2000 NASA SBIR & STTR Abstract Archives

SBIR Phase 2 Solicitation STTR Phase 1 and 2 Solicitation Abstract Archives

NASA SBIR 2000 Phase 1 SOLICITATION

FORM 9B - PROJECT SUMMARY

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.01-8043 (Chron: 001958 )
PROJECT TITLE
Infrared Windshield Icing Conditions Monitoring System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Aircraft icing is a severe aviation weather hazard as formation of ice on aircraft surfaces leads to degradation in aerodynamic performance. Today, there are limited ice detection systems available that warn pilots of icing, used primarily by the military and airlines due to their high acquisition and certification costs. Innovative Dynamics Inc. will address these issues by developing a low cost windshield infrared (IR) ice detector for the GA fleet. Existing windshield ice detectors consist of a dash mounted red light that is only visible to the flight crew at night when light is reflected from ice accretion on the pilots windshield. The proposed ice detector will operate day and night providing icing conditions information, Outside Air Temperature as well as direct measurement of accumulated ice on the windshield. During Phase I, we will develop a prototype IR ice detector and demonstrate performance in an icing tunnel. During Phase II, we will team with a leading GA manufacturer to develop a flight worthy ice detector for application to windshields of popular commercial Business Jet.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Applications for the windshield IR ice detector include OEM business jets, small general aviation aircraft, as well as large commercial aircraft. A battery operated retrofit version of this technology would be ideal for the existing GA fleet owners who operate in IMC, and currently use visual cues and analog temperature gages to determine icing conditions. Commercial opportunities also exist for a variant of this technology adapted to look out airline windows and determine dangerous accumulation of snow and ice on the main wings prior to take off.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
William G. Brooks
Innovative Dynamics, Inc.
2560 North Triphammer Road
Ithaca , NY 14850 - 9726

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Innovative Dynamics, Inc.
2560 North Triphammer Road
Ithaca , NY 14850 - 9726

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.01-8345 (Chron: 001656 )
PROJECT TITLE
Multi-Frequency Airborne Radar System for Aircraft Icing Avoidance

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In this Phase I SBIR proposal, we describe an integrated airborne multi-frequency radar system for aircraft icing avoidance. The primary thrust of our research will be the development of designs for low-cost millimeter-wave radars suitable for detection of backscatter from liquid water clouds at ranges in excess of 10 km. Existing radars that have been used for these studies are expensive one-of-a-kind research instruments with designs that are unsuitable for general aviation, where cost will be a primary consideration. By working cooperatively with manufacturers of microwave and millimeter-wave subsystems, we plan to develop a suite of radars for airborne and icing detection that will reduce the cost by a factor of five or more for prototype systems, and by a factor of up to 100 for production units. Practical airborne icing potential detection cannot be achieved without a major cost reduction of millimeter-wave radar systems. By using solid-state transmitters, integrated or monolithic low-noise receivers and IF circuits, and novel antenna concepts, and advanced signal processing techniques, we are confident that low cost systems can be developed for both airborne and ground-based applications.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Potential commercial applications include aircraft icing avoidance systems for general aviation and military aviation use.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ivan PopStefanija
ProSensing
150 Fearing street
Amherst , MA 01002 - 1946

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
ProSensing Inc.
150 Fearing Street
Amherst , MA 01002 - 1946

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.02-7830 (Chron: 002171 )
PROJECT TITLE
Detection, Discrimination and Real-Time Tracking of Cracks in Rotating Disks

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This SBIR proposes the development of a real-time system to detect, discriminate and track in real-time the growth of low cycle fatigue cracks in rotating disks.

The goals of the SBIR are to develop:
1. A crack detection system that is not associated solely with a change in the center of mass.
2. A system that can be licensed to general industry for use in spin pits, jet engines, steam turbines, medical centrifuges, flywheels or any other high speed turbomachinery,
3. A system that can discriminate between cracks and other effects that give potentially false readings.
4. A system that can be physically integrated with other sensors and the data easily correlated with readings from cooperating probes to provide a high confidence in the information to support a directed action by a health monitoring reasoner.

The Phase I effort will focus on defining the method and demonstrating the feasibility of the system to detect and track cracks in rotating hardware. Phase II will refine the method, provide crack discrimination capability, characterize the method across a variety of disk types, and integrate the method into a commercial rotor health monitoring system. Phase III will commercialize the system.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The overall goal is to develop a crack detection system that can be used as both a flight safety device and a retirement for cause identifier. The system would be designed to alert maintenance technicians of crack trends in specific disks in the engine, and would initially supplement the existing inspection systems available today. The system would be used as a component of a flight safety, rotor health monitoring system on jet engines and other industrial turbo-machinery such as compressors, medical centrifuges, steam turbines, etc. The system has direct applications in spin testing for increasing efficiency and generating early warning of an impending failure. The system can also detect cracks in flywheels used for power generation and stability control in space.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Wayne C. Haase
Aerogage Corp.
22 Duggan Rd.
Acton , MA 01720 - 2018

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
ExSell inc.
30 Squirrel Hill Rd.
Acton , MA 01720 - 2018

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.02-7845 (Chron: 002156 )
PROJECT TITLE
High Surface Area Nanostructured Metal Oxide Flame Retardants

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
'Airplane manufacturers are using advanced materials for fire prevention, and suppression of potential in-flight fires, but they are still not good enough to meet emergency situations that arise.' At a time of record growth in the airline industry more and more aircraft are added to airline fleets each year. Older aircraft are also being overhauled with additional safety features. As a result, increased amounts of flame retardant materials are being used in aircraft passenger cabins, cargo compartments and inaccessible areas in the pressure hull. The addition of flame-suppressing substances to the material provides a way to fireproof polymers, which constitute almost 3 and 8 tons of flammable polymeric materials in the aircraft. Halogen containing molecules, used as fire suppressants have fallen out of favor because they release toxic dioxins when they burn. Metal oxide hydrates, which release water at high temperatures, polymers which fend off flames by getting scorched on the surface, and even nylon-montmorillonite composites have been evaluated, but with limited success. Therefore, a normal polymer when challenged by fire needs to become fire resistant. A potential solution to this problem is in the form of a nanostructured additive that will be investigated in this Phase I program by Materials Modification, Inc. In Phase II, the polymer-additive flame suppressant/retardant will be evaluated with varying concentrations of the nanostructured additive and the most promising combinations will be tested for fire retardancy with our commercial partner.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The niche area for flame retardants is in the aircraft industry. However these materials can also be used as flame retardant additives in cabinets and housing for electronic and electrical components, printed circuit boards, construction materials, household items such as mattresses, carpets, upholstery and furniture, interiors in automobiles, and fabrics, textiles and apparels.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ramachandran Radhakrishnan
Materials Modification, Inc.
2721-D, Merrilee Drive
Fairfax , VA 22031 - 4407

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
MATERIALS MODIFICATION INC
2721-D Merrilee Drive
Fairfax , VA 22031 - 4407

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.02-8506 (Chron: 001495 )
PROJECT TITLE
Enhanced Energy-Absorbing Aircraft Seats

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Midé is proposing innovative energy-absorbing seat and restraint system enhancements for improving crashworthiness in aircraft, using Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs). It is proposed that the passive superelastic properties (energy-absorption) of SMA?s are investigated for integration into various components of the seat, support, and restraint system. These alloys are capable of absorbing energy in the form of strain, to a much higher degree than conventional materials such as steel and aluminum alloys. Phase 1 will downselect among the proposed concepts and determine feasibility.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Structures with improved energy absorption and damping has numerous government and commercial applications. Energy absorbing structures increase life, reduce fatigue and improve comfort. The sporting goods industry is the most obvious industry that will benefit from the technology.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. John Rodgers
Mide Technology Corp.
56 Rogers Street
Cambridge , MA 02142 - 1119

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mide Technology Corporation
56 Rogers Street
Cambridge , MA 02142 - 1119

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.02-8998 (Chron: 001003 )
PROJECT TITLE
Hybrid Electrostatic Nozzle for Crash Fire Reduction AntiMisting Fuels

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The electrostatic atomization of hydrocarbon fuels provides precise, predictable electronic control of droplet size and distribution independent of fuel viscosity, density and flow rate. Phase I will focus on demonstrating that electrostatic fuel preparation makes combustion performance in an ambient combustion environment insensitive to the presence of anti-misting fuel additive (FM-9). A hybrid Lean Direct Injection nozzle incorporating electrostatic primary fuel flow atomization for ignition, idle and low power operation, and conventional air assisted secondary flow atomization for high throughput operation will be developed for these tests.

Phase I testing will focus on evaluating the ability of electrostatic fuel preparation of anti-misting kerosene to provide superior atomization/dispersion under the low flow rate conditions (ignition, idle, low power) that have heretofore been associated with poor atomization performance from conventional systems. Upon conclusion of testing, the atomizer will be delivered to NASA for evaluation testing with appropriate AMK blends in the combustion test facility. Nozzles will be designed and developed for engine combustion in Phase II. General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, and Honeywell have expressed interest in supporting the Phase II test program.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Contingent upon successful completion of the Phase I effort, commitments in excess of $500,000 for Phase III development have been obtained from eleven (11) fuel injector and combustion equipment manufacturers. Long term production outlook for the Phase II fuel injector and its derivatives sis on the order of thousands of injectors per year. Additional funded development potential from non-aviation industries (agriculture, IC engines (gas and diesel), paint spraying, domestic, commercial and industrial burners, spray mist lubrication and nano-fiber non-woven fabric manufacture) all of which require high throughput electrostatic atomization/dispersal, is significantly greater than the typical SBIR.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Arnold J. Kelly
Charged Injection Corporation
11 Deer Park Drive,
Monmouth Junction , NJ 08852 - 1923

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Charged Injection Corporation
11 Deer Park Drive,
Monmouth Junction , NJ 08852 - 1923

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.02-9149 (Chron: 000852 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Practical Fuel Tank Inerting System for Commercial Aircraft

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The ultimate objective of the proposed project is to develop a practical onboard, inert-gas generation system for fuel tank inerting on commercial aircraft. The system would operate autonomously and provide inert gas on demand to the fuel tank ullage. The proposed system would be based upon Total Air Liquefaction for Oxygen and Nitrogen (TALON) technology presently being developed for the U.S. Air Force's C-17 aircraft. As compared with other approaches to onboard inert-gas generation (e.g. molecular sieves or semi-permeable membranes), TALON requires only 1/5 the bleed air and is about 1/2 the weight. In the proposed project, we will adapt and optimize the technology to meet the requirements for a commercial system. TALON also has the potential to provide nitrogen for fire suppression and oxygen to replenish emergency oxygen systems. The Phase I effort will focus on developing specifications for a commercial TALON system, producing a preliminary system design, identifying key technology elements that require further development, and a producing a preliminary palletized system design for a future Boeing 747 test. In Phase II, we will demonstrate key technology components and further define the palletized system test to be conducted during Phase III.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
A commercial version of TALON has significant business potential. It is anticipated that forthcoming rules from the DOT/FAA will require that fuel tank ullage be inerted on commercial aircraft during a significant portion of the operational envelope. This will create an immediate, large and ongoing market for this technology. TALON technology potentially offers a more attractive alternative to other approaches such as molecular sieves and semi-permeable membranes, because the bleed air requirements for TALON are of the order of 80% less, and existing aircraft cannot meet the bleed air requirements for these other approaches.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Martin Shimko
Creare Incorporated
Etna Road, PO Box 71
Hanover , NH 03755 - 0071

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Creare Inc.
Etna Road, P.O. Box 71
Hanover , NH 03755 - 0071

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.02-9625 (Chron: 000376 )
PROJECT TITLE
Supplemental Restraint System with Flow Control for Minimizing Occupant Injury

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Airbags are established injury preventing devices in automobiles, and will soon appear in aircraft. Airbags have already been developed for military helicopters and commuter aircraft, and general aviation applications will follow. The proposed research will develop technology to permit the first general aviation airbags to be as small and light weight as possible while still providing the needed level of crash protection. While optimizing performance,this technology will also prevent airbag induced injuries. Unfortunate incidents of the type publicised in the media for auto air bags will then be avoided in the first genereral aviation air bag applications. The technology will be based on total gas flow management techniques. The flow of both inflating and exiting gas will be controlled.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
There are commercial applications for the resulting product in all airbag applications. The flow control device can be used in aircraft and automotive occupant protection airbags. It can also be applied in other airbag applications, such as those used to attenuate the impact of air cargo pallets, aircraft escape modules, and recoverable space launch vehicles. The envisioned general aviation airbag market is but the first of many commercial opportunities for the technology.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Richard E. Zimmermann
Zerad, Inc.
425 East Greenway Drive
Tempe , AZ 85282 - 6938

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Zerad, Inc.
425 East Greenway Drive
Tempe , AZ 85282 - 6938

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.03-7898 (Chron: 002103 )
PROJECT TITLE
Designer's Situation Awareness Toolbox (DeSAT)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This SBIR will develop a design decision support tool that will assist designers in providing a powerful, supportive work environment for aviation crews that support the maintenance of a high level of situation awareness in the flight environment. DeSAT will be developed as a design decision support system providing the capability to (1) analyze the situation awareness requirements associated with operational requirements (which could include ground based or flight based crew members), (2) compare situation awareness information requirements to system design features to identify potential situation awareness problems and deficiencies early in the design process, and (3) evaluate the degree to which design concepts support SA via the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT). DeSAT will be developed for analysis of SA for both individual crew stations and for distributed teams operating across flight and time. DeSAT will allow designers to modify design concepts early in the design process to ensure that they provide the needed situation awareness to system users.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
DeSAT?s most immediate commercialization potential would be among aviation system design firms. This would include both commercial flight deck and military cockpit designers. This market would be both U.S. and international in scope. In addition, DeSAT could be shown to applicable to a much wider variety of systems, including ground transportation, space operations, distributed monitoring systems, power station control, maintenance and medical systems. This expansion would create an even larger market for DeSAT, as designers in these fields have traditionally had less background in human factors and cognitive engineering. DeSAT would provide a very important resource for these designers as it would allow them to assess the impact of combined and integrated systems on operator SA.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mica Endsley
SA Technologies, Inc
4731 East Forest Peak
Marietta , GA 30066 - 1763

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
SA Technologies, Inc.
4731 East Forest Peak
Marietta , GA 30066 - 1763

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.03-9611 (Chron: 000390 )
PROJECT TITLE
Automated Auditory Cueing and Spatialization System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed innovation is a back-end/front-end integration of an authoring system for data-driven audio cues and a delivery system for simulated spatial audio display. The innovation includes adaptive incorporation of the integrated system with existing speech communications, in a real-time operations pipeline that accepts operational data streams and converts them into relevant auditory cues. Compared to previous auditory display research, this proposed system moves beyond spatial/positional data from operators to incorporate data from operational signals and events. Data-driven audio cues will be provided and supported by patented technologies developed at NCSA/UIUC. Spatial simulation will be provided by AuSIM's proprietary AuSIM3D? technologies. This proposal is innovative because it integrates two robust and mature systems that have never been commercially integrated: broad, adaptable tools for data sonification and a rendering pipeline for spatial audio simulation. These technologies are complementary and each has been demonstrated effectively in industrial contexts outside of the laboratory. The resulting system will provide a comprehensive audio operations environment to orchestrate and integrate existing speech communications with synthetic environmental cues that respond to changing conditions represented in operations data. These innovations directly address the stated goals of enhancing system monitoring, crew-system integration and remote collaboration.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The most immediate application of this technology would be specifically for flight deck manufacturers and their equipment vendors, as they work to develop next-generation human-machine interfaces for their equipment. Commercial aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing as well as military aircraft manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin will be highly interested in licensing this technology.

Longer-range applications include any situations where humans need to control complex navigational and related equipment: submarines, ships, helicopters, and even spacecraft. Any such environment where improving the human-computer interface will result in increased operator performance in critical areas we should find customers for this advanced new technology.

The proprietary nature of the AuSIM3D? core technology, the functionality of which has yet to be matched, combined with the NCSA VSS functionality, will prevent any real competition. AuSIM would market the product in parallel with its current product line. The market focus would be selling systems to research groups for use as prototypes, and the software and proprietary manufacturing process would be licensed to a commercial manufacturer when demand began to exceed AuSIM?s manufacturing capacity. The manufacturing process complexity and time of the new integrated system would be equivalent to AuSIM?s current product line.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Insook Choi
National Center for Supercomputing Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-C.
405 North Mathews
Urbana , IL 61801 - 2300

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
AuSIM, Incorporated
4962 El Camino Real, Suite 101
Los Altos , CA 94022 - 1410

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.03-9857 (Chron: 000144 )
PROJECT TITLE
Weather Hazards Integrated Display System (WHIDS)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
There are significant costs associated with hazardous weather encounters that are exacerbated by the lack of integration of real-time and forecast weather products and the lack of focus on pilot-centered hazard metrics and computer support. Current approaches to providing weather information to the flight deck have focused on individual products, targeting specific hazards. Even systems trying to provide many products to pilots have not yet addressed the issues of intelligently integrated data into information. Solving this problem begins with an integrated, pilot-centered approach to presenting weather information. By considering the temporal, spatial and accuracy characteristics of the weather sources as well as the information needs of pilots, our Weather Hazards Integrated Display System (WHIDS) will help pilots manage the presented information in order to maintain situation awareness and make better decisions. In Phase I, we will specify potential algorithms and display designs to help pilots understand the weather situation with respect to the decisions to be made. The emphasis will be on integrating real-time and forecast information in a pilot-centered way and on providing pilots the ability to support the types of decisions they have to make. In Phase II we will prototype and evaluate WHIDS.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
There is a considerable market for WHIDS with commercial airline organizations who are already considering providing enhanced weather products to their flight decks. Flight crews would improve tactical decision making processes due to better, integrated information as opposed to merely having more data to wade through or possibly miss.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ellen J. Bass
Search Technology, Inc.
4960 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Ste. 230
Norcross , GA 30071 - 1580

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Search Technology, Inc.
4960 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Ste 230
Norcross , GA 30071 - 1580

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.04-7980 (Chron: 002021 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Real-Time Monitor to Predict Loss of Control due to Pilot-Induced Oscillations

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Pilot-induced oscillations have occurred during early development testing and in operational flight. As awareness of the phenomenon improves, reports of PIOs have become more common, and while most such reports indicate mild episodes, the threat of a severe PIO is always present. With increased use of fly-by-wire technology, and with plans for several possible mega-transports, the potential for PIO will only continue to increase. An on-line flight control system monitor that will detect the onset of loss of control due to PIO will enhance flight safety in the 21st century. The real-time monitor looks at input and response states and compares the input/output relationships with known definitions of PIO. A pilot alert system will notify the flight crew that the event is a PIO and assist in decision-making about the criticality of the event. Such a monitor will benefit pre-production testing as well, as it can be used for envelope expansion, quick-look analysis of stability margins, and even for crew training for PIO idenfication.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The primary commercial application will be for civil airline transports, marketed to airframe manufacturers and airline companies as an affordable method for preventing loss of control through severe pilot-induced oscillations. The system will be designed to be incorporated into the flight control system computers of both current and future aircraft. Other applications, in both the civil and military worlds, is as a tool for flight safety during envelope expansion and as an analyzer of data near-real-time for checking stability. The monitor can be used as a training aid to expose pilots to the phenomenon of pilot-induced oscillations.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David G. Mitchell
Hoh Aeronautics, Inc.
2075 Palos Verdes Dr N #217
Lomita , CA 90717 - 3726

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Hoh Aeronautics, Inc.
2075 Palos Verdes Dr N #217
Lomita , CA 90717 - 3726

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.04-8226 (Chron: 001775 )
PROJECT TITLE
Micro Stress Analysis and Forecasted Endurance - MicroSAFE

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
MicroSAFE (Micro Stress Analysis and Forecasted Endurance) is a wireless miniature autonomous stress analysis device that utilizes the ASTM Rainflow Cycle Counting Fatigue Analysis to determine expected life of critical structures. The device is based on an Invocon Internal R&D project where a similar miniature autonomous device was able to acquire data from a single strain gage and compute a Rainflow analysis on the data in real-time. The original communication scheme was a wired serial port to a PC through which the device could be programmed to schedule acquisitions or set to detect events for acquisition. This device was designed for a wide temperature range and low power for battery operation, and is already highly capable of stress analysis and lifetime prediction. Through this Phase 1 project we propose to add an RF transceiver, increase the sampling rate, and implement a dynamic frequency response analysis in the design. The wireless addition allows ease in programming and data downloading. Programming modes in the enhanced device will still include the scheduled and detection modes, but will allow simultaneous Rainflow and frequency analyses for each channel.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
MicroSAFE has an array of industrial and commercial applications. Any machine or structure that experiences periodic stress can benefit from fatigue analysis. Currently many structures such as bridges are designed with a certain expected stress and for a certain lifetime. Materials and design methods are chosen to give the expected life of the part. Often the stresses on a particular element are not the expected values. If for instance from increased traffic on a bridge or poor installation of machine parts the stresses are higher than expected, the material may fatigue beyond safe limits before the scheduled replacement. Frequently the opposite is true; designers either boost the material requirements or decrease the expected life to decrease probability of failure. Fatigue analysis can measure and better forecast the life of the structural member decreasing money and time spent prematurely replacing parts or repairing the results of unexpected failure. The size, cost, and portability of MicroSAFE make it versatile, unique, and necessary for many commercial applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Alan Haigood
Invocon, Inc.
19221 IH-45 South; Ste. 530
Conroe , TX 77385 - 8746

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Invocon, Inc.
19221 IH-45 S., Ste. 530
Conroe , TX 77385 - 8746

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.04-8915 (Chron: 001086 )
PROJECT TITLE
Novel Spectral Enhancement for Incipient Fault Detection of Rotating Machinery

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
ASRI proposes to develop a low-cost PC-based Dynamic Signal Analyzer (DSA) utilizing a novel spectral enhancement method to provide incipient fault-detection capabilities for rotating machinery. Based on a new spectral analysis technique called Coherent Phase Line Enhancer (CPLE), the DSA will significantly enhance critical speed-related signatures in vibration measurements thus providing early detection for machinery health monitoring and diagnosis. Unlike the conventional method for Power Spectral Density (PSD) function estimation, the CPLE technique incorporates phase information into the spectral estimation process. This is achieved through detection of a unique coherent phase relationship associated with all speed-related signal components in the wave-number domain. Accordingly, the CPLE spectrum detects well-hidden fault-mechanism signatures (bearing, gear, rotor instability, etc.) that are often unnoticed by a conventional PSD. The significance of the proposed innovation is attributed to its enhanced capability to cope with severe operational environments where health-monitoring measurements are heavily corrupted by background noise. Successful development of CPLE-DSA can enhance incipient fault detection capability, reducing catastrophic engine failure risks and will improve reliability of NASA's advanced propulsion systems. Phase I will demonstrate feasibility and relative benefits of CPEL-DSA. In Phase II a PC-based CPLE-DSA hardware/software prototype will be built and tested for demonstration.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
A portable low-cost Engine Health Monitoring System has strong commercial application. The commercial transportation and power generation industries will benefit from its availability as will the manufacturing sector where production lines frequently rely on critical, active machinery. Implementing an effective health monitoring system in these commercial arenas will reduce the risks of catastrophic hardware losses and plant down-time. The commercial potential for an effective CPLE-DSA in the market place has been recognized by several of ASRI's customers.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Jen-Yi Jong
AI Signal Research, Inc.
3411 Triana Blvd
Huntsville , AL 35805 - 4641

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
AI Signal Research, Inc.
3411 Triana Blvd.
Huntsville , AL 35805 - 4641

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.04-8942 (Chron: 001059 )
PROJECT TITLE
Aircraft Engine Oil Health Sensor

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The objective of this proposed program is to determine the viability of Raman spectrometry as an analytical tool for in-situ monitoring of aircraft engine oil condition. This objective will be accomplished by first characterizing unused engine oil with a high-performance bench-top Raman spectrometer, and optimizing the spectrometer variables and data processing steps. A correlation of Raman and Fourier-transform infra-red spectra will be performed as part of the band assignment process, followed by characterization of engine oil at various stages of degradation. After completion of the method development using the high-performance instrument, a portable fiber-optic Raman analyzer will be employed to study the oxidation of aircraft engine oil in-situ. It is anticipated that a Raman system using fiber-optic sampling, ion or diode laser excitation, a single monochromater, CCD detector, and a holographic notch filter will provide optimum sensitivity and sampling flexibility. Ideally, Raman spectrometry would replace other more cumbersome or time-consuming oil quality control and condition monitoring methodologies. However, at the very least it is anticipated that the inherent advantages of Raman spectrometry over other techniques can be employed to provide a simple, versatile, and portable unit for oil condition monitoring.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Successful completion of this program will result in a Raman spectrometry method for evaluating the condition of aircraft engine oil. The technology developed in this project will be generally applicable to oil condition monitoring in a variety of industries including automotive and lubricant manufacturing.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Shane E. Roark
Eltron Research Inc
4600 Nautilus Court South
Boulder , CO 80301 - 3241

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Eltron Research Inc
4600 Nautilus Court South
Boulder , CO 80301 - 3241

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.04-8944 (Chron: 001057 )
PROJECT TITLE
Aircraft Prognostics and Health Management, and Adaptive Reconfigurable Control

