July 2022 - Physical Sciences Inc.

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), in collaboration with Aveox, has been awarded a program from the U.S. Navy to develop a Compact Magnet Alternator with Integrated Liquid-cooling (CMAIL).

The US Navy needs a compact vehicle-mounted generator that can provide up to 15 kW power in order to meet the power and energy demands of current Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UASs) and allow for future mission growth. The auxiliary gensets currently used by the Navy provide 5 kW power at a gross weight of 300 lbs each. Larger auxiliary generators in the 10-15 kW range weigh up to 500 lbs each. Rather than relying on an auxiliary diesel engine, the CMAIL draws up to 15 kW power from the vehicle’s engine. The integrated cooling system increases the compactness of the design and simplifies the installation process.

PSI’s is developing the CMAIL for use with the Polaris MRZR Alpha platform. Once the CMAIL has been successfully developed for integration with the MRZR Alpha, PSI will modify the design to integrate with a wider range of vehicles in order to reach the commercial market. The DoD market for the CMAIL includes both Light Tactical All-Terrain Vehicles (LTATVs) as well as Light Tactical Vehicles (LTVs). Commercial applications for the CMAIL include installations on trucks, camper vans and RVs.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Peter Warren
Executive Vice President, Materials Division
pwarren@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), has been awarded a research program from the U.S. Navy to develop Coupling-Optimized metalenses for Broadband Imaging (COMBI) for efficient optical coupling into photonic integrated circuits.

Phased array imaging devices consist of networked vertical grating couplers to perform single-pixel wide field-of-view imaging in a low size, weight, and power (SWaP) package. However, the performance of these devices is limited by coupling losses in and out of the chip. PSI’s COMBI will address this performance shortfall by providing numerical aperture-matched diffraction-limited broadband focusing of light into the grating couplers on the phased array circuit while adding negligible weight. By employing industry-standard nanofabrication techniques, the COMBI will minimize lens performance variations compared to standard refractive microlens arrays.

The COMBI technology will reduce the SWaP of imaging systems by offering diffraction limited optical focusing into arrayed detectors. Imaging systems based on both focal plane array detectors and phased array detectors will benefit from reduced SWaP, particularly when the imaging aperture is greater than the depth of the imaging system. This will impact optics in space vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as consumer electronics such as cell phones.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Joel Hensley
Vice President, Photonics
hensley@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

Press Release

PSI’s water vapor hygrometer was recently demonstrated on a ScanEagle UAS. See the short video below for more details:

Dr. Joel Hensley
Vice President, Photonics
hensley@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), has been awarded a research program from the U.S. Army to develop algorithms to overlay Geographic Information System (GIS) and target tracking data on the visible and infrared full-motion video stream from the MQ-1C Gray Eagle.

The ultimate objective is to reduce the mental burden and improve the situational awareness of the payload operator. PSI’s system, the Advanced Drone-operator Overlay using Machine-learning (ADOM), will accurately overlay features and metadata while utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning to perform automated detection of objects of interest. Automated detection will employ custom infrared convolutional neural network (CNN) models previously developed by PSI. The CNN architecture is designed to operate in real-time on embedded hardware, compatible with the resources of the Universal Ground Control Station. These machine learning models will be customized using self-supervised and meta-learning techniques to minimize data requirements and reduce training computational resource requirements. Additionally, ADOM will correlate detected per-pixel features with GIS features to refine the position of the overlay and provide input to Vision Based Navigation systems. These algorithms will draw from PSI’s experience in the development of machine learning and computer vision algorithms, and deploying these algorithms on embedded platforms.

The ADOM framework will reduce the operator burden of unmanned-aircraft systems (UAS) by overlaying key information directly on real-time sensor video on the ground station. ADOM will be directly optimized for use with the MQ-1C Gray Eagle for use by the payload operator, but the developed technology will also improve the capability of PSI’s small-UAS InstantEye® (IE) systems. In both cases, the overlay of GIS information and battlefield metadata improves the operators’ understanding of their relative position to ongoing events. The ability to detect and track relevant targets directly in sensor imagery reduces the possibility of target fixation and loss of situational awareness. InstantEye® systems are used by the military, law enforcement, and first responders for ISR and search and rescue (SAR). Specifically, ADOM will improve the IE system by making vehicle operation more intuitive by providing additional context on the relative position of known GIS features, such as buildings and street names. Additionally, for customers interested in SAR applications, the ability to automatically detect key targets in extremely cluttered scenes would provide a new transformative capability.

For more information, contact:
Dr. John Wright
Area Manager, Advanced Sensing Technologies
jwright@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), has been awarded a research program from the U.S. Army to develop a low profile and broadband antenna system to facilitate aircraft to satellite communications.

PSI is developing a broadband metamaterial-based antenna system to enable satellite communications across the entire Ku, K and Ka-band of frequencies (10-40 GHz). The system will be high gain, broadband and have an electrically small footprint by utilizing novel metamaterial concepts.

Development of a low profile, high gain, and ultrawide bandwidth antenna system for satellite and airborne platforms is significant to both DoD and commercial customers. PSI’s technology will enable platform-agnostic communications while simultaneously reducing the size and weight of the communications system.

For more information, contact:
Dr. David Woolf
Group Leader, Structured Optical Materials
dwoolf@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003