The Optical Sciences Division at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a new imaging method for LiDAR, allowing it to see through forest canopies and camouflage netting.

LiDAR is an exciting branch of photonics that offers imaging capabilities in situations where cameras fail, like operations in pitch black and fog. And LiDAR is getting smaller and less expensive, with growing applications in security, autonomous cars, delivery drones, aerial inspections, and 3-D mapping.

In this episode of High Speed, Low Drag, Navy scientist Paul Lebow explains his team’s adaptation of optical phase conjugation to project a laser beam through a partial obscuration and then process it using gated digital holography.

NRL has patented several of Lebow’s inventions, making them available to qualified businesses for the development of new products and services.

* US Patent No. 9,664,781, Time-gated image reconstruction using phase conjugation

* US Patent Application No. 20160245902, Real-time processing and adaptable illumination LiDAR camera using a spatial light modulator

Through technology transfer agreements—that is, patent licenses and cooperative research and development agreements—U.S. businesses can leverage the Department of Defense’s investment in LiDAR into new products and services for military or civilian customers.

TechLink, the DoD’s national partnership intermediary for technology transfer, provides no-cost licensing assistance to businesses. Contact us now for more information on accessing thousands of available military inventions.