University of Dayton has home for laser radar
Feb.29/08 22:38
DAYTON — The University of Dayton finally has a home
for research and teaching of laser radar, or ladar, a
technology it hopes to advance for the Air Force and
a regional center formed to get sensor systems to the
market. Military officials are interested in ladar to
track the movements of terrorists and other enemies.
The university's researchers have worked for years on ladar technology with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Laboratory, doing the research at the base. The university began the program in 2006 with the help of a $3.2 million Air Force grant, but it didn't have a physical home at UD then.
The AFRL's sensors directorate was the primary driver for the new UD facility and is a major customer, said Joe Haus, director of the facility, who is also director of the university's electro-optics program.
The ladar facility also will work with the Air Force Institute of Technology, he said.
Source of funding
Federal and state funding helped get the Ladar and Optical Communications Institute built in UD's College Park Center. The 10,000-square-foot institute has enough room for a dozen students, about as many scientists and a 110-foot test range for the laser unit, Haus said.
The institute is to be dedicated on Wednesday, March 5.
Ladar is already in use for aerial mapping of topography and some underwater regions.
"But it hasn't been deployed in any of the military hardware," Haus said. "So the next thing is to figure out how to do that."
The ladar technology involves bouncing a laser beam off targets, to determine from the time it takes the beam to go out and reflect back what the targets are and how far away they are. It is similar to radar except that it uses light, rather than radar's radio waves.
What's in a name?
Ladar is also known as lidar, for light detection and ranging, considered by some to be a more apt reference because the technology uses light transmissions.
The shorter wavelength of the laser beam, compared with a radio signal, allows an operator of a ladar unit to obtain a threedimensional image with greater detail. The detection system uses a camera, rather than radar's antenna.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Copyright, 2008, Cox Ohio Publishing. All rights reserved.
The university's researchers have worked for years on ladar technology with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Laboratory, doing the research at the base. The university began the program in 2006 with the help of a $3.2 million Air Force grant, but it didn't have a physical home at UD then.
The AFRL's sensors directorate was the primary driver for the new UD facility and is a major customer, said Joe Haus, director of the facility, who is also director of the university's electro-optics program.
The ladar facility also will work with the Air Force Institute of Technology, he said.
Source of funding
Federal and state funding helped get the Ladar and Optical Communications Institute built in UD's College Park Center. The 10,000-square-foot institute has enough room for a dozen students, about as many scientists and a 110-foot test range for the laser unit, Haus said.
The institute is to be dedicated on Wednesday, March 5.
Ladar is already in use for aerial mapping of topography and some underwater regions.
"But it hasn't been deployed in any of the military hardware," Haus said. "So the next thing is to figure out how to do that."
The ladar technology involves bouncing a laser beam off targets, to determine from the time it takes the beam to go out and reflect back what the targets are and how far away they are. It is similar to radar except that it uses light, rather than radar's radio waves.
What's in a name?
Ladar is also known as lidar, for light detection and ranging, considered by some to be a more apt reference because the technology uses light transmissions.
The shorter wavelength of the laser beam, compared with a radio signal, allows an operator of a ladar unit to obtain a threedimensional image with greater detail. The detection system uses a camera, rather than radar's antenna.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Copyright, 2008, Cox Ohio Publishing. All rights reserved.