Leonardo’s Condor HD Sensor, designed and built here in the UK at our Southampton site, is being demonstrated for the first time at the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers’ (SPIE) Defense + Commercial Sensing (DCS) conference.
At Leonardo, we’re always looking to create a more complete picture with our sensors, and increase situational awareness for those using them. Our Condor HD Sensor combines Medium Wave (MW) and Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) detection with a 12µm pitch - meaning each pixel covers one quarter of the area of the previous generation so the sensor can also offer four times greater resolution in the same sized package as the previous generation.
By combining two bands of wavelength into one sensor, the Condor HD sensor enables the user to choose the wavelength most suited to the conditions providing a more accurate picture that allows users to identify potential threats to investigate.in shorter time.
Better all-round performance
The LWIR band can penetrate difficult atmospheres and can detect difficult targets, while the shorter wavelength MWIR band works better with higher magnification optics (since there is less diffraction) to identify objects at longer ranges. The sensor increases the user’s situational awareness through a high pixel count, which increases the area of coverage for a given magnification.
The combined sensor offers an upgraded capability for military settings, where it can be used for next generation of vehicle sights, for example, or infrared search and track (IRST) and distributed aperture sensors (DAS) capability for naval and airborne platforms. There are also uses for the sensor in Space, such as for low earth orbit (LEO) imaging satellites offering infrared imaging and thermography data as a commercial service.
A demonstration model of the detector will demonstrate the picture quality with live video on the Leonardo Booth 805, throughout SPIE DCS. Adam Greenen will be presenting a paper at the show on Monday 4 April, titled, “Further developments of 12µm pixel dual waveband MWIR-LWIR infrared detectors using Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) and Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT)”.
Rob Wilson, Chief Technology Officer for the Leonardo Detectors Business explains the value of technology to the user: “The Condor HD sensor allow users to extend the performance of their infrared systems in a wide range of environment, all in a low size weight and power package. The sensor also enables new capabilities by having both spatially coherent MW and LW infrared data; one example is estimating the temperature of an object, which, when combined with advanced processing and/or AI algorithms, gives further reliability in determining the scene content to the user.”
The technology behind the Condor HD Sensor, with its combination of bands of wavelengths, is a major advance that will help operators to increase their situational awareness through more accurate imaging of objects and scenes.
By comparing the images generated by the two bands, the user can learn about the material type, and estimate the temperature of any objects in the scene - by comparing the intensity of the MW and LW bands through thermography – and so more accurately assess the threat environment and act accordingly.