Program News
Ironwood: Army Phase I SBIR
Awarded May 31, 2023
Castanea: Navy Phase I SBIR
Awarded May 23, 2023
Pecan: Army Phase I SBIR
Awarded January 27, 2023
Poplar: MDA Phase I SBIR
Awarded July 24, 2022
Awarded April 29th, 2022
Chinkapin P2: Army Phase II SBIR
Magnolia: DTRA Phase II SBIR
Awarded July 1, 2022
White Oak: The acorn test chips were received from the foundry
Received April 1, 2022
OxO: Army funded test program
Awarded March 28, 2022
Loblolly: Army Phase I SBIR
Awarded July 21, 2022
Chestnut P2: Wafers received from fab
Received December 1, 2021
SBA Personal Award
Awarded October 14, 2020
The Nu-Trek team will be developing the µGmRH, a low Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) radiation-hardened gamma dosimetry module which will replace dosimeters based on Geiger-Müller (G-M) tubes in radiation detectors (RADIACs). A RADIAC using the µGmRH solution will be smaller, lighter, and have longer battery life than one using G-M tubes.
Program objective is to demonstrate a thermal sensor based on the validated Chestnut readout integrated circuit (ROIC) that was developed under contract to the Army. It will be demonstrated with industry partner’s high-resistivity, high-performance next generation bolometers. The Chestnut sensor performance is expected to approach the performance of conventional cooled IR imagers. The sensor’s compact form factor is enabling for SWaP constrained platforms.
The US Army has been a leader of the widespread adoption of thermal imaging. Active sensors have been limited to laser range finders, pointers, and designators, which operate in the near IR wavelengths. Nu-Trek’s proposed readout integrated circuit (ROIC) will seamlessly merge 5 modes of active and passive sensing into a single device, providing perfect registration between active sensing activities such as laser range finding / flash Lidar and thermal imaging.
Event based sensing (EBS) is transitioning from the research community to commercial sensing products. It represents a dramatic break from frame-based sensing in that individual pixels report out changes in their incident illumination, asynchronously, in near real time, and conversely report nothing when illumination levels remain fixed. The objective of this program is to develop EBS sensor to support Missile Defense Agency missions.
In the Chinkapin program, Nu-Trek will develop an 8 µm pixel pitch digital readout integrated circuit (ROIC) for thermal, uncooled, sensors. When implemented in thermal camera cores, the 8 µm ROIC technology will offer reduced size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP/C) in comparison to the 12 µm pixel pitch thermal sensors on the market today. In addition to reducing soldiers' loadout, the sensors will enable utilization of long wavelength infrared (LWIR) imaging in SWaP/C constrained platforms that presently cannot afford the weight and volume of a cooled LWIR sensor.
In the Magnolia Phase II SBIR program, Nu-Trek will develop the µDet, a low size, weight, power, and cost readout integrated circuit for gamma and neuron detectors. The µDet will offer pulse shape digitization, which in turn enables gamma-neutron discrimination. This is a game-changing capability that brings laboratory-level functionality to the field.
In this program our team will develop a radiation hardened short wavelength infrared/medium wavelength infrared (SWIR/MWIR) space-based sensor. The focal plane array (FPA) is based on Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s ReImagine technology, which offers substantial computational resources, enabling sensors to become more multi-functional and computationally intensive than ever before.
OxO is an Army program that supports the development and testing of advanced 8 µm pixel pitch (Chinkapin) and 12 µm pixel pitch (Chestnut) digital readout integrated circuits, for thermal, uncooled sensors. Key objectives of the program include design verification testing (DVT) of key circuits prior to reuse and developing specifications that will support broad utilization of the ROICs under development for thermal sensors. Wondering about the name OxO? The program is named in honor of the oxalate oxidase (OxO) enzyme which gives Chestnut trees (the basis of the name of our of our other programs) substantial, much needed blight resistance.
Central to the Loblolly program is taking an existing readout integrated circuit and adding an event-based sensing capability using an applique. The event based sensing applique will “extract” and “output” information on transient events, such as small arms fire. This information may be used to feed autonomous detection algorithms or alert the user to features of interest. With this added information, the timeline to detect and engage targets is shortened, leading to increased lethality. Wondering about the name Loblolly? It is a fast growing pine tree “pinus taeda”.
In the Army Chestnut program, Nu-Trek developed an advanced 12 µm pixel pitch, digital readout integrated circuit for thermal, uncooled sensors. When implemented in thermal camera cores, the Chestnut 12 µm ROIC technology will offer significantly improved performance over 12 µm pixel pitch thermal sensors on the market today.
Nu-Trek was named the winner of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) 2020 SBA District Director’s Award for Excellence in SBIR program Utilization! This award recognizes Nu-Trek as an outstanding small business within San Diego and Imperial Counties.