Event-Based Sensor Readout Integrated Circuit

OUSD (R&E) CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Space Technology; Integrated Sensing and Cyber The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. OBJECTIVE: This topic seeks to develop a radiation hardened Event-Based Sensor (EBS) readout integrated circuit (ROIC) with small pixel pitch, large format, and the ability to hybridize to commonly available infrared detector material. DESCRIPTION: Infrared EBS may offer many advantageous capabilities to Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Many tracking applications produce extremely high data rates (>10 GBps) that could be drastically reduced using a properly designed infrared EBS. An EBS accomplishes this goal by asynchronously recording data when a change in the pixel irradiance is detected. An EBS ROIC design could also enable reduced background data generation rates with novel design choices. The scope of this project is to design a prototype EBS ROIC demonstrating a signal-integrating unit cell, lower data rates, and downstream asynchronous handshake logic to provide actionable information on scene movement. This design will be optimized for Air Force needs and will be directly compared to a standard framing ROIC to provide a deeper understanding of the image scene and motion detection algorithms. The key optimization parameters are as follows. The pixel unit size shall be 30 um or smaller, with a desire for options at 10 um and 20 um to match existing optics. The array format shall be 320 x 256 or larger for demonstration purposes, with the ability to scale to 2 MPixel arrays or larger. All three infrared bands (i.e. 1-1.7 um, 3-5 um, and 8-12 um) shall be usable under this design, including both p-on-n and n-on-p designs. To support all of these designs, the ROIC operating temperature shall be 60 240 K. The ROIC shall be radiation-hardened for latch-up, single event upset, and total ionizing dose. The ROIC shall also have an integrating mode to compare with its EBS mode. EBS-specific parameters include the latency, timing accuracy, event rate, and power consumption. The pixel latency shall be less than 10 microseconds and the timing accuracy shall be 10x better (i.e. 1 microsecond). The ROIC shall support event streams of 109 events per second or greater, with a static scene power consumption of 10 mW and a dynamic scene power consumption of 100 mW. These are for operation at 80 K. Contractor shall deliver a Draft ICD and insertion plan into a test dewar for demonstration by the end of Phase II. PHASE I: To demonstrate Phase I-type feasibility, applicant(s) must demonstrate the following: 1. Unit level devices in relevant IR or Visible bands. 2. Preliminary designs for a prototype device. 3. Items should be suitable for Technology Readiness Level 2. PHASE II: Prototype devices at relevant format sizes will be constructed and tested for relevant specifications. Tests will be performed against relevant metrics. A final packaged system will be produced that meets the specifications and is suitable for Technology Readiness Level 4. Preliminary designs will be made for phase III device. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: A field test ready version of the design will be built from a compact and lightweight design and with standard interfaces. A field test ready version shall be robust to intended environments. Manufacturing process will be evaluated and refined to improve yield while reducing cost. REFERENCES: 1. Gallego, G., Delbruck, T., Orchard, G., Bartolozzi, C., Taba, B., Censi, A., Leutenegger, S., Davison, A., Conradt, J., Daniilidis, K., Scaramuzza, D., Event-based Vision: A Survey, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intell. (TPAMI), 44(1):154-180, Jan. 2022.; KEYWORDS: Event Based Sensor; neuromorphic imaging; ROIC; Infrared; read out integrated circuit design; focal plane array design; FPA