CeLight
Receives $1.6M Subcontract from Northrop Grumman for DOD’s
Secure Optical Communications Program
June 14, 2004 – Silver Spring, MD. – CeLight,
a leader in coherent optical technologies, has been awarded
a $1.6M subcontract by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems
to support the Secure Digital Coherent Optical Communications
program with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense
Micro-Electronics Activity (DMEA). The program leverages CeLight’s
VectorWAVE technology to thwart malicious jamming and eavesdropping
of optical links used for secure communications.
“This subcontract underscores the vast potential for
CeLight’s VectorWAVE platform, which can be applied
as part of a multi-mission solution for secure optical communications,
discrimination and targeting, optical countermeasures, and
remote detection of explosives and trace gases,” said
Amir Shaked, CeLight’s co-founder and CEO.
Under the agreement, CeLight will leverage its unique VectorWAVE
digital platform for coherent optical signal synthesis and
analysis to provide advanced security at the physical optical
layer, using techniques that will thwart malicious jamming
and eavesdropping of optical communications links. While CeLight’s
long-term goal is to provide a secure, ultra high-speed optical
transceiver that can be used for thwart malicious jamming
and eavesdropping of optical communications links, this phase
of the program will focus on analysis, definition, design
and demonstration of key enabling components and algorithms
as well as analysis of important operational concepts for
compatibility with embedded systems and methods. The Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is providing additional
technical subject matter guidance for this 9-month phase of
the program.
“Northrop Grumman is teaming with CeLight to advance
the state-of-the-art in security of optical communications
links,” said Mr. James Carlini, Northrop Grumman’s
Vice President, Products and Technology. “Adversaries
will attempt to jam and eavesdrop optical links, just as they
do in the RF world today, so we need to be armed with counter-measures.”
Dr. Isaac Shpantzer, CeLight’s co-founder and CTO,
stated “the critical advantage of using digital, coherent
optical communications is to provide increased levels of availability
and security at the physical optical layer by manipulating
numerous dimensions of light in ways that avoid jamming and
eavesdropping. CeLight looks forward to working with Northrop
Grumman, a global leader in advanced opto-electronic systems,
to meet the needs of the Department of Defense.”
About CeLight: CeLight, Inc.(www.celight.com)
is a leader in coherent optical technologies for military,
homeland security and commercial applications. CeLight’s
VectorWAVE is a unique, multi-application platform that combines
state-of-the-art coherent optical technology with digital
processing to synthesize, transmit, receive, analyze and process
a vast array of high-speed, coherent optical signals. CeLight’s
products and services enable system integrators to offer solutions
with advanced capabilities and improved price-performance
to their end-customers. Headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland,
CeLight is a privately held small business founded in 1999
and is backed by over $47M of funding from world-class investors
including: The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.(www.gs.com),
Concord Ventures (www.concordventures.com),
Advanced Technology Ventures (www.atvcapital.com),
Tamir Fishman Ventures (www.tfventures.com),
and Vertex Management(www.vertexisrael.co.il).
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