16 -- RFI - High Energy Laser Wave-Front Sensor and Advanced Detector Technology

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION AIRBORNE LASER (ABL) HIGH ENERGY LASER WAVE-FRONT SENSOR (HELWFS) TECHNOLOGY THIS DOCUMENT IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. DO NOT PREPARE OR SUBMIT PROPOSALS IN RESPONSE TO THIS RFI. THE PURPOSE OF THE RFI IS TO CONDUCT MARKET RESEARCH AND RECEIVE INPUT FROM INDUSTRY ON THE FOLLOWING TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED BELOW. THE GOVERNMENT MAY CHOOSE TO PURSUE THE REQUIREMENT IN THE FUTURE. INFORMATION PROVIDED TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE SHARED WITH CONTRACTORS SUPPORTING THE ABL PROGRAM AND WITH FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTERS. TECHNICAL QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO LT. MIKE PRIMROSE AS STATED IN THE CONTACT SECTION BELOW. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ARE LISTED AT THE END OF THE DOCUMENT. CONTACTS Questions, comments, or suggestions should be directed to Lt Mike Primrose, MDA/ABL/ALTC, at (505) 853-3772 or michael.primrose@kirtland.af.mil. DESCRIPTION A. INTRODUCTION: The Department Of Defense (DoD) is interested in receiving information for market research purposes for high frame rate, low noise, large format cameras for applications such as active tracking, wave-front sensing, imaging, and laser scoring. In the event an HELWFS will be pursued, the Government is interested in understanding what market capabilities exist to satisfy the requirement. Open communication with the technical point of contact (POC), Lt. Mike Primrose is encouraged. B. TECHNICAL TOPIC AREA: The DoD is interested in approaches that address the following camera output performance goals: 1) Wavelength: The camera shall detect near-infrared photons in the 1.315 micron region. High quantum efficiency (>0.65) is desirable to maximize the camera performance. 2) Frame Rate: The camera system shall have a frame rate of at least of 5.5 kHz, as required for airborne and surface-based applications. Readout latencies should be compatible with the rates noted here and in subsequent items. Readout times shall be less than 50usec and integration times shall be user-selectable from 0.5usec to 20usec. 3) Noise: The overall camera noise performance shall be less than 20 electrons per pixel NEI. This camera is primarily intended to see High Energy Laser (HEL) light for wave-front sensing applications, so very low noise is not critical. However, commonality with existing cameras and good performance suggests to us that Avalanche Photo-Diode (APD) technology is of special interest, with avalanche gains needed in the region 1-100 or more. The noise values quoted here represent all additive noise sources, including dark current and readout noise. Multiplicative noise sources (such as uncompensatable temporal or spatial variations in per-pixel gain) shall be less than 3%. 4) Array Format: The camera shall be produced in an array format for tracking, wave-front sensing, imaging, and scoring applications, with designs supporting array sizes of at least 128x128 being desired. Pixel pitch shall be 30um, pixel response non-uniformities shall be correctable to 5% with linear gain-offset Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC) algorithms. 5) Multiplexer: An electronic multiplexer to rapidly read out the full array or subsets of the array is desirable. The number of ports should be compatible with the desired frame rate and available bandwidth for the overall camera system. 6) Dynamic Range: The dynamic range of the pixel output shall be greater than 2000:1, with at least 12 bits of quantization in the camera's digitizers. 7) Cross Talk: Nearest-neighbor pixel cross talk shall be less than 5% from all sources. 8) Read Out Time: The pixel read out time shall be < 50usec, and the integration time shall be user-selectable from 0.5 usec to 20usec. 9) Triggering: The camera shall be capable of initiating its exposure from an external electrical signal (using a standard high-speed protocol such as low-voltage differential signaling). The timing jitter, from the input trigger edge to the beginning of the exposure, shall be less than 100 nsec. In this external triggering mode, the camera's frame rate shall be controlled by the frequency of the external signal, i.e., from 0 Hz to 5.5 kHz. The camera shall ignore any trigger signal that comes sooner than the camera's minimum frame time after an earlier valid trigger. 10) Operations: The camera shall be capable of high temperature >200 K (-99 degrees F) operation. The camera shall achieve operating temperatures when provided forced air between 275 K and 280 K (35 - 45 degrees F) with a flow rate of 1.5 lbs/min/camera using normal room air. The camera's internal cooling system shall not introduce mechanical vibrations. 11) Pixel Fill: The pixel fill factor shall be greater than 80%, meaning that at least 80% of the Focal Plane Array (FPA) area is to respond to light. This requirement recognizes that certain technologies, such as Avalanche Photo-Diodes (APD), may not be able to produce the desired 100% fill factor. But detectors that can match the other requirements while achieving 100% fill factor will be considered a plus. 12) Lifetime: The camera shall be capable of usage lifetime characterized by Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF)=5 years, as the expected uses are for operational DoD systems. Since these systems can be remote, long lifetime and shelf life are essential to this effort. 13) Persistence: Focal plane persistence is defined as the fraction of the camera's response to illumination in one frame, that persists as an apparent response in the next frame. Persistence shall be less than 1E-5 for any pixel. 14) Extinction Ratio: The Overall Extinction Ratio (defined as the ratio of the video signal with the tube/APD etc. gated off to the video signal with tube/APD gated on when operated in accordance with the specified timing) for wavelengths near 1.315 microns shall be < 1E-5. The Government asks that industry respondents discuss how camera performance could be measured, using standard metrics such as responsivity, detectivity, noise equivalent power (or irradiance), or D-star. The Government also requests that respondents define and discuss how measurements could be made to prove performance on items 1-14 above. QUESTIONS Following are some specific questions regarding the HELWFS. Industry should freely make any other comments or suggestions on areas not discussed here. 1) Does the contractor believe that the draft HELWFS specifications are reasonable? If not, please provide recommendations on how the draft specifications could be improved. 2) Is there anything in the current description that is unnecessary or that is not clearly stated? 3) What is an adequate schedule for development of a HELWFS? 4) What is a reasonable cost estimate to develop a HELWFS? 5) In addition to responding to any of the above questions, industry may also offer any other comments or recommendations that it feels would improve the technical effort. Please e-mail RFI responses in a Microsoft Word file to Lt. Mike Primrose at michael.primrose@kirtland.af.mil.