Raytheon Secures DARPA Contract for All-Optical Processing System in PICASSO Program
Raytheon, an RTX business, has been awarded a phase one contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the Photonic Integrated Circuit Architectures for Scalable System Objectives (PICASSO) program. Announced on November 3, this contract tasks Raytheon's Advanced Technology team with developing an all-optical processing system. This new technology aims to process signals using light instead of electricity, a significant departure from current photonic circuits that require converting optical signals back into electrical signals for data refinement. The goal is to enhance situational awareness in contested environments, allowing operators to detect threats and respond more rapidly. Colin Whelan, president of advanced technology at Raytheon, emphasized that this program represents a fundamental shift in processing capabilities, enabling faster response times across various applications by operating entirely within the optical domain. Raytheon is collaborating with Synopsys, a commercia...
