Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021 - 29

Imaging
Ruggedized Infrared Camera
The camera was designed for use in space and other extreme environments.
Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama
his technology applies NASA en -
gineering to a FLIR Systems Boson
camera core to enable a robust infrared
camera for use in extreme applications.
Enhance ments to the standard Boson
platform include a ruggedized housing,
connector, and interface.
T
The Boson is a commercial off-theshelf,
small, uncooled, IR camera based
on microbolometer technology and op -
erates in the long-wave infrared (LWIR)
portion of the IR spectrum. It is available
with several lens configurations.
NASA's modifications allow the IR camera
to survive high-vibration environments
(e.g., launch) and improve heat
removal for operation in a range of
harsh conditions including vacuum.
The design includes a custom housing
to secure the camera core along with a
lens clamp to maintain a tight lens-core
con nection during launch conditions.
The housing also provides additional
conductive cooling for the camera components,
allowing operation in a vacuum
A rendering of the connector and mount assembly with the FLIR Boson camera core and lens. The
enclosure with the connector contains the custom printed circuit board.
environment. A custom printed circuit
board (PCB) in the housing allows for a
USB connection using a military standard
(MIL-STD) miniaturized locking
connector instead of the standard USB
type C connector. The system maintains
the USB standard protocol for easy compatibility
and plug-and-play operation.
NASA is actively seeking licensees to commercialize
this technology. Please contact
NASA's Licensing Concierge at AgencyPatent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov
or call us
at 202-358-7432 to initiate licensing discussions.
Follow this link for more information:
https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/MFSTOPS-108.
Radio
Signals Image Hidden and Speeding Objects
This method could help firefighters find victims inside buildings and could track hypersonic
objects such as missiles and space debris.
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland
esearchers have developed a method
for using radio signals to create
real-time images and videos of hidden
and moving objects. The system allows
real-time imaging around corners and
through walls as well as tracking of fastmoving
objects such as millimeter-sized
space debris flying at 20,000 miles per
hour - all from standoff distances.
The imaging method is a variation on
radar, which sends an electromagnetic
pulse, waits for the reflections, and
measures the round-trip time to determine
distance to a target. Multi-site
radar usually has one transmitter and
several receivers that receive echoes
and triangulate them to locate an
object. The new method - called mTech
Briefs, October 2021
Cov
R
Widar - uses multiple transmitters and
one receiver.
The team demonstrated the technique
in an anechoic (non-echoing)
chamber, making images of a 3D scene
involving a person moving behind drywall.
The transmitter power was equivalent
to 12 cellphones sending signals
simultaneously to create images of the
target from a distance of about 10
meters (30 feet) through the wallboard.
The current system has a potential
range of up to several kilometers. With
some improvements, the range could be
much farther, limited only by transmitter
power and receiver sensitivity.
The basic technique is a form of computational
imaging known as transient
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ToC
rendering, which has been around as an
image reconstruction tool since 2008.
The idea is to use a small sample of signal
measurements to reconstruct im -
ages based on random patterns and correlations.
The technique has previously
been used in communications coding
and network management, machine
learning, and some advanced forms of
imaging.
The new technique combines signal
processing and modeling techniques
from other fields to create a new mathematical
formula to reconstruct images.
Each transmitter emits different pulse
patterns simultaneously in a specific type
of random sequence that interfere in
space and time with the pulses from the
29

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Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021

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