building compact systems, capable of forming images at or near the full diffraction-limited instantaneous field of view (iFOV) achieved over a wide FOV. This approach represents a dramatic advance over the current state of the art.
By carrying a more accurate rifle scope, U.S. warfighters can increase their standoff distance when engaging enemies. Increased standoff distance can help protect warfighter lives. This is especially true when an infrared scope is needed for nighttime action. Technologies exist for cooled infrared imaging at greater distances, but such imaging systems are limited by size, weight and power (SWaP) to large platforms such as tanks or helicopters.
DARPA’s Advanced Wide Field of View Architectures for Image Reconstruction and Exploitation (AWARE) program is researching and developing new ways to overcome SWaP restrictions in military imaging systems. The AWARE High Operating Temperature Mid-Wave Infrared (HOT MWIR) developments by DARPA represent a reduction in system SWaP for historically restricted applications such as hand held thermal imagers and long-range thermal scopes.
Credit: DARPA
The cooled MWIR system size is reduced through the development of a focal plane array that operates at higher temperature compared to conventional 80K with micro-miniature Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) detector pixels and a small, battery-powered cooler. The advances in cooling, novel high operating temperature detector design and small pixel spacing allow for a large format sensor in a small, low power package. The MCT material’s sensitivity across the light spectrum is enabled by new optics developed for combining the mid-wave and short-wave infrared capabilities into a single platform.
“Never before has a MCT MWIR with “see spot” capability been developed into such small handheld sights and potentially unequaled performance in future sniper scopes,” explained Nibir Dhar, DARPA program manager. “The HOT-MWIR scope’s range is significantly farther than the current thermal weapon sights. Such a capability should lead to increased standoff distance for snipers and provide a significant advantage over adversaries.”
U.S. Special Operations Command recently transitioned the HOT-MWIR scope technology, developed by DARPA and DRS Technologies, Inc., into its SPOTr program for development from prototype to field use.
The cooled MWIR system size is reduced through the development of a focal plane array that operates at higher temperature compared to conventional 80K with micro-miniature Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) detector pixels and a small, battery-powered cooler. The advances in cooling, novel high operating temperature detector design and small pixel spacing allow for a large format sensor in a small, low power package. The MCT material’s sensitivity across the light spectrum is enabled by new optics developed for combining the mid-wave and short-wave infrared capabilities into a single platform.
“Never before has a MCT MWIR with “see spot” capability been developed into such small handheld sights and potentially unequaled performance in future sniper scopes,” explained Nibir Dhar, DARPA program manager. “The HOT-MWIR scope’s range is significantly farther than the current thermal weapon sights. Such a capability should lead to increased standoff distance for snipers and provide a significant advantage over adversaries.”
U.S. Special Operations Command recently transitioned the HOT-MWIR scope technology, developed by DARPA and DRS Technologies, Inc., into its SPOTr program for development from prototype to field use.
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