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Scientific Systems Company Inc. (SSCI) proposes to develop
nonlinear on-line Health Monitoring (HM), Failure Detection and
Identification (FDI) and Adaptive Reconfigurable Control (ARC)
algorithms for the case of failures of Electro-Mechanical Actuators
(EMAs) and other subsystems and components of a modern combat
aircraft. The proposed algorithms will result in fast and accurate
on-line FDI and ARC for EMAs whose behavior is characterized by
highly nonlinear dynamics. The proposed on-line HM-FDI and ARC
scheme will be integrated into Boeing's open Prognostics and Health
Management (PHM) and Open Control Platform (OCP)
architectures. In order to achieve the above objectives, we propose to
carry out in Phase I the following tasks: (i) Formulation of the
HM-FDI and ARC problem for Electro-Mechanical Actuators
(EMAs). (ii) Acquisition of nonlinear actuator models from Boeing.
(iii) Development of on-line nonlinear HM-FDI and ARC
algorithms compatible with the PHM and OCP architectures for the
nonlinear actuator models. (iv) Testing, tuning and performance
evaluation of the algorithms on a linearized TAFA simulation. (v)
Integration of the HM-FDI and ARC algorithms into the PHM and
OCP. In Phase II we plan to integrate our HM-FDI and ARC
algorithms into Boeing's PMH and OCP systems and test them under
laboratory conditions at Boeing, and in flight tests. The end product
of this research will be a user-friendly software design toolkit for
on-line HM-FDI and ARC. Boeing Phantom Works will provide
technical and commercialization support in all phases of the project.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Recent analyses carried out by Boeing have revealed that decrease in
Can-Not-Duplicate (CND) failures and false alarms by 50% on a
platform such as the C-17 or F/A-18, would result in a maintenance
cost savings of over $100M over the life of the aircraft. The approach
pursued by Boeing is based on predictive diagnostics, or prognostics,
combined with on-line FDI algorithms and data mining techniques,
and will be used to identify more accurately the root causes of failures.
Such an approach has a potential to achieve substantial decrease in
CND failures and false alarms. The resulting architecture, under
development by Boeing, is referred to as the open Prognostics and
Health Management (PHM) system, and is expected to result in a
substantial decrease in operational maintenance costs for modern
aircraft. Efficient ARC algorithms are an important component of
the future Vehicle Management Systems (VMSs) for modern aircraft.
Hence the proposed HM-FDI and ARC algorithms, that will be an
integral part of the PMH and the aircraft Operational Maintenance
Program (OMP), have a great commercial potential in the area of
operational maintenance and safety improvements in modern
aircraft.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Jovan D. Boskovic
Scientific Systems Company Inc
500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3000
Woburn , MA 01801 - 6580

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Scientific Systems Company Inc
500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3000
Woburn , MA 01801 - 6580

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.04-9435 (Chron: 000566 )
PROJECT TITLE
Structural Diagnostics Using Nonlinear Analysis and Distributed Sensor Arrays

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)

The safety and performance of all commercial, civil, and military structural dynamic systems deteriorate with time. Because current inspection procedures are time consuming, costly, insensitive to small variations in structural health, and prone to error in severe and mild operating environments, there are urgent economic and technological needs to deploy automated structural diagnostic instrumentation for seamless evaluation of structural integrity and reliability. The proposed collaborative research and business initiative between The Modal Shop and Purdue University will develop and validate techniques for structural Diagnostics using Nonlinear Analysis (sDNA) in conjunction with "smart" wireless sensor arrays. Significant innovations include the processing algorithm for characterizing the existence and extent of damage in passive/active operating modes while accommodating nonlinearity and uncertainty, and the processing architecture, which is distributed across a network of measurement packets and decision-making nodes. Phase I R&D will culminate in an informative report, strong justification and preliminary plan for Phase II, and a simple prototype to demonstrate important features of the proposed product. Successful efforts in Phases II-III will produce flexible "turn-key" on-line structural health and condition monitoring devices, which will benefit the sponsoring agency directly while securing The Modal Shop a competitive edge in a rapidly expanding marketplace.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Potential commercial applications in aircraft and rotorcraft, reusable launch vehicles, automotive systems, civil infrastructure, and industrial machinery make this a compelling investment for the qualified team of researchers and for the sponsoring agency. Immediate applications of the product include: civil infrastructure damage detection and prognostics (e.g. highway overpass support bearings), industrial diagnostics for tracking manufacturing glitches (e.g. tool chatter), and data acquisition for aircraft flight and ground vibration testing and on-road vehicle testing. The proposed product could also potentially impact the following markets: automotive maintenance and service (e.g. service and warranty extension), aircraft avionics, performance, and life cycle determination, and aerospace reusable vehicle design for maintenance (e.g. damage detection, localization, and prognosis in composite structures).

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mark Schiefer
The Modal Shop, Inc.
1775 Mentor Ave
Cincinnati , OH 45212 - 3520

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
The Modal Shop, Inc.
1775 Mentor Ave
Cincinnati , OH 45212 - 3520

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.04-9956 (Chron: 000045 )
PROJECT TITLE
On-line Health Management, Diagnostics, and Data Processing using SUSI /PR00-045

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose to design and develop hardware and health monitoring capabilities for our Smart Universal Sensor Interface (SUSI). SUSI is designed to accommodate more sensors than conventional avionics sensor units, using fewer wires, less power, and at greater data rates and shorter delays, while consuming less physical space. In addition, SUSI provides advanced features such as: upgrades to optical avionics networks, full compatibility with legacy systems such as 1553 and ARINC; serial sensor buses to further reduce wire count; smart functions such as described in the IEEE 1451.2 standard; and extensive local processing and data storage capability. SUSI is designed to be modular to a very high degree - even the network interface can be changed by simply replacing the network module. These advanced features can be used to implement diagnostics and health monitoring functions for a wide range of applications, including self- and network diagnosis and multi-level data processing and redundancy. Since SUSI integrates into the avionics system and is designed to take data and control actuators, there is no added overhead (weight, cost, etc.) for additional instrumentation.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
This system could provide critical data not only for safety purposes but for maintenance as well, thus helping to extend useful aircraft life. Both military and commercial aircraft could benefit from advanced smart sensor systems capable of providing real-time data on subsystem health.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David Schaafsma
Tetra Tech Data Systems
2451 Impala Drive
Carlsbad , CA 92008 - 7227

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Tetra Tech Data Systems
2451 Impala Drive
Carlsbad , CA 92008 - 7227

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.05-7908 (Chron: 002093 )
PROJECT TITLE
Evaluation of Airframes with Pulsed Eddy Currents

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Use of pulsed eddy currents with superconductive probes offers new technology to image fatigue cracks and corrosion hidden in sublayers of thick sections of airframes, such as wing boxes. A superconductive probe uses a superconductive quantum interference device (SQUID) to achieve unmatched sensitivity and resolution of magnetic flux at frequencies below 100 Hz. It enables deep penetration of aluminum structure. Pulsed eddy currents, at repetition rates below 100 Hz, can provide images of fatigue cracks and corrosion hidden deeply in an airframe from a single scan across a fastener diameter. Pulsed currents enable timing a return to identify depth of a defect and to generate an image from multiple returns. They can give images of defects in a cross section of a structure.

To realize the promise of superconducting probes operating with pulsed eddy currents,
Phase I develops signal processing algorithms to demonstrate feasibility of achieving high resolution images of small defects hidden deeply in multilayered structure.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Successful completion of the proposed research leads to meeting a primary technical need for maintaining structural integrity and continued airworthiness of aging aircraft. Superconductive probes would give reliable images of cracks and corrosion hidden in sublayers of airframes, reducing the need to tear apart a structure for inspection. The probes and methods would find pervasive use in the maintenance of aircraft, offering savings in maintenance costs and enhancing aircraft safety.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Walter Podney
SQM Technology, Inc.
6865 Flanders Drive, Suite C
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2949

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
SQM Technology, Inc.
6865 Flanders Drive, Suite C
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2949

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.05-8163 (Chron: 001838 )
PROJECT TITLE
Detection of Corrosion Under Space Shuttle Tiles

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This project will develop a practical, nondestructive inspection technique for the detection of corrosion hidden under the reusable surface insulation tiles found in thermal protection systems. This technique is based on an innovative use of x-ray interactions to discriminate low levels of corrosion from airframe structural materials, such as magnesium, aluminum, and titanium alloys. A second innovation in detection greatly speeds up the measurement and reduces the cost. This results in an accurate measurement of low level corrosion at rates approaching a few seconds point. Phase I will empirically demonstrate the sensitivity and throughput using a breadboard instrument and realistic thermal protection system configurations. Phase II will develop a prototype of the instrument and demonstrate the ability to inspect large areas for hidden corrosion.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
This project is targeted to meet the needs of NASA and direct opportunities exist to support the Orbiter program as well as the development underway in the X33 and X38 programs. Significant opportunities for the technique exist within commercial and military aviation for the detection of corrosion in aging aircraft.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Jerel Smith
ARACOR
425 lakeside Dr.
Sunnyvale , CA 94086 - 4701

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
ARACOR
425 Lakeside Dr.
Sunnyvale , CA 94086 - 4701

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.05-8325 (Chron: 001676 )
PROJECT TITLE
Fiber Optic Non-Destructive Evaluation Systems for In-Flight Health Monitoring

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Health management technologies are being developed for both current and future aircraft to detect and accommodate cracks and damage to the airframe structure and other aircraft components. Non-destructive evaluation (NDE) systems have been successfully demonstrated in numerous terrestrial applications but have not migrated to flight environments due to the prohibitive cost, size, weight and durability of the conditioning electronics, cable plant, and sensors. However, optical fiber sensors are rapidly emerging as viable alternatives to conventional NDE systems as effective means of detecting and quantifying acoustic emission (AE). Compared to traditional piezoelectric-based sensors, optical fiber sensors offer much smaller size, reduced weight, ability to operate at temperatures up to 2000°C, immunity to electromagnetic interference, resistance to corrosive environments, inherent safety within flammable environments, and the ability to multiplex multiple sensors on a single fiber.

The effort of this program is to further develop fiber optic AE sensors for in-flight health monitoring on both military and commercial aircraft. The areas of proposed activities include 1) developing fiber optic AE sensors specifically for flight application, 2) producing commercially available flight qualified sensors, cable plant and conditioning electronics and 3) developing data integration components to reduce the AE data into a usable form.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed effort will result in a commercially available fiber optic NDE system for use in any harsh environment application. Several commercial partners have expressed interest in such a system for integration in both military and commercial aircraft systems. Such a system will also find immediate application in down-hole monitoring, cryogenic systems, power distribution monitoring, and.space-based systems.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Scott A. Meller
Luna Innovations Incorporated
2851 Commerce Street
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6657

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Luna Innovations Incorporated
2851 Commerce Street
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6657

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 02.01-7891 (Chron: 002110 )
PROJECT TITLE
Principal Components for Structural Acoustics Analysis

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed innovation is a new computational and analytical structural acoustic technique for aircraft interior noise prediction. Its innovative quality resides in the unifying theory by which conventional finite element analysis (FEA) and statistical energy analysis (SEA) are related through the use of Principal Components (PC) analysis. This "linking" of FEA and SEA methods provides the ability to predict structural acoustic response in the so-called "mid-frequency range" where neither conventional FEA nor SEA approaches have given satisfactory results. FEA produces classical frequency-ordered modes that typically fail to correlate with test modes in this range. Analytical SEA fails when modal density is low. Experimental SEA is also problematic whenever poorly conditioned energy matrices must be inverted to obtain coupling and loss coefficients. The new technique involves combining FEA for finely meshed finite element models with PC analysis to derive energy-ordered "modes" i.e. principal components, for the coupled structural and acoustic components. These "energy modes" not only facilitate analysis-test correlation, but also provide a means for rigorous statistical quantification of modeling uncertainty and predictive accuracy. The new PC/SEA modeling approach is expected to significantly improve the accuracy of aircraft interior noise prediction.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The PC/SEA methods developed under the proposed project have potential applications to all mid-frequency vibro-acoustics problems including aircraft interior noise prediction and suppression, ship's quieting, automobile interior acoustics, and launch vehicle-induced environments. ACTA is pursuing com-mercialization of software developed under other Phase II contracts. One project integrates ACTA's algorithms with a commercial FEA code. The other is developing a standalone, third party toolbox for use with a general purpose, commercial mathematics package. A strategy for commercialization of PC/SEA software based on integration with commercial FEA and SEA codes, and/or third party software will be formulated in Phase I.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Timothy Hasselman
ACTA Inc.
2790 Skypark Dr., Ste. 310
Torrance , CA 90505 - 5345

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
ACTA Inc
2790 Skypark Dr., Suite 310
Torrance , CA 90505 - 5345

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 02.01-8355 (Chron: 001646 )
PROJECT TITLE
Nonlinear Time Domain Boundary Conditions from Liner Response Data

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Effective suppression of jet engine noise by inlet and exhaust duct liners continues to be an important part of producing environmentally acceptable aircraft. Because methods for transfer of frequency-domain impedance data to time-domain boundary conditions are still under development, Computational Aeroacoustics (CAA) has yet to be used widely either to design new liners or predict pre-installation performance of existing ones. In addition, the methods that do currently exist are not easily extended to cover finite amplitude effects, whether they are due to high sound pressure levels or liner material nonlinearities. Nielsen Engineering and Research proposes to fill this need for a general, nonlinear, time-domain liner characterization scheme by novel application of Volterra (integral) series methods. Applying this modeling technique to data from a given liner results in forced, time-domain, differential equations for liner velocity response to an imposed acoustic pressure. The differential equations can be linear or nonlinear, and are generated using either existing frequency-domain impedance data or new time-domain acoustic pulse experiments. Once in existence, the equations can be discretized in any fashion consistent with the CAA calculation where they are used.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
>From this work NEAR envisions production of a software system centered around the VIP application that can be fed either time history or impedance data from liner measurements and then generates the particular differential equation that characterizes that liner's velocity response to pressure. This technique enables off-line liner design, optimization, and testing,
with consequent savings to the jet engine manufacturers. Use of this characterization technology outside acoustics could revive use of simple, lumped-element, engineering models by eliminating the often restrictive assumptions associated with them. The ability to generate an approximate differential equation description of complex systems from data is a substantial accomplishment in that direction. Thus NEAR envisions a broader market for this characterization software in the simulation arena.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Laurence Keefe
Nielsen Engineering & Research
526 Clyde Avenue
Mountain View , CA 94043 - 2212

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Nielsen Engineering & Research, Inc.
526 Clyde Avenue
Mountain View , CA 94043 - 2212

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 02.02-8547 (Chron: 001454 )
PROJECT TITLE
Reduction of Aft Fan Radiation Using Herschel-Quincke Resonators

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Technology in Blacksburg and the Vibration and Acoustics Laboratories at Virginia Tech propose using hybrid Herschel-Quincke (HQ) resonators as a method to control aft fan noise radiated from turbofan engines. The noise control mechanism of the HQ tube system is as follows: as noise propagates through a duct past the entrance of a HQ resonator, some of the acoustic energy enters the HQ resonator while the remaining acoustic energy propagates down the duct. The sound waves in the resonator recombine with the duct acoustic waves at the tube exit. The fact that the waves in the HQ resonator travel a distance different than those in the duct results in a phase shift between the resonator and duct waves. Noise attenuation occurs at frequencies for which the recombining HQ resonator and duct waves are out of phase. Classical HQ resonators are passive devices with no moving parts whose noise attenuation characteristics are functions of the resonator?s length and cross-sectional area. For fan noise control applications the geometry of the HQ resonators are optimized to attenuate frequency at the blade passing frequency. Hybrid HQ resonators could be developed with variable geometry and used in conjunction with adaptive control to optimize their effectiveness over a wide range of engine operating conditions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The technology proposed here has potential for commercialization among engine makers for both future engines and retrofits to existing engines. As regulations continue to become stricter, an increasing number of engines will be forced out of service prematurely if they are not capable of meeting the new restrictions. Consequently, a huge market exists for retrofit technology that will allow these engines to meet future regulations. The consensus among the industry sponsors is that HQ resonator technology could be an attractive augmentation of traditional absorptive linings because of its simplicity compared to active control alternatives. Furthermore, HQ resonators will have minimal effect on engine performance as compared to existing hush kits.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Jonathan Fleming
Technology in Blacksburg, Inc
1861 Pratt Drive; Suite 2040
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6371

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Technology in Blacksburg, Inc
1861 Pratt Drive; Suite 2040
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6371

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 02.02-8624 (Chron: 001377 )
PROJECT TITLE
Turbulence Framework for Jet Noise Prediction and Reduction

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The innovation proposed is the construction of a unified nonlinear turbulence model for use in jet noise studies that will operate in an invariant manner (fixed coefficients/correction terms), and will provide reliable mean flow and anisotropic stresses predictions for a broad range of jet conditions. Model construction will be based on extensions to an operational explicit algebraic stress model (EASM) framework that includes anisotropic dissipation, compressibility, and vortex-stretching extensions, and is supplemented by additional scalar fluctuation and dissipation rate equations used to locally evaluate turbulent Prandtl and Schmidt numbers. CRAFT Tech will be supported by Seiner and coworkers at U. Miss who will obtain 3D PIV data for Mach .85 and 1.5 cold and hot jets to support model calibration. Acoustics data will also be obtained in this effort, and simulations performed via coupling the CFD solution with an acoustics analogy noise code (such as MGB) will be compared with this data. In Phase II, the model will be extended to more complex 3D propulsive jets that include varied mixing enhancement devices. In addition, propulsive interfacing and aerodynamic interactions will be addressed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The primary commercial application of this advanced turbulence framework relates directly to the support work and software licensing we now perform for prime contractors (Lockheed, Pratt, ?) relevant to the design assessment of mixing enhancement devices for IR signature reduction. We are presently supporting work related to the C-130, the F-18 and the F-22 where we are performing design assessment simulations and training personnel in the operation of a specialized aircraft/rotorcraft unstructured grid end-to-end code. Inclusion of this advanced turbulence framework into this code will greatly enhance our simulation capabilities and will permit us to also support commercial aircraft efforts related to assessment of noise reduction concepts via coupling our solutions with noise codes such as MGB. Other opportunities reside in the turbomachinery community where RANS turbulence modeling with advanced heat transfer and nonlinear strain capabilities is presently deficient.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Donald C. Kenzakowski, Jr.
Combustion Research and Flow Technology, Inc.
174 North Main Street, P.O. Box 1150
Dublin , PA 18917 - 2108

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Combustion Research and Flow Technology,
174 North Main Street, P.O. Box 1150
Dublin , PA 18917 - 2108

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 02.02-9579 (Chron: 000422 )
PROJECT TITLE
Active Control of Fan Noise Using Distributed Phased Pulsed Flows

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A program for the development of an active pulsed flow noise control solution for turbomachinery noise caused by rotor wake interactions with stators is proposed. The system utilizes an array of pulsed jet flows near the leading edges of several stator blades to generate volume velocity sources to counter the fluctuating lift dipole sources caused by the wake-stator interaction. By placing the acoustic canceling sources adjacent to the location of the dipole sources rather than on the inner surface of the nacelles, better more efficient control of particularly the higher order radial modes can be achieved. Other advantages of the proposed noise canceling method are its extremely small size and light weight for producing a given sound power level. Lastly, the proposed system uses very small amounts of air available from the compressor and requires practically no electrical power, thus the heat generated and the weight required by conventional sound sources are largely eliminated. Initial laboratory tests indicate that this concept has the potential to meet and exceed the 115 to 120 dB re 1 pW sound power level that appears to be required from the work of previous investigators.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
This proposed noise reduction concept will have application to both commercial and military aircraft to reduce their noise impact on community residents, aircraft passengers and crew and render military aircraft less detectable and classifiable. The development and application of this technology will support NASA's intention "to provide enabling technologies to reduce the perceived noise levels of future aircraft by a factor of two (10 EPNDB) from 1997 technology by 2007and a factor of 4 (20 EPNDB) by 2022." The ability of this technique to provide the higher than currently available acoustic source levels with a robust system will allow the development of more capable noise reduction systems based in part on theoretical work that has been demonstrated to have great benefit for silencing quieter simulated sources in the laboratory.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Fred R. Kern
Physical Sciences Inc.
20 New England Business Center
Andover , MA 01810 - 1077

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Physical Sciences Inc.
20 New England Business Center
Andover , MA 01810 - 1077

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 02.02-9928 (Chron: 000073 )
PROJECT TITLE
Particle Sizer for Measurement of Engine Emissions

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Current instruments for monitoring particulate matter (PM) are inadequate in their ability to determine aerosol size or size distributions. Operation of existing systems requires a good understanding of sensor design. For example, variations in ambient conditions may necessitate either new calibration or measurements to be computationally corrected to ensure accurate particle size determination. This required level of expertise limits wide deployment of existing systems. As a result, NAL Research Corporation proposes the development of a portable real-time aerosol-sizer based on a pair of miniature laser-Doppler velocimeters (LDVs) designed with diode lasers and avalanche photodiodes. Particle aerodynamic diameter can be directly obtained from the measured velocity gradient. The use of miniature LDVs enables the proposed instrument to be simple, compact and lightweight. Furthermore, the sensor will not need calibration contrary to the time-of-flight (TOF) aerodynamic particle sizer (APS). Minimal technical competence will be expected for operation in a wide variety of conditions for emissions characterization and monitoring. These factors combine to ensure the system is inexpensive.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
NAL Research anticipates significant opportunities related to EPA mandated aerosol characterization and monitoring efforts. As directed by the National Research Council, characterization of emissions from stationary and mobile sources over the next decade will provide significant commercial markets for the inexpensive and accurate sensor herein proposed. According to the EPA monitoring regulations set forth in 40 CFR 58, particulate matter monitoring will be required in large metropolitan areas and many community-oriented sites across the United States. Furthermore, the EPA and OSHA organizations regulate air quality within and around closed and open pit mines. Mining operations exist throughout the United States and around the world. Mines tend to be large, complex sites wherein multitudes of sensors may be needed for adequate monitoring. This represents a potentially large commercialization opportunity worldwide. The medical community is another important market for the proposed particle sizer. Aerosol sizing is important component of toxicological studies of effects of aerosols on life, including humans. Monitoring of indoor air quality as part of study of sick building phenomenon requires improved understanding of PM, both natural and anthropogenic. These and other aspects of ongoing research in the medical community represent significant commercialization opportunities for the proposed particle sizer.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ngoc Hoang
NAL Research Corporation
8708 Sudley Road
Manassas , VA 20110 - 4405

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
NAL Research Corporation
8708 Sudley Road
Manassas , VA 20110 - 4405

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.01-8271 (Chron: 001730 )
PROJECT TITLE
MagLev Launch Propulsion for LoFLYTE® Waverider Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Accurate Automation, teamed with PRT Advanced Maglev Systems, will work together to perform flight test experiments for launching the LoFLYTE® UAV from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s 100-foot outdoor Maglev track. The goal of the Phase I program is to lay the foundation for a Phase II flight test program that will demonstrate the use of the Maglev track to launch a hypersonic configuration UAV. To achieve this goal we will prepare detailed designs for modifications to the LoFLYTE® aircraft to mate it with the release mechanism designed by PRT Advanced Maglev Systems. The successful completion of this flight test program will set the stage for the incorporation of Maglev launch systems for both high-speed aircraft and next-generation Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV) with the goal of reducing gross takeoff weight, thereby drastically reducing the cost of launching payloads into space.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The obvious commercialization of this technology is to U.S. Government applications, but the non-Government commercial potential is also vast. We anticipate Government Phase III customers for the product, primarily DoD, NASA and/or their prime contractors. We also will market the system to the civilian UAV industry. The Phase II follow-on to the proposed program will be an actual flight test program of the LoFLYTE® UAV being launched from the NASA Marshall Maglev track. The ultimate Phase III commercialization will be the incorporation of this technology into a real launch vehicle or high speed aircraft with the goal of reducing gross takeoff weight.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Christopher S. Gibson
Accurate Automation Corporation
7001 Shallowford Road
Chattanooga , TN 37421 - 1716

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Accurate Automation Corporation
7001 Shallowford Road
Chattanooga , TN 37421 - 1716

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.01-8467 (Chron: 001534 )
PROJECT TITLE
Thermo-Mechanical Analysis for an Integrated Turbopump Design System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Integrating cost and time effective analysis of turbopump steady state and transient thermo-mechanical effects into the preliminary and final design process is the overall goal. Automating the thermo-mechanical analysis process is the proposed innovation. Integrating the new methodology within an existing multi-discplinary turbopump design system (owned by NASA and select turbopump manufacturers) is the primary commercialization path. The subtopic calls for advancements in the area of integrated multi-disciplinary design and analysis systems for important vehicle subsystems such as turbopumps. As detailed later in this proposal, the offered approach meets the topic goal of lowering design, development, and vehicle subsystem production costs by developing advanced and innovative technology. The integrated thermo-mechanical analysis capability is required by turbopump designers in order to support low cost turbopump development for Second Generation RLVs and other applications. Turbopump requirements include better performance and reliability, lower product cost, reduced size and weight, and improvements in product development cycle time. More efficiently and effectively analyzing turbopump system thermal and transient response may be the most challenging aspect of turbopump design and integration into the propulsion system. The proposed work also has tremendous dual use potential for designers of industrial turbomachinery products.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
In addition to turbopump applications, integrated thermo-mechanical analysis is important to the proposer?s design software users in the marine, locomotive, and automotive turbocharger market who deal with severe temperature differentials between the low temperature compressor and high temperature turbine. Small gas turbine engines also experience thermal transients when the compressor and turbine are mounted on a common shaft. This rotor configuration is common in auxiliary power unit, turboalternator and helicopter applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Michael J. Platt
Concepts ETI, Inc.
217 Billings Farm Road
White River Jct , VT 05001 - 9486

