The SPRITE infrared detector is named after the process of signal integration carried out by "Signal Processing In The Element". The technique was invented at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment at Malvern by a team of scientists including Tom Elliott. This type of detector was used in a series of thermal imagers known as TICM (thermal imaging common modules). These modules were the mainstay of UK forces thermal imagers from the 1980s until their replacement by fully staring, two-dimensional-arrays detectors.