Business briefs

01 Aug 2003

Including news from Boeing, International SEMATECH, Exitech and Jenoptik.

•  Boeing has won a 4-year, $23 million contract to build a mobile testbed for high-energy laser weapon systems. Awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, the so-called MATRIX testbed will integrate sensing systems with techniques such as polarimetry, short-pulse imaging, multispectral sensing and tracking systems.

•  International SEMATECH (ISMT) of the US and Exitech of the UK are teaming up to develop what they say will be the world’s first 13.5 nm aerial image monitoring tool for inspecting extreme UV (EUV) reticles. Scheduled for delivery in Q3 of 2005, the tool will be built by Exitech and then installed in ISMT’s EUV mask blank facility in Albany, US.

•  Insensys, a supplier of optical fiber sensing systems, has acquired fellow UK company Indigo Photonics, a fiber Bragg grating specialist, for an unknown sum. The deal cements a partnership that has seen the two companies jointly develop a high-performance optical-fiber sensing system for measuring distributed temperature and strain profiles.

•  Sensors Unlimited has been sub-contracted by fellow US firm Batelle to develop a short-wave infrared, range-gated camera system. The contract is worth $530 000 and is scheduled to last 12 months. The indium-gallium-arsenide camera will use a compact, eye-safe laser and will allow range-gated imaging at distances greater than 2 km.

•  Jenoptik LDT of Germany has received a contract to supply STN ATLAS Electronik, also of Germany, with a laser projection system. STN ATLAS will install the RGB laser system in a Tornado flight simulator with a 7.20 meter diameter dome. Jenoptik says the system combines 13 images into one picture, making it possible to simulate terrain more realistically than conventional simulation technology.

•  An LED video display screen measuring 27 x 67 feet will be installed in the Hippodrome de Paris Vincennes in France by October 2003. Manufactured by US-based Daktronics, the screen will contain 309 760 pixels each spaced by 23 mm. The contract is valued at over $2.5 million. The venue is said to be one of the premier horseracing facilities in Europe.