HRL research: Single camera might be used to sense in visible and infrared spectra

LOS ANGELES – March 14, 2008. HRL Laboratories, LLC, has received an award from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to commence plasmonic imager research to meet new and emerging satellite surveillance challenges and improve the agency's surveillance accuracy and precision.

Development of HRL's proposed radically new plasmonic-imaging technology could one day provide the agency an imaging capability that is smaller yet provides tunability, higher resolution, and a larger field of view than current imaging technology. The novel imager concept has potential performance features never achieved before, including imaging in multispectral bands with wavelength tunability within each band.

The proposed imager would also operate at room temperature, conserving electrical power for cooling that can be used for other critical satellite functions. Moreover, HRL scientists will investigate a simple structure comprised of metals and dielectrics, allowing the formation of a conformal structure for curved focal plane imaging, significantly reducing the size, weight, and complexity of current front-end infrared imager optics.

While meeting the NRO's stringent capability requirements, the proposed imager would also have the benefit of simple fabrication, since it avoids the use of the complicated semiconductor structures used in conventional infrared detectors.

"The proposed plasmonic imager concept has not been studied before," said Dr. Keyvan Sayyah, Senior Research Scientist in HRL's Applied Electromagnetics Laboratory. "As such, the technology is risky but has a potential high payoff."

The goals of the nine-month effort are to investigate the feasibility of plasmonics-based imagers through simulations, initial fabrication and testing, and analysis of imager performance limitations and risks using design and modeling studies.

HRL scientists estimate an extended development period of about five years to construct a fully functional demonstration prototype of the plasmonic imager.

A detailed article has also been published in IEE Spectrum Online, Click here to read

Credits: HRL Laboratories

Springer Geography: Free offers & Encyclopedia of GIS

Springer is providing free access to the Geoinformatica - An International Journal . This free access is available Enjoy free access to full text of volumes for the next 30 days starting from 4/10/2008.

Also you can have a free access to the article "Mapmaking for the Masses" by Michael Goodchild that has published in GeoJournal (until April 15, 2008).

Springer has announced the release of "Encyclopedia of GIS edited by Shashi Shekhar, and Hui Xiong, published as a Springer Reference". This provides a comprehensive and authoritative treatment of a dynamic and rapidly expanding field, with entries alphabetically arranged for convenient, rapid access.

Credits: Springer Geography Program

Ubiquitous and Geographical Research PostDoc Position

The University of Hawaii, USA, invites applications for research positions in the fields of Ubiquitous and Geographical computing, aiming at the development of geographical information systems and ubiquitous/pervasive computing applications. We are looking for a
candidate having (most of) the following qualifications:

• Masters or preferably PhD in computer science or related field.
• Strong interest in research on neogeography, geographical information systems, ubiquitous computing, human-computer interaction, mobile/wearable applications, and pervasive computing. Considerable experience with software and hardware development particularly those related to ubiquitous computing and geographical information systems.
• Fluency in English, good communication skills and the capability to work independently and in a team context.

Contact: Sam Joseph (srjoseph at hawaii.edu) for further details

Neurologists exploring 'New ways of Image sorting'

The slowness, associated with processing of surveillance images from satellites, infrared sensors, and aerial-mounted cameras may soon be possible at greater speeds, says a recent report by IEEE.

As a part of research for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program called Neurotechnology for Intelligence Analysts - teams of researchers at Honeywell, Teledyne Scientific and Imaging, and Columbia University are busy hooking image analysts up to EEG machines, reading their brain activity, and speeding up data sorting sixfold.

This could be used for searching for desired images in a large database of images. It would be faster than a manual search. This study is based on the concept called event related potential (ERP) in which after a human he electrical activity in the brain's visual cortex has already spiked about 150 ms after an image is shown.

A detailed report can be found on the IEEE Spectrum Pages.

Summerschool: 3rd Advanced Statistics and Data Mining

San Pablo - CEU University in collaboration with other five universities (Málaga,Politécnica de Madrid, País Vasco, Complutense, and Castilla La Mancha), Unión Fenosa, CSIC and IEEE organizes a summerschool on "Advanced Statistics and Data Mining" in Madrid between June 30th and July 11th. The summerschool comprises 12 courses divided in 2 weeks.

Attendees may register in each course independently. Registration will be considered upon strict arrival order. This course is open for any one with Academic/ Scientific/ Professional interests.

For more information, please, visit
http://biocomp.cnb.csic.es/~coss/Docencia/ADAM/ADAM.htm