By Danit Lidor
August 1, 2005
Forbes
As the space shuttle Discovery, safely docked at the International Space Station, undergoes close inspection for external damage to its underside today, the company responsible for the 3-D imaging system is focusing its sights on lucrative projects closer to home.
"It's an exciting time in general," said Iain Christie, director of research and development at Ottawa-based Neptec. "We've got so much other stuff going on, and it's all going on with the shuttle in the backdrop. It's getting us a lot of attention."
The privately held company has been working closely with NASA on various 3-D space imaging projects for ten years. Though the company's space vision technology has been used on previous shuttles, the Discovery is the first to use a laser camera system for external damage assessment. Perfecting 3-D imaging for the harsh conditions of space has made Neptec a leader in a technology that can be applied toward many other industries such as health care and military defense.
"NASA has given us stability, so we have a really good financial base. And now we have a real backlog of technological advancements," Christie said. "We're at that classic stage for a private company: great deal of technology, well-managed, financially stable. Now we just need the next step."
Discovery's "bread-box sized" laser camera system (LCS) is one example of Neptec's advanced technology. It doesn't relay information through video. Instead, it transmits the information to a computer, which then creates a model accurate to a few millimeters. Unlike radar or video imaging, the model can integrate the data according to set parameters: It "knows" if something looks different or has changed. Though rudimentary, Christie calls this advantage "intelligence in three dimensions."
These highly accurate 3-D image scans can be implemented in numerous military situations as well. Next-generation, truly "smart" laser cameras have already performed well in testing. On the battlefield, they could identify approaching vehicles to prevent friendly fire incidents and could alert soldiers to irregularities in surrounding environments. "With the IEDs [improvised explosive device] we see being used, this could warn them of even small changes," Christie said.
In 2005, Neptec posted more than $20 million in annual sales. Christie contributes Neptec's profitability to its contracts with NASA. But he anticipates the success of other projects will account for half of the company's revenue in the next few years. It has already signed contracts with Lockheed Martin (nyse: LMT - news - people ) Space Systems and Defence R&D Canada, Canada's military research and development agency.
Even with the focus on other products, Neptec is continuing its association with NASA. After the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed in 2001 by a piece of insulating foam torn from its external fuel tank puncturing its wing during launch, the space agency determined that all future shuttles must include multiple inspection cameras such as the laser camera system.
Christie said such safeguards were commendable. "As long as there is a shuttle program, we still have a contract."