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AFRL/DELS “Solid State Laser” program

Decade Optical Systems was contracted to design, development, test and deliver a prototype heat seeking missile aircraft counter measures system that provided for protection on two different IR wavelengths (band I and band IV) using solid state laser technologies and operating from a 400Hz 3phase aircraft system.  The system specifications imposed very rigid and limited size, weight and form factor restrictions that were very challenging to meet.  As the electrical engineering lead, Mr. Allison was responsible for the electronics design, system architecture and partitioning and he worked with the mechanical engineer in determining mechanical form factors and thermal management needs.   The band IV laser gain media required operation at cryogenic temperatures of ~80ºK which was accomplished with a 15W thermal lift Sterling cycle cooling system weighing ~20lbs. The embedded control system was built using six micro-processors in a distributed system architecture that collectively provided for host communications to facilitate high level control for operational mode selection and low level intra system controls of bands I and IV pulsed power drivers, Sterling cryogenic cooler power drive and optical power sensing for both bands I and IV.  An operational prototype was delivered to the USAF/DELS branch at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.