SBIR-STTR Award

Reduced Size, Weight, and Power, Enhanced Range Electro-Optical and Infrared Sensor Suites
Award last edited on: 1/17/2018

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOD : SOCOM
Total Award Amount
$1,145,412
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
SOCOM15-004
Principal Investigator
Besma R Abidi

Company Information

Phelps2020 Inc

301 South Gallaher View Road Suite #110
Knoxville, TN 37923
   (865) 705-5171
   info@phelps2020.com
   www.phelps2020.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 02
County: Knox

Phase I

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase I year
2015
Phase I Amount
$145,971
The size, weight, and power (SWaP) of mission systems on fixed-wing Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms directly impacts the range and endurance of those platforms. Likewise, miniaturized components in a given system enable increased mission flexibility through more capabilities for a given SWaP. One solution to increase range and enhance resolution on ISR platforms is to miniaturize, repackage and rearrange internal components of current 20 inch turrets in a 15 inch form factor turret. Another approach is to replace 15 inch sensor components (arrays, sensor materials, integrated electronics, etc.) with emerging technologies that have enhanced properties or remove the need for other components. A third approach may include adding components, or processing capability, that increases resolution/interpretability. Proposers should consider these possible solutions and all other solutions to determine what is in the art of the possible. (The current 15 inch and 20 inch sensor capabilities are described in the two links referenced below). Range and resolution enhancements are not limited to optics alone. They can also be achieved through innovative technology development in other areas. Examples include: electronics, mechanical gimbals, innovative hardware layouts, and real-time post-processing for image enhancement and compression/transmission.

Phase II

Contract Number: ----------
Start Date: ----    Completed: ----
Phase II year
2016
Phase II Amount
$999,441
Phelps2020 proposes a low SWaP solution, ARRIS, to the improvement of the range and resolution of the MX-15 turret so they equal or exceed the capabilities of the MX-20 turret. We chose to keep the MX-15 turret as is and append to it a low SWaP accelerated processor that performs real-time FMV enhancement. A multi-layer software application addresses illumination, weather, and environmental limitations to allow clearer imagery. It then improves noisy and blurred data, followed by increase in resolution, therefore expanding the viewing range without altering the sensors or optics of the turret. Novel enhancement, deblurring, and superresolution methods are applied. The overall multi-layer algorithm is made fully unattended via the use of cleverly designed quality metrics. An overall quality metric that correlates with the NIIRS scale is used to match the capabilities of the MX-15 to the MX-20 turret. The resulting software is embedded in a low SWaP hardware board, allowing for real-time unattended on-board range and resolution enhancement, and interpretability improvement as measured by the NIIRS.