Conversion of the FGA Variable Acuity" Array from Visible to Infrared"

"Perhaps the most computationally-advanced focal plane array (FPA) that has ever been designed for Air Force applications has been developed and is in the testing phase at Nova Research, Inc. The "Variable Acuity" imaging portion of Nova's "Focal GeometricArray" (FGA) is a two-dimensional superpixel-based imaging array that incorporates real-time programmability of the spatial configuration of the visible imager.This Phase I effort will produce design modifications to the existing variable acuity imaging chip design to operate cryogenically as a high speed, high resolution, large format infrared FPA. Two ROIC designs will be produced from this Phase I effort:(a) A ROIC that will support a commercially available single-color 320 x 256 MWIR InSb detector array, and (b) A second ROIC that will accommodate an available dual color MWIR/LWIR detector array to be identified. The following Phase II program willconcentrate on the fabrication, testing and integration of the fully functional Infrared Variable Acuity device.The resulting infrared device will be used in a variety of applications requiring wide fields of view and extremely high frame rates without loss of spatial resolution on targets. In so doing, Nova will continue to advance the state-of-the-art inbiomimetic infrared sensing technology. The resulting device will provide capabilities heretofore unavailable with infrared imaging devices that are uniquely suited to missile seek