| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Laser Surveying, Lidar |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Headquarters | Vaughan, Ontario, Canada |
| Key people |
Allan Carswell (Founder) Donald Carswell (President) |
| Website | Optech Inc home page |
Optech Incorporated is a Canadian-owned for-profit company operating since 1974 and focusing on Laser-based survey systems.
Optech Inc is known for its association with Phoenix, a spacecraft launched for Mars in 2007.
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The company is active in the markets of airborne laser terrain mapping systems, airborne laser bathymetry, industrial and 3D imaging, and space lidar solutions.
Optech's founder is Dr Allan Carswell, who in 2006 received the John H. Chapman Award of Excellence by the Canadian Space Agency.[1]
Robert D. Richards, Optech Space Division's director, has received a honorary doctorate (Doctor of Space Achievement honoris causa) from the International Space University which he co-founded with Peter Diamandis and Todd Hawley in 1987.[2]
The company is described as a world leader in laser-based survey instruments and has 33 years of experience in lidars.[3]
Optech Incoporated created the world's first purpose built mobile lidar platform, the Lynx Mobile Mapper, released in 2007.
The company designed the lidar (laser radar) of the Meteorological Station Lidar Sensor (MET) on the[4][5] The lidar was built in collaboration with MDA Space Missions, Canadian Space Agency, and scientists from Canada and United States.[6]
Dr Carswell was also the originating Canadian Principal Investigator for the Phoenix mission.[3]
Optech, in association with MDA, also provided the lidar sensors of the United States Air Force's XSS-11 mission.[3]