N251-029 TITLE: Dual Band, Color Visible (VIS) and Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) Camera
OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): FutureG
The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.
OBJECTIVE: Develop a single sensor/camera that captures visible (VIS) color and short-wave infrared (SWIR) bands in daylight, haze, and low light conditions with real time video output.
DESCRIPTION: Future submarine periscopes or future submarine off board systems will employ multiple imaging sensors with different imaging modalities and bands. The size of new masts will be similar in size to existing traditional submarine periscopes or smaller and similar for off board systems. The need to add additional capabilities drives the design toward reducing the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of sensors and internal components. Imaging sensors are needed for situational awareness and navigation. Visible band sensors are employed to differentiate navigation lights to quickly determine a ship’s aspect at night and identify navigation markers and buoys.
Short wave infrared cameras are a low-cost alternative to costly thermal sensors for low light leveling situational awareness and navigation. To reduce SWaP while maintaining the benefits of both imaging bands, the Navy desires the development of a single sensor to capture imagery in the VIS color and SWIR bands. Combining both imaging bands into one compact sensor while maintaining the performance of each is challenging. Silicon based complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) are the most available visible band focal plan arrays photodetectors, while indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), Germanium (Ge), and more recently colloidal quantum dot (CQD) are common for SWIR focal plane array photodetectors. Two focal plane array approaches have been explored utilizing a beam splitter along with the deposition of CQDs onto silicon for simultaneous imaging of visible and SWIR light. Existing visible to SWIR dual band imagers are commercially available but are monochromatic and fail to provide the user the required situational awareness provided by a color screen. Development is needed to achieve a VIS color to SWIR solution. The final single sensor should also provide three outputs: visible, SWIR, and a fused visible-SWIR image. The fused image can be implemented separately from the sensor via post processing.
The following capabilities are desired for the dual band color VIS and SWIR sensor:
- Pixel pitch: VIS 5 microns, SWIR 12 microns
- Pixel Density: VIS 1920x1080, SWIR 1920x1080
- Frames per seconds: 30-60
- Spectral Range: VIS 0.4-0.7 microns, SWIR 0.9-1.7 microns
- Noise Equivalent Illumination/Irradiance: VIS 0.144m Lux·s, SWIR 2x10^9 photons/cm^2·s
- Bad pixels: SWIR dark or light response better than +/- 25% of array response
- Read noise: SWIR 60e
- Dark Current: SWIR 5nA/cm2 at 25°C
- Quantum Efficiency: VIS 80%, SWIR 60%
- Spatial Alignment: VIS-SWIR co-bore sighted
- Temporal Alignment: Within one or two frames
The Navy requires the technology to enable the insertion of a dual band VIS-SWIR sensor into submarine mast systems to reduce space requirements where a mast must be smaller.
To modernize key capabilities for advance naval operations, from the perspective of sensing and navigation, the Navy must manage the operational environment, as well as develop advance capabilities that exploit novel principles to bring new and affordable capabilities to the warfighter. The technology identified in this SBIR topic will enable faster situational awareness; enhance enemy, friendly, and neutral ship detection and classification; and improve safety of ship navigation.
Work produced in Phase II may become classified. Note: The prospective contractor(s) must be U.S. owned and operated with no foreign influence as defined by 32 U.S.C. § 2004.20 et seq., National Industrial Security Program Executive Agent and Operating Manual, unless acceptable mitigating procedures can and have been implemented and approved by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) formerly Defense Security Service (DSS). The selected contractor must be able to acquire and maintain a secret level facility and Personnel Security Clearances. This will allow contractor personnel to perform on advanced phases of this project as set forth by DCSA and NAVSEA in order to gain access to classified information pertaining to the national defense of the United States and its allies; this will be an inherent requirement. The selected company will be required to safeguard classified material during the advanced phases of this contract IAW the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM), which can be found at Title 32, Part 2004.20 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
PHASE I: Define and develop a conceptual design for an extended range or dual band color VIS/SWIR sensor/camera that meets the requirements described above. Demonstrate the feasibility of achieving daylight through low light color imagery and show that the concepts can be feasibly developed into a useful product for the Navy. Material testing and analytical modeling will be analyzed to establish design feasibility. The Phase I Option, if exercised, will include a design layout and capabilities for the Phase II prototype.
