October 17, 2013

Brimrose Introduces Optical Taggants to Again Let the U.S. Warfighter "OWN THE NIGHT".

Washington, D.C. - Brimrose Technology Corporation is introducing a new generation of optical taggants which will again let the U.S. warfighter own the night and day in terms of being able to see and process critical information beyond what the human eye can see even with the help of 3rd generation night vision goggles. Optical taggants are target identifiers located on friendly or enemy personnel or material that enable the Warfighter to make critical decisions in target identification in a tactical environment. The announcement is being made here at the AUSA conference.

Brimrose is supplying its highly advanced SWIR AOTF (Short Wave Infrared Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter) hyperspectral imager to provide the Warfighter with "special eyes" to find and locate TTL (Tagging, Tracking & Locating) taggants which are not observable by commonly used 3G night vision goggles, which are globally available.

"The 21st century battlefield is evolving rapidly and for the U.S. Army to stay out in front of it we need to continue to employ tools and tactics that keep us ahead of those who would do harm to our nation" says Brimrose CEO Dr. Ron Rosemeier. "With these new taggants, we are opening opportunities at the edge that will make our fighting forces more effective."

The SWIR AOTF hyperspectral imagers let the soldier in the field identify optical taggants at a highly specific wavelength which is outside of the commonly viewed IR frequencies. When the taggant activates or fluoresces, the soldier can track friendly troop and material movements.

The soldier also has a Brimrose covert source invisible to the naked eye that he can track and locate which provides critical information about enemy troop and vehicle movement, weaponry, contraband, as well as being useful for other purposes. This source is also beyond the range of 3G night goggles.

It is critical that the optical taggants only be seen by the observing party, the U.S. Warfighter. When all parties have goggles that can see the activated taggants, as is the case with 3G IR goggles, they lose their effectiveness. The new generation of Brimrose taggants can be seen only by those using SWIR technology.

"The U.S. soldier must be in the position where he can make informed decisions" says Dr. Rosemeier. "U.S.-only readable optical taggants allow him to do that on a variety of fronts, including at the edge, where the gathering of enemy intelligence is critical."

The optical taggants themselves are made of a proprietary fiber material. Brimrose performs materials research with nano-materials and quantum dots, both of which are used to make the next generation of optical taggants.

The Brimrose hyperspectral imager and optical taggants will be demonstrated at the Brimrose booth (#1638) at the AUSA show Oct 21-23.