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Concepts ETI, Inc.
217 Billings Farm Road
White River Jct , VT 05001 - 9486

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.01-8696 (Chron: 001305 )
PROJECT TITLE
Reconfigurable Guidance for Energy Management of Hypersonic Vehicles

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The flight envelope for X-34 ranges from subsonic to hypersonic with altitudes up to 50 miles. Designing a guidance law that performs across this broad flight envelope presents several challenges. Robustness to uncertain aerodynamics is of paramount importance because of the sparse amount of wind tunnel and flight test data that exists for reusable launch vehicles at hypersonic Mach numbers. The need to compensate for potential control surface failures imposes additional guidance requirements. Barron Associates, Inc. (BAI) has teamed with Orbital Sciences Corporation to develop control and guidance systems that can reconfigure in real time to significantly increase the reliability of reusable launch vehicles. An innovative modular architecture, presently under development, will be used to reshape trajectories on-line. We believe that leveraging this concurrent effort is a main strength of the proposal. The approach autonomously identifies the closed-inner-loop dynamics and adapts the guidance for off-nominal performance. In Phase I, a modification of the existing X-34 energy management approach will be investigated. A more formal optimization technique developed and matured by BAI will also be considered. Studies will focus on aerodynamic uncertainties and control failures that primarily affect lateral-directional maneuvering capabilities, which are critical in managing vehicle energy for unpowered descent.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Phase I, II, and III efforts will mature the components of the reconfigurable guidance system, culminating in hardware bench demonstrations and Phase II or III flight tests. Commercialization will consist of (a) providing expertise and consulting to industry in the area of reconfigurable launch vehicle guidance and control, (b) developing software toolkits that aid design of autonomous reconfigurable control and guidance systems that directly benefit hypersonic RLV and other aerospace programs, and (c) transitioning the technology to existing customers and new control application areas. Design and development of reconfigurable or adaptive guidance systems is rapidly becoming a significant portion of BAI?s business, and the techniques developed in this program will help BAI continue a leadership role in this field.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
John D. Schierman
Barron Associates, Inc.
1160 Pepsi Place, Suite 300
Charlottesville , VA 22901 - 0807

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Barron Associates, Inc.
1160 Pepsi Place, Suite 300
Charlottesville , VA 22901 - 0807

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.01-8901 (Chron: 001100 )
PROJECT TITLE
Innovative Thermal Protection System Approach to Reduce Parasitic Structures

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
An opportunity exists to combine the structural elements of advanced launch vehicles with their thermal protection system (TPS) to create an integrated system, free of parasitic stand-offs and supports. An attractive approach, based on the marriage of two exciting technologies: continuously-brazed aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) and thermally-insulating carbon foam, can result in a more weight efficient structure in keeping with NASA's goals to reduce payload-to-orbit costs by orders of magnitude. In the proposed effort, the two materials technologies, developed independently under previous DoD and NASA SBIR efforts, will be demonstrated and tested as a combined system. The insulating carbon foam will be augmented with oxidation inhibitors, plasma sprayed with aluminum, and brazed onto continuously-wound and brazed AMC structures (e.g., tubes or panels). The foam may also be protected at the surface by inconel or Ti-Al sprayed layers or foils to create an oxidation resistant, structural, and weight-efficient TPS. The performance of such constructions will be evaluated by a variety of thermal and mechanical tests to simulate the reentry environment and to quantify its weight and structural benefits over existing TPS.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Integrated, lightweight firewall insulation and body panels in aircraft,
spacecraft, automobiles, trains and other transportation vehicles.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Darren K. Rogers, Ph.D.
Touchstone Research Labortory, Ltd.
The Millennium Centre, R.D. 1, Box 100B
Triadelphia , WV 26059 - 9801

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Touchstone Research Laboratory, Ltd.
The Millennium Centre, R.D. 1, Box 100B
Triadelphia , WV 26059 - 9801

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.01-9602 (Chron: 000399 )
PROJECT TITLE
Cool-Wall Vortex Combustion Chamber (CWVCC)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
ORBITEC proposes to develop an innovative, cool-wall rocket engine combustion chamber that confines propellant mixing and burning to the inner region of a coaxial vortex flow field. The outer region of the flow field prevents the hot combustion products from contacting the wall. Though the chamber walls are subject to radiant heat transfer, one of the propellants provides effective wall cooling to prevent thermal degradation of the chamber. The Cool-Wall Vortex Combustion Chamber (CWVCC) offers several advantages over conventional liquid rocket engine designs. Avoiding severe thermal cycling of the chamber will extend chamber lifetime and allow for simple, lightweight, low-cost chamber designs. The vortex acts as an effective flame holder and may prevent combustion instability. The spinning vortices also provide an extended flow path much longer than the geometric length of the chamber. The chamber length may thus be reduced for a
significant weight savings. The enhanced shear mixing should produce high combustion efficiencies. Engines featuring this technology should offer high reusability, high performance, long life, and low cost. Phase I will include numerical flow field analysis, lab-scale engine design, fabrication, parametric hot-fire testing using oxygen and hydrogen, data analysis, and large-scale preliminary engine designs for Phase II.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The ultimate goal of this technology is aimed at improving liquid rocket and RBCC engine heat transfer capability, lifetime, reusability, and thrust-to-weight ratio. Simplifying engine manufacture and lowering operational costs represent further benefits. Second and third generation launch vehicles will benefit from these improvements. The end product of the overall research and development program will have application to sounding rockets, single-stage-to-orbit vehicles, and other reusable and expendable launch vehicles and upper stages for Earth orbit and planetary ascent and descent applications. The advantages of the CWVCC may also make it an attractive technology for combined-cycle vehicles, hypersonic space planes, and airbreathing engines such as ramjets and rocket ejectors. Near-term military applications include: high-speed and/or high altitude target drones, cruise missile propulsion, interceptors, and forward observation craft propulsion. In addition to these applications, this new type of vortex combustion may have significant industrial benefits. For example, many classes of air-fired combustors can use the CWVCC technology for improved combustion efficiency, extended lifetime, and potentially reduced emissions.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Martin Chiaverini
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.01-9775 (Chron: 000226 )
PROJECT TITLE
Analysis Tool For Launch-Induced Forcing Functions On Spacecraft Surfaces

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed innovative analysis tool is driven by the need to integrate both analytical and experimental techniques when performing an experiment of spacecraft launch. When available, this tool provides an acoustic engineer access to both the experimental data being measured and analytical predictions that are derived from empirical models and a database. Thus, the proposed tool takes advantage of an existing database that includes pertinent extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) data. As data are being recorded, the tool generates acoustic spectra at locations that are not part of the experimental setup to provide in-situ prediction. Furthermore, this high-level analysis tool improves the quality of the experimental data by detecting potential problems as the data is being taken; hence, the engineer can intervene in the process to eliminate anomalies or improve results. The analytical prediction tool, once calibrated, can be used to predict acoustic spectra during launch at various locations on and around the spacecraft. These acoustic load predictions can then be used for structural dynamic analysis. The proposed tool incorporates several input parameters that an analyst can change to simulate or eliminate perturbations in the experimental conditions. This flexibility helps determine the sensitivity of the measured experimental results to various parameters.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Once this method has been developed, coded, and tested, it has strong commercial potential. Broad marketability arises from the fact that this method provides both spacecraft and aircraft designers a highly useful tool to analyze acoustic data in real time and provide loads for structural analysis early in the design phase for a new vehicle. The method will be made available as a functional accessory module to an existing analysis product that evolved from earlier NASA SBIR work. This product, PC-SIGNAL?, has just become available for users. The commercial version of the new module will feature an extensive graphic user interface to enable users to apply it with minimum training and obtain results. The proposed module fills a long standing spacecraft/aircraft engineering void. Heretofore, surface acoustic forcing functions were hard to synthesize because no combination of analysis techniques and test data integration was available for this purpose.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Wade Dorland
AI Signal Research, Inc.
3411 Triana Blvd
Huntsville , AL 35805 - 4641

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
AI Signal Research, Inc.
3411 Triana Blvd.
Huntsville , AL 35805 - 4641

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.02-8001 (Chron: 002000 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Proton Collimator for IEC Fusion Propulsion

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed research will study and develop an efficient method for directed energy extraction from an Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) fusion plant, enabling efficient space propulsion. The concept proposed would collect and collimate the high-energy fusion ions from the IEC using a unique system of magnetic fields. This beam of high-energy particles could be coupled to a direct energy converter ro produce electrical output, or be focused onto a target, directly forming a plasma exhaust. To enable early laboratory studies of the concept, an experiment is proposed using electrons to simulate fusion products, e.g. 14-MeV protons from D-He3 fusion. The approach proposed is to design an initial experimental collimator during Phase I. This experiment would utilize a low energy electron gun source to simulate fusion products. This Phase I design study would serve as the basis for the construction and testing of the electron collimator during Phase II. It is estimated that such an experiment could be done with a small fraction of the money required to build the full-scale proton collimator. Yet it would firmly establish the physics and engineering necessary to build an integrated IEC-proton collimator in Phase III.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The primary commercial application for this invention would be advanced spacecraft propulsion. Both operation modes considered are useful: the evaporating target thruster can give significant thrust to a spaceship, while the direct energy converter version can be used for generation of electricity for other type of thruster or other systems within the spacecraft. Direct exhaust of protons can also be considered as a possible thrust alternative for high-impulse low-thrust spacecraft.

The high-energy proton collimator can also find commercial market in all the applications that currently require particle accelerators. Among this numerous applications, the following can be mentioned:
· Manufacture of medical isotopes
· Proton-based radiotherapies
· Material characterization techniques (RBS, PIXE)
· Industrial applications
· Spallation sources
· Radioactive waste transmutation and elimination

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Hiromu Momota
NPL Associates
912 W. Armory
Champaign , IL 61821 - 4537

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
NPL Associates
912 W. Armory Ave
Champaign , IL 61821 - 4537

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.02-8064 (Chron: 001937 )
PROJECT TITLE
Carbon-based Mars ISRU Rocket Technology (CMIRT)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The innovation is a unique Carbon-based Mars ISRU Rocket Technology (CMIRT) that can greatly reduce vehicle size, complexity, support systems, and Earth launch mass requirements for a variety of human and robotic Mars missions, where propulsion systems use propellants from indigenous materials on Mars. CMIRT propellants are simply derived from the CO2 or H2O in the Mars atmosphere or from H2O found in the Mars soil or subsurface. The CMIRT innova-tion consists of efficiently packaged solid carbon-based fuel (with various percentages of hydrogen)/liquid oxygen inte-grated into ORBITEC's cryogenic hybrid with a vortex feed system. The ISRU-based propellant family and the unique vortex-fed hybrid propulsion system approach proposed here has many advantages over other Earth-derived propellants and conventional propulsion systems. ORBITEC's experience and capability in advanced propulsion and ISRU sys-tems will allow much to be accomplished during the Phase I effort. During Phase, I ORBITEC proposes to: (1) conduct test firings in the ORBITEC Mark II hybrid engine to measure regression rates of the carbon-based propellants, (2) de-sign the vortex advanced cryogenic hybrid engine that will integrate into the MarkII system, (3) construct/fabricate and test the vortex advanced cryogenic hybrid engine, (4) conduct test firings in the vortex engine, and (5) analyze test firing results and recommend Phase II propellant selection and flexible propulsion systems that can use many of the carbon-based fuels with oxygen. Phase II will result in the final designs, construction, parametric testing, and larger-scale test firings of selected CMIRT propellant systems.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The results of this effort are applicable to future NASA Solar System unmanned and manned exploration missions to Mars. This activity is a part of NASA's overall strategic plan. Totally Mars-produced fuels and oxidizers will enhance and/or enable a variety of Mars exploration missions by providing a very cost-effective supply of propellants. The unique hardware proposed will also provide a low-cost and efficient/simple approach to reusable rocket propulsion on Mars. The establishment of practical feasibility could absolutely result in significant savings to our exploration pro-grams. These engines could be used for efficient planetary ascent/descent, orbit transfer, launch boost, intercept, etc. The storage aspects could lead to developments in lunar, Mars-based or on-orbit cryogenic fluid storage applications. This propellant/propulsion concept can meet the requirements of a number of manned and robotic ISRU Mars missions, especially a sample return mission. The proposed project could spinoff into revolutionary high-performance, low-cost, advanced cryogenic engines, of various sizes, that could significantly enhance a wide variety of Earth-based military and civil space missions and enable others.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Eric E. Rice
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.02-8657 (Chron: 001344 )
PROJECT TITLE
Alchemist - An Enabling Technology for Low Cost Access to Space

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Alchemist system we are proposing is a combined-cycle system which reduces Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) liftoff weights by a factor of four relative to all-rocket systems. This reduces the weight of major elements (e.g. Jet engines, wing, and landing gear)by 60%, and allows us the margin to use the same principles and advantages commercial airplanes use to achieve very safe operations and low operating costs. Using Alchemist, a completely reusable RLV, weighing less than a 777 at takeoff, can operate out of existing commercial airport facilities and deliver the same usable payload to the International Space Station as the Space Shuttle . Turbofan engines are an integral partof the Alchemist system, providing not only takeoff, climb, and cruise propulsion, but all-envelope intact-abort capability, plus ferry capability. With the turbofans on board we have single-fault tolerance against catastrophic failure on all flight critical systems including main propulsion. Single-fault tolerance on all systems provides the operational breakthrough necessary to transition from artillery-like to airplane-like launch systems. Our calculations show that an RLV designed to take full advantage of Alchemist has less than a 1/10,000 chance of loss-of-vehicle and operating costs of $500/kilogram to LEO.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Exploration and commercialization of space requires safe, reliable, low-cost access to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). We are fifty years into the space age and the cost to put a kilogram in orbit, in current year dollars, hasn't decreased since Apollo in the early sixties. Compare that to airplane transportation where the cost to fly a kilogram from New York to Tokyo has decreased by a factor of four in current year dollars over the same time period. The Alchemist system we are proposing is a combined-cycle system which allows Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs) to use the same principles and advantages commercial airplanes use to achieve very safe operations and low operating costs. Using Alchemist, a properly designed RLV can: operate out of existing airport facilities, maintain fault-tolerance on all critical systems including main propulsion, carry full airplane-like design and safety margins, and still be small and light enough to be affordable from a development cost standpoint. Alchemist provides the margin to allow the RLV designer to design for safety, reliability, and low maintenance instead of performance. Our calculations show that an RLV with Alchemist has less than a 1/10,000 chance of loss-of-vehicle and operating costs of $500/kilogram to LEO.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Steven White
Andrews Space & Technology
525 S. douglas, Suite 210
El Segundo , CA 90245 - 4827

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Andrews Space & Technology
525 S. Douglas , Suite 210
El Segundo , CA 90245 - 4827

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.02-8730 (Chron: 001271 )
PROJECT TITLE
Carbon dioxide Oxidizer Rocket

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Carbon dioxide Oxidizer Rocket (COR) is a novel propulsion system concept that can enable global mobility for Mars exploration. In this concept a fuel, such as B2H6, B5H9, SiH4, LiBH4, Al(BH4)3, H2, Mg, NH3 or N2H4 is transported to Mars and burned in the COR engine using native Martian CO2 as the oxidizer. Specific impulses for these propellant combinations range from 200 to 320 s. Because the majority of the propellant mass is CO2, which can be replenished from Martian air with a simple pump, the effective specific impulse of the fuel transported from Earth can exceed 1600 s. The COR could be used to power a Mars hopper vehicle, which replenishes itself with CO2 oxidizer each times it lands, allowing one Mars mission to explore a large number of widely dispersed sites. COR rockets could also be used to support NASA's planned Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission by eliminating the need to transport to Mars most of the propellant needed by the Mars ascent vehicle. As a result the MSR mission could both reduce the size of its required launch vehicle and increase the sample size returned to Earth, greatly increasing mission cost-effectiveness.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The primary application of the COR system is to enable Mars global mobility systems and to greatly increase the cost effectiveness of NASA's planned Mars Sample Return mission. However, other commercial applications potential of the COR are important and manifest. CO2 is a safe, non-cryogenic, non-toxic oxidizer. If rocket engines can be developed employing it, they will find broad application for use in space storable upper stages, sounding rockets, and easy to integrate satellite RCS systems. Current spacecraft RCS systems employ hydrazine, which is dangerous, toxic, explosive, expensive to integrate into a spacecraft, and low-performing (220 s Isp). COR rockets would be a cheap, safe, easy-to-integrate space storable alternative with superior performance. COR propulsion for sounding rockets for use in the university environment are particularly attractive, as alternative oxidizers in current use are either cryogenic (LOX) or toxic (NTO) or explosive (H2O2), all of which faults are of significant concern to educators who desire student involvement in sounding rocket launch or related propulsion projects.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Robert Zubrin
Pioneer Astronautics
11111 W. 8th Avenue, Unit A
Lakewood , CO 80215 - 5516

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Pioneer Astronautics
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood , CO 80215 - 5516

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.02-9425 (Chron: 000576 )
PROJECT TITLE
Gelled LH2/UFAL/LOX Propellant System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
ORBITEC proposes to use ultra-fine aluminum powder (UFAL) to develop a gelled LH2 fuel and LOX propellant system. This innovation will increase the performance and density of LH2/LOX and the combustion efficiency of LH2/Al/LOX for use in rockets and combined-cycle vehicles. Lighter, higher-performing vehicles will result. Project objectives include development of a subscale rocket engine with which to test LH2/UFAL/LOX over a range of operating conditions, analysis and correlation of experimental data, and preliminary design of larger rocket and ramjet engines for Phase II. In Phase I, a prototype rocket will be test fired. In Phase II, a larger rocket engine will be developed and tested and a prototype ramjet engine will be tested to validate the performance of LH2/UFAL with air for combined-cycle vehicles. It is anticipated that the test results will show high specific impulse, high combustion efficiency, and improved propellant density. NASA applications include planetary propulsion, sounding rockets, various types of launch vehicles, space engines for near-Earth and interplanetary missions, and combined-cycle vehicle engines.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The use of UFAL (ultra-fine aluminum powder) in gelled LH2 can have a significant impact on launch vehicle technology, orbit transfer vehicles, planetary missions, military interceptor applications, and combined-cycle engine performance. UFAL will increase both performance and propellant density, allow reductions in tank size, and construction of lighter, high-performance vehicles. The ultimate goal of this technology is aimed at single-stage-to-orbit vehicles and reusable launch vehicles that use combined-cycle propulsion. The LH2/UFAL/LOX propellant is ideally suited for this application due to its high energy density and high combustion efficiency. LH2/UFAL/LOX could potentially service a combined-cycle vehicle during all stages of flight. Other near-term uses include planetary propulsion, sounding rockets, and small, ramjet powered aerial vehicles, such as RPV's for observation and communication applications. Military applications include: high-speed and/or high-altitude target drones, cruise missile propulsion, interceptors, and forward observation craft propulsion. Industry, NASA, the DOD, DOE, and DOT, may all benefit from this innovation.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.02-9613 (Chron: 000388 )
PROJECT TITLE
External Pulsed Plasma Propulsion for Interstellar Probes

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose to evaluate external pulsed plasma propulsion for unmanned interstellar exploration. The concept rests on three quantitative observations: (1) the ORION concept is capable of achieving exceedingly-high specific impulse; (2) the unfueled weight of the spacecraft is greatly reduced by eliminating the springs and shock absorbers, originally intended to mitigate g-loading on astronauts, but less necessary for the rugged instrumentation packages alone; and (3) the external plasma pulse spacecraft could be staged to attain velocities that would permit it to cross interstellar space on humanly compatible time scales.

The technical objectives are: (1) to assess the pusher-plate, spring, and shock absorber technology for appropriate trade-offs between impulsive g-loading and the total unfueled weight of the spacecraft; (2) to assess the gain in specific impulse achievable with directed energy pulse units; (3) to explore the limits and trade-offs of staging as a means to achieve exceedingly high velocities; (4) to calculate realistic scenarios for interstellar missions, including the relative resource requirements and relative costs; and (5) to objectively compare the merits of external pulsed plasma propulsion for interstellar probes with other means of propulsion, such as, ion beam beams, fission fragment ejection, Earth-based laser ablation, Earth-based microwave radiation-pressure, etc.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The concept entails development of advanced materials, composites, and microstructures to enhance the lifetime of the pusher plate. These will provide impetus for commercial applications requiring very strong materials that are also resistant to pulses of thermal radiation. New light-weight and high-strength materials will be developed, such as: (1) arrays of bucky tubes; (2) solid-state extruded aligned polyethylenes and other types of aligned polymers; and (3) bucky tubes or polymers with cross links to provide two-dimensional strength.

The research effort will incorporate an assessment of instrumentation that is tolerant of high acceleration, whose development will have a broad range of commercial application, e.g., instruments placed close to explosives, instruments in high vibration environments, and instruments that must survive a high-g impact, such as air- or space-dropped packages to penetrate rock, regolith, or ice.

The information-processing and communication technology necessary for an interstellar mission will spin into the commercial cybernetics community. Information from the probe must be transmitted across several light years, which is unprecedented. The probe must be capable of autonomous decision making, because it will be impossible to forecast the exigencies of a stellar fly-by. This will have spin for the commercial robotics and flexible-automation community.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Johndale Solem
Robotronix, Inc.
220 Andanada
Los Alamos , NM 87544 - 2404

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Robotronix, Inc.
220 Andanada
Los Alamos , NM 87544 - 2404

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.02-9726 (Chron: 000275 )
PROJECT TITLE
Stabilization of Electrodynamic Space Tethers

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Electrodynamic tether propulsion can provide propellantless propulsion capability for a number of important missions in LEO, including stationkeeping for small satellites, boosting of the International Space Station, deorbit of malfunctioning satellites, and orbit raising of payloads. Theoretical analyses, however, indicate that electro-dynamic tethers will experience dynamical instabilities in which the electro-dynamic forces continually pump energy into the tether librations and oscillations. Unless these dynamics are controlled, these instabilities will lead to reduced thrust efficiency and, at worst, loss of control of the tether system. The proposed SBIR effort will develop methods for reliably monitoring the dynamics of both conducting and nonconducting tether structures, and develop control algorithms for stabilizing the dynamical behavior of electro-dynamic tethers. The effort will evaluate several different methods for accomplishing the dynamics monitoring and control, and select for further development the method that provides the optimum balance between reliable control and low hardware and computational costs. The SBIR effort will result in a tether dynamics control package, composed of both dynamics-sensing hardware and feedback control software algorithms, that will enable electro-dynamic tether systems such as propellantless orbital transfer, ISS tether reboost, momentum-exchange/electro-dynamic-reboost tether facilities, and microsatellite stationkeeping to operate safely and effectively.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The Tether Control System will find commercial applications in a number of electro-dynamic tether systems. The Boeing Company is currently investigating electro-dynamic reboost of the International Space Station, and MirCorp is planning on using an electro-dynamic tether to maintain the orbit of the MIR Space Station. Tethers Unlimited, Inc. is developing a small electro-dynamic tether to provide stationkeeping and formation flying propulsion for microsatellites, and is developing an electro-dynamic drag tether system for end-of-life deorbit of spacecraft. Tethers Unlimited is also collaborating with the Boeing Company to develop momentum-exchange/electro-dynamic-reboost tether facilities for propellantless in-space propulsion and as components of an Earth-to-Orbit launch architecture. Other companies are pursuing electro-dynamic tethers for LEO orbital tug applications. All of these applications of electro-dynamic tethers will require a reliable and low cost system for stabilizing the dynamics of the tether system and for optimizing its long-term efficiency. In addition, Tethers Unlimited, Inc. is collaborating with Mirada, Inc. to develop tethered unmanned gliders for high-angle and over-the-horizon sensing for commercial applications such as the fishing industry, law enforcement, and customs enforcement. The proposed SBIR effort is expected to contribute to this spin-off application of the space tether technologies.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Robert Hoyt
Tethers Unlimited, Inc.
1917 NE 143rd
Seattle , WA 98125 - 3236

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Tethers Unlimited, Inc.
8114 Pebble Ct.
Clinton , WA 98236 - 9240

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.03-7921 (Chron: 002080 )
PROJECT TITLE
Novel Approach to the Fabrication of a C-SiC Blisk

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Currently used processing methods for fabricating C-SiC are inadequate for the production of thick sections (over 1 inch) composite structures. This proposal offers a novel approach based on the Chemical Vapor Reaction Process (CVR). A low-cost C-C composite of controlled porosity will be converted into C-SiC. Interfacial carbon coatings will be utilized to prevent fiber damage.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Commercial Applications include turbine engines, chemical processing equipment, and fixtures for the semiconductor industry.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. W. Kowbel
MER Corporation
7960 S. Kolb Road
Tucson , AZ 85706 - 9237

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
MER Corporation
7960 S. Kolb Rd.
Tucson , AZ 85706 - 9237

