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The infrared camera will make it easier to find targets camouflaged in natural litter more clearly than thermal imaging can do alone.
FREMONT, CA: The Research Laboratory of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command announced a partnership with Polaris Sensor Technologies to develop an exclusive infrared camera that integrates polarization sensitivity, taking thermal imaging technology a step ahead. The announcement was made through an article published on the U.S. Army website.
The infrared camera will make it easier to find targets camouflaged in natural litter more clearly than thermal imaging can do alone. The article published on the website gave a more in-depth insight into the features this camera has. On the basis of the properties of thermal electromagnetic radiation emitted light, every object has a unique polarized signature. Pyxis, the IR polarimetric camera, has the ability to distinguish the polarized signature of natural backgrounds from that if manmade objects.
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"The Pyxis camera offers significant benefits in target detection and clutter suppression over conventional uncooled infrared cameras without any increase in size, weight, or power," said Dr. David Chenault, president of Polaris Sensor Technologies, in the article.
The researchers integrated a pixelated polarizing filter into a microbolometer to create the IR polarimetric camera. This new feature allows the camera to detect polarization in the environment when the thermal contrast isn't present. To help users obtain a better understanding of this unique feature of the polarimetric data, the researchers refined the camera's assembly and implementing software upgrades.
The research efforts led by Army physicist in the last decade have shown that fusing conventional thermal energy with polarimetric information enhances the camera's ability to detect low observable targets hidden in natural litter.
There are also plans to mount this new specialized camera on fixed-wing drones and small rotary-wing for surveillance and to improve situational awareness, warfighter effectiveness, and force protection.
The infrared camera for drones may possibly prove useful for different commercial applications too, such as detecting oil spills with oil as thin as 50 micrometers, even in the presence of waves and emulsifiers used in spill clean-ups.
Many commercial partners along with the researchers are finding ways to combine the camera's unique polarization imagery with machine learning algorithms to improve its capabilities.
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