Irvine Sensors Corp., a Costa Mesa developer...

Irvine Sensors Corp., a Costa Mesa developer of infrared systems and electronic devices, said it was awarded two contracts by the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command to develop technology to improve the performance of a variety of electronic systems. One contract, valued at about $56,000, seeks to identify ways in which the company’s computer chip technology may correct deficiencies in superconductors. The technology, called hybrid mosaic on stacked silicon (HYMOSS), utilizes dozens of stacked computer chips behind an infrared sensor to create thermal images. TRW’s Space and Technology Group will serve as a subcontractor. The other contract award, for $660,000, is for a demonstration project of technology that would increase the efficiency of infrared sensors. In this area, Irvine Sensors hopes to build and test a circuit to provide a digital readout of infrared detectors directly from the focal plane of the sensor. The HYMOSS technology would be used to achieve this goal as well.