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.03-8078 (Chron: 001923 )
PROJECT TITLE
Low-Cost Polymer-Derived Zirconium-Silicate CMC for Rocket Nozzle Applications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA has identified a need to reduce weight and cost of cooled composite nozzle ramps. A lightweight actively cooled ceramic matrix composite (CMC) system would be lighter than metallic designs and would require significantly less cooling during re-entry. Composite Factory proposes a zirconium-silicate or Zr-Si-O glass CMC with integral ceramic tubes reinforced with a low cost discontinuous ceramic fiber preform. Integral ceramic composite mounting structure offers potential for a 2.0 lb/ft2 structurally integrated exhaust ramp.
The Phase-I project proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of producing an ultra high temperature CMC based on the zirconium-silicate materials currently used in EBC coatings for SiC-SiC CMC?s. Low cost pre-ceramic polymer CMC manufacturing methods combined with automated low-cost fiber preforming methods will be applied in order to keep both material and processing costs at a minimum. Mechanical test coupons will be fabricated and tested. Phase-II objectives would include design and fabrication of a sub-scale test component to verify durability of the composite structure along with manifolding and hermeticity of coolant channels.
The development of a low cost zirconium-silicate matrix would be applicable to turbine engine combustor liners and other commercial engine exhaust components used to mix exhaust gas and reduce noise emissions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Currently Composite Factory focuses on BlackglasTM based CMC components. Applications currently being produced for sale are the CMC brakes for motorcycle racing and after-market street use. We are currently working with multiple automotive OEM?s to introduce the CMC brakes into automotive applications. The ability to offer a higher temperature polymer derived CMC system based on similar chemistry would increase the potential markets Composite Factory could pursue. Immediate markets for exhaust liners in diesel engines and combustor liners in turbine engines appear promising.
The application of a higher thermal conductivity phase in the CMC may also improve the performance of the CMC as a friction material in aircraft brake applications where higher thermal conductivity is critical to maintaining acceptable surface temperatures.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Steve Atmur
Composite Factory, Inc.
31 Northern Avenue
Plattsburgh , NY 12903 - 3947

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Composite Factory, Inc.
31 Northern Avenue
Plattsburgh , NY 12903 - 3947

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.03-8738 (Chron: 001263 )
PROJECT TITLE
Advanced CMC Interface and Matrix Technologies

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Advanced rocket and airbreathing engine technologies suitable for Generation 2 and 3 space access vehicles will require composite materials capable of tolerating moist oxidizing high pressure combustion atmospheres resulting in composite surface temperatures in excess of 1950 Celsius. Furthermore, these materials must demonstrate high strength and stiffness and long useful life under these conditions. RCI and PC propose to develop suitable interface and matrix technologies to enable suitable CMC materials to be developed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
These technologies are potentially crucial for the development of advanced rocket and airbreathing engine technologies. The development of suitable CMCs will create potentially large savings in weight - critical for the success of many advanced vehilce designs.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Paul Chayka
Paul Chayka Co.
31 Cortland Drive
New Milford , CT 06776 - 5740

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Refractory Composites, Inc.
107 N Langley Rd
Glen Burnie , MD 21060 - 6538

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.03-8776 (Chron: 001225 )
PROJECT TITLE
Rapid prototyping of polar-weave CMC blisks for rocket engine turbopumps

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The realization of future space transportation systems and hypersonic aircraft will need the use of ceramic matrix composites that are economical and can withstand high thermomechanical and aerodynamical loads. Advanced Ceramics Research, Inc. (ACR) has recently developed a rapid prototyping process for its patented C3 continuous fiber reinforced ceramic composites for high temperature applications. The process is simple, robust and is widely applicable to a number of CMC materials. In the proposed Phase I program, ACR proposes to leverage this rapid prototyping approach for CMC?s to produce fully dense lightweight turbomachinery components having capability to operate in hot hydrogen and oxygen environments. The process after scale-up will be capable of producing uniform densities in thick CMC components.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The rapid prototyping technology developed under this program has tremendous commercial potential for both government and the commercial industries. The development of a low-cost technology for rapid prototyping of complex, thick high-temperature ceramic composite components will have far reaching implications in heat engine systems, rocket propulsion systems, and other energy conservation systems. The materials and the technology have potential applications in combustors, hot gas ducts, exhaust flaps, first stage vanes, heat exchangers etc.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ranji Vaidyanathan
Advanced Ceramics Research, Inc.
3292 E. Hemisphere Loop
Tucson , AZ 85706 - 5013

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Advanced Ceramics Research, Inc.
3292 E. Hemisphere Loop
Tucson , AZ 85706 - 5013

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.03-9809 (Chron: 000192 )
PROJECT TITLE
Thick-Section PIP Derived CMC Components

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This work will focus on evaluating lower cost PIP processing of C-SiC composites for thick-section and large volume components such as blisk turbomachinery, nozzles, ramps, thrust chambers, ducting and other hot structures. A significant barrier to using composites in these applications involves processing limitations with respect to part size and volume. Processing routes utilizing chemical vapor deposition/infiltration (CVD/CVI) require high-temperature pressure reactors and rely on time/temperature dependent diffusion. As a result, CVD/CVI facility reactor dimensions limits the maximum part size while process physics limit the practical thickness/volume of parts to be infiltrated. Polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) processing may overcome such limitations. Although significant development has been done in the PIP processing of SiC/SiC systems, little work has been done with PIP C/SiC CMCs. Insufficient data and material properties exist for PIP processed thick cross section parts, which has hindered acceptance and application of this process. The work proposed here provides a baseline mechanical property database for PIP processed C-SiC CMCs, and provides the initial evaluation of thick section composites processed using the PIP approach and incorporating the latest advancements in process cost and schedule reductions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The results of this program will be immediately applicable to on-going work of Boeing Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power for the RS-2200 Linear Aerospike Engine system for the second generation of reusable launch vehicles (RLV) and for Rockwell Science Center?s work on the NASA Composite Nozzle Ramp program. An increased understanding of PIP processed materials, and demonstration of large volume and thick section PIP processing will extend the application of this lightweight, high temperature material system into other areas currently under development, such as turbomachininery (turbine blisks and stators), nozzles, thrust chambers, ducting and other hot structures. This work also sets the stage for potential use of PIP processed CMC materials for third generation spacecraft propulsion systems including RBCC and solar thermal propulsion systems.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Jean Stojak, Ph.D.
COI Ceramics, Inc.
9617 Distribution Ave.
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2393

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
COI Ceramics Inc
9617 Distribution Ave
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2393

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.04-8188 (Chron: 001813 )
PROJECT TITLE
A General Computer Code for Simulation of Plasma Aerodynamics and Propulsion

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Lytec LLC proposes to integrate the simulation technology of the MagnetoHydroDynamic (MHD) community into the worlds leading propulsion and aerodynamic flow solver WIND. The WIND code has been chosen because of its general acceptance in the aerospace community as a first class flow simulation tool. The ultimate goal is to provide an integrated magnetogasdynamic solver that will advance the state of the art in the prediction of flowfield simulations for electrically conductive fluids in the presence of electric and magnetic fields.

In Phase I, Lytec will incorporate several modifications into the WIND flow solver to allow prediction of magnetogasdynamic flows where the temperature of the electrons and the bulk gas are equal. Namely: 1) addition of the magnetic force term and ohmic heating term to the momentum and energy equations; 2) Implement Ohms Law for calculation of the induced electric field; 3) Implement calculation of the current density given the magnetic field; 4) Add the magnetic specific energy to the total specific energy; 5) Add a calculation of the plasma conductivity; and, 6) Upgrade the Pre and Post processing tools (GMAN and CFPOST) for display and input of the electric and magnetic fields.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
There has been a recent interest in magnetogasdynamics due to the potential breakthrough nature of this technology with regard to reduced heating loads and propulsion innovations on hypersonic aircraft, and significant drag reduction at all flight speeds. The accurate simulation of these flowfields is paramount to the design and ultimate realization of dozens of advanced military aircraft, access to space vehicles, and commercial high speed transports. If these potential benefits can be shown to be feasible by advanced simulation techniques such as proposed, the commercialization onto existing aircraft or the development new aircraft employing this technology would be very high. Small reductions in drag translate into huge savings in fuel and increased payload for commercial vehicles and would be well received by airframe developers.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Pat G. Vogel
LYTEC LLC
1940 ELK RIVER DAM ROAD / P.O. 1581
TULLAHOMA , TN 37388 - 1581

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
LYTEC LLC
1940 ELK RIVER DAM RD. / P.O. BOX 1581
TULLAHOMA , TN 37355 - 1581

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.04-8521 (Chron: 001480 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Collaborative Hypersonic Air-breathing Vehicle Design Environment

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Proposed herein is a collaborative environment based on an object-oriented, web-enabled, multidisciplinary, distributed framework supporting the design and analysis of hypersonic air-breathing vehicles (CoHAVE). CoHAVE provides a customizable graphical user interface supporting a feature-based design environment integrating a suite of domain-specific analysis tools and geometry enabling the rapid prototyping of hypersonic air-breathing vehicles (HAVs). It supports a unified geometric part model, providing various levels of modeling fidelity to capture conceptual and preliminary design processes. CoHAVE links multiple users in a collaborative process, automating and managing data transfer and interaction among users, designs, analyses, and tools. It provides multidisciplinary optimization capabilities to enhance vehicle analysis, reducing engineering time and cost while expanding the design space explored. A common computational model seamlessly integrates geometry and analysis to support closure of the process through iterative control allowing forward and inverse design. CoHAVE is platform independent and enables multiple users to collaborate across geographically-distributed, heterogeneous workstations. CoHAVE provides a comprehensive environment that facilitates the performance of concurrent engineering of HAVs at a level not currently available.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
TechnoSoft, Inc. plans to transition the Collaborative Hypersonic Air-breathing Vehicle Environment (CoHAVE) into the development, marketing, and support of a product for hypersonic air-breathing vehicle design and analysis. This framework will support a collaborative design and analysis environment for seamlessly integrating various tools and engineering processes from the different disciplines. Additional modules and tools will be developed to address needs of other programs and disciplines within NASA that could greatly benefit from the framework. Furthermore, present TechnoSoft customers Lockheed Martin and Boeing have expressed strong interest in the proposed system architecture.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mr. Hilmi Al-Kamhawi
Technosoft, Inc.
4434 Carver Woods Drive
Cincinnati , OH 45242 - 5545

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
TechnoSoft Inc.
4434 Carver Woods Drive
Cincinnati , OH 45242 - 5545

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.05-8009 (Chron: 001992 )
PROJECT TITLE
Syntactic Titanium Foam Propellant tank

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This Phase I SBIR program will result in the availability of a high strength, closed cell titanium foam material suitable for fabricating propellant tank structures. The resulting titanium foams are predicted to have >350Mpa strengths at densitied <2.4g/cc, while providing combined structural/thermal insulation functions. Through a teaming arrangement, suitability for propellant tank fabrication will be verified through testing.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The syntactic titanium foams produced in this program will provide a much needed technical solution to reusable launch vehicle conformal tank fabrication problems. Commercial applications for deep sea vehicles, off-shore structures, and sporting equipment will also be pursued.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mr. Asit Biswas
Powdermet Inc.
9960 Glenoaks Blvd, Unit A
Sun Valley , CA 91352 - 1064

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Powdermet Inc.
9960 Glenaoks blvd, Unit A
Sun Valley , CA 91352 - 1064

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.05-8831 (Chron: 001170 )
PROJECT TITLE
Structurally Integrated Reusable Launch Vehicle Thermal Protection

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Triton Systems, Inc. is teaming with an air-framer to develop a new class of highly efficient load bearing thermal protection materials (TPM) which will serve as the vehicle structure while at the same time withstanding the extreme environments encountered by reusable launch and space vehicles. This enabling technology will be used as light weight, high performance primary structure components composing large acreage areas of the vehicle. Triton?s proposed SBIR program will demonstrate an integrated composite approach, utilizing hybrid metal-ceramic matrix composite (MCMC). The MCMC will be the basis of unitized structural component designs where the ceramic surface resists aerothermal loads while sharing and transferring thermo-mechanical loads with the integrated high specific strength metal composite. Triton?s structurally efficient hybrid TPS will significantly reduce reusable vehicle cost and weight by eliminating design, acquisition, and assembly of the two separate systems, structural air frame and thermal protection, required by current parasitic TPM. Furthermore, not only can the MCMC be welded, but it can be fabricated with complex features such as hat-bands, bushings, and threaded attachment points so existing joining technologies will be used to assemble the hybrid composite hot structural members.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Our team member has identified a number of potential vehicle components subjected to environments in which a MCMC hybrid hot structure is expected to perform well and its use would result in significant weight and cost savings in reusable launch and space vehicles such as, 2nd Generation RLV or the AF SOV, and the next generation of hypersonic vehicles. In the broadest sense, the hybrid composite will serve as a means of bonding together ceramic components, opening a plethora of product applications in the chemical processing and energy production industries.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Fred Lauten, Ph.D.
Triton Systems, Inc.
200 Turnpike Road
Chelmsford , MA 01824 - 4000

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Triton Systems, Inc.
200 Turnpike Road
Chelmsford , MA 01824 - 4000

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.05-9393 (Chron: 000608 )
PROJECT TITLE
Reliability Prediction Model for Large, Reusable Propellant Tanks

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA has defined goals for development of future reusable launch vehicles (RLV). Systems must be reliable with less than 1 flight failure in 10,000 missions with mission cost of 1000 dollars per pound per payload (or less). X-33 propellant tank incidents indicate need for improving state-of-the-art design and/or manufacture of composite storage tanks. Bond integrity has been an issue during development of X-33 prototype tanks and the associated reliability issues could become even more of a concern during fabrication of full-scale RLV tanks. This project will assess the variability influencing factors associated with manufacture of composite "sandwich" bonds and evaluate the feasibility for development of a prediction tool for assessing manufacturing bond reliability for full-scale configurations. The proposed research will develop a probabilistic analysis framework incorporating composite sandwich design methodologies to predict the reliability of the bonds between the face sheet and the core. Models will be developed that relate overall stress, strain, loading and displacement to bond strength integrity. These models will account for such microstructural parameters as adhesive strength, bondline thickness, and face sheet core interaction.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The commercial potential of the probabilistic reliability tool for composite sandwich components is vast. As NASA has a defined goal for development of highly reusable systems with low mission costs. OEMs need tools such as this to fulfill NASA objectives for design and manufacture of very large, reusable, composite propellant tanks. The capability of our proposed software package has an identifiable customer market base in those companies currently engaged in the design of NASA space components. The target customer for our software product is the technical (engineering) marketplace. According to the market research firm Daratech, the total worldwide computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) software market is estimated to be 11.1 billion dollars for the year 1999. This market segment has more than doubled in the last 5 years. The automotive and aerospace industries are the largest customers of mechanical CAD/CAE tools, estimated at 40 percent.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Robert Tryon
VEXTEC Corporation
5123 Virginia Way, Suite C-21
Brentwood , TN 37027 - 7519

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
VEXTEC Corporation
5123 Virginia Way, Suite C-21
Brentwood , TN 37027 - 7519

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.06-8141 (Chron: 001860 )
PROJECT TITLE
Advanced Aerogel Composites as Insulation Materials

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA seeks new and innovative technologies for materials, processes, and manufacturing that will provide safe, reliable, lightweight, and less expensive launch vehicle and spacecraft components. This project focuses on improving the strength of the lightest weight material known to man, i.e., aerogels. Improvements in strength would allow these materials to be used on launch vehicles and in spacecraft and result in significant reductions in the weight of cryogenic insulation and high temperature Thermal Protection Systems. Although, no results for continuous fiber-reinforced silica aerogels have been reported in the literature, fiber reinforced materials offer a combination of strength and modulus that are either comparable to or better than either material used separately. The strength to weight ratios and modulus to weight ratios of reinforced aerogels would be markedly superior to those of the current generation of aerogel materials. Therefore, in the proposed effort we will investigate continuous fiber aerogel composites as an approach for improving their mechanical properties. We will also investigate the organic modified silica gels as an approach for improving resilience of aerogels at low temperatures. A low-cost, environmentally benign manufacturing process will also be used.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The potential applications for aerogels are wide ranging. Of particular commercial interest is the potential for using aerogels in thermal insulation applications. The excellent insulating properties of aerogels results from their extremely fine pore structure. In the proposed program, we will develop aerogels with excellent mechanical properties that would have an immediate positive impact on the commercialization of aerogels.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Wendell E. Rhine
Aspen Systems, Inc.
184 Cedar Hill St.
Marlborough , MA 01752 - 3017

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Aspen Systems, Inc.
184 Cedar Hill Street
Marlborough , MA 01752 - 3017

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.06-8686 (Chron: 001315 )
PROJECT TITLE
High Specific Strength Isotropic MMCs for Turbomachinery Applications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Foster-Miller will demonstrate high strength isotropic aluminum and copper alloy matrix composite materials to produce lightweight rocket engine oxygen and hydrogen turbopump housings. These materials have the potential to provide the key rocket engines materials requirements: high specific strength over the relevant service temperature range, excellent environmental resistance, and low-cost, net-shape fabrication. Foster-Miller proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of producing high strength alumina reinforced composites with Al and Cu matrices using a Foster-Miller proprietary process. During Phase I, Al and Cu-matrix composite materials will be produced and tested, and compared with currently used and potential (experimental) turbopump housing materials.

Our team includes a component producer partner and a rocket engine integrator. These partners will be involved in steering the program so as to develop an innovative technology that is well suited for scale-up and industrial implementation. The follow-on Phase II program will initially prove repeatability in materials properties, and then build and validate MMC turbopump housing demonstration articles with a support from team members. (P-00815)

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Our proprietary fabrication process will provide, low cost route to a net shape Al and Cu-matrix alloy composite components. The primary application being investigated is rocket engine turbopump housings. This technology is enabling technology for Reusable Launch Vehicle rocket engines. Other rocket applications exist as lightweight replacement materials for nickel and ferrous superalloy components. Many applications also exist in gas turbine engines, diesel engines, automotive brake systems, and industrial equipment such as power generation, mining, and oil drilling.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Uday Kashalikar
Foster-Miller, Inc.
350 Second Ave.
Waltham , MA 02451 - 1196

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Foster-Miller, Inc.
350 Second Ave.
Waltham , MA 02451 - 1196

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.06-8709 (Chron: 001292 )
PROJECT TITLE
In-Situ Monitoring of Cure Kinetics of E Beam Curable Epoxy

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The detailed nature of the curing reaction in E Beam curable composites matrix resins and adhesives is not well understood. Dose rate and location in a part can have a considerable, but as yet unmeasured, effect on the properties of the cured part. In addition, significant heat may be generated in the resin due to the exothermic nature of the cure reaction, and the effects of exothermic heating on temperature and cure kinetics have not been quantified. Obtaining a better understanding of the cure kinetics of these systems has been identified as critical to their use in aerospace applications, especially in the case of in-situ curing during fiber or tape placement. The use of laboratory FTIR has been demonstrated as a valuable tool in the study of E Beam resin cure kinetics, although conventional FTIR is not capable of monitoring the cure reactions in real time, or in actual composite structures. Foster-Miller has developed an unmatched capability for in-situ FTIR cure monitoring, and has assembled a team from industry and academia to apply it to the study of E Beam cure kinetics. This technology also has potential applicability to E Beam curable cationic photoinitiated epoxies, acrylates and bismaleimides (BMI's). (P-00829)

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The potential commercial applicability of E Beam curing is widely recognized, and it is being evaluated for many applications, including curing of Z pins. E-Beam curing offers the potential for dramatically lowering costs over conventional thermal curing by decreasing cure temperature and time, as well as tooling cost and complexity, but resins with excellent mechanical and thermal properties are required for high performance applications. The ability to understand and control the nature and rate of E Beam curing will make it possible to use this technology for many aerospace applications where cost and weight reduction are critical factors. NASA is currently funding development of an apparatus for in-situ E Beam cure during tape placement, but it is widely recognized that a good understanding of cure kinetics is critical to the success of this approach. The specific applications which have been identified for this technology include the large scale fuel tanks for RLV and similar space vehicles, JSF structures and manufacture and repair of a wide range of composite structures for commercial aircraft.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Margaret Roylance
Foster-Miller, Inc.
350 Second Ave.
Waltham , MA 02451 - 1196

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Foster-Miller, Inc.
350 Second Ave.
Waltham , MA 02451 - 1196

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.07-8257 (Chron: 001744 )
PROJECT TITLE
Low Cost Engine Test Stand for 500 lb Thrust Class Engines

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
AJT proposes to develop a low-cost, engine test-stand system for small (500 pound) thrust engines using gaseous, liquid or cryogenic propellants. This test stand would incorporate automated propellant transfer and automated propellant line purge systems. The engines would be configured to a standard test-stand interface, greatly reducing the time required to install and remove various engines. This interface is a novel concept, which allows manufacturers of various engine types and configurations to use the same engine test-stand without making any modifications to the test-stand facility. This interface will incorporate quick connectors for propellant and instrumentation interfaces. The stand and interface would be instrumented with thrust monitoring sensors. This concept is scalable for other and much larger engine test facilities. Innovative methods of providing an interface mating plate greatly reduces the installation time and an automated verification system assures that the mating is properly completed. The latching mechanism would be manually actuated to reduce size and costs. The propellant line purging and pressurization would be automated, using remotely controlled valves, flow and pressure sensors. Because this system is for a relatively new class of small thrust engines, an entirely new approach is proposed, building on concepts and designs previously developed by AJT.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
A number of commercial applications exist for the engine stand-system proposed here including commercial aircraft refueling, refueling of alternate fuel vehicles (liquified natural gas, liquid hydrogen, etc.). We will pursue commercial implementation of this system for new generation launch vehicle engine tests (Boeing, Ball Aerospace, and Lockheed Martin). These test-stand innovations can be used for other testing purposes, such as aircraft turbo-machinery.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Dan Wegerif
AJT and Associates, Inc
8910 Astronaut Blvd
Cape Canaveral , FL 32920 - 0000

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
AJT and Associates, Inc
8910 Astronaut Blvd
Cape Canaveral , FL 32920 - 4225

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.07-8970 (Chron: 001031 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Reliable, Long Life, LOX Compatible Seal

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Barber-Nichols Inc. (BNI) is pleased to present a unique and innovative Phase I research and design plan for a ?Long Life Lox Compatible Seal?. This seal could be used to replace current troublesome shaft seals on Liquid Oxygen Pumps as well as other cryogenic pumps. The type of seal proposed has unique properties for rotating applications in that it provides a leak-free rotating seal and leak-free stationary seal. This is accomplished by using both an activated stationary mechanical seal and a ?dynamic? rotating seal. The dynamic rotating seal uses the developed head in a small ?Drag? pump to prevent leakage during rotation. The energized mechanical face seal is used only during system cooldown prior to actual rotation. This concept overcomes the problems associated within both face type mechanical seals and labyrinth seals in providing reliable sealing.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The Long Life Lox Compatible Seal has immediate commercial as well as NASA applications. Currently commercial LOX pumps use cryogenic mechanical face seals. These seals provide some sealing but tend to leak soon after installed, requiring replacement at intervals as low as 50 to 100 hours of operation. NASA uses many of the same type of sealed pumps and would be prone to the same type of failures. The Barber-Nichols concept prevents seal failures and will allow the seal system to last for the life of the pump. BNI can use this seal in their cryogenic pumps as well as retrofit other's pumps. Potential applications for this seal system are NASA LOX pumps, commercial cryogenic air product plant transfer pumps, and over-the-road truck transfer pumps. This concept is especially useful on very large pumps with high input horsepower motors.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David Lowe
Barber-Nichols Inc.
6325 W. 55th Ave.
Arvada , CO 80002 - 2777

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Barber-Nichols Inc.
6325 W. 55th Ave
Arvada , CO 80002 - 2777

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.07-9101 (Chron: 000900 )
PROJECT TITLE
Two-dimensional Interferometric Temperature Sensor

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Southwest Sciences proposes to apply a novel, yet simple non-invasive technique, Point Diffraction Interferometry (PDI), to provide highly accurate and precise two-dimensional temperature profiles. This proposed instrument can provide reliable and robust temperature measurements that are required for propulsion test operations, including facility and test article health monitoring. Unlike invasive techniques, such as thermocouples which only provide point data measurements, a PDI system produces two-dimensional temperature profiles without disturbing the test flow field. Other non-invasive techniques could be used, however, many only provide point measurements or one-dimensional profiles, are optically complex, or involve a nonlinear analysis. PDI is a self-referencing technique, inherently stable, and relatively insensitive to vibration. We expect to achieve temperature uncertainties less than 20 K at propulsion exhaust temperatures. This technique uses visible light, simple optics and is easy to align and operate; collimated light sources and imaging detectors in the visible are inexpensive and commercially available.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed instrument can be used to non-intrusively measure temperature in propulsion test facilities. Unlike other non-invasive diagnostics, the proposed Point Diffraction Interferometer uses visible light with simple optics, and is easy to align and operate; collimated light sources and imaging detectors in the visible are inexpensive and commercially available. With these advantages the proposed instrument has the potential to be applied to a wide variety of applications. In the laboratory, this novel technique can be applied to density / temperature measurements in numerous fluid/thermal experiments, including combustion and fire sciences. This instrument could also be used for monitoring density changes in gas streams, which could be applied to chemical process monitoring.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Jeffrey Goldmeer
Southwest Sciences, Inc.
1570 Pacheco Street, Suite E-11
Santa Fe , NM 87505 - 3937

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Southwest Sciences, Inc.
1570 Pacheco Street, Suite E-11
Santa Fe , NM 87505 - 3937

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 03.07-9643 (Chron: 000358 )
PROJECT TITLE
On-Line Particulate Sensor for Propellant Systems

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Florida Laser Systems, proposes the development of a Fluid Optical Quality Sensor, (FOQS) for On-Line Particulate sensing. The sensor will ultimately be commercially available to determine two phase flow, the fraction of vapor in the line, and the fluid quality. Current point sensor technology is incapable of determining the presence of particulate/contamination in the supply lines for facility propellant (liquid oxygen and hydrogen) and support gas systems. The FOQS will provide a means of measuring fluid quality for a wide range of flow systems. Our phase I experiments will monitor fluid quality and response time of the sensor in liquid nitrogen. These tests will build on previously successful ambient tests performed with surrogate fluids. Very large commercial markets have been identified for this predictive maintenance sensor.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
There are 2 primary applications for commercialization of the novel sensor developed under this SBIR program. These applications are in the fields of cryogenic test facilities and Air-conditioning/Refrigeration systems.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
John F Justak
Florida Laser Systems
50 Kindred St. Suite311
Stuart , FL 34994 - 0442

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Florida Laser Systems
P.O. Box 442
Stuart , FL 34994 - 0442

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 04.01-8534 (Chron: 001467 )
PROJECT TITLE
Sensor Integrated Synthetic Vision System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
An essential component of the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) airplane cockpit instrumentation is a set of flight displays that provide the pilot with situational awareness not yet available with today's traditional instruments.

