Florida Tech Researcher Earns Grant to Improve Sensor

– Dr. Samuel Kozaitis, Florida Tech professor of electrical and computer engineering, has received a $50,000 grant from the University of Central Florida
for work on a multispectral sensor. Under the grant, he will apply advanced algorithms to enhance a sensor that assists firefighters in locating people in
smoke-filled buildings and helps to detect chemical spills.

Kozaitis, with DRS Optronics, Inc., will focus on sensor imagery improvements. The company has created a multispectral sensor that detects registered
images in different wavelength bands. Medical and commercial applications include night vision security applications and “hot spot” detection of humans and
vehicles in situations of obscured vision.

DRS Optronics, with offices in Melbourne and Palm Bay, is a division of DRS Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of defense electronic systems. The
company develops and manufactures a broad range of mission-critical products, from rugged computers and peripherals, to systems and components in the areas
of combat information, communications, data storage, digital imaging, electro-optics, flight safety and space.

Florida Tech offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer engineering.