Technest receives SBIR grant for 360° imaging system

NOVEMBER 28, 2007--Technest Holdings (Bethesda, MD, USA; www.technestinc.com), a 3-D imaging company, has been awarded a Phase II program through a US Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant of $0.74 million from the United States Navy to develop its Omniguard imaging system. The system is a combination omnidirectional (360°) hyperspectral recording and processing imager, with simultaneous zoom capability for Naval intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations.

Through a unique optical design that simultaneously captures hyperspectral imagery in 360° and zoom views, the Omniguard can quickly search for a target in any direction while zooming in to provide detailed, close-in imagery of a detected target. Utilizing Technest's miniature high-speed DSP/FPGA hardware SOS platform, Omniguard provides a complete surveillance solution with on-board data acquisition and real-time image processing to facilitate operations such as image stabilization and target detection and tracking.

Omniguard can enhance the next generation of digital periscopes used in submarines with instant 360° imaging, reducing traditional scanning time. In addition, Omniguard also has fewer cameras and thus fewer potential points of failure than current 360° imaging technology.