PHASE II: Develop an extended range or dual band color VIS/SWIR sensor/camera prototype for evaluation. The prototype will be evaluated to determine its capability in meeting the performance goals defined in the Phase II Statement of Work (SOW) and the Navy requirements for nighttime navigation. System performance will be demonstrated through prototype evaluation and modeling over the required range of environmental parameters including lighting conditions and maritime navigational cues. Evaluation results will be used to refine the prototype into an initial design that meets Navy requirements and will be delivered at the end of Phase II. Prepare a Phase III development plan to transition the technology for Navy use.
It is probable that the work under this effort will be classified under Phase II (see Description section for details).
PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Support the Navy in transitioning the technology for Navy use for the Submarine Electromagnetic Systems program. Develop an extended range color VIS/SWIR sensor for evaluation to determine its effectiveness in an operationally relevant environment. Support integration and testing aboard operational platforms.
Commercial use of this technology includes surveillance systems, commercial navigation systems, and imaging for search-and-rescue. These are examples of a few systems that must operate in a variety of lighting and sometimes hazy conditions, and which may also require distinction between specific colors.
REFERENCES:
1. Goldstein N. et al., "Fabrication And Testing Of A UAS Based Visible To Extended-SWIR Hyperspectral Sensor." 2019 10th Workshop on Hyperspectral Imaging and Signal Processing: Evolution in Remote Sensing (WHISPERS), Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2019, pp. 1-5. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8921001
2. Honda, T.; Hamamoto, T. and Sugimura, D. "Low-Light Color Image Super-Resolution Using RGB/NIR Sensor." 2018 25th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP), Athens, Greece, 2018, pp. 56-60. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8451274
3. Tang, Xin et al. "Colloidal Quantum-Dots/Graphene/Silicon Dual-Channel Detection of Visible Light and Short-Wave Infrared." ACS Photonics, July 2020, pp. 1117-1121. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsphotonics.0c00247
4. "National Industrial Security Program Executive Agent and Operating Manual (NISP), 32 U.S.C. § 2004.20 et seq. (1993)." https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-32/subtitle-B/chapter-XX/part-2004
KEYWORDS: Low light; color imager; high dynamic range; Short-Wave Infrared; SWIR; dual band; maritime navigation; Electro-Optical/Infrared; EO/IR
** TOPIC NOTICE ** |
The Navy Topic above is an "unofficial" copy from the Navy Topics in the DoD 25.1 SBIR BAA. Please see the official DoD Topic website at www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/solicitation-documents/active-solicitations for any updates. The DoD issued its Navy 25.1 SBIR Topics pre-release on December 4, 2024 which opens to receive proposals on January 8, 2025, and closes February 5, 2025 (12:00pm ET). Direct Contact with Topic Authors: During the pre-release period (December 4, 2024, through January 7, 2025) proposing firms have an opportunity to directly contact the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) to ask technical questions about the specific BAA topic. Once DoD begins accepting proposals on January 8, 2025 no further direct contact between proposers and topic authors is allowed unless the Topic Author is responding to a question submitted during the Pre-release period. DoD On-line Q&A System: After the pre-release period, until January 22, at 12:00 PM ET, proposers may submit written questions through the DoD On-line Topic Q&A at https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/submissions/login/ by logging in and following instructions. In the Topic Q&A system, the questioner and respondent remain anonymous but all questions and answers are posted for general viewing. DoD Topics Search Tool: Visit the DoD Topic Search Tool at www.dodsbirsttr.mil/topics-app/ to find topics by keyword across all DoD Components participating in this BAA.
