Dr. Alexandru N. Vasile Profile

Dr. Alexandru N. Vasile

at MIT Lincoln Lab

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Author

Publications (4)

Proceedings Article | 14 May 2019 Presentation

Photon-counting ladar in support of disaster relief (Conference Presentation)

Alexandru Vasile, Luke Skelly, Brendan Edwards, Lin Stowe, M. Jalal Khan

Proceedings Volume 10978, 1097806 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2520629

KEYWORDS: LIDAR, Avalanche photodetectors, Sensors, Statistical analysis, Imaging systems, Optical testing

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Proceedings Article | 14 May 2007 Paper

Jigsaw phase III: a miniaturized airborne 3-D imaging laser radar with photon-counting sensitivity for foliage penetration

Mohan Vaidyanathan, Steven Blask, Thomas Higgins, William Clifton, Daniel Davidsohn, Ryan Carson, Van Reynolds, Joanne Pfannenstiel, Richard Cannata, Richard Marino, John Drover, Robert Hatch, David Schue, Robert Freehart, Greg Rowe, James Mooney, Carl Hart, Byron Stanley, Joseph McLaughlin, Eui-In Lee, Jack Berenholtz, Brian Aull, John Zayhowski, Alex Vasile, Prem Ramaswami, Kevin Ingersoll, Thomas Amoruso, Imran Khan, William Davis, Richard Heinrichs

Proceedings Volume 6550, 65500N (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.722880

KEYWORDS: Sensors, LIDAR, 3D image processing, 3D acquisition, Target detection, Imaging systems, Image processing, Control systems, Image sensors, Data processing

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Proceedings Article | 19 May 2005 Paper

High-resolution 3D imaging laser radar flight test experiments

Richard Marino, W. Davis, G. Rich, J. McLaughlin, E. Lee, B. Stanley, J. Burnside, G. Rowe, R. Hatch, T. Square, L. Skelly, M. O'Brien, A. Vasile, R. Heinrichs

Proceedings Volume 5791, (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.609679

KEYWORDS: Sensors, LIDAR, 3D image processing, Stereoscopy, Camouflage, Staring arrays, Pulsed laser operation, Imaging systems, Avalanche photodetectors, 3D acquisition

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Situation awareness and accurate Target Identification (TID) are critical requirements for successful battle management. Ground vehicles can be detected, tracked, and in some cases imaged using airborne or space-borne microwave radar. Obscurants such as camouflage net and/or tree canopy foliage can degrade the performance of such radars. Foliage can be penetrated with long wavelength microwave radar, but generally at the expense of imaging resolution. The goals of the DARPA Jigsaw program include the development and demonstration of high-resolution 3-D imaging laser radar (ladar) ensor technology and systems that can be used from airborne platforms to image and identify military ground vehicles that may be hiding under camouflage or foliage such as tree canopy. With DARPA support, MIT Lincoln Laboratory has developed a rugged and compact 3-D imaging ladar system that has successfully demonstrated the feasibility and utility of this application. The sensor system has been integrated into a UH-1 helicopter for winter and summer flight campaigns. The sensor operates day or night and produces high-resolution 3-D spatial images using short laser pulses and a focal plane array of Geiger-mode avalanche photo-diode (APD) detectors with independent digital time-of-flight counting circuits at each pixel. The sensor technology includes Lincoln Laboratory developments of the microchip laser and novel focal plane arrays. The microchip laser is a passively Q-switched solid-state frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser transmitting short laser pulses (300 ps FWHM) at 16 kilohertz pulse rate and at 532 nm wavelength. The single photon detection efficiency has been measured to be > 20 % using these 32x32 Silicon Geiger-mode APDs at room temperature. The APD saturates while providing a gain of typically > 106. The pulse out of the detector is used to stop a 500 MHz digital clock register integrated within the focal-plane array at each pixel. Using the detector in this binary response mode simplifies the signal processing by eliminating the need for analog-to-digital converters and non-linearity corrections. With appropriate optics, the 32x32 array of digital time values represents a 3-D spatial image frame of the scene. Successive image frames illuminated with the multi-kilohertz pulse repetition rate laser are accumulated into range histograms to provide 3-D volume and intensity information. In this article, we describe the Jigsaw program goals, our demonstration sensor system, the data collection campaigns, and show examples of 3-D imaging with foliage and camouflage penetration. Other applications for this 3-D imaging direct-detection ladar technology include robotic vision, avigation of autonomous vehicles, manufacturing quality control, industrial security, and topography.

Proceedings Article | 21 September 2004 Paper

Pose-independent automatic target detection and recognition using 3D LADAR data

Alexandru Vasile, Richard Marino

Proceedings Volume 5426, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.546761

KEYWORDS: Target recognition, Automatic target recognition, Target detection, Detection and tracking algorithms, 3D modeling, 3D acquisition, Data modeling, LIDAR, Sensors, Solid modeling

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