NASA SBIR 2002 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc.
44 Hunt Street
Watertown , MA   02472 - 4699
(617 ) 926 - 1167

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
James F. Christian, Ph.D.
jchristian@rmdinc.com
44 Hunt Street
Watertown , MA   02472 - 4699
(617 ) 926 - 1167

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
CCDs (Charge-Coupled Devices), and more recently, CMOS (complementary-symmetry metal-oxide-semiconductor) APS (Active Pixel Sensor) cameras have revolutionized imaging instrumentation and the many fields that utilize these instruments. Both these technologies rely on integrating, the analog photo-current generated in each pixel, which limits their sensitivity and bandwidth. Counting individual optical photons with an avalanche photodiode operated above its breakdown voltage provides the greatest sensitivity, and represents true digital imaging that facilitates pixel-level signal processing. In essence, the Geiger APD pixel directly converts an incident photon flux into a digital count rate, which eliminates the readout noise associated with analog detection, providing a unique CMOS architecture for analog-to-digital conversion.
This program develops a fully integrated, digital camera chip, which is an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that counts individual optical photons using avalanche photodiodes operated above breakdown, in Geiger mode. This all-digital, CMOS imaging technology fulfills the demanding requirements for providing high-resolution images at ~GHz speeds characteristic of CMOS devices. In Phase I, we successfully completed all the Phase I goals by designing, fabricating, and characterizing the Geiger APD pixel elements of the APS camera ASIC. In Phase II, we will design, fabricate and characterize prototypes of the complete APS camera ASIC.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The advantages of this technology applies to many imaging applications, including the following (NASA missions): Airborne, spaceborne or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms for imaging and measuring climate, meteorological parameters, aerosols, clouds, water vapor and other chemical atmospheric constituents, vegetation index, biological productivity, chlorophyll fluorescence, 2D and 3D surface terrain mapping, and ocean color. Our detector provides tracking and collision avoidance capabilities for rovers and other robotic exploration vehicles, in addition to providing ranging capabilities using LADAR and LIDAR. In spectroscopy applications, such as LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy), and satellite communications, the proposed technology represents an ideal detector technology.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA applications include low-light-level imaging, photography, diffuse optical tomography, nuclear imaging, x-ray imaging, (nuclear medicine). The proposed ASIC camera would find widespread use in instrumentation where compact, high-speed, hi-resolution imaging detectors are used. High-performance imaging detectors currently have a large commercial market, and as such, the proposed development holds a very high potential for commercialization.