Advanced Photonix® announced that it has been awarded an advanced development contract for Phase II Terahertz Imaging for Detection of Corrosion and Defects Under Hull Coatings.
The contract from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is valued at approximately $1,000,000 (including all options) for further development of a high-speed imaging system for the detection of corrosion under marine coatings.
Successful completion of the Phase I proof of concept has lead to this award of a Phase II contract to develop a prototype suitable for evaluation. The terahertz imaging system will be designed for in-situ defect detection of commonly used ship hull coatings and rapid, non-destructive detection of corrosion, hull coating delamination, and hull surface gouges recessed into the hull metal through still-attached hull coatings. The prototype will be evaluated on submarine hulls or representative structures. It is expected, that this effort will be followed by preparation of a Phase III development plan to transition the technology into a system that can be deployed by the Navy.
Richard Kurtz, President and CEO of Advanced Photonix, stated, "This is another example of our long and continuing partnership with the Department of Defense. In keeping with their tradition of accelerating the adoption of advanced non-destructive testing technologies, NUWC has invested with us since 2003 to develop terahertz solutions for various applications. The high-speed imaging system developed under this contract will allow the Navy to save maintenance costs in its dockside operations."
Source: http://www.advancedphotonix.com