Electro-Optical Infrared (EOIR)

Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) is a core market that includes military and civil electronic systems, products and devices that operate in the visible light, infrared, or ultra-violet light wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum to generate, transmit, receive and/or process signals for the purpose of gathering intelligence, performing reconnaissance and surveillance, countering threats, or providing target information. This market contains EO/IR sensors and EO/IR-related EW systems.

The EO/IR market includes:

Military EO/IR Sensor Systems for ground, sea, air, and space applications;
Non-military defense security EO/IR Sensors used in homeland defense to protect against border intrusions and conventions or unconventional warfare;
For the immediate future, this application will be limited to US homeland defense;
Development (government funded), production, and support programs;
Upgrade programs for EO/IR Sensor System and EO/IR EW;
Service and Support contracts for EO/IR systems;
Systems built with EO/IR (also called optronic/photonic) components such as:
Ultraviolet, optical and infrared windows,
Fixed and articulated lenses containing UV, optical, and IR elements,
Imaging and non-imaging UV, optical and infrared receivers,
Laser transmitters and receivers,
Line-of-sight pointing and stabilization systems,
EO/IR signal processing systems, such as laser range measurement, video auto- tracking, missile approach detection, infrared search and track,
Dedicated system control and display units (if included as part of the delivered EO/IR system),
Head Mounted Video Displays (if they are integral to the EO/IR system’s operation);
Systems that perform some of the following functions from land, sea, airborne, and space based platforms;
EO/IR Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR),
EO/IR Target Search, Detection and Tracking,
EO/IR Target Cueing and Identification,
EO/IR Fire Control,
Passive and Active Laser Range Finding (LRF),
Laser Target Marking and Designation,
EO/IR Missile Launch and/or Approach Warning (MLD/MAWS/MWS),
Laser Warning System (LWS),
EO/IR Countermeasure (IRCM),
Laser Dazzling,
Land Mine Detection,
Night Vision Goggles (NVG),
Navigation,
Driver vision Enhancement.

The EO/IR Market does not include:

Platform central computers that support multiple avionics/electronic systems;
Support structures, buildings, vehicles, and platforms that host EO/IR Systems;
Company-funded research and development;
Government budget for overhead and program management;
EO/IR guidance and navigation systems imbedded in weapons.(refer to the Missile and PGW databases);
Purely optical devices and/or systems such as binoculars, telescopes, optical range finders, optical trackers;
Surveying, boresighting and alignment tools;
Wet film photographic systems;
Commercial broadcast television equipment;
“Unassociated” video monitors and displays.

EO/IR Customer Function

Air Traffic Control	Designed for en route and/or terminal air traffic management and control activities.
Decoys	Decoys are systems, devices and technology primarily used to create an alternate target(s) environment (decoy) to deflect attacking system away from their intended target.
Early Warning	Primarily used for long-range detection.
EW Suite (EO/IR)	Used to identify electronic warfare countermeasures systems operating in the EO/IR electromagnetic frequency spectrum and employing more than one protective or attacking feature.
Fire Control	Primarily used to direct selected weapon(s) to their designated target.
Gun/Launcher Sight	Primarily used as sights for targeting. These are fairly simple sights and are associated with things like MANPADS, etc.
IFF/Identification	Active or passive non-radar systems and devices employing communications methods for interrogation, responding and identification.
Jammer	Primarily active countermeasure systems that operate to defeat attacking systems operating in the EO/IR electro-magnetic frequency spectrum.
Meteorological	Used for the monitoring of weather and atmospheric conditions.
Navigation	Primarily used for map-of-the-earth flight control, obstacle avoidance and other point-to-point navigation requirements using selected grid coordinate system.
Night Vision	Used to enable sight in low-light conditions.
Perimeter Security	Equipment, systems, or services primarily used to prevent prohibited access to areas of interest to HLS-related organizations.
Search/Track/Target	Primarily used to specifically sort out object(s) of interest and to determine their geospatial parameters.
Situational Awareness	sensor system that allows the user to observe the meaningful surroundings to a level that enables him to assess threats and nature of activities “near” him. Generally the zone ranges from very near to the maximum range where meaningful threats are likely to exist. Nature of the observed zone depends on the platform and threats.
Surveillance/ Reconnaissance	Primarily used to observe, reconnoiter and possibly identify specific objects within areas of interest.
Warning Receiver	Primarily passive countermeasures systems that provide warning signals related to attacking systems operating in the EO/IR electro-magnetic frequency spectrum.
Utility	A system designed to serve a variety of intermixed differing roles and which would not normally be justified by performing any one of those roles alone.
Multiple	This category includes any instance when the record involves more than one functional segmentation category.
Other	This category is used when the record cannot be explicitly described by another functional segmentation category.
Research & Technology	Broad based and general EO/IR technology.
Unidentified R&D	A modeled estimate of R&D Sales not yet identified.

