LOS GATOS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SA Photonics attended the fifteenth annual Navy Opportunity Forum, held in Arlington, VA on June 1-3. The 2015 event marked the seventh consecutive year of attendance for the company. SA Photonics was invited to participate in this event marking the successful completion of the Navy Transition Assistance Program (TAP), an annual investment program in small businesses who have successfully completed Navy SBIR or STTR Phase II contracts. SA Photonics successfully introduced three new products at this event.

A breakthrough capability was presented in laser technology for shipboard defense that allows direct-defense against optically guided seekers. SA Photonics uses high-energy fiber optic sources with a user-selectable multi-wavelength capability, creating a crucial defense for US Navy ships. The second project improves sustainment for Navy vessels by introducing a line-distributed hoop strain sensor. This product provides a simple, robust method of measuring mechanical strain for submarines, surface ships, and unmanned underwater vehicles. Strain is a key measurement for monitoring structural health, integrity, and fatigue life of hulls. Lastly, SA Photonics introduced free space optical communication for ocean surface transceivers. This new product brings substantial benefits for sonobuoy sensor data communication using free space optical techniques. Sonobuoy-based sensing is a key element for anti-submarine warfare, but the current system has severely limited upload data rates while drawing too much power; this technology offloads sensor data to patrol aircraft at very high speeds with very low power requirements.

At the Forum exhibition, SA Photonics demonstrated its Low cost Augmented Reality System (LARS) for customers to experience firsthand. This optical see-through head/helmet mounted display (HMD) provides very high resolution and wide field of view imagery in configurations of 62°, 83° or 92° instantaneous fields of view.

With two more projects currently entering the renamed 2015-2016 SBIR/STTR Transition Program (STP), SA Photonics’ strong record of SBIR/STTR transition and commercialization continues in 2016.

About SA Photonics

SA Photonics is a pioneer in the development and deployment of innovative photonics solutions for military and commercial applications, with particular expertise in optical communications, laser-based sensors, inertial sensors, vision systems (including head mounted augmented reality displays), ruggedized photonics hardware, and complex analog and digital components for space, marine, avionic and ground applications. To learn more please visit www.saphotonics.com.