Air Force asks industry for capable low-cost electro-optical sensors for attritable uncrewed aircraft
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio – U.S. Air Force researchers are asking industry to develop small and affordable electro-optical and infrared sensors for small attritable uncrewed aircraft.
Officials of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, issued a broad-agency announcement (FA8650-22-S-5009) on Friday for the Low-Cost Optical Systems Technology (Low-COST) program.
Low-COST seeks to develop compact integrated sensors employing optical component technologies for attritable and low-cost small uncrewed aircraft, and identify applications of emerging industrial capabilities in low-cost planar optics for infrared target identification, missile warning, or other cueing sensor applications.
The goal is to explore high-performance and small size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP) planar optical designs that would not impose a large financial burden if their uncrewed aircraft were to be destroyed in performing their missions.
Planar optics technology, including diffractive optical elements and metasurface optical elements, appears to offer optical design capabilities that are different from those of conventional mirror and bulk optical refractive elements.
Planar optics and planar image intensifiers could enable direct vision of several infrared bands through one common aperture. Structured materials such as diffractive optics and metamaterials enable one to embed optical functionalities far beyond those of traditional refractives into one optical element.
While wide field of view, broad bandwidth, and high imaging quality all are achievable individually, combining these traits in practice remains a challenge. In addition to planar optics, image intensification is necessary to convert the often weak infrared light into visible photons detectable by the naked eye.
The goal of this effort is to explore to what extent any new developments in these areas could increase design flexibility in optical systems. Another goal is to explore how such capabilities could help reduce the costs of optical sensors with scaled manufacturing approaches.
Related: Sensor payloads for unmanned vehicles
The Air Force will conduct a virtual briefing to industry on Low-COST objectives via Google Meet from 1 to 2 p.m. eastern time on Tuesday 15 March 2022 at https://meet.google.com/myu-umco-bth.
Companies interested should submit proposals no later than 21 April 2022 via DoD SAFE at https://safe.apps.mil and by email to the Air Force's Brad Kneisly at [email protected] [email protected].
Email technical questions to Joseph Burns at [email protected], or contracting questions to Brad Kneisly at [email protected].
More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/82ce224a7e0943cbb266f33c0462671d/view.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