EO/IR Attributes

System Description

System Description is an attribute field with twelve unique selections: Custom, Handheld, Helmet-Mounted, Pan-Tilt Mounted, Pedestal Mounted, Periscope, Platform Fixed, Pod, Spacecraft, Tripod Mounted, Turret Mounted, and Weapon Mounted. This field identifies the mounting platform/installation used for the EO/IR device/sensor/system.

Sensor Type

Sensor Type is an attribute field with over 15 unique selections that are outlined and defined below. This attribute identifies the type EO or IR sensor used by the device or system.

Digital Visible Night	Is a sensor similar to commercial broadcast day TV cameras but which uses detection technology that lets it continue to perform into the night, generally down to about quarter-moon illumination levels. Such cameras commonly are sensitive from about 0.4 uM to about 1.1 uM and use Electron Bombarded Active Pixel Sensor (EBAPS), Electron Multiplied Charge Coupled Device (EMCCD), Day/Night Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), Electron Avalanche Photodiode (E-APD) or similar technology. These devices produce high definition and above quality, real time, images.
EO/IR Sensor Unknown	Refers to a camera whose actual nature is unknown.
Hyperspectral	Is a pseudo-imaging electronic camera that operates in any of the EO/IR bands and breaks up its operating spectrum into hundreds or more of narrow sub-bands which can be analyzed to determine the chemical nature of the object imaged. The camera provides a three dimensional picture consisting of a stack of two dimensional pictures of the scene where the layers in the stack represent the picture in each of the various micro-spectral bands produced by the camera (each layer is TV like in nature). This device is used widely to determine presence of drugs, chemical agents, explosives, drug/explosive precursors and other important chemical materials. It can also be used to determine the condition of crops and other foliage. The resulting picture is generally not interpreted in real time but is analyzed using spectral analysis software. This is primarily a reconnaissance/surveillance technology.
Illuminated TV	Is a conventional day TV camera that operates at night by using a laser illuminator to provide the light needed to operate as if in daytime. These devices usually have very narrow fields of view in order to keep the illuminator beam small and therefore bright without having to put out megawatts of power. Today this technology is used primarily for target identification. Often the illuminating laser is pulsed synchronously with reading out lines from the TV in order to minimize backscatter of the laser light into the camera.
Image Intensifier	Is a device that amplifies light incident upon it using a device called a micro-channel plate. It then provides the amplified light directly to an operator’s eye or a TV camera. These devices are widely used in Night Vision Goggles and night rifle sights. The technology amplifies light (down to below quarter-moon) to levels that the eye can use to detect and identify objects and terrain as required to move effectively at night. These devices coupled to TV cameras produce what is called a Low Light Level TV (LLLTV) and bring the light level up to the levels needed for normal TV cameras. This is an inexpensive and highly effective technology and is probably the mostly widely proliferated technology of all EO/IR today.
In Review	Is a sensor whose nature is currently not available in the attribute list but is likely to yet be defined.
Laser Receiver	Is a device that detects laser radiation but is not integrated into a device such as a laser ranger. Most often this is the sensor in a laser threat warning device. This sensor is normally filtered to one or more specific spectral bands where threat lasers are known to operate. Sophisticated laser receivers use coherent detection to discriminate between laser radiation and common incoherent radiation, yielding significantly enhanced false alarm rejection. This technique was patented by Perkin Elmer and is likely currently owned by UTC. Sensors typically are designed to detect laser rangers, designators, beamrider guidance lasers and possibly target marker lasers.
LLLTV	Is a conventional TV camera mated with an image intensifier. This device provides a TV picture down to half to quarter moon conditions and is common in airborne targeting and surveillance systems and in some ground systems. This technology is likely to be replaced in the near term by the Digital Night Sensors in “1” above.
LWIR-Cooled	This refers to a thermal imaging system operating in the long wavelength band from approximately 8uM to 12 uM (although often filtered down even more). This is a framing camera producing a real time TV-equivalent output that uses radiation emitted by all objects as a function of their temperature to form the picture. It requires no traditional “light” as we know it to work. The radiation from objects at room temperature peaks at 10uM so that this technology is ideally suited to imaging the normal operating environment. The detectors in high performance systems are made of Mercury Cadmium Telluride cooled to 80K (thus the nomenclature “cooled.” Systems subject to ITAR restrictions often use lower performing Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors (QWIPs) cooled to below 80K.
