Press Release.
Imperium Inc. Develops First Ultrasound Camcorder to Detect Subsurface
Corrosion for U.S. Navy
Former Chief Scientist of the Army Heads New Company
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ROCKVILLE, Md -- May 18, 1998-- Imperium, Inc., a start-up company in the High Technology Council of Maryland incubator program, announced today that it has won a $750,000 two-year contract from the U.S. Navy to perfect the first generation of portable, noninvasive ultrasound imaging systems for both government and commercial use. ``Acoustocam'' is a real-time, three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound imaging system that enables efficient, rapid inspection of aircraft and ship interiors to detect corrosion, cracking, disbonding and other problems. The Department of Defense estimates that expenditures of $10 billion annually can be related to corrosion-associated problems. Current nondestructive corrosion evaluation techniques are typically cumbersome, point-by-point scans in which the detector is fixed and then physically moved over several points. Acoustocam enables rapid, efficient, ``point and shoot'' imaging as a result of Imperium's newly-developed and patented two-dimensional chip, which generates high-resolution subsurface ultrasound images over an area in 1/30 second. Imperium holds the patent on the Acoustocam jointly with Lockheed Martin. During the two-year contract, Imperium will complete the systems development of the real-time ultrasound imaging technology and produce the camcorders. The U.S. Navy's Small Business Innovative Research Phase II funds are also being matched by non- government investors under DoD's ``Fasttrack'' program. These funds will be used for marketing and sales efforts and to develop the camcorder for the commercial market. One of these investors, King Developers of Atlanta, has had an ongoing interest in Imperium. ``King Developers sees the Acoustocam as a breakthrough product -- and we are always looking for these as investment opportunities,'' said Woody King, president of King Developers. Initially, the Acoustocam will be used in the detection of corrosion for the Navy and other agencies within the Department of Defense. Other applications will include ultrasound imaging of storage tanks, pipes, pressure vessels as well as other non-industrial applications such as dental and medical imaging systems. |
For dental applications, for example, Acoustocam could replace x-ray
systems currently used in dental offices by providing similar imaging
without any harmful radiation.
``We are excited by the market potential of this new technology and the chance to demonstrate it under the auspices of the U.S. Navy,'' said Dr. Marvin Lasser, president of Imperium. ``We also see tremendous implications for a range of commercial applications that would never have been possible before the advent of micro-electronics.'' Dr. Lasser is an acknowledged expert in imaging physics and was formerly Chief Scientist of the U.S. Army. He also ran a successful defense contracting business called LICA Systems and served as a consultant to such companies as Lockheed Martin, BDM, Emerson and many others. The Acoustocam includes both a hand-held probe and a base assembly that is worn on the inspector's belt. As the probe is moved along the target, the user controls add or subtract contrast, gain, ultrasound power and other functions. A liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor on the probe visually displays the corrosion or fault to the user while at the same time an internal pulse echo device provides quantitative depth data. In addition, the system has a built-in microphone to record the inspector's verbal analysis. All of the video and voice can then be recorded to a miniature video tape or disk. Imperium, Inc. is one of the successful new ventures located in the High Technology Council of Maryland's Technology Enterprise Center in Rockville, Md. The Council provides ``incubator'' support for new companies, assisting them with a network of services until they are established in the business community. Imperium's efforts are also funded by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program (MIPS), which providescollaboration between technology companies and the University of Maryland. |
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Stacking Advertising & Public Relations Holly Pollinger, Media Contact, 703/761-2531 fax: 703/760-9734 hpollinger@stackig.com | or |
Imperium, Inc. Bob Lasser, 301/330-7179 fax: 301/208-8227 blasser@po.mctec.com |
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