Our innovative approach to combining an active Millimeter Wave sensor with a database-derived synthetic view will support and enable the SATS cornerstone concepts of self-separation for free flight, high-density operations and virtual terminal procedures during the transition period where the SATS aircraft must co-exist with conventionally equipped aircraft.

The proposed Sensor Integrated Synthetic Vision System (SISVS), presenting a realistic daylight scene to the pilot under all environmental conditions, will be critical to the success of the SATS concept. Using a SISVS, the SATS pilot will be presented with information, not data. The pilot can develop situational awareness with less need for mental integration of disparate data, thus enabling less highly trained, non-professional pilots to fly safely in all weather and lighting conditions, and all phases of flight.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The growing GA market requires SISVS for safety improvement and greater access to the remote areas.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Lev Sadovnik
WaveBand Corporation
375 Van Ness Ave, Suite #1105
Torrance , CA 90501 - 7204

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
WaveBand Corporation
375 Van Ness Ave, Suite #1105
Torrance , CA 90501 - 7204

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 04.01-8843 (Chron: 001158 )
PROJECT TITLE
Fully Integrated Digital Cockpit for Emerging SATS Aircraft

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Mod Works Engineering Inc. proposes to create a digital cockpit suitable for the SATS (Small Aircraft Transportation Systems) environment. This will be an affordable open a architecture digital aircraft based on the AGATE databus. The Phase I platform will be created in a PC based simulator for transition to an aircraft in Phase II.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Mod Works Engineering?s digital cockpit will be designed to be retrofit to existing GA airplanes. This ensures a commercial market of at least 50,000 airplanes.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Tim Coons
Mod Works Engineering, Inc.
8250 Skylane Way
Punta Gorda , FL 33982 - 2438

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mod Works Engineering, Inc.
8250 Skylane Way
Punta Gorda , FL 33982 - 2438

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 04.01-9704 (Chron: 000297 )
PROJECT TITLE
Low Cost General Aviation Traffic Information System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This proposal presents an innovative design for a traffic information and collision avoidance system for general aviation aircraft. While there are many ongoing programs to improve situational awareness, the majority of the research is aimed at commercial aviation and high end users, and will require expensive technological solutions. General aviation has the same needs -- to improve situational awareness and therefore improve safety, but most general aviation aircraft owners cannot afford the types of solutions that are being evaluated for commercial aviation. There is a need to provide GA pilots with traffic information, cost-effectively, at the nation's 5,134 public use airports. In this proposal we present a low-cost solution that can provide the vast majority of GA users with the ability to identify and locate other traffic in the terminal area. Depending on whether the aircraft is equipped with a moving map display or only a VHF radio, the service will either show the location of proximate transponder equipped aircraft on the map display or will provide aural alerting only. This proposal combines Rannoch's pioneering work in aircraft tracking technology with Potomac Airfield's pioneering work with VHF pilot alerting to provide a complete solution with two levels of service.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
·An automated traffic information system for terminal areas, including airport surface operations at more than 5000 public use airports.
·A system that provides enhanced situational awareness to airport operations vehicles and airline support vehicles to help eliminate the growing problem of runway incursions.
·A system that provides enhanced radar coverage at low altitudes to fill in gaps in ARTCC radar coverage.
·A surveillance system that is forward and backward compatible with ADS-B equipped aircraft, and therefore capable of providing traffic information about all aircraft during the transition to ADS-B.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Bennett Cohen
Rannoch Corporation
1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 430
Alexandria , VA 22314 - 2840

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Rannoch Corporation
1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 430
Alexandria , VA 22314 - 2840

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 04.02-8048 (Chron: 001953 )
PROJECT TITLE
Production Prototype Wiesen Engine

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Wiesen Engine is currently testing a diesel engine developed for NASA's general aviation program.

This 98 cubic inch opposed piston diesel engine is able to produce 125 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m. and weighs 160 pounds. Combining eight pistons in four highly pressure charged uniflow scavenged cylinders, featuring an automatically variable compression ratio mechanism. The engine is very compact, requiring 30 to 40% less maaterial and fewer parts than conventional engines.

Cost benefits are the result of inexpensive manufacturing processes, at least 50% less than current systems. Simplicity of manufacture and part design allows for reduced maintenance, lower insurance costs and easier certification.

The principal objective of this Phase I project is to design and construct a production prototype version of the experimental test engine, incorporating improvements such as redesigned intake an exhaust manifolds that will lead to a substantial increase in power that preliminary analysis indicates would enable the engine to produce 125 horsepower without turbocharging. Substituting materials used for the propeller shaft and the positive displacement superchargers will reduce the weight by 25 pounds.

This proposed effort will produce a production prototype based on the unique Wiesen engine technology resulting in the development of a revolutionary class of internal combustion engine.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The General Aviation market offers a tremendous opportunity for a successful lightweight, efficient and inexpensive diesel engine for new and experimental single pilot aircraft; there are also numerous retrofit opportunities which can benefit from the significant advantages of cost, performance, economy and safety of operation that these engines can offer. The availability of a line of very lightweight inexpensive fuel efficient diesel engines in this market would find many customers who are also seeking increased safety and lower insurance costs. There could be derivative applications to other civilian and military transport groups where lightweight and high performance using diesel fuel is desirable. It would also make an ideal marine engine. Its low height, narrow width and low weight could permit installations not now possible. Extensive spinoff potential exists, applications include, high altitude research, unmanned observation, flying bomb, hybrid-automotive and many off-highway applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Bernard Wiesen
Wiesen Engine Inc.
15 Beach Road
Great Neck , NY 11023 - 1143

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Wiesen Engine Inc.
15 Beach Road
Great Neck , NY 11023 - 1143

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 05.01-8726 (Chron: 001275 )
PROJECT TITLE
Carbon Nanotube-Fiber Optic Skin Friction and Temperature Sensor

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA's Aviation Safety Program teams with the FAA and the aerospace industry to achieve large strides in aircraft safety under Pillar One of the Aerospace Technology Enterprise's Three Pillars for Success, "Global Civil Aviation," and aims to improve aviation safety five-fold over the next 10 years and ten-fold over the next 25 years. To achieve this goal, improved health monitoring systems are required to provide maintenance personnel with accurate information of critical aircraft components to schedule preventive maintenance and indicate impending failure. There is a clear need for extremely miniaturized skin friction and temperature sensors for the design, development, and operation of next generation engines. Using leading-edge carbon nanotube and fiber optic technologies, Luna will develop skin friction and temperature sensors smaller than ever possible, allowing point measurements previously unobtainable. These sensors will give fluid dynamicists new insight to flowfields giving feedback to design engineers for future vehicle designs and feedback to on-line health monitoring systems in the completed system.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Research in the high temperature instrumentation area will provide transducers with commercial uses that will include 1) transportation system design, development and operation, 2) the metal, ceramic, semiconductor, and wood processing industries, and 3) the power generation and monitoring systems for coal-fired, nuclear and fuel-cell technologies.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Wade Pulliam
Luna Innovations Incorporated
2851 Commerce Street
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6657

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Luna Innovations Incorporated
2851 Commerce Street
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6657

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 05.01-8846 (Chron: 001155 )
PROJECT TITLE
Adaptive Laser Velocimeter

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A high precision, adaptive, and low-cost laser velocimeter is proposed for aerodynamic applications. We adopt a new kind of optical Doppler frequency sensor to detect Doppler frequency shifts caused by air flows. High speed investigation of aerodynamics is enabled by the fast response times of the novel Doppler frequency sensors. It is proposed here to demonstrate to NASA the compact laser velocimeter for wind tunnel applications.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Successful execution of the Phase I program will lead to a high speed laser velocimeter ideal for modern studies in aerodynamics. Potential commercial applications include the monitoring and control of engine combustions, aerodynamic design and verification, laser ultrasound inspection systems, and laser radars for law enforcement agencies.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Chen Chia Wang
Brimrose Corporation of America
5024 Campbell Blvd., Suite E
Baltimore , MD 21236 - 4968

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Brimrose Corporation of America
5024 Campbell Blvd., Suite E
Baltimore , MD 21236 - 4968

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 05.01-9994 (Chron: 000006 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Fast, Grid-Free Vortex Method for Aerodynamic Separation and Turbulence

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Turbulent flow modeling constitutes the primary the primary means by which aerodynamic flows associated with aircraft design and performance are analyzed. Traditional turbulence models, which attempt to capture the physics of the Reynolds stress correlation, are not capable of predicting flow in such complex situations as high-lift, advanced configurations, Reynolds number sensitivity of separation progression, noise generation by unsteady separated flows, among many others.

KTI proposes here to employ a grid-free, vortex-based methodology for the simulations of complex, low-speed, turbulent aerodynamic flows. Our innovative approach represents a fundamentally different methodology compared to existing techniques which are based on Reynolds-averaged
Navier-Stokes solutions.

Recent work by KTI has shown how high-Reynolds number, incompressible turbulent flows in a number of complex settings have been successfully simulated using the new methodology. In this project, the flow over a NASA-benchmark, high-lift configuration will be simulated and compared to experimental data in an attempt to prove the feasibility of the new methodology in predicting complex aerodynamic phenomena. During Phase II, we will continue the development, testing, and validation of the code across a wide range of aerodynamic applications.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
A successful completion of this project will represent a major breakthrough in turbulence modeling. The proposed technology and codes will provide an advanced tool for the modeling and prediction of transition and turbulence in numerous internal and external flow applications ranging from low to high speed aircraft, internal combustion engines, among many others. Even a small improvement in the design of such systems, assisted by our technology, may lead to enormous savings in operational costs and/or substantial increases in savings.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Athanassios Dimas
Krispin Technologies, Inc.
1370 Piccard Drive, Suite 210
Rockville , MD 20850 - 4304

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Krispin Technologies, Inc.
1370 Piccard Drive, Suite 210
Rockville , MD 20850 - 4304

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 05.02-9308 (Chron: 000693 )
PROJECT TITLE
Upper and Lower Bounds in Finite Element Analysis of Aerospace Structures

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed research is intended to develop a new analysis for stresses and displacements in aerospace structures based on the combined conventional Displacement (Stiffness) Method and on a new formulation of the Force Method developed by the principal investigator. Since some of the elements used currently in the Displacement Method violate equations of stress equilibrium, an additional analysis by the Force Method in which element stresses do not violate the equations of equilibrium will provide bracketing on the solution (i.e. upper and lower bounds on stresses and displacements) thereby ensuring greater confidence in numerical results. Since the Force Method stresses are derived directly from internal forces they are more accurate than the stresses in the Displacement Method which requires differentiation of the displacement field within the element. The method will be illustrated on a typical multispar wing structure. The current project at this time will address only the overall concept of modifying existing computer codes; however, the actual modification of a specific commercial code or codes and subsequent commercialization will be addressed as a follow-on project after the completion of Phase I.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
It is expected that Phase I will be used to modify an existing commercial code to provide lower and upper bounds for numerical results. This can be accomplished in Phase II.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Janusz S. Przemieniecki
Astra Technologies, Inc
510 Pennyroyal Place
Venice , FL 34293 - 7233

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Astra Technologies, Inc
510 Pennyroyal Place
Venice , FL 34293 - 7233

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.01-9252 (Chron: 000749 )
PROJECT TITLE
Deployable Vortex Generators for on Demand Separation Control

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development of new, active flow control devices will be critical to meeting the NASA Aerospace Technology Enterprise goals of reducing air travel costs by 25% in 10 years and 50% in 25 years. Continuum Dynamics, Inc. (CDI) proposes the development of a new ?pop-up? vortex generator (PUVG) concept which will eliminate cruise and off-design drag penalties of conventional vortex generators through flush surface stowage and deliver the proven flow control of traditional vortex and micro-vortex generators when deployed. Key in the development of this new flow control device is the application of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) technologies developed at CDI which allow: device stowage conforming to the application mold line; minimum power requirements through self-locking actuation; low weight and simplicity through elimination of bulky mechanical actuation; the potential for selective deployment optimization based on vehicle operating conditions; and the potential for retrofit on existing aircraft systems. The proposed Phase I effort will carry out the conceptual design, fabrication and experimental studies demonstrating ?proof of concept,? which can then be carried to Phase II/III product development. PUVGs offer the building blocks for a distributed flow control system with the potential to optimize aircraft performance in critical flight conditions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
PUVG devices offer the potential for a tremendous increase in overall aircraft performance through the efficient management of flow separation without the off-design drag and flow losses associated with conventional devices. PUVG?s have application to aircraft wing and fuselage separation control, engine inlet distortion control, marine hull and keel separation control, and enhanced mixing and heat transfer in a wide range of chemical and combustion processes.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Alan J. Bilanin
Continuum Dynamics, Inc.
34 Lexington Avenue
Ewing , NJ 08618 - 2302

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Continuum Dynamics, Inc.
34 Lexington Avenue
Ewing , NJ 08618 - 2302

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.02-8136 (Chron: 001865 )
PROJECT TITLE
High Performance Compressor Cooling

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
High pressure ratio compressor operation is enabled by blade cooling, based on an evaporation / condensation cycle. The blade or blisk temperature is defined by the vaporization temperature of a working fluid internal to the blade, with heat transferred to an integral condenser at each blade root. This approach provides heat rejection to a cool, low pressure fluid, such as engine lubricating oil, with subsequent transfer to the fuel flow for complete energy recovery. Conventional film cooling technology, as developed for turbine blades using compressor bleed air, is not applicable to high the pressure compressor stage, due to lack of an acceptable high pressure cooler air supply. This approach to compressor cooling essentially eliminates the usual blade structure temperature constraint on overall compression ratio. This basic cooling technology has also been explored for application to the rotating turbine stages, with substantial cycle benefits identified. This blade cooling approach thus enables turbomachinery operation at high flight mach number, at high overall compression ratio, with very high turbine inlet temperature. The result is high efficiency air breathing propulsion at high flight Mach number.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Compressor cooling is an enabling technology for supersonic cruise aircraft, as well as for combined airbreathing cycle launch vehicles. It allows development of gas turbine propulsion for flight in the Mach 2 - Mach 5 regime with both high efficiency and good environmental (noise) characteristics. Consequently, it is expected that an extensive commercial market will exist for this technology, in addition to NASA and DoD applications. ARI plans to establish a key patent position and to both license and provide application support for this cooling technology.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David Stickler
Aerodyne Research, Inc.
45 Manning Road
Billerica , MA 01821 - 3976

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Aerodyne Research, Inc.
45 Manning Road
Billerica , MA 01821 - 3976

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.02-8550 (Chron: 001451 )
PROJECT TITLE
Endwall Flow Control in Stator Blade Rows

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Advances in rotor and fan blade design have produced compressors that generate greater compression ratios with higher efficiencies using fewer stages. A direct result of designing more compact compressors with higher pressure ratios is a more adverse pressure gradient which causes flow separation on the endwalls of both the rotor and stator passageways. Consequently, the performance potential of the compressor is not reached. Technology in Blacksburg is proposing the use of engine casing and hub flow control in the stator blade rows to increase stator performance and efficiency while simultaneously reducing the length and thus overall weight of the engine. Flow control is achieved with miniature ejector pumps, integrally machined into the hub and casing. Ejector pumps provide a simple and efficient way of simultaneously producing suction and a high momentum jet for flow control. Low momentum fluid in boundary layer of the endwalls is removed with suction. The fluid is then re-energized by the ejector pump and injected into the flow as a high momentum jet flowing tangent to the endwall. In this way, the boundary layer along the wall is provided with the energy necessary to remain attached in an adverse pressure gradient.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Presently, the government and industry are spending significant time and funding to develop the next generation of gas turbine engines. These efforts have produced some remarkable technology which will make tomorrow gas turbines smaller and lighter, yet better performing and more efficient. However, in order to take full advantage of the advanced compressors used by these engines, endwall treatment will be necessary to help prevent flow separation. The proposed flow control system by Techsburg is designed specifically to meet these needs. As such, this technology will have application in each of the next generations of commercial and military aircraft engines.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Stephen Guillot
Technology in Blacksburg
1861 Pratt Drive; Suite 2040
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6371

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Technology in Blacksburg, Inc
1861 Pratt Drive; Suite 2040
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6371

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.02-9312 (Chron: 000689 )
PROJECT TITLE
Stitched Composite Hollow Core Fan Blade

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)

This innovation relates to the development of a stitched composite hollow core fan blade that would be used in the first stage of a commercial or military turbofan jet engine. It is a novel design concept that incorporates the recent advancements made in stitched composites under NASA Contract NAS1-20546 (Technology Verification of Composite Primary Wing Structures for Commercial Transport Aircraft) and further advances the state-of-the-art by employing a unique fabrication method that results in a hollow core part that is lightweight, damage tolerant, and inexpensive to manufacture. A significant improvement in structural efficiency is made possible by two important features: 1) the superior damage tolerance characteristics of stitched composites, and 2) the ability to produce a lightweight hollow core geometry. The combination of these two features enables the design of a revolutionary fan blade structure that is capable of meeting even the most stringent bird?strike loading requirements. In addition to the structural benefits, by using a proven low?cost fabrication approach like Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), this blade concept is capable of creating new markets because its fabrication costs will be even lower than those currently realized for solid titanium fan blade components.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Commercial and military jet engines where weight and fabrication cost savings are important. Since the potential for large fabrication cost savings exists, the market for this fan blade is broader than just performance?driven aircraft, it also includes smaller, more price?sensitive jet aircraft.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Alex Velicki
V System Composites, Inc.
5362 Oceanus Dr. Unit A
Huntington Beach , CA 92649 - 0001

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
V System Composites
5362 Oceanus Dr. Unit A
Huntington Beach , CA 92649 - 1000

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.02-9505 (Chron: 000496 )
PROJECT TITLE
Additives to Increase Fuel Heat Sink Capacity

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Recently, NASA has increased its emphasis on reducing the cost of reaching low Earth orbit. The goal is to reduce the cost from the current $10,000 per pound of payload to $100 per pound. Studies indicate that a key technology requirement is a single stage to orbit (SSTO) using rocket based combined cycle (RBCC) engine. In the third stage of a RBCC launch, an air breathing vehicle will travel at speeds from Mach 5 to Mach 10 prior to exiting the atmosphere. Under these conditions, the vehicle requires cooling in excess of that available through sensible heating of the fuel. Although this heating can be supplied by endothermic cracking of the fuel prior to combustion, the temperatures required to achieve necessary rates are very high. High temperatures reduce the allowable stress in the heat exchanger, increasing its weight and reducing its efficiency. In this Phase I SBIR, TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) proposes to test chemical initiators that greatly accelerate the rate of thermal cracking reactions, allowing them to proceed at lower temperatures. We will then carry out a systems analysis which will model the behavior of the fuel passing through the test section, allowing us to identify the most effective operating conditions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
In addition to the immediate application, cooling reusable launch vehicles, TDA's initiator technology could also find use in the chemical refining industry. Ethylene, which is the largest volume building block for the petrochemical industry is produced by thermal cracking of heavier hydrocarbons at temperatures up to 900°C. TDA's initiator technology may allow the process to be carried out at significantly lower temperatures, which would lower costs and increase profit margin.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. David T. Wickham
TDA Research, Inc.
12345 W. 52nd Ave.
Wheat Ridge , CO 80033 - 1917

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
TDA Research, Inc.
12345 W. 52nd Ave.
Wheat Ridge , CO 80033 - 1917

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.03-8878 (Chron: 001123 )
PROJECT TITLE
SiC Fiber Optic Sensors for Turbine Engine Monitoring

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA's Aviation Safety Program teams with the FAA and the aerospace industry to achieve large strides in aircraft safety under Pillar One of the Aerospace Technology Enterprise's Three Pillars for Success, "Global Civil Aviation," and aims to improve aviation safety five-fold over the next 10 years and ten-fold over the next 25 years. To achieve this goal, improved health monitoring systems are required to provide maintenance personnel with accurate information of critical aircraft components to schedule preventive maintenance and indicate impending failure. There is a clear need for miniaturized acceleration, skin friction and pressure sensors capable of operating at extremely high temperatures and pressures for the design, development, and operation of next generation engines. These sensors must be able to withstand pressures in excess of 50 atm., temperatures in excess of 2700° C (4900° F), and heat flux levels as high as 5000 kJ/m2/s. These conditions far exceed the capabilities of conventional metal and electronic sensors. Luna Innovations proposes to develop fiber optic SiC acceleration, pressure and skin friction sensors capable of surviving in the elevated temperature and vibrational environment of a turbine engine.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Wade J. Pulliam
Luna Innovations Incorporated
2851 Commerce Street
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6657

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Luna Innovations Incorporated
2851 Commerce Street
Blacksburg , VA 24060 - 6657

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.03-8903 (Chron: 001098 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Photogrammetric Imaging System for Measurement of Flight Control Surfaces

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development of a commercially viable photogrammetric system is proposed for measurement of motion and deformation of flight control surfaces. This system will measure the position, velocity and deformation of flight control surfaces in an aircraft where such deformation typically includes bending and twist of these surfaces produced by aerodynamic forces. The Phase I effort focuses on performing a feasibility study of the proposed technique and demonstrating a prototype system. A follow-on Phase II effort would culminate with a working commercial system which will be validated in appropriate wind tunnel and/or flight tests. The significance of such a system is that it provides accurate, non-contact measurements of motion, as well as deformation of a flight control surface using digital photogrammetry. In Phase II, the system will also be enhanced to determine the stresses on flight control surfaces, based on motion and deformation measurements. This innovative system will be robust and easy-to-use, and suitable for a variety of aircrafts.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed photogrammetric system for deformation measurement will first be used as a research tool for aircraft design and evaluation. After the hardware and software are both ruggedized, the system can be used routinely to measure motion and deformation of flight control surfaces in various aircrafts in manufacturing environments for quality inspection and process control. In addition to applications in aerospace industry, a large market exists for remote optical profiling measurements of complex objects and parts in general manufacturing industries. Other industrial applications include machine vision, architectural and terrestrial surveying, and forensic reconstruction. In the medical field, the potential applications include the diagnosis of muscular and skeletal problems, studies of anatomy, and reconstructive surgery.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Deepak Shukla
High Technology Corporation
28 Research Drive
Hampton , VA 23666 - 1364

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
High Technology Corporation
28 Research Drive
Hampton , VA 23666 - 1364

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.03-9194 (Chron: 000807 )
PROJECT TITLE
Nonintrusive, Acoustic Boundary Layer Profiler for Aerodynamic Tests

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In both ground and flight tests, important information about aerospace vehicle performance can be derived from knowledge of the boundary layer profiles above the vehicle's surface. However, measuring these profiles is often difficult, since an instrument or instrument rake must be extended/swept normal to the surface to obtain them. Deployed sensors are by nature intrusive, and may corrupt flow quality locally, making accurate measurements over an area impossible on practical time scales. In tunnel tests such constraints frequently mean the measuring apparatus is completely separate from the model, an unworkable solution for flight tests. As an alternative, Nielsen Engineering and Research proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of a real-time, nonintrusive, boundary layer velocity profile measurement system based on acoustic refraction. This system employs a single-source/multiple-receiver configuration and will ultimately be fabricated in a small, possibly MEMS-based, wireless package. The system requires no mechanical deployment and has a temperature range appropriate for both subsonic and supersonic flight. Its small size makes it appropriate for wide area application both in aircraft tests and for airline operational use.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Modern commercial aircraft require increasing numbers of sensor inputs to enable their control systems to manage stability, performance, and flight profiles. A boundary layer velocity profiler would find a place in this sensor network, particularly in locations where transition and separation must be monitored and perhaps controlled. Outside the aeronautical market the velocity profiler could be used in the chemical process industry for more accurate measurements of mass flows in piping systems, In film coating applications, instabilities and spreading rates are sensitive to film velocity profiles, and the profiler could be used as part of a control system that monitors thickness and maintains optimum coating rates.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Laurence Keefe
Nielsen Engineering & Research
526 Clyde Avenue
Mountain View , CA 94043 - 2212

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Nielsen Engineering & Research, Inc.
526 Clyde Avenue
Mountain View , CA 94043 - 2212

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 06.03-9338 (Chron: 000663 )
PROJECT TITLE
Bi-fluorescent Crystal Fiber for High Temperature Measurement

