ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has been awarded a contract by the Canadian Government to develop a new generation helmet-mounted camera system for the Canadian Forces. The contract was awarded by the Canadian Government through a competitive procurement process.
ABB Analytical will design the helmet-mounted camera system, which will operate in the shortwave infrared region (SWIR), and will carry out the integration, manufacturing, testing, and provide in-service logistic support. The development and production of this infrared camera will be accomplished in cooperation with ABB’s partner, NovaSyst.
SWIR imaging sensors provide improved recognition capabilities that complement other existing technologies in the area of battlefield awareness and the detection and identification of threats under low-light or nighttime operational conditions. This technology is also very effective for area surveillance, camouflage detection, target acquisition and tracking in all weather and visibility conditions, including imaging through fog.
According to Marc-Andre Soucy, Director of the Remote Sensing Industry at ABB: "The success of this project will be measured by our ability to miniaturize the size, weight, power consumption, reliability and cost of the system, and to maximize the functionality and imaging sensitivity of this new generation helmet-mounted camera. At maturity, full deployment within the Canadian Forces is the ultimate goal of this key project."
ABB Analytical is part of ABB's Measurement Products business unit (www.abb.com/measurement) which is among the world's leading manufacturers and suppliers of instrumentation and analyzers. With thousands of experts around the world and high-performance technology, ABB's team is dedicated to making measurement easy for its customers.
The ABB Analytical Product Measurement Unit facility, which is located in Quebec City, designs, manufactures and markets high-performance spectrometers, and is an optical systems integrator and a leader in the space and defense markets.
The ABB Group of companies (www.abb.com) operates in some 100 countries and employs approximately 140,000 people. In Canada, ABB employs close to 5,000 people from coast to coast.
For more information concerning this release, please visit www.abb.com/analytical.