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Sub-Millimeter Wave Imaging Focal-Plane Technology (SWIFT)
Program Manager: Dr. Mark Rosker
The sub-millimeter (sub-MMW) spectral region is largely unexploited for both DoD and commercial applications. However, the sub-MMW offers unique opportunities for sensors and communications systems. For example, sub-MMW sensors can achieve high resolution, all-weather imaging with favorable aperture sizes.
The Sub-millimeter Wave Imaging Focal-plane Technology (SWIFT) program will demonstrate an active sub-aperture operating at 340GHz, enabling systems for imaging at sub-millimeter frequencies in a number of all-weather environments and platforms. One specific objective will be the development of a compact, coherent source at 340GHz capable of producing at least 50mW from a single monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) and 1W when power combined across the aperture; the power added efficiency of this MMIC should be at least 5% by the end of the program.
A second objective is the development of very sensitive LNA MMICs which can achieve a noise figure of at least 8dB at 340GHz. A third objective will be to achieve an integrated imaging system demonstration consisting of a 1 x 128 pixel active array. The imaging system will produce a two-dimensional (2D) image in which each pixel records the relative intensity of the sub-MMW radiation received on the focal plane within the appropriate section of the field of view of the scene being sensed.
The program will also investigate phenomenology associated with sub-MMW imaging through the atmosphere in order to understand how effects such as glint and turbulence affect system performance.