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Very light sensors having a fast response time are required for making direct, non-intrusive measurements in a rocket or jet engine environment for precise control. In order to monitor key physical parameters in this environment, it will be necessary to develop new concepts in sensor design to measure such parameters as temperature. Fiber optic sensors offer a possible solution to this problem. Lasergenics Corporation is proposing to investigate single crystal fibers of YAG, spinel and yttria doped with neodymium and dysprosium for this application. This material can withstand the harsh environment that will exist at temperatures as high as 2300 degrees C. The temperature will be determined by measuring the fluorescent decay time as a function of temperature using the phase shift method. This concept will be tested during the Phase I effort. For the Phase II effort we will determine sensor and data transmission link designcharacteristics usable in this environment and fabricate and test a breadboard.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
This program can result in a new concept for fiber optic sensors for high temperatures in harsh environments such as rocket and jet engines. Such a sensor can result in important savings in fuel, maintenance and repair costs because of more precise control. They could find application in process control in steel, chemical and semiconductor industries, in power generation plants, in plasma, fusion, MHD, combustion and chemical research.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Richard Schlecht
Richard Schlecht
6830 Via Del Oro, Suite 103
San Jose , CA 95119 - 1353

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Lasergenics Corporation
6830 Via Del Oro, Suite 103
San Jose , CA 95119 - 1353

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 07.01-8007 (Chron: 001994 )
PROJECT TITLE
Methods for Assessing the Stability and Robustness of Distributed ATM Systems

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Computational approaches for estimating the relative stability and robustness of distributed air-traffic-management (ATM) systems are proposed. These methodologies combine the notions of Lyapunov stability and dissipativity in nonlinear dynamic system theory with the concepts of connective stability and robustness from decentralized control theory. The proposed research builds upon a recent research effort that resulted in the development of a software environment for ATM stability and robustness analysis.
Phase I research will develop the computational algorithms and will demonstrate their use in a high-fidelity simulation of the air-traffic-management system. Scenarios illustrating the practical use of these algorithms to gauge the stability properties of the ATM environment will also be developed during Phase I research.
Based on the Phase I research results, Phase II work will develop computational modules that can be integrated with air-traffic-management decision aids such as CTAS to provide real-time information about the ATM system stability and robustness. After adequate testing and evaluation of the proposed algorithms, the stability and robustness information can be used as a decision aid for intervention by centralized air-traffic-control entities in the distributed ATM environment.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
A recent trend in the aerospace industry is to develop decentralized autonomous systems for carrying out aerospace missions. Examples include the distributed control of satellite formations, unmanned aerial vehicle formations, and cooperative missile systems. Methods developed under the present research can be used to assess the stability and robustness properties of such distributed control systems. Other areas of application include stability and robustness analysis of distributed computer networks, intelligent vehicle-highway systems, and distributed process control systems.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. P. K. Menon
Optimal Synthesis Inc.
4966 El Camino Real, Suite 108
Los Altos , CA 94022 - 1406

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Optimal Synthesis Inc.
4966 El Camino Real, Suite 108
Los Altos , CA 94022 - 1406

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 07.01-9165 (Chron: 000836 )
PROJECT TITLE
Integration of DST's for non-conflicting end-to-end flight scheduling

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In this SBIR effort we propose an innovative approach for the integration of Decision Support Tools (DSTs) for increased situational awareness, improved cooperative scheduling and collaborative decision-making in all parts of the air space. We propose to investigate two types of integration models based on the extent and feasibility of the level of integration and use appropriate game theoretic approaches to analyze these models. The proposed models are: (i) Data-sharing DST integration model: In this model, DSTs will primarily share data that is required for each DST to take a decision before an event happens. Based on the shared data each DST acts independently (ii) Interacting DST integration model: In this model, DSTs not only share data but also advise each other to act in such a way to reduce the level of conflict. Tools based on repeated strategic games and cooperative bargaining games will be used. We primarily focus on integrating Traffic Management Advisories (TMAs) across multiple centers as the application domain for the Phase I effort.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The successful development of a verifiable approach for the integration of decision support tools will position IAI as a key player in the ATM market. Preliminary efforts lead by NASA for a Multi-Center TMA at Philadelphia are already in progress and it is anticipated that similar effort for integrating TMAs across NAS airspace will be conducted over the next few years. The proposed approach can easily be tailored to meet the needs of integrating other decision support tools as required by NASA's the Distributed Air Ground (DAG-TM) initiative. This is a fairly untapped market, still in its infancy, but with an extremely high commercialization potential. Techniques proposed in this effort will also have a market in applications such as transportation, factory scheduling and battle management.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Vikram Manikonda
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
2 Research Place, Suite 202
Rockville , MD 20850 - 6205

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
2 Research Place, Suite 202
Rockville , MD 20850 - 6205

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 07.01-9541 (Chron: 000460 )
PROJECT TITLE
Distributed Decision-Making Models for Advanced Air/Ground Traffic Management

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In the transition from current Air Traffic Management (ATM) practices to the envisioned Distributed Air-Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM) environment, inter-aircraft negotiation protocols will prove to be a key driver in shaping the balance between traffic safety, flow rates, and individual carrier operating objectives. We propose to develop an agent-based simulation that will serve as a tool to explore these issues, by upgrading our existing in-house ATM simulation to include one or more state-of-the-art human decision-making models best suited for the ATM environment. We first propose to survey several modeling approaches that have potential in the ATM context, and then evaluate these models across a number of decision-making criteria, including: social welfare, individual rationality, stability, computational efficiency, scalability, and convergence. We will then implement one or more of the most promising decision-making models within an existing agent-based architecture, evaluate the representational fidelity of these agent-based models, and assess their utility in predicting the impact of different protocols on overall air traffic operations. We will also assess usability from the standpoint of the system designer in formulating effective negotiation guidelines for future ATM practices.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed technology will directly support simulation of the developed agents in the distributed air-ground traffic management system. These simulations will support the design and specification of rules for negotiation for pilots and Airline Operations Centers in the advanced ATM environment of the future. The underlying survey of distributed decision-making methods will also support requirements in other domains (e.g. intelligent vehicle highway systems, strategic warfare gaming industry, etc.) where it is desirable to consider multiple negotiation mechanisms. We also plan to extract the decision-making and communications components to embed in a generalized Intelligent Agent Toolkit (IAT) configurable to any domain requiring intelligent agent interaction.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Karen A. Harper
Charles River Analytics Inc.
725 Concord Ave
Cambridge , MA 02138 - 1040

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Charles River Analytics Inc.
725 Concord Ave
Cambridge , MA 02138 - 1040

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 07.02-8083 (Chron: 001918 )
PROJECT TITLE
Advanced Planar Doppler Velocimetry System for Full-Scale Rotorcraft Testing

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We have recently used a state-of-the-art Planar Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) system to demonstrate the first successful measurements of spatially and temporally resolved, three-dimensional, velocity vector fields in the blade wakes of a full-scale, operating rotor. The supporting software for processing the PDV images is a core element of the instrumentation. However, the present software set is unrefined, constrained to a specialized computing environment, and requires significant operator expertise to implement. To enable its universal use by non-specialists, this proposal addresses the requirements for an integrated PDV image-processing software system that is transportable and fully documented. The PC-based software will incorporate advanced and experimentally validated algorithms to fully accommodate the time-dependent flows of operating rotors, and will provide near-autonomous processing procedures and velocity field displays with the minimum requirements for operator expertise and training. An additional objective is to define a strategy for an ancillary processing system that is specifically designed to rapidly display interim velocity fields for preliminary analysis during the test period. The tasks described in this proposal are essential steps leading to an advanced PDV system that can be routinely applied to future full-scale rotorcraft/STOVL aerodynamics testing programs, and subsequently commercialized.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The primary commercial application is the measurement of velocity vector fields in large-scale, three-dimensional, time-dependent flow fields. This unique capability is expected to be attractive to a wide range of customers including world-wide Government aerodynamic facilities, universities, and industrial testing sites. Examples of potential applications, other than rotorcraft and fixed-wing aerodynamic test-ing in large wind tunnels, include flow-field diagnostics of automotive vehicles, helicopter landing pads, aircraft wake, and weather disturbances over airport runways and ship decks, building and bridge wakes, and the motion of solid targets and projectiles.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Robert L. McKenzie
MetroLaser, Inc.
825 Cathedral Drive
Sunnyvale , CA 94087 - 3146

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
MetroLaser, Inc.
18010 Skypark Circle, Ste 100
Irvine , CA 92614 - 6428

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 07.02-8546 (Chron: 001455 )
PROJECT TITLE
A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS TOOL FOR DUCTED PROPELLERS

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The use of ducted propellers as the quiet propulsive device for Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is steadily gaining popularity. Their successful
application as the fenestron tail rotor is global and well established.
This research proposes a comprehensive analysis tool for ducted propellers.

In Phase I, an axially symmetric Navier-Stokes flow solver capable of
analyzing the ducted fan in climb, hover and descent will be developed
and integrated with an intutive graphical user interface. The rotor will be
modeled as an axis-symmetric momentum source in the governing equations.
An automated grid generation based on the geomtric characteristics of the
duct will be an integral part of the tool. In Phase II, the analysis tool
will be extended to non-axial forward flight conditions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The software developed under this initiative will find wide usage in the
U.S. helicopter industries and aerospace industries in addition to the
US government. With the success of the software in predicting the
aerodynamics of ducted propellers, extention to dynamics, control and
accoustics will be considered in future initiatives.

In Phase III, the comprehensive aerodynamic analysis tool will be
wrapped with pre and post-processing capabilities and licensed to the industry.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
ANGELA LESTARI
Sukra Helitek Inc.
3146 Greenwood Rd.
Ames , IA 50014 - 4504

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Sukra Helitek,inc
3146 Greenwood Road
Ames , IA 50014 - 4504

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 07.02-8866 (Chron: 001135 )
PROJECT TITLE
Low-Cost Lightweight Attitude-Command Augmentation System for Civil Helicopters

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This project will result in a low-cost, lightweight, attitude-command-attitude-hold (ACAH) stabilization system for civil helicopters. The results of past and ongoing U.S. Army and NASA research will be used as a starting point to develop an ACAH stability augmentation system (SAS) that can be used to enhance the dynamics of civil helicopters in a way that is economically viable to the user.
The helicopter dynamics required to achieve safe IFR capability are not well understood, so that each certification is a high-risk (and therefore expensive) effort. An important feature of the proposed SAS it that it will provide handling qualities and divided attention characteristics that can be depended on to meet the FAA requirements for IFR certification.
The proposed ACAH SAS would provide a low cost solution to achieve improved helicopter dynamics, and hence enhanced safety, in two critical flight regimes, the DVE and for IMC. There is substantial evidence from NTSB accident data to indicate that it is safer to operate IFR than to attempt to continue visual flight in low visibility conditions. However, if it is necessary to operate in the DVE, the ACAH SAS can be shown to substantially improve the safety of that operation

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
An informal survey of manufacturers and users, as well as editorial comments in trade journals (e.g., Rotor and Wing) indicate that there is a substantial need for a low cost SAS for helicopters that would provide handling qualities that result in reasonable assurance of IFR certification, as well as increased safety for divided attention tasks. Current solutions are too expensive, so most helicopters in the medium-to-low cost range do not have the benefit of IFR capability.
The ACAH stability augmentation system would be marketed to manufacturers for installation in new helicopters, and as an aftermarket installation. A unique feature of the system is that it will be designed specifically to allow IFR certification without an autopilot, and to provide a stable attitude response in all flight regimes regardless of the SAS-off handling qualities.
The target market would consist primarily of helicopters that exist at the lower end of the cost spectrum (less than $300,000). This would include mostly piston helicopters such as the Robinson R-22 and R-44, the Enstrom 280FX, and Schweizer 300C. It is estimated that there is also a potential market for low-end turbine helicopters. Not many of these helicopters are currently certified for IFR.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Roger H. Hoh
Hoh Aeronautics, Inc.
2075 Palos Verdes Dr. North
Lomita , CA 90717 - 3726

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Hoh Aeronautics, Inc.
2075 Palos Verdes Dr N #217
Lomita , CA 90717 - 3726

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 07.02-9723 (Chron: 000278 )
PROJECT TITLE
Next Generation Adaptive Design Technology for Micro and Autonomous Rotorcraft

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Recent developments have illustrated the tremendous potential of very small-scale rotorcraft (Micro Rotorcraft or MRCs) for entirely new missions such as remote sensing, surveillance, and autonomous exploration. Vehicle design at this scale is constrained by performance limitations inherent in operating at low Reynolds number. This effort will exploit new, lightweight Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuation devices and sophisticated design optimization tools to create an adaptive micro-rotor system with the potential for doubling the useful load or endurance MRCs. New SMA device technology will allow improved performance for diverse rotorcraft operating conditions while drawing minimal steady-state power, and will be the enabling technology for a family of adaptive rotor designs for next generation MRCs. Phase I will exploit recent insights into low Re airfoil behavior as well as enhancements to established rotorcraft modeling and optimization software. A Phase II goal will be to produce new, comprehensive optimization software to support design of next generation rotorcraft concepts ranging from low Re MRC?s and planetary exploration rotorcraft to advanced full-size multi-rotor aircraft. This software will form the foundation of a hierarchy of tools enabling multi-disciplinary optimization of rotorcraft, capitalizing on the high fidelity and computational speed of the core analysis.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The recent rapid expansion of micro rotorcraft roles in defense applications is being mirrored by growth in possible civil roles for MRC concepts, including surveillance, imaging, and inspection. The long term goal of this effort would be to produce and market a family of adaptive rotor systems for next generation MRCs, as well as design software for such vehicles. The design tools and actuation technology developed here would also directly support design of autonomous rotorcraft for future missions, including possible roles in exploration of planetary atmospheres.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Todd R. Quackenbush
Continuum Dynamics, Inc.
34 Lexington Avenue
Ewing , NJ 08618 - 2302

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Continuum Dynamics, Inc.
34 Lexington Avenue
Ewing , NJ 08618 - 2302

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 08.01-8973 (Chron: 001028 )
PROJECT TITLE
Methane to Aromatics on Mars

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Methane to Aromatics on Mars (METAMARS) project will design and build a machine for converting methane produced by the Sabatier reaction into a low hydrogen content, low vapor pressure, high density, aromatic fuel. Its primary advantage is a factor of four reduction of hydrogen feedstock importation requirements for production of rocket fuel compared to the standard S/E process for an equivalent mass of fuel. In addition, since all oxygen produced by the Sabatier system comes from the carbon dioxide feed, by reducing the hydrogen in the fuel the METAMARS process will simultaneously improve the stoichiometry of the fuel/oxidizer combination and will reduce the power required by the process. The benzene fuel is also considerably denser than methane fuel. A final advantage of the METAMARS process is that it operates at low pressure, in contrast to synthesis reactions for other higher hydrocarbons. These advantages make the METAMARS process a prime technology to improve the applicability of the Sabatier process for small scale unmanned Mars missions, such as the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, as well as a key technology for manned Mars missions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
There is already considerable terrestrial interest in the conversion of methane into transportable fuels and chemical feedstocks, with the majority of the work focusing on methanol or Fischer-Tropsch hydrocarbon production. Remote gas fields currently flare or reinject more than a billion dollars worth of natural gas every day, and economical means for liquefying this gas have tremendous commercial potential. Pioneer's work will draw heavily on research into catalytic processes for methane dehydrogenation, but the METAMARS process itself is, to Pioneer's best knowledge, new and unique. Potential products include benzene and toluene, with total current markets of more than 10 million tonnes per year.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Tony Muscatello
Pioneer Astronautics
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood , CO 80215 - 5516

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Pioneer Astronautics
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood , CO 80215 - 5516

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 08.01-9168 (Chron: 000833 )
PROJECT TITLE
High Efficiency, Microchannel Reactors For ISRU Applications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This project is to develop miniature, solid-state, chemical reactors using advanced Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and microchannel technology to support in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) of Mars and lunar missions. Successful ISRU will require component technologies which provide optimal size, weight, volume, and power efficiency. This project is adapting fundamental MEMS and microchannel fabrication technologies developed at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) to key chemical reaction processes common to most proposed ISRU schemes, namely, the conversion of water to hydrogen and oxygen and the reduction of carbon oxides. This project also seeks to use microchannel and MEMS technologies as means of achieving integration of system components, such as filters, valves and instrumentation, with key chemical processing steps, such as reaction bed, product separation and thermal management systems. The goal of the program is to develop technology which addresses NASA's needs for missions, such as the Mars Sample Return Mission and propellant production for the Mars Accent Vehicle. This Phase I program will develop a prototype integrated miniature ISRU system for the production of methane, oxygen, and other useful chemicals from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
MEMs and microchannel technology is an emerging field with applications in most industrial processes due excellent mixing, controlled reaction environment, and energy efficiency. This technology offers improvements in existing processes and will enable new processes to become cost effective. Of particular interest is the reformation of hydrocarbons to hydrogen for fuel cell applications, the upgrading of natural gas to high value liquids, and the conversion of carbon dioxide to useful products which do not contribute to global warming.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Darby B. Makel
Makel Engineering, Inc.
1020 Marauder Street, Suite D
Chico , CA 95973 - 9001

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Makel Engineering,Inc.
1020 Marauder Street, Suite D
Chico , CA 95973 - 9001

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 08.02-8006 (Chron: 001995 )
PROJECT TITLE
Development of Synthetic Muscle Systems for NASA Space Robotics/EVA Applications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The goal of the proposed Phase I research is to explore the feasibility of developing a family of novel synthetic muscle systems with robotic sensing and actuation capabilities, for a wide spectrum of NASA space robotic and EVA applications. In particular, configurations of interest may be in the form of multi-fingered biomimetic robotic hands to handle delicate and small space objects such as small samples of space rocks. Also, the fact that the proposed synthetic muscles can easily sustain the cold harsh environment of space and yet be biomimetic and noiseless and operational under low voltage (2-10 volts) is of significance to NASA related missions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The same technology can also be used for many other applications including biomedical devices, industrial robotic arms and actuators, micro actuators, and so on. Many devices that are being consiered are related to aerospace, automotive, medical, animation, toys, entertainment, exoskeletons, robotics, active noise control, and smart structures.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Kwang J. Kim
Environmental Robots, Inc.
909 Virginia, NE, #205
Albuquerque , NM 87108 - 2578

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Environmental Robots, Inc.
P.O. Box 20940
Albuquerque , NM 87154 - 0940

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 08.02-8906 (Chron: 001095 )
PROJECT TITLE
Fail-safe,Human-Scale Haptic Robot for Monitoring & Maintaining Astronaut Health

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Barrett Technology, Inc. proposes to design and build a lightweight high-performance manipulator for micro-gravity muscle/bone strengthening and trauma rehabilitation with data quantification. The device will be used on board months-long interplanetary space-exploration missions. The enabling technology is based on the novel concept presented confidentially in this proposal. If Phase I demonstrates feasibility, then Phase II will support the design of such a versatile device, featuring: (1) human-centric operation; (2) virtual energetic sports environments; and (3) a rich stream of quantification data for body motion trajectories, force/torque vectors along the trajectories, and power/energy profiles.
Unlike any manipulator available today, the proposed device will achieve the normally incompatible requirements of: (1) human-level strength and (2) reach but also (3) precise controllability and (4) true fail-safe operation - all in a (5) lightweight package. Even Barrett's high-performance WAM? arm, which is haptic and has higher force capability than the popular Phantom (sold by Barrett's licensee, Sensable Technologies) cannot meet this set of requirements without a technology breakthrough as significant as the innovation presented within this proposal.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
During future NASA interplanetary explorations, the on-board accessibility of a manipulator with extraordinary versatility that can work safely among crew members should quickly find other duties to assist the crew. In commercial (terrestrial) applications, manipulators made with this new technology would be a boon to emerging service robots. It enables a wide range of activities such as elderly-assist devices, precise surgical assistants, and even psychologically-engaging fitness machines that create virtual sports activities.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
William Townsend
Barrett Technology
139 Main St.
Cambridge , MA 02142 - 1528

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Barrett Technology
139 Main St
Cambridge , MA 02142 - 1528

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 08.02-9887 (Chron: 000114 )
PROJECT TITLE
Variable Structure Robot Control Software

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Robot technology is not fully utilized in many NASA, military, and commercial applications because of the application-specific nature of available robot hardware and control software. The use of efficient, operationally flexible robots with multiple sensors, kinematic redundancy, and mobile bases has been limited due to the lack of a flexible means to develop robust control algorithms for positioning, interaction forces, and high level tasks. We propose to develop robot control algorithms and software that enable rapid design and implementation of high precision and high bandwidth control systems for multiple-arm, redundant robots. The Creare innovation uses descriptions of the robot hardware, payloads, and desired tasks in order to generate control algorithms and real-time software. The feasibility of the proposed concept will be established during Phase I by illustrating the methodology using computer simulation. During Phase II, the full-scale control system design software will be designed, assembled, and tested using a realistic robot test bed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed control algorithms will be used in robot systems performing material handling for space and terrestrial applications. Both NASA and the military have a pressing need for integrating robot technology into their standard protocols. Commercial applications include flexible assembly lines, loading and unloading parts for automated machines, and handling sub-assemblies during the production process.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Robert Kline-Schoder
Creare Inc.
Etna Road, P.O. Box 71
Hanover , NH 03755 - 0071

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Creare Inc.
Etna Road, P.O. Box 71
Hanover , NH 03755 - 0071

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.01-9992 (Chron: 000008 )
PROJECT TITLE
Observation Chambers for Dynamic Microscopic Flow Visualization (DYNASCOPE)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The specific innovation proposed, tentatively named ?DYNASCOPE?, is an innovative system of microscopy equipment capable of unique sample manipulation and real-time observation. A uniquely designed hollow microscope slide with high manufacturability offers an opportunity to study the effects of capillary forces, magnetic fields, electrokinetic fields, and microscopic hydrodynamics on a wide range of fluids including biological samples. The key element of the system is the hollow slide which interfaces with other modular components, providing novel opportunities to manipulate fluid samples and to observe flows using particle image velocimetry and similar optical techniques. Three sets of endcaps, each specifically designed to accommodate pumps, magnets, or electrodes, offer flexibility, stringent control of the applicable field, and user-friendly interfaces. DYNASCOPE will facilitate video recording of motion in a variety of fluid samples on Earth or in space. Laboratory applications include the study of magnetized particle interactions, electokinetically induced aggregation and coalescence, and flow driven by capillary forces in phase-changing mixtures and porous media. In space research, DYNASCOPE can serve similar purposes, in which the gravity-dependent components of the above phenomena can be studied using the Light Microscopy Module designed for the International Space Station?s Fluids Integrated Rack.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
SHOT?s products, including DYNASCOPE, address three markets: (1) space flight hardware manufactured for government research, (2) space-flight services for commercial and academic users and (3) research laboratory equipment. Applications of DYNASCOPE address each of these in the form of (1) potential sales of space flight hardware to government agencies using the compact, space-qualified features of the DYNASCOPE fluid-handling system, (2) agreements with materials and biotechnology companies whose research in fluids behavior or materials engineering benefits from low gravity, and (3) by creating in the research laboratory a new paradigm for routine microscopic observation of fluid mechanical phenomena. In an example, an investigator may wish to test five physical conditions using a complete set of observational data. With a single compact fluids handling and force-field generating system he/she can set up five sequential slides, each with a different value of an independent variable (such as viscosity, temperature, magnetic field). The fluid events can be recorded and analyzed by a user-selected motion analysis software package, with which the images recorded from the DYNASCOPE experiment will be compatible. This is a highly marketable integrated concept, with essentially no ?off-the-shelf? competition at present.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Paul Todd
Space Hardware Optimization Technology, Inc.
7200 Highway 150
Greenville , IN 47124 - 9515

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Space Hardware Optimization Technology
7200 Highway 150
Greenville , IN 47124 - 9515

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.02-8407 (Chron: 001594 )
PROJECT TITLE
Label-Free, High-Throughput Proteomics Analyzer

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Space Station Biological Research Program at NASA is developing advanced facilities, including cell culture systems to conduct microgravity research in cell biology onboard the Space Station. These systems will provide basic and essential infrastructure for space-based cell biology research. However, full utilization of the Space Station biological research facilities will require additional instrumentation with specialized capabilities for quantitative cell analysis. The development of highly automated and miniaturized instrumentation and advanced methodologies has been singled out as a high research priority in Space Biology; the present proposal addresses this NASA need. A fundamental biological process in which gravity is known to play a role is gene expression. We propose development of a novel surface plasmon resonance imaging spectrometer system for label-free protein expression profiling in space. The system will consist of a rugged, compact instrument with low mass and low power consumption, and a proteomics biosensor chip array integrated into a microfluidics cartridge. The label-free nature of the system makes it ideally suited for space-based application as it will permit direct seamless coupling between cell culture samples and the biosensor to make it possible and convenient to perform complex cellular analyses in real time within the resource limitations and triple containment constraints extant in the Space Station.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
High-Throughput Screening in the fields of functional genomics, proteomics and drug discovery.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Salvador M. Fernandez
Ciencia, Inc.
111 Roberts Street, Suite K
East Hartford , CT 06108 - 3653

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ciencia, Inc.
111 Roberts Street, Suite K
East Hartford , CT 06108 - 3653

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.02-8931 (Chron: 001070 )
PROJECT TITLE
Miniature Flow Cytometer and Cell Sorter for Use in Low Gravity