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| 1/14/25 | Q. | FAQ provided by Technical Points of Contact:
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| A. | 1. There is no preferred approach. We do understand that some approaches would necessitate a change in requirements and we are open to negotiation.
We would recommend detailing the deviations and expected specifications. If you suggest an approach that won't meet a requirement, let us know you do not expect to meet the number given in the requirement and what values you expect to be able to reach. 2. The listed desired capabilities represent what we would expect from a single waveband camera/sensor. We are looking for a dual waveband camera but still require all of the functionality and performance we would expect from single waveband. We are looking for a high resolution, high performance camera with the extended range of SWIR (extended low light and haze performance) which also captures and displays color. While some post processing may be done by AI or ML algorithms, you can expect this to be used for a human-in-the-loop system. |
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| 1/10/25 | Q. | For Phase II deliverables, is the expectation to provide a complete camera solution with integrated optics and processing, or is the focus solely on delivering a functional sensor prototype? |
| A. | For the Phase II deliverables, the focus is on delivering a functional sensor prototype. Integrated optics are not expected to be a part of the camera solution, however some processing may be. We expect a video feed that could be viewed with an existing video viewer. At the end of phase II, we expect a camera prototype which can be connected to computer for further testing, thus we will need a standard interface which could be connected to a COTS system without significant effort. Any custom equipment or software required to run the camera would need to be provided as a deliverable. | |
| 1/10/25 | Q. | Are there specific submarine mast systems or off-board platforms that the government envisions for integration of the sensor? What are the image sensor interface system requirements? |
| A. | This is expected to transition to a future mast or buoy, so there are no integration specifications currently. At the end of phase II, we expect a camera prototype which can be connected to computer for further testing, thus we will need a standard interface which could be connected to a COTS system without significant effort. Any custom equipment or software required to run the camera would need to be provided as a deliverable. | |
| 1/10/25 | Q. | Is the traditional Bayer pattern (RGBG) required for the VIS color pixels or is a customized pattern acceptable for this application to accommodate a simultaneous dual-band imaging architecture? |
| A. | The output colors need to represent the actual colors in the environment (e.g. a red light or channel marker needs to appear red on a display screen). Since this is for a human-in-the-loop system, the display needs to be in line with what a human expects to see when viewing color images. A customized patter may be acceptable if the human eye can recognize what it is seeing with no interpretation. | |
| 1/10/25 | Q. | Can the pixel pitch and array format for VIS color and SWIR pixels (1920x1080 with 5 and 12 microns respectively) be adjusted to facilitate a simultaneous dual-band imaging architecture with creative arrangements of pixels? |
| A. | We require a high density, high resolution sensor/camera. The pixel pitch represents the resolution we expect in the bands. The requirements given represent what we would require in a single band camera. We are requesting a dual band camera that does not compromise on image quality in either band in order to achieve the multiband requirement. How this is achieved is the creative/technical challenge of this topic. Depending on the approach, we understand the pixel pitch may need to be adjusted and not all the requirements may be achievable. In order to assess expected image quality, for any of the requirements which are deemed not achievable, we would need to know what would be achievable by the selected approach. | |
| 1/10/25 | Q. | Are there specific prerequisites for managing work during Phase I in preparation for classified work in potential Phase II, and can subcontractors with classified facilities and clearances be used to meet these requirements? |
| A. | The selected contractor (small business awardee) must be able to acquire and maintain a secret level facility and Personnel Security Clearances. Discussion on potential for classified work and coordination of handling that work will be discussed with awardees. | |
| 1/9/25 | Q. | Could you please explain in more details about the definition of “Temporal Alignment: Within one or two frames”? |
| A. | Since we are requesting a frame rate of 30-60 fps, the temporal alignment would represent a time difference of no more than 1/60-1/15 of a second (i.e. no more than 0.06 seconds, preferably less). |