Raytheon awarded US Army image processing contract
Raytheon has been awarded a $14.6 million contract to develop new image processing technology for the US Army’s Advanced Distributed Aperture System (ADAS) according to a company statement issued 16 November 2011. ADAS is a multispectral technology that gives helicopter pilots 360-degree situational awareness, improving aircraft and crew survivability when operating in low visibility conditions.
Raytheon has been developing the ADAS for the US Army, and the company Raytheon successfully completed the integration of ADAS capabilities required by the Joint Capability Technology Demonstration in April 2011. During flight testing, ADAS demonstrated mid-wavelength infrared and near-infrared image fusion, local area processing, hostile-fire indication, landing-assist symbols that appear on the helmet display for operation in low visibility, and infrared search and track.
Since then, Raytheon has performed more than 200 hours of extensive ADAS testing to demonstrate the system's capabilities on a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.
According to Raytheon, the new processor will significantly enhance the system's high-resolution imagery. The technology upgrade includes thermal sensing cameras and a next-generation helmet-mounted display subsystem. Together these capabilities will enable full-spherical situational awareness in daytime or total darkness, supporting safer flight operations in environments of degraded visibility.
Flight testing for the new image processor upgrade is expected to begin in late 2012.
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