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Conventional fluorescence-activated cell sorters (FACSs) are widely used to study eukaryotic cell populations. Although they provide impressively efficient sorting, they are costly, mechanically complex, and require large sample volumes and trained personnel for operation and maintenance. In addition, the footprint per unit separation is considerable and they typically require large input populations. Inexpensive devices that rapidly sort live cell, particles and even single molecules would greatly facilitate screening of combinatorial chemical, biochemical or biological libraries taking advantage of the enormous power of in vitro evolution. Moreover, such devices would have wide applications in clinical medicine and basic research. Current systems are also not well suited for use in low gravity environments or impose a significant cost in payload size and weight. Agave BioSystems proposes to develop a miniature flow cytometer/ fluorescent cell sorter (nanoSort) based on a novel micropumping system with an integrated optical waveguide that will eliminate these shortcomings. The microfabricated system will be ideal for use in low gravity environments as well as typical laboratory settings and will be both compact and lightweight.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
This flow cytometry technology is valuable to scientists in academia, government and industry for a number of research and biomedical applications. Because of the enormous potential of cells display libraries to generate valuable binding proteins, we expect this market to be a major user of this technology. Further, the use of nanoSort for reagent and drug discovery purposes has great potential and can provide a critical edge in the discovery of promising new lead compounds.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Greg Baxter
Agave BioSystems, Inc.
95 Brown Rd Box 1014
Ithaca , NY 14850 - 1014

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Agave BioSystems, Inc.
PO Box 80010
Austin , TX 78708 - 0010

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.02-9236 (Chron: 000765 )
PROJECT TITLE
Robotic Bioreactor for Cell Culture in Space Applications (DYNACULT)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The specific innovation proposed is a fully-automated perfused cell-culture bioreactor system (laboratory in a cassette) tentatively named "DYNACULT". Space Hardware Optimization Technology, Inc.,will incorporate several technical innovations into the integrated DYNACULT system. These include, but are not limited to, options for gentle mixing of cell and/or microcarrier suspensions independently variable perfusion and oxygenation rates, pH and oxygen monitoring, real-time imaging of cells, compact design, computerized and automated control of all functions, user-friendly operation, and flexible options for automated collection of samples of cells and cell-free media simultaneously at chosen times. These functions can control and operate a 50 mL or 100 mL prototype bioreactor for several days without operator intervention. The need for these technical innovations were identified in SHOT's previous research that led to a flight-qualified and flight-proven bioreactor prototype named "CELLCULT". The DYNACULT system will fit conveniently into a cassette with a volume less than 2.0 L (space-flight version) or on a single shelf of a standard tissue culture incubator. SHOT, Inc. has manufactured prototypical space cell culture devices of the DYNACULT type and will utilize this experience along with the proposed innovations to establish a position in space and biotechnology markets for fully automated cell culture instruments.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
SHOT?s products, including DYNACULT, address three markets: (1) space flight hardware manufactured for government research, (2) space-flight services for commercial and academic users and (3) research laboratory equipment. Applications of DYNACULT address each of these in the form of (1) potential sales of space flight hardware to government agencies using the compact, space-qualified features of the DYNACULT units and SHOT?s design and manufacturing capabilities, (2) agreements with biotechnology companies whose research in cell products or tissue engineering benefits from low gravity as implied in numerous recent scientific articles, and (3) by creating in the research laboratory a new paradigm for intermediate volume cell-product and tissue-engineering research. In case (3), in a laboratory scenario, an investigator may test five culture conditions. With a single bench-top computer, he/she can set up five simultaneous cultures, range of 10 mL to 1 liter, each with a different value of an independent variable. The cultures will control themselves automatically for several days and record temperature, pH, etc. and time and volume of sample collections. Then the collected samples can be analysed off-line for any chemical content, cell number, cell morphology, etc. This is a highly marketable integrated concept, with essentially no competition at present.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Space Hardware Optimization Technology
7200 Highway 150
Greenville , IN 47124 - 9515

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.03-9271 (Chron: 000730 )
PROJECT TITLE
Stable Miniature Oxygen-pH-Temperature Sensor

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A new miniature, low-power, and stable oxygen-pH-temperature sensor is proposed. It can measure both the atmospheric oxygen and dissolved oxygen over the pressure ranges of interest for plant-growth systems and bioreactors. The sensor measures the phosphorescence decay time from a doped-silica material. Unlike total phosphoresence intensity, phosphorescent decay time is a property of a molecule that should remain highly stable over time, eliminating the need for re-calibrations.) Because phosphorescence occurs on a much slower time scale than fluorescence, this sensor is simpler, smaller, and more accurate than a fluorescence-based sensor. We have also found methods for measuring pH and temperature from the same sensor making this a versatile instrument suitable for plant and animal studies including extremophile research on earth and particularly in space.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Because oxygen is essential both to fire and to life, oxygen sensors are needed in industries as varied as bioremediation of pollution, pharmaceuticals, and electrical power plants. The largest market is in automobiles: all new cars have oxygen sensors in the exhaust to optimize combustion and minimize pollution. Existing automotive oxygen sensors are a reliability problem and a better replacement has a potential worldwide market of billions of dollars.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
John Lawless
Redwood Scientific, Inc.
1005 Terra Nova Blvd.
Pacifica , CA 94044 - 4300

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Redwood Scientific, Inc.
1005 Terra Nova Blvd.
Pacifica , CA 94044 - 4300

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.03-9616 (Chron: 000385 )
PROJECT TITLE
Seed Transport, Storage and Handling System (SEEDSYS)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
With Space Station, opportunities for long duration plant experimentation in space, including seed-to-seed multi-generational studies become increasingly available. This will require not just transport of seed to orbit, but means to stow and handle seed. The innovation of the proposed seed transport, storage and handling system (SEEDSYS) is the development and integration of a seed management system with the following capabilities: 1) controlled environment storage of bulk seed or pre-seeded root modules to minimize decreases in viability from environmental factors; 2) tools for pre-germination treatments (seed priming); 3) tools for cleaning and planting seed harvested on-orbit; 4) a container system for allowing reliable transport of seed in diverse carriers; and 5) capabilities for storage of seeds in a defined gas atmosphere (nitrogen, CO2). Innovative design integrates this suite of tools for effective function in microgravity and to accommodate a wide range of potential experiments. SEEDSYS would increase science capability for experimenters, reduce crew workloads, and reduce launch and landing mass of plant growth systems. Project tasks will include developing conceptual designs of SEEDSYS components, defining requirements for the efficient integration of the components, and performing a preliminary system level safety analysis.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Commercial applications within NASA could include making technology available to transport seeds ad planted root modules to and from orbit, and to provide seed storage and seed handling on-orbit for plant research and growing facilities used aboard the space shuttle and space station. SEEDSYS would allow a large reduction in launch and return mass while keeping plant growth systems operating on orbit more continuously and more efficiently. ORBITEC has used this process with a previous development, the Biomass Production System (BPS) plant growth chamber. Phase III contracts have been funded for the actual flight of BPS on Space Station Middeck, ISS Express Rack, and on ISS Utilization Flight 1.

Terrestrial commercial application of this technology would include inexpensive, controlled environment seed storage units that could be readily utilized in laboratories and individual research programs. There are 1238 Biological and Life Science and 1342 Agricultural Sciences departments in US Colleges and Universities (U.S. New College Report, 2000) where small seed handling systems might find use. There are also a number of commercial agriculture research companies that could make use of these technologies. There may also be use among hobbyists involved in gardening, seed collecting, and seed exchange clubs.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Robert C. Morrow
Orbital Technologies Corporation
1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.04-9144 (Chron: 000857 )
PROJECT TITLE
Feedback-Controlled Detached Directional Solidification System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
It is proposed to develop a directional solidification system equipped with a novel sensor to maintain a separation gap between the crucible containing the charge and the solidifying charge. The interaction of crucible wall and the solidifying charge during growth of single crystals of electronics materials is known to influence generation of a myriad of defects with concomitant deleterious effect on the performance of these materials in device structures ranging from detectors to telecommunication equipment. The goal of this proposal is to develop the enabling technology for sensor-based feedback controlled growth of detached semiconductor crystals. The Phase I of this activity will focus on development of the sensor. The Phase II work will focus on integration of this sensor into a modified Bridgman system, development of the control algorithm, and growth of semiconductor crystals in the developed system.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Reduction of defects generated by the interaction of the charge with the crucible will significantly increase the yield of commercial production of electronic materials as well as their properties. The commercial materials producers are expected to embrace a system that can achieve detached or partially detached growth of semiconductor crystals.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Shariar Motakef
Cape Simulations, Inc.
One Bridge Street
Newton , MA 02458 - 1132

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Cape Simulations, Inc.
One Bridge Street
Newton , MA 02458 - 1132

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.04-9567 (Chron: 000434 )
PROJECT TITLE
Aerodynamic Microgravity Containerless Processor (AMCP)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
ORBITEC proposes to conduct an innovative research and development program that will result in a Aerodynamic Microgravity Containerless Processor (AMCP) technology demonstration on the International Space Station. This system will satisfy microgravity scientists that cannot currently be accommodated by the ESL, EML or acoustic systems. The innovation is based on: the use of a newly developed gas-jet rectifier hardware concept, a fuzzy logic expert control system, an automatic sample loading and retrieval system, a revolutionary sample spin diagnostic and control system concept, a specially designed cooling and quench system, a new containment concept for on-orbit position control of spherical samples, a new, highly-accurate, fast-response optical sample tracking and a tetrahedral laser heating system. In Phase I, we propose to: update and refine the preliminary system requirements by setting up an expert science review team that needs aerodynamic containerless processing in microgravity, perform testing of several critical components, design, develop, and test a prototype AMCP system, and develop the preliminary design for a Phase II prototype space flight system. In Phase II, we propose to develop a space "flight-like" AMCP system. Many scientists have expressed interest in using this proposed system.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
A fully-developed facility for space flight applications provides the opportunity to: make significant progress in heating, melting and controlled slow and very rapid cooling of materials in a free-float zone; conduct crystal structure studies; measure thermophysical properties in melts and other liquids/solutions; and conduct various fluid dynamic and combustion studies in a micro-g environment. ORBITEC can develop this space flight hardware at much less cost and higher quality because we will use the knowledge developed in our BPS flight system being sponsored by NASA/ARC. Additional AMCP experiments could include: surface nucleation studies, undercooling research, development of unique composite materials and glasses, gas-based quenching, liquid state property measurement, etc. There are many commercial needs to gain thermophysical property measurements for the casting industry, need for new glasses for the optical fiber applications and development of new metal foams. Parabolic aircraft low-g flight of the basic approach has proven that superior performance and experimental flexibility is achievable over other techniques, including acoustic, electromagnetic, and electrostatic levitation. Many government-funded and commercial spin-off opportunities have been identified and are in evaluation or pursuit.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 09.04-9593 (Chron: 000408 )
PROJECT TITLE
Scanning Phase Stepping Interferometry for High Resolution Measurement

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The overall goal of this Phase I effort is to design and verify the feasibility of a new Scanning Phase Stepping Interferometer (SPSI) compatible with the Crystal Growth by Vapor Transport (CGVT) materials science experiment proposed to the Microgravity Science & Applications Department at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama. (MSFC). SPSI is capable of resolving crystal terraces on the order of 0.5 nm in height, well below the 5-100 nanometer step height resolution required by this materials science experiment. In this proposal, we describe not only the technique itself, but also some of the optical engineering which must be addressed for implementation. In the Phase I design and testing, feasibility and performance will be the primary goals, while in Phase II, a more compact, flight-compatible prototype will be built taking into account constraints in size, weight, and power on the International Space Station. The proposed SPSI system will incorporate conventional gross field phase stepping capabilities, and will be compatible with optical absorption measurements. In this project, Rice Systems will investigate the application of SPSI to other crystal growth experiments, as well as to microstructure applications where conventional phase stepping does not have sufficient cross-axis resolution.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
SPSI applies to the development of semiconductor materials for a variety of applications including blue-emitting LEDs, blue lasers, and digital optical computing. The pharmaceutical companies are also actively interested in such research and development, through the need for higher quality protein crystals such as insulin and hemoglobin.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick
Rice Systems, Inc.
1150 Main Street, Suite C
Irvine , CA 92614 - 6764

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Rice Systems, Inc.
1150 Main Street, Suite C
Irvine , CA 92614 - 6764

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.01-8746 (Chron: 001255 )
PROJECT TITLE
Sublimation-based water reclamation and purification from solids

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose the application of sublimation purification technology (SPT) to the recovery of water from solid wastes which originate from functions of the spacecraft life support system. We will apply SPT to the purification of simulated solid waste media (SWM)which has a well characterized composition and morphology. SPT is a physical process and does not involve the consumption of any resources except energy. SPT recovers the maximum amount of water because it reduces the wastes to a solid dry material as opposed to a concentrated solution. The recovered water is of high purity. The solid residues should have many desirable properties including very low moisture content, very low yield strength, and high surface area. Since solid residues will be low in moisture, incineration of the solid residue can be achieved using a minimum energy input. In the proposed work SPT performance data will obtained from SWM as a function of varying processing conditions. We will examine the feasibility of applying SPT to the space flight environment and investigate how SPT will be integrated into existing and planned space flight specific life support subsystem components.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
SPT has been developed for extreme applications including the purification of waters from evaporator bottoms bearing plutonium and uranium salts. The principal investigator has applied SPT to the production of high purity water and solvents for use in proprietary industrial applications. Applications to the space environment presents certain problems which are fundamental in nature to those encountered during the production of pico-pure liquids. Resolution of those problems will allow water recovery recycle and reuse systems for long duration space to operate more efficiently, with greater potable water yield, and will allow SPT to be more cost effectively applied to terrestrial purification problems.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Nicholas V. Coppa, Ph.D.
NanoMaterials Company
7 Line Road
Malvern , PA 19355 - 2829

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
NanoMaterials Company
7 Line Road
Malvern , PA 19355 - 2829

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.01-8925 (Chron: 001076 )
PROJECT TITLE
Advanced Life Support System Water Reclamation Using Cavitating Jets

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Current space water reclamation systems require resupply and expendable use that are too large for long duration remote space applications such as Mars expeditions and lunar bases. We propose development of a novel jet-induced cavitation process for water reclamation that would be lightweight, low maintenance, reliable, and require little or no expendables.

Cavitation is known to produce reactions in water resulting in organic compound oxidation. We have demonstrated that jet-induced cavitation can oxidize selected organic compounds with two orders of magnitude greater energy efficiency than other methods such as ultrasonics.

We propose to utilize jet cavitation to accomplish three water reclamation functions for advanced space life support: total organic carbon (TOC) reduction, microorganism reduction, and oxygenation. Phase I will investigate the feasibility of using jet cavitation for these three functions. Phase II will consider a broader range of contaminants and microorganisms, a detailed parametric study to obtain optimization relations, and issues of integration into a space based life support system.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Successful completion of the proposed effort will produce a new state of the art technology for the treatment and disinfection of wastewater resulting in a high efficiency advanced life support water reclamation system for long duration remote space applications. It could be directly utilized in all manned space applications. Its other potential applications are vast. It could provide a simple economical means of organic wastewater treatment and drinking water disinfection without the potential hazards of chlorination by-products. There is a growing need for such technology throughout the world as the demand for potable water supplies increases and the available supply decreases.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Kenneth M. Kalumuck
Dynaflow, Inc.
7210 Pindell School Road
Fulton , MD 20759 - 9721

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dynaflow, Inc.
7210 Pindell School Road
Fulton , MD 20759 - 9721

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.01-8993 (Chron: 001008 )
PROJECT TITLE
Fiber Coupled, Long Duration Optical Air Analyzer

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Los Gatos Research has developed a new technique for absorption based spectroscopic analysis of gas samples for use in the analysis of confined atmospheric samples for the build up of trace level contaminants. This new capability is being developed for applications in the near-infrared using established InGaAs infrared laser sources, which provide the sensitivity and low power consumption needed for long duration space applications. The innovation we are developing is based in the sample cell and signal analysis end of such instruments, as well as in the fiber-coupling scheme employed. The net result of our innovation is an increase in sample analysis path length of one thousand to ten thousand times that achievable using standard optical techniques. Using our new cell technology, the user is essentially free to employ traditional laser modulation techniques and data analysis as long as the light source frequency modulation remains less than 1 GHz. We will demonstrate the new absorption analysis technique at wavelengths of ~1.33 microns in Phase I and demonstrate that the approach can be used with sensitive low power sources such as InGaAs lasers.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The absorption instrument under development at LGR will be used in commercial and research applications for trace chemical analysis and diagnosis of air environments. Medical usage in the real-time monitoring of respiration gas is also under development as the current approach can provide the low system cost required for such use.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Anthony O'Keefe
Los Gatos Research
67 East Evelyn Avenue, Suite 3
Mountain View , CA 94041 - 1518

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Los Gatos Research
67 East Evelyn Avenue, Suite 3
Mountain View , CA 94041 - 1518

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.01-9388 (Chron: 000613 )
PROJECT TITLE
Hybrid Water Polishing System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Water reclamation is one of the basic functions of a regenerative life-support system. An efficient process for post-treatment water polishing is imperative for the production of potable water in a closed regenerative system. Only a few processes have the necessary attributes such as safe operability in micro- and partial gravity, high reliability, minimal use of expendables, ease of maintenance, and low system volume, mass, and power. Two promising post-treatment methods are (i) electrochemical water processing utilizing electricity and (ii) photocatalytic water processing using UV light. However, use of one technique alone is only partially effective as a post-treatment method. This proposal concerns an innovative hybridization of the two techniques without losing any of attributes both technique have to offer. Advantages of the hybrid system include oxidation enhancement, oxygen demand reduction, and efficient use of light. The purpose of Phase I is to demonstrate the feasibility of the hybridization of electrochemical oxidation and photocatalytic oxidation taking into account the need to reduce organic carbon impurities to less than 0.25 part per million and the need to eliminate microbial contaminants.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed method of hybridization of two outstanding oxidation techniques has immediate terrestrial benefits as a method for water polishing of regenerative life support system. This innovative hybrid reactor has a high potential for public acceptance in industry producing potable and hygiene water for public.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Jinseong Kim
Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive
College Station , TX 77840 - 4024

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive
College Station , TX 77840 - 4024

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.01-9417 (Chron: 000584 )
PROJECT TITLE
Sub-Micron Particle Removal From Gas-Water Mixtures Without Flow Restrictions

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The removal of sub-micron sized particles from an aqueous stream based on electrostatic
attraction is proposed. The system will remove suspended particles from a gas-water-
solid mixture with minimal flow restrictions. This is particularly important for the
removal of fine alumina particles in the outlet stream from the Volatile Removal
Assembly (VRA), since high pressures are required to force the gas-water mixture
through a small pore collection filter. Electrophoretic particle removal will result in
direct capture on the oppositely charged surface of removal media or an electrode, or by
collection of larger aggregates formed at such surfaces on a large pore filter. Zeta
potential is a measure of the effective surface charge on suspended particles. For oxides,
the zeta potential varies strongly with pH, reaching zero at the isoelectric pH. The zeta
potential is negative at pHs above this value, and positive at pHs below it. Particle
collection by removal media requires an opposite polarity zeta potential, or alternatively,
an electrode with the proper surface potential at the pH of interest. The Phase I effort will
demonstrate feasibility. The Phase II project will result in the delivery of a prototype
scaled to handle the nominal VRA flow rates.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
It is anticipated that a particle removal system based on the electrostatic interaction of
very fine particles in water with removal media will have numerous commercial
applications. Foremost among these will be as Flight Hardware purchased by NASA, or
by an aerospace contracting firm on behalf of NASA, to provide enhanced capability in
support of the water processor aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Terrestrial
applications include replacement of conventional filtration techniques for particulate
control in water systems. The removal of extremely fine particles without large pressure
drops associated with fine filtration is a leading candidate. High value products that are
susceptible to adsorption on conventional filter elements are another area of potential
application. Many commercial processes require the addition of flocculating agents to
remove products or wastes from the process stream. Extensive washing of flocked
aggregates is required to complete the process, adding expense and time to the overall
process. The utilization of electrostatic flocculation methods can greatly simplify this
requirement and improve profitability. It is anticipated that as a result of the Phase II
effort, UMPQUA Research Company (URC) will develop a technology demonstrator to
help market this process.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
James R. Akse, Ph.D.
Umpqua Research Company
PO Box 609
Myrtle Creek , OR 97457 - 0102

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Umpqua Research Company
PO Box 609
Myrtle Creek , OR 97457 - 0102

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.01-9494 (Chron: 000507 )
PROJECT TITLE
O2 Saturator for Biological and Physicochemical Water Processors

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development of robust membrane oxygenation systems for microgravity and
hypogravity compatible dissolution of oxygen into flowing water streams such as
Biological Water Processor feed or recycle is proposed. Multiphase gas-liquid flow
through catalyst particles or cells immobilized on solid supports can result in flow
channeling and in extreme cases, gas block (i.e., the requirement for extremely high
pressures to achieve fluid flow). The potential for multiphase flow related problems is
significantly increased under low gravity conditions due to the weakening (or absence) of
buoyant forces which facilitate phase separations based upon density differences. These
problems can be easily avoided by first dissolving the gas phase in the liquid phase and
then establishing single phase flow through the system. We propose the development of
organic polymer/ceramic membrane based oxygenation systems, compatible with
operation at either elevated or ambient temperatures, and able to saturate an influent
aqueous stream flowing at rates corresponding to the requirements of ISS or ground based
ALS testing in the BioPlex facility. Phase I will demonstrate feasibility; Phase II will
result in the design, fabrication, and thorough testing of a complete system to be delivered
to NASA at the end of the project.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
It is anticipated that, once fully developed, polymer/ceramic membrane oxygenators will
be incorporated into a variety of industrial scale reactors for the production of chemical
products. Most probably, the greatest area of application will be in ceramic membrane
reactors, where the permeation of oxygen across the full length of the catalyst bed will
minimize concentration gradients, and thereby enhance the efficiency of oxidation
reactions. The primary NASA related commercial application will be as Flight Hardware
to provide advanced capabilities aboard ISS or in support of future long duration manned
operations, such as a Mars Mission or Lunar Base.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
James E. Atwater
Umpqua Research Company
PO Box 609
Myrtle Creek , OR 97457 - 0102

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Umpqua Research Company
PO Box 609
Myrtle Creek , OR 97457 - 0102

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.01-9731 (Chron: 000270 )
PROJECT TITLE
An Electroporation System for Cold Water Sterilization

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development of an electroporation system is proposed for cold sterilization of wastewater in water reclamation. Higher strength electric fields (10 KV/cm) are generated in short DC pulses for microbial cell inactivation. Electroporation employs electric fields to cause transient or permanent changes in cell membrane permeability. At higher field strengths, permanent changes result in the death or inactivation of the cell. Laboratory experimentation by the principal investigator has already demonstrated wastewater disinfection using a bench electroporator. Pulsed electric DC fields of short millisecond duration and low duty cycle (1-10 Hertz) with virtually no current result in very low power usage. Initial system development will emphasize bacterial sterilization, but the technology may be extended later to protozoal cysts and other pathogens. In Phase I, a bench-scale (0.5 inch diameter pipe) flow-through system will be designed, constructed and tested for wastewater sterilization application. The design specification for a full-scale system along with estimated capital and operating costs will also be developed for implementation in a Phase II follow-on program.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The primary initial market prospects are the 20,000 wastewater treatment plants in North America and especially 3,500 of this number that pump over 1 million gallons per day. Important potential markets also exist in drinking water treatment, cooling systems, food processing, and the microelectronics and pharmaceutical industries.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Kenneth Schlager
Microbial Systems, Inc.
12825 Elmwood Road
Elm Grove , WI 53122 - 1920

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Microbial Systems, Inc
12825 Elmwood Road
Elm Grove , WI 53122 - 1920

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.01-9905 (Chron: 000096 )
PROJECT TITLE
Chlorophyll Fluorescence-Based Plant Health Monitor

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This project concerns the development of a sensor intended to remotely monitor plant stress using active stimulation of plant chlorophyll fluorescence. The intensity and spectral band shape of leaf chlorophyll fluorescence in green plants has been linked to the physiological status of the plants and thus provides a good indicator of plant health. The proposed sensor will measure the relative intensity of plant fluorescence in two wavelength bands corresponding to emission from Photosystems I and II. The compact size (1000 cm3), light weight (3 kg) and low power consumption (15 watts) of the sensor make this instrument ideal for robotic operation in confined spaces such as might be found on manned space missions or on ground-based facilities such as Bio-PLEX. Use of a novel active fluorescence stimulation source and compact detector enables the device to remotely sense plant fluorescence (at the single leaf, whole plant, or canopy level) from a distance of at least several feet without using a large, high power laser and large focusing optics. With the use of a synchronous detection scheme, the sensor can also efficiently detect the fluorescence in the presence of either solar or artificial lighting.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed sensor has applications in agriculture, forestry and horticulture as an early warning device to alert growers to the presence of stress. Immediate applications include use as a monitor in greenhouse and hydroponics environments, oversight of forestry-related seedling plots, and utilization in biological research.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Andrew Freedman
Aerodyne Research, Inc.
45 Manning Road
Billerica , MA 01821 - 3976

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Aerodyne Research, Inc.
45 Manning Road
Billerica , MA 01821 - 3976

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.02-8343 (Chron: 001658 )
PROJECT TITLE
Precision Human Body Tracking in 3-D

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Visidyne proposes to demonstrate innovative technologies to locate points on a human body with sub-mm precision and a low latency. Small (potentially << 1 cm3), battery-powered laser transmitter tags are attached to the subject at various points-of-interest (head, elbow, wrist, knee, etc.). Pulses from the tags are detected by a fixed constellation of receivers at known locations. The receiver signals are then processed using proprietary Visidyne phase measurement technology to solve for the position in 3-D space of each tag. Conceptually the design resembles the Global Positioning System (GPS) in that it uses trilateration to determine locations within a given volume. As with GPS, the design is highly scaleable with the low incremental cost per measured point. The proposed technology builds on previous activities at Visidyne for tracking the orientation of a helmet in an aircraft cockpit for cueing of sensors and weapons.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Tracking human body position and movement has widespread applications including motion capture for the motion picture industry, computer operator interfaces, control of robotic devices, virtual reality systems, and head tracking in the cockpit of military aircraft to name a few. The technology can also be applied to general purpose metrology problems tracking non-human targets. Precision high-speed volumetric metrology has long been sought for such applications as robotic bin picking and non-contact position sensors for robotic end effectors. Potential medical applications include precision surgery and monitoring exoskeleton motions during recuperation.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
John J. Atkinson
Visidyne, Inc.
10 Corporate Place, South Bedford St.
Burlington , MA 01803 - 5168

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Visidyne, Inc
10 Corporate Place, South Bedford St.
Burlington , MA 01803 - 5168

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.02-8599 (Chron: 001402 )
PROJECT TITLE
Astronaut Motion Measurement System (AMMS)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In order to study astronaut biomechanics on ISS, a system is needed which can accurately measure the position of various parts of the human body relative to the subject?s workspace with minimal intrusion on the subject and the environment. As with all spaceborne vehicles, ISS has strict restrictions on the electromagnetic environment, as well as mass and power. Disturbances to the crew are also to be avoided, particularly in this case, as disturbing the crew might well affect the data. The proposed Astronaut Motion Measurement System (AMMS) uses a series of small ultrasonic transmitters and receivers to measure the position and motion of astronauts within ISS without disturbing the visual, electromagnetic, or auditory environments. These measurements are accomplished by detecting the time of flight of an ultrasonic "pulse" between known base transceiver locations and transceivers worn by the astronaut. These transceivers are small and unrestrictive, making AMMS ideal for collecting long-term motion data without causing discomfort to the subject or producing erroneous data because the measurement device was cumbersome. Using AMMS, measurements of position can be taken with millimeter-level accuracy at sample rates in the 30Hz range (sample rate and accuracy are dependent on local environment size).