LWIR Uncooled	Uncooled thermal imagers use micro- bolometers as their detectors. Bolometers change their electrical resistance as a function of their temperature,thus the term thermal detectors. The most common micro- bolometer material is Vanadium Oxide (subject to a 1984 Honeywell patent) although there are increasing numbers of bolometers constructed of Amorphous Silicon due to its shorter time constant allowing faster framing and reduced smear. These devices operate at room temperature, greatly decreasing their system cost. Bolometers are thermal detectors rather than photon detections (quantum mechanical detectors) and are fabricated in micro-electronics foundries using conventional MEMS technology. Micro-bolometer uncooled detectors are a disruptive technology. They offer lower performance than photon detectors such as MCT and InSb but their vastly lower cost and freedom from cryogenic cooling make them very SWAP-C friendly. They are often used in shorter range applications. Cell phones are available with uncooled thermal imagers for a differential cost of less than $200.
Multi-Sensor	Refers to a system that employs multiple sensors to optimize its ability to perform its function. Often this will include two or more of a thermal imager, a Day TV, a Night Visible sensor such as LLLTV or CMOS, a SWIR and/or a non-imaging sensor such as a laser spot tracker.
Multi-Spectral	This refers to a single sensor that provides a relatively small number of fairly broad operating sub-bands (unlike a hyperspectral imager that provides hundreds of operating sub-bands). Sensors like this are often used in reconnaissance systems to improve the intelligence content of the imagery collected in a single mission. For instance a midwave reconnaissance sensor may collect imagery in three sub-bands to pick up particular types of objects or to enhance specific areas of contrast.
MWIR	Refers to a thermal imaging system that operates in the midwave spectral band from approximately 3 uM to approximately 5 uM. This is a real time imaging sensor producing TV equivalent imagery using emitted energy from the target and background; no light as we know it is needed. Because of their shorter wavelength compared to LWIR imagers, MWIR sensors can use smaller optical systems to achieve the same performance obtained from a LWIR system with twice the lens diameter. Thus, midwave systems are often used in high performance aircraft where drag is a serious concern. Midwave detectors have been simpler to manufacture than longwave detectors and arrays of 4,000 detectors by 4,000 detectors are openly available. Because of their shorter wavelength MWIR systems see some sunlight, and solar glint can be in issue during the day, especially over water.
None	There are no sensors in the System. An example might be a rifle mounted laser target marker.
Optical	This refers to a system that has an optical path that provides an image of a target or background directly to the eye of an operator (like a simple binocular or periscope) . This occurs in rifle and similar sights, tank periscopes, in complex fire control sights such as tank gunner sights and airborne fire control systems contained in turrets that provide articulated optical paths for sighting. Generally, pure optical sights provide the highest quality imagery for target identification and sighting when there is sufficient light and the atmospheric conditions are good.
SWIR	This refers to a Short Wave Infrared System operating between approximately the visible band and about 1.7 uM. The sensor provides a Television-like real-time image of the target and background. This is not a thermal sensor but requires light from the sun, Airglow or an illuminator to function properly. Airglow is produced by excited ions created by sunlight hitting atoms in the upper atmosphere that then decay back to their natural state over time giving off radiation in the airglow spectral region. This “glow” continues into the evening and early night, perhaps up until the early hours of the morning. This light, which is in the short wave Infrared, is collected by the SWIR sensor when reflected from objects and the background and allows the development of a TV equivalent picture. The advantage of SWIR is that its slightly longer wavelength than visible light gives it superior penetration of haze, extending the range it can “see” compared to TV. Often SWIR is used with an illuminator to augment natural illumination. SWIR sensors can see most rangefinder and designator laser light as well as covert marking lasers.
TV	This refers to Television cameras similar in nature to commercial broadcast TV cameras. More often than not they are Charge Coupled Device (CCD) cameras. They range from normal TV format to high definition and well beyond. Both panchromatic and color TV are widely used. TV is often added to a system because it is much more compact than thermal imaging and very modestly priced; during day when the weather is favorable it can be added to a system to get vastly superior imagery than can be obtained with thermal imagery at little added system cost.
Unidentified	This means that the sensor is unidentified for lack of information on the system or uncertainty regarding its mission.
UV	This refers to sensors operating in the solar-blind region of the ultraviolet spectrum. The solar-blind region is a region of the UV whose wavelength is just shorter than the UV sunlight that causes sunburn. In this band no light from the sun penetrates the upper atmosphere and a sensor operating in this spectrum has no natural source of false alarms. UV sensors are predominantly used for missile warning. Rocket engines produce very hot gasses that emit radiation in the UV region and can be detected from the capture of as little as a single photon emitted from the rocket engine, because no other natural sources of UV radiation abound. Such sensors may also be used for gunfire detection.

Transmitter Type

Transmitter Type is an attribute field with eleven unique selections: Beamrider, Dazzler, Rangefinder, Rangefinder/Designator, Illuminator, Marker, Jammer, Weapon Class, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), Differential Absorption Laser (DIAL), and EO/IR Laser Unknown. This field identifies, if used, the purpose of the electro-optical transmitter device in the system.