APRIL 27, 2009--Infrared, imaging, displays, and sensing technologies were among the top-drawing topics for the record-breaking crowd at the SPIE (Bellingham, WA, USA; spie.org) Defense, Security, and Sensing (DSS) symposium (April 13-17, 2009; spie.org/defense-security-sensing.xml) in the World Center Marriott Resort and Convention Center (Orlando, FL, USA).
The symposium drew 6124 attendees to technical conferences and an exhibition focused on optics and photonics technologies for industrial, commercial, and defense applications. Kazuo Hotate of the University of Tokyo was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his work in fiberoptic smart sensors. A panel on funding featuring three government executives was among sessions that drew overflow audiences, and a two-day session celebrated the 50th anniversary of the invention of the ground-breaking infrared technology of the mercury-cadmium-tellurium detector.
Company representatives reported good traffic in the largest-ever 515-company DSS exhibition.
"Of the seven shows I've been to this year, this was one of the best. It's been great because people drawn by the technical content at DSS have a real problem they are trying to solve and we can help," said Dennis Cavanaugh of CoorsTek.
"Despite the economic downturn, once again the show has proved very successful for us," said Colin Pearce of Active Silicon. "DSS has become of center of excellence for sensing and security technologies, and we as an exhibitor get to showcase our technologies to the right audience."
Several industry leaders and conference presenters were interviewed for video and podcasting from the SPIE Newsroom, and interviews will be posted over the next few weeks. Available now are a preview clip from a video interview with Norman Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, and a podcast and transcript of Augustine's overflow plenary talk on global competitiveness and reengineering engineering.
Upcoming interviews and podcasts will feature:
- Roger Appleby, Senior QinetiQ Fellow; on the future of passive millimeter-wave imaging
- Ray Johnson, Lockheed Martin; Symposium chair of SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing 2009
- William Jeffrey, HRL Labs; Symposium cochair of SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing 2010
- Thomas Elliott, Consultant; inventor of the SPRITE detector
- Ron Driggers, Naval Research Lab; editor of Optical Engineering beginning in January 2010
- Brendan Godfrey, Air Force Office of Scientific Research; DSS funding panel member
- John Pellegrino, U.S. Army Research Lab; DSS funding panel member
- Walter Jones, Office of Naval Research; DSS funding panel member
- Augustus Way Fountain, U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Ctr., and Patrick Gardner, Western Carolina Univ.; chairs of the conference on Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing
- Manfred Bester, Operations and Ground Systems, Univ. of California, Berkeley; Space Technologies and Applications plenary speaker
- David Irvin, Air Force Space Command; Space Technologies and Applications plenary speaker
- David Krohn, Light Wave Venture Consulting
Approximately 2000 papers were presented in 55 conferences, and papers are being published in the SPIE Digital Library as soon as approved.
-- Posted by Vision Systems Design, www.vision-systems.com
