Dr. Tony J. Ragucci

Dr. Tony Ragucci established and leads the Leonardo DRS RAPID Laboratory for Research, Advanced Prototyping and Innovative Design. He is a recognized expert in system design for EO/IR measurement and detection.

Starting as a Research Scientist at Lynntech, a top-5 small business research firm, Dr. Ragucci invented and developed several EO/IR systems and detection techniques such as hyperspectral polarimetry (NASA), high-speed multispectral ophthalmic fundus imaging (NIH), and cued thermal anomaly detection for airborne maritime search (DHS). He was appointed CTO of the organization and lead it to unprecedented successes, culminating in a 2016 Tibbetts award for his maritime search system and other technologies.

He next founded and led Pericept, Inc. to bring practical, quantitative photogrammetry to construction sites through mobile devices. The Pericept products BIMVP and BIMtrace, now deployed by Topcon, were the first to include user-guided mobile device optical calibration and precise 2D-to-3D image mapping for accurate visual difference measurements.

Following the acquisition of Pericept, Dr. Ragucci joined Raytheon Vision Systems (RVS) as a systems engineer and architect for advanced development programs. Principal among these was the Next-Generation Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (EO-DAS) Sensor for the F-35 Lightning II. Dr. Ragucci served as Program Area Chief Engineer (PACE) for the AeroDAS product line, including all IRAD, capital investment, and process improvements for the F-35 EO-DAS at RVS.

Dr. Ragucci joined Leonardo DRS as Director of Engineering in 2019, where he continued to create advanced EO/IR architectures and define technical strategy. In 2024, he established the DRS RAPID Laboratory, focused on long-range EO/IR research and expedited development of microbolometers and cooled active / passive sensors. He is an SPIE Senior Member and a recipient of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Career Achievement Award.