SWap-C LEO is entering commercial production. Orders are in the pipeline with planned delivery in Q2 2015.
Sofradir has cut the size and weight of SWap-C LEO while maintaining its high image resolution and detection range. Measuring 100x70x50 mm and weighing 300g, it is 15% smaller and 20% lighter than earlier models in the mid-wave IR category. This makes it suitable for HandHeld Thermal Imagers (HHTI), gimbals, Unmanned Vehicles (UAVs) and helicopters, where system developers face environments increasingly demanding in size and consumption.
“Every year brings new challenges in military applications. Improving SWaP features are recurring expectations placed on IR detector manufacturers. Sofradir’s number one objective is to offer unsurpassed compactness, weight, power consumption and value for money across our range of IR products and thereby improve the operational efficiency of target and surveillance equipment,” said Laurent Fullana, general manager at Sofradir. “We are excited to show our VGA 15 micron pixel pitch SWap-C LEO to systems integrators and other AeroIndia visitors. It is a trailblazing product building on a strong heritage of proven building blocks. We have already received strong interest from developers of airborne systems.”
Performance benefits of SWap-C LEO include reduced power consumption. This is due to a Focal Plane Array (FPA) operating at a temperature of 110K within a smaller dewar volume. The product also comes with standard electronics, such as a 14-bit CameraLink output used in defense applications, for easier integration into IR systems.
Visit Sofradir at AeroIndia in Bangalore, February 18 – 22 2015 at booth #B3.2 Hall B. AeroIndia is an international aerospace exhibition that is expected to attract 450,000 visitors this year.
About Sofradir
Sofradir is the leading developer and manufacturer of key classes of advanced infrared (IR) detectors for military, space and industrial applications. Its vast IR product portfolio covers the entire spectrum from the visible and near infrared to very far infrared. Sofradir pioneers developments in cooled IR detectors based on a sophisticated high performance technology: Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) to which Sofradir has added Indium Antimonide (InSb), Indium Gallium Arsenide (InGaAs) and Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) technologies. Many of the world’s missile seekers use Sofradir’s military-grade, battlefield proven IR detectors; targeting pods, armored vehicle sights, Handheld Thermal Imagers and other airborne, naval and ground vehicle applications. Sofradir is the only European IR manufacturer to have its IR detectors deployed in space.
Founded in 1986, Sofradir is headquartered in Palaiseau, near Paris. It carries out high volume manufacturing at its facilities in Veurey-Voroize, near Grenoble. Sofradir owns two subsidiaries: ULIS, a high volume manufacturer of microbolometers based in Veurey-Voroize and US-based Sofradir-EC, a provider of uncooled and cooled IR imaging cores and engines, located in Fairfield, New Jersey. Together Sofradir, ULIS and Sofradir-EC employ about 750 staff.
