Background
Search and surveillance systems require increasingly long-range vision for positive identification in conditions of total darkness, fog, rain, and snow. Thanks to our unique expertise in diode laser bar collimation technology, we have developed a distinctive technology to meet the market's needs for active imaging systems. We even helped create a new company in the Quebec City area - Obzerv Technologies Inc. - whose main product is based on an active television system initially developed at INO.
Solution
Our active television system combines a very compact, highly efficient laser diode array with a range-gated intensified camera. Range-gating technology can increase an active imaging system’s range by a factor of up to 4, thereby making it possible to conduct search and rescue operations that until now would have been impossible. The laser source uses laser diodes collimated with the “microlensing” technology developed at INO. This technology makes it possible to collimate each of the individual diode beams in a laser diode array to produce a uniform beam with little divergence, thereby increasing the range of the active imaging system. Laser diode arrays also make it possible to use a pulsed laser source, which in turn allows us to equip the camera with range-gating technology.