Today, both military and civilian applications require miniaturized optical systems in order to give an imagery function to vehicles with small payload capacity. After the development of megapixel focal plane arrays (FPA) with micro-sized pixels, this miniaturization will become feasible with the integration of optical functions in the detector area. In the field of cooled infrared imaging systems, the detector area is the Detector-Dewar-Cooler Assembly (DDCA). SOFRADIR and ONERA have launched a new research and innovation partnership, called OSMOSIS, to develop disruptive technologies for DDCA to improve the performance and compactness of optronic systems. With this collaboration, we will break down the technological barriers of DDCA, a sealed and cooled environment dedicated to the infrared detectors, to explore Dewar-level integration of optics. This technological breakthrough will bring more compact multipurpose thermal imaging products, as well as new thermal capabilities such as 3D imagery or multispectral imagery. Previous developments will be recalled (SOIE and FISBI cameras) and new developments will be presented. In particular, we will focus on a dual-band MWIR-LWIR camera and a multichannel camera.
Infrared systems cameras trend is to require higher performance (thanks to higher resolution) and in parallel
higher compactness for easier integration in systems.
The latest developments at SOFRADIR / France on HgCdTe (Mercury Cadmium Telluride / MCT) cooled IR
staring detectors do show constant improvements regarding detector performances and compactness, by
reducing the pixel pitch and optimizing their encapsulation.
Among the latest introduced detectors, the 15μm pixel pitch JUPITER HD-TV format (1280×1024) has to
deal with challenging specifications regarding dewar compactness, low power consumption and reliability.
Initially introduced four years ago in a large dewar with a more than 2kg split Stirling cooler compressor, it is
now available in a new versatile compact dewar that is vacuum-maintenance-free over typical 18 years
mission profiles, and that can be integrated with the different available Stirling coolers: K548 microcooler for
light solution (less than 0.7 kg), K549 or LSF9548 for split cooler and/or higher reliability solution.
The IDDCAs are also required with simplified electrical interface enabling to shorten the system development
time and to standardize the electronic boards definition with smaller volumes. Sofradir is therefore introducing
MEGALINK, the new compact Command & Control Electronics compatible with most of the Sofradir
IDDCAs. MEGALINK provides all necessary input biases and clocks to the FPAs, and digitizes and
multiplexes the video outputs to provide a 14 bit output signal through a cameralink interface, in a surface
smaller than a business card.
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