Camera System to Enhance Mail Processing

Lockheed Martin Corp. has received a $93 million contract from the US Postal Service to develop and deploy 9000 wide-field-of-view camera systems on mail-sorting equipment. The processors will capture the full image of an envelope rather than the lower 4 inches taken by earlier technology.

This upgrade enables the reading of the information-based markings, including electronic postage generated by computerized applications authorized by the Postal Service. The software is expected to improve the reading rate of postal bar codes, rejecting fewer items and sorting more letters automatically. The systems will replace the decade-old optical imaging cameras on the delivery bar-code and carrier sequence bar-code sorters that are commonly used.