DARPA seeks networking camera for dismounted soldier

The Pentagon's high-tech research arm is seeking proposals on how to successfully develop small multi-band, helmet-mounted and clip-on cameras that would be used by dismounted soldiers.

The effort is being conducted through the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's Pixel Network for Dynamic Visualization (PIXNET) program, according to a Nov. 2 presolicitation notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website.

The PIXNET program seeks to furnish soldiers operating dismounted in squads and teams with an imager that would significantly enhance the detection, recognition and identification of threats during the daytime and nighttime and under all weather and visibility conditions.

The primary challenge of the project is to reduce the size, weight, power and cost of both helmet-mounted and clip-on weapons sights. The PIXNET camera can be integrated with commercial off-the-shelf display appropriate for dismounted activity.

Each camera also will be wirelessly linked to an Android smart phone that can serve as an additional platform for multi-band image fusion, relevant data processing and image display, thus reducing the data load and power budget of the camera.

Responses are due Jan. 11, 2013.