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Direct commercial applications of this system include animation/entertainment and terrestrial research. Indirect applications (those associated with the sensor system itself, and not necessarily with the specific configuration addressed here for human subjects) include automation systems, planetary exploration and site setup, and other local area tracking applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Julianne Zimmerman
Payload Systems Inc.
247 Third Street
Cambridge , MA 02142 - 1129

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Payload Systems Inc.
247 Third Street
Cambridge , MA 02142 - 1129

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.02-9664 (Chron: 000337 )
PROJECT TITLE
Multiple Configuration Space Environment (MCSE)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The offerer proposes to develop an innovative Multiple Configuration Space Environment (MCSE) through application of a proven design methodology with staff/consultant capabilities. The process will define a set of mission driven reconfigurable habitat components plus a development tool set for use by NASA and others to employ MCSEs in future applications.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
In addition to known and stated NASA applications, such a habitat technology would be useful to designers of aquatic craft, advanced submersibles, aircraft, survival shelters and architects to name a few. The concept taken in its most simple form may provide techniques for habitat development in severely depressed or resource limited countries.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mark W. Wheeler
Tri-Cycle Product Design, Inc.
43 Buena Vista Street, Suite 308
Ayer , MA 01432 - 6625

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Tri-Cycle Product Design, Inc.
43 Buena Vista Street, Suite 308
Ayer , MA 01432 - 6625

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.03-8523 (Chron: 001478 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Constant Force Resistive Exercise Unit

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In space, muscles atrophy and bones weaken due to long-term disuse in response to the lack of a gravity resistance vector against which to eccentrically and concentrically do work. To counteract the negative effects of microgravity on muscles and bones, research suggests that astronauts perform muscle-strengthening resistive exercises while in space. Since the lack of gravity renders weight-bearing exercise and traditional weight machines useless, Valeo, Inc. has designed a gravity-independent constant force resistive exercise unit (CFREU) based on uniquely designed constant torque spring "force packs." The CFREU has the ability to allow both eccentric and concentric muscle contractions during exercise while providing a constant force over the entire range of motion of an exercise. The CFREU additionally allows a variety of exercises to be performed, is safe, easy to operate during exercise, requires no power, and has a potential to provide an increased eccentric to concentric muscle loading ratio. The CFREU design essentially resembles a traditional isokinetic machine (with the replacement of the weight stacks by the force packs), thereby providing crewmembers with the familiarity and comfort of a typical weight-lifting routine.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
There are three classes of potential commercial applications for the CFREU. The first and most obvious class is the space applications industry. There is an evident need for a gravity-independent exercise unit that can provide a constant force with a potential to provide an increased eccentric to concentric ratio, fashioned in a compact and lightweight design that offers familiarity, safety, and comfort during exercise.
The second class includes exercise rehabilitation equipment companies and physical therapy institutions. As eccentric contraction provides more workload on the muscles than does concentric contraction, research has shown that eccentric exercise is a highly important factor in rehabilitation of injured or weak muscles. In this respect, the incorporation of a new increased eccentric to concentric ratio mechanism to the CFREU is ideal for use in physical therapy regiment. The third class includes the personal home exercise equipment industry. The compact force packs of the CFREU allow the overall unit to be small enough for easy use as a home gym. For the home gym design, force packs may be built with or without the need for the 2:1 eccentric to concentric ratio. Force packs may be purchased individually by a consumer, and used as portable exercise devices when not in use with the full CFREU.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Tara Ruttley
Valeo, Inc.
3002 W. Elizabeth St. #14-H
Fort Collins , CO 80521 - 7512

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Valeo, Inc.
3002 W. Elizabeth Dr. #14-H
Fort Collins , CO 80521 - 7512

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.03-9160 (Chron: 000841 )
PROJECT TITLE
Intelligent Software for Astronaut Health Maintenance and Medical Training

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This project will improve astronauts' ability to maintain their own medical health during long-duration space missions. We will produce an integrated set of intelligent software applications that coordinate automatic intelligent patient interviewing and recommendations, ground-based emergency procedures training, in-space refresher and just-in-time training, and during-event procedure coaching. In Phase I, we will investigate the problem, knowledge engineer the expert doctors, develop the required AI techniques, and implement a proof-of-concept prototype.

This proposed effort builds on SHAI's, and our partner, ZMedix's previous work, which developed a system that automatically interviews patients and uses those answers to make recommendations to doctors as to what exams, tests, and labs to perform, then takes those results and responds with medical conclusions for the doctor. This system will be expanded and adapted for astronaut use in several ways, including the entry of additional knowledge of space illnesses and injuries. The proposed team is very strong. SHAI has extensive Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Tutoring System experience. ZMedix has assembled an incredible array of medical expertise, including an astronaut M.D. specializing in space medicine, a former Psychiatric Evaluator for NASA's Astronaut Selection Program and specialist in the psychiatric effects of long-duration space missions, and a team of world-renowned physicians in various specialties, including emergency care.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
This project will result in 3 commercial products - a mental health patient interview/recommendation module; an emergency medical procedures training/prompting system; and a patient-education expert system, all to be marketed by ZMedix, who is dedicated toward marketing very similar medical advisory products and services to the medical industry.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Richard Stottler
Stottler Henke Associates, Inc.
1660 S. Amphlett Blvd. Ste. 350
San Mateo , CA 94402 - 2526

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Stottler Henke Associates, Inc.
1660 So. Amphlett Blvd. Ste. 350
San Mateo , CA 94402 - 2526

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.03-9186 (Chron: 000815 )
PROJECT TITLE
Hyperbaric Chamber Compressor for Treatment of Decompression Sickness

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)

NASA is currently developing an on-board hyperbaric chamber to treat decompression sickness in crewmembers during long-term space missions. However, they do not have a compressor that will operate in zero gravity to pressurize the chamber. The goal of this program is to develop a compact, lightweight compressor for the hyperbaric chamber. Commercial, earth-based compressors typically require gravity-circulated lubrication oil for the bearings. Mainstream proposes developing a magnetic-bearing centrifugal compressor that does not require lubrication and therefore operates independently of gravity. The air compressor has tremendous size, weight, power, and reliability advantages. It can be coupled with molecular sieves to produce oxygen, which is also used in the treatment of decompression sickness and cryocoolers to produce liquid oxygen, critical for space missions. In Phase I, Mainstream will design, fabricate and demonstrate the air compressor on an existing high-speed test stand. The demonstration compressor, driven by a turbine, will prove the feasibility of the innovation. In Phase II, a prototype magnetic bearing air compressor will be manufactured and demonstrated. In Phase III, Mainstream will pursue flight approval and work with our commercial partner on earth-based units.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Compact, lightweight, oil-free air compressors have tremendous military and commercial potential. The next generation of nuclear, chemical, biological (NBC) filtration systems for military environmental control units (ECU) require high-flow, lightweight, air supplies. Combined with oxygen concentrators, air compressors can be used to generate high-purity oxygen. In fact, Mainstream and their commercial partner have already demonstrated that magnetic bearing centrifugal compressors can help increase oxygen production 150%, power efficiency 215%, space efficiency 270%, and weight efficiency 425% over state-of-the-art systems. The Army, Navy, and Air Force all have considerable interest in these systems for forward medical treatment areas. Commercial aircraft companies also have interest in these systems to replace chemical oxygen generators that provide on-board oxygen for medical passengers at the expense of fuel reserves. Other oxygen generation opportunities include the home health market and civilian field hospitals.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Gregory S. Cole
Mainstream Engineering Corporation
200 Yellow Place
Rockledge , FL 32955 - 5327

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mainstream Engineering Corporation
200 Yellow Place
Rockledge , FL 32955 - 5327

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.03-9937 (Chron: 000064 )
PROJECT TITLE
Speckle-Free, Hand-Held, Ultrasound Imaging System for Space Missions

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Ultrasound imaging has long been the preferred modality for diagnostic evaluation of acute physiological conditions. However, current B-scan ultrasound, based on a fan of echoes, is very difficult to understand and requires specialized training to interpret. In this program, we propose to develop a speckle-free ultrasound imaging system which is low power, low cost, and can be made in a handheld format. The images generated from this system are striking for their radiographic appearance and lack of unwanted ultrasound artifacts. The system could be used to diagnose a variety of acute conditions as well as guide therapies during surgery.

The solution proposed by Imperium is based on a proprietary 2-D monolithic integrated array in which a piezoelectric material is deposited on a CMOS integrated circuit, much like an infrared imaging array. The lens-based device produces video quality images which unlike current ultrasound systems, requires no special training to interpret. The proposed solution is a high resolution, real-time, speckle-free, portable, ruggedized camera which will allow for a Crew Medical Officer (CMO) to immediately diagnose internal features and organs. Alternatively, the device could be used to assess the air bubbles in the bloodstream both during and after space flights.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Imperium is focused on the development of next-generation ultrasound imaging systems. We have identified four areas of commercial application for these systems. These are medical imaging, non-destructive testing, industrial imaging, and undersea imaging. Imperium is pursuing the deployment of commercial systems in these areas and the research proposed to support NASA's mission is directly applicable.

The ultrasound camera that is the object of the research will be commercially significant. It will provide non-specializing clinicians with a high resolution image for diagnosis. The system is a low cost design and compatible with standard video equipment. The images generated are similar to x-ray flouroscopy and easily interpretable. Furthermore, the same technique which will allow NASA to assess acute physiological conditions can image delaminations in composite materials. The same technique used to view corrosion hidden under paint can also be used to view foreign objects in a soda can.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Marvin Lasser
Imperium, Inc.
9700 Great Seneca Highway
Rockville , MD 20850 - 3080

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Imperium, Inc.
9700 Great Seneca Highway
Rockville , MD 20850 - 3308

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.04-8404 (Chron: 001597 )
PROJECT TITLE
Fluorogenic Cell-Based Biosensors for Microbial Monitoring

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Great strides have been made in developing diagnostic systems for detecting and identifying specific pathogens and their toxins. However, these systems may be too specific and unable to detect newly emerging pathogens whose immunological or genetic profile is different than the normal complement of pathogens. The ideal system in an isolated environment such as a spacecraft would be one that provided a warning if any pathogen is present.

In this Phase I effort, we propose to engineer chimeric proteins that fuse CD14 bacterial binding protein and the Fc portion of IgE antibodies. These novel bacterial receptors will bind to both mast cells and a large variety of pathogenic bacteria, enabling the mast cells to sense very low levels of contaminating bacteria from a diverse population. Using a compact yet highly sensitive fluorometer, this innovative biological receptor and signal transduction system will provide detection capability for a wide variety of pathogens in a single small and lightweight biosensor. This sensor will have applications in a number of testing regiments including being able to detect bacteria present in water, food, surfaces and the spacecraft air supply.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
As our knowledge of newly emerging pathogens expands, assay methods must not only be sensitive and accurate but also predictive in terms of recognizing pathogens beyond our current definitions. The recent emergence of E. coli O157:H7 demonstrates that in nature there are potential threats that may not be fully recognized. Diagnostic devices based upon virulence and pathogenesis rather than upon a genus or species label will be an important advance in accurately defining the risk. Therefore this technology will find utility in a number of applications that extend beyond space flight and relate to testing of food, environmental or other reservoirs.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Joel Tabb
Agave BioSystems, Inc.
95 Brown Rd Box 1014
Ithaca , NY 14850 - 1014

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Agave BioSystems, Inc.
PO Box 80010
Austin , TX 78708 - 0010

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.04-8863 (Chron: 001138 )
PROJECT TITLE
Rapid Identification of Bacterial Pathogens Using a New Optical Biosensor

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Echo Technologies, Inc. proposes a Phase I program to demonstrate a new type of optical biosensor for identification of bacterial pathogens. The biosensors use Fluorescently Labeled Virus Probes (FLVP) which are highly specific bacteriophage particles encoded with fluorescent reporters. The sensors are monitored by wavelength-specific fluorescence spectroscopy, which indicates the presence of the phage/host complex. In Phase I sensors will be fabricated and selectivity demonstrated with Escherichia coli and Streptococci but the approach can be extended to other bacteria. Sensors are evaluated against a specific test matrix, including initial interferent/matrix effects testing. A small optoelectronic interface and data acquisition system will be demonstrated. In Phase II a prototype 4-channel Biosensor Array will be developed using COTS photonic components. The system will be evaluated for a period of 1 month in a recirculating aqueous testbed.

Application of the FLVP technology to optical sensing represents a new approach to real-time identification of bacteria. This approach reduces the need for culturing to identify pathogens, and is an important departure from immunoassay or DNA-based sensing concepts. The probes are suited for incorporation in a sensor array for simultaneous detection of many pathogens and could be used in potable, hygiene, food regeneration and bioreactor subsystems.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed Biosensor Array is applicable to both military and civilian problems such as identifying terrorist threats, ensuring the safety of food supplies, in agricultural engineering, and ensuring the purity of processing water in the biotechnology and semiconductor industries. The sensors are also ideally suited to routine monitoring of municipal and recreational water supplies for outbreaks of enteric pathogens.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mary Beth Tabacco
Echo Technologies, Inc
451 D Street
Boston , MA 02210 - 2122

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Echo Technologies, Inc
5250 Cherokee Avenue
Alexandria , VA 22312 - 2052

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.04-9110 (Chron: 000891 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Real-time Sensor for Hydrogen Cyanide in Spacecraft Atmospheres

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A need exists for continuous monitoring of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in spacecraft/habitat air. HCN, a highly toxic gas generated by burning or smoldering plastics, can provide early warning of spacecraft fires. NASA has established a Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentration (SMAC) of 1 ppm for manned missions exceeding one week. Useful space-borne instruments must satisfy stringent requirements unique to manned missions in space: low power draw, low weight, fully automated operation, self-calibrating, self-checking, and long term, maintenance free operation. The sensors also require an exceptional combination of sensitivity and selectivity: a 1 ppm alarm point requires a detection sensitivity of ~100 parts per billion, yet the system must be free of false alarms despite by large concentrations of other species. Southwest Sciences proposes the development of a sensor for hydrogen cyanide based on optical absorption spectroscopy using diode lasers. This approach will meet all of the requirements identified above for space-borne sensors. Two types of diode lasers could be used. Each has a different set of advantages and disadvantages, and the Phase I effort will determine which of the two is best suited to NASA's needs.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Commercial applications include monitoring highly toxic gases used for semiconductor fabricaton and detecting trace gases in exhaled breath for non-invasive medical diagnosis.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David Bomse
Southwest Sciences, Inc.
1570 Pacheco Street, Suite E-11
Santa Fe , NM 87505 - 3937

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Southwest Sciences, Inc.
1570 Pacheco Street, Suite E-11
Santa Fe , NM 87505 - 3937

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.05-8994 (Chron: 001007 )
PROJECT TITLE
Astronaut Fuel Cell Power Generator

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A 150W fuel cell power generator is proposed using Physical Sciences Inc.'s tubular proton exchange membrane technology to provide power to an astronaut during extravehicular activities. The generator will operate for 12 hours at 12 V and have an energy density of 250 W-hr/kg, approximately 2.5 times higher than state-of-the-art batteries. The hydrogen fuel will be stored in metal hydrides packed into the microtubular membrane and electrode assemblies. This integrated approach eliminates an external storage tank and helps remove waste heat from the fuel cell via the endothermic hydrogen release. The incorporation of a metal hydride directly into the fuel cell can reduce the system mass by up to 70% using our tubular fuel cell technology.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The major benefits of the proposed energy storage design are higher power and specific energy densities than are attainable using batteries. Successful development of this energy storage system will find widespread use for power generation in portable tools, communication equipment, and remote and emergency power applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Michael C. Kimble
Physical Sciences Inc.
20 New England Business Center
Andover , MA 01810 - 1077

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Physical Sciences Inc.
20 New England Business Center
Andover , MA 01810 - 1077

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.05-9248 (Chron: 000753 )
PROJECT TITLE
Zero-Venting Regenerable Lightweight Heat Absorber for EVA Suits

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Future manned space exploration missions will require life support systems that conserve resources while meeting extremely challenging requirements for light weight and small size. We propose to develop an innovative heat absorber for the thermal control system in EVA suits that is non-venting, regenerable, light weight, and compact. The system can provide 250 W of cooling for four hours with a mass about six kilograms (roughly half the weight of the current thermal control module), and will also reduce the size of the suit's radiator by increasing the heat rejection temperature. After an EVA mission, the heat absorber is regenerated thermally and prepared for the next mission using waste heat from the spacecraft or habitat. In Phase I we will prove the feasibility of the heat absorber by (1) performing proof-of-concept tests that will demonstrate the viability of the approach and provide key design data, and (2) producing a conceptual design of an EVA suit cooler that shows the potential benefits of our approach. In Phase II we will design, build, and demonstrate the operation of a complete prototype heat absorber that will be delivered to NASA for integration with a complete portable life support system.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The heat absorber technology is inexpensive and practical for a broad range of terrestrial uses. Commercial applications include portable, temporary, and "rechargeable" refrigeration for medical purposes (vaccine and organ delivery), industrial use (cooling for HAZMAT and nuclear plant workers), and recreational use. In addition, there are numerous military applications where temporary cooling is required for personnel wearing garments for protection from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Michael G. Izenson
Creare Incorporated
P.O. Box 71
Hanover , NH 03755 - 0071

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Creare Inc.
Etna Road, P.O. Box 71
Hanover , NH 03755 - 0071

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.05-9573 (Chron: 000428 )
PROJECT TITLE
High-Capacity Oxygen Storage Sorbents for EVA

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The current expendable emergency oxygen generation systems in the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) are lightweight and work well. However, they could generate very high weight penalties when the number and duration of missions (and/or emergencies) are high (as in lunar or Martian explorations). TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) proposes a light-weight emergency unit using a novel regenerable sorbent. In the unit, the sorbent releases oxygen while removing CO2 and H2O. The unit also rejects the heat of absorption to space and maintains the desired degree of cooling. Following the EVA, the sorbent is thermally regenerated with oxygen. A simple oven is the only regeneration equipment required, greatly reducing the weight of the regeneration equipment. In addition, the same unit can also be used for O2 supply and CO2/H2O removal in normal EVAs (i.e., non-emergency cases). The innovation addresses the needs for future long-term microgravity and planetary exploration requirements. Decreased weight reduces the launch costs, easy maintenance increases crew time available for research activities, and an efficient design reduces the logistic train support for replaceable units and spares.

In Phase I, TDA will measure the oxygen storage capacity and CO2/H2O loading of the sorbent under simulated PLSS conditions, and carry out 20 full cycles. We will then design the components of the emergency unit and the regeneration system. We will estimate the weight and power requirements.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The innovation also addresses to a specific industrial need; separation of oxygen from air at low cost. TDA's regenerable oxygen storage sorbents can selectively absorb oxygen from air and can be regenerated easily. A sorbent-based process offers the potential to reduce the cost of oxygen by minimizing the capital costs and the energy required air separation. Parasitic power and capital costs are the largest contributors to the cost of the conventional air separation, thus the overall savings could be as much as a factor of two compared to the cost of the oxygen.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Gokhan Alptekin
TDA Research, Inc.
12345 W. 52nd Ave.
Wheat Ridge , CO 80033 - 1917

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
TDA Research, Inc.
12345 W. 52nd Ave.
Wheat Ridge , CO 80033 - 1917

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.06-8259 (Chron: 001742 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Desiccant Thermal and Humidity Control System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Environmental control and life support (ECLS) within closed environments must remove humidity from the air both to maintain crew comfort and to recycle potable water. The current state-of-the-art technology recovers water vapor by cooling air to below its dew point in a condensing heat exchanger. This requires chilled water at about 5 C as the cooling sink. However, desiccants can be used to recover water vapor without cooling the air to below its dew point. This allows 1) independent control of environment temperature and humidity, 2) the delivery of very low dewpoint air for special purposes, and 3) a higher design temperature for the coolant loop, with concomitant savings in weight for the thermal bus and radiator. Furthermore, desiccants can recover water vapor without creating water-wetted surfaces or producing saturated air. These characteristics, combined with the fact that many common liquid desiccant are biocidal, offers the possibility of a lighter weight water recovery system that is immune to bio-fouling and cannot inadvertently spread disease. Two novel desiccant Thermal and Humidity Control (THC) systems are evaluated in the proposed work. Their size, weight, power and resupply requirements will be compared to those of a THC system that uses a conventional condensing heat exchanger.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
solar-powered air conditioner
Air conditioner for fresh air to buildings
High-efficiency gas-fired air conditioner

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Andrew Lowenstein
AIL Research, Inc.
P.O. Box 3662
Princeton , NJ 08543 - 3662

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
AIL Research, Inc.
P.O. Box 3662
Princeton , NJ 08543 - 3662

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.06-8539 (Chron: 001462 )
PROJECT TITLE
Ultra-Lightweight Magnesium Heat Pipes for Spacecraft Thermal Management

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Magnesium heat pipes are proposed for development to replace aluminum heat pipes as the standard for spacecraft heat rejection at near ambient temperatures. Recent developments have demonstrated the potential for special magnesium alloys to be compatible with the same working fluids as aluminum, but offer a 35% reduction in mass for similar applications. A magnesium heat pipe could potentially be extruded, bent, welded, and machined by conventional methods.

Phase I work will establish working fluid compatibility and demonstrate the capability to fabricate magnesium heat pipes in representative geometry. Heat pipes will be built and tested using a minimum of two representative working fluids. Phase II work will further develop these concepts into axially grooved extruded heat pipes and loop heat pipes for deployable radiators, and a space flight demonstration for Phase II prototypes is proposed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Commercial applications exist for both spacecraft thermal control and terrestrial commercial heat pipe heat sinks. If successful, this program will lay the foundation for replacement of spacecraft aluminum grooved heat pipes by magnesium, and will be well received by telecommunications and laptop computer markets where low weight is sought. The current technology aluminum ammonia axially grooved heat pipes can potentially be replaced by magnesium/ammonia designs weighing 35% less that perform the same function. Deployable loop heat pipes can potentially use magnesium instead of heavier steel and aluminum for their construction. The market size for these spacecraft devices currently exceeds $10,000,000 per year.

The commercial markets for low-mass heat pipe assemblies is estimated to exceed $100,000,000 per year. This program, if successful, would create a significantly improved product for markets where the competition consists principally of Asian and European suppliers. A low mass, low-cost heat pipe capability would enable Thermacore to claim a dominant market share in these markets.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
John H. Rosenfeld
Thermacore, Inc.
780 Eden Road
Lancaster , PA 17604 - 3243

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Thermacore, Inc.
780 Eden Road
Lancaster , PA 17604 - 3243

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.06-9561 (Chron: 000440 )
PROJECT TITLE
SindaWorks - The Next Generation of Thermal/Fluid Analysis

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA's thermal and fluid analysts are consistently finding that their ability to analyze spacecraft is limited by current tools whose development begin four decades ago: over two generations! To eliminate this problem and to provide a path for growth into the future, NASA needs to start afresh and obtain a new generation of analysis tools that take advantage of modern software technologies and computational environments. A new analyzer would not have size limits, it would be extensible with custom thermal objects, and would provide analysis techniques such as adaptive nodalization that do not exist in present tools. A new analyzer would provide for distributed computation, concurrent engineering and easy integration with, or embedding into, other tools. It would accept input diverse sources and would provide multiple forms of output and results analysis. It would not require a third party compiler for a simple analysis and would easily communicate with widely used tools such as Microsoft's Excel and Word. A new analyzer would have built-in case management for handling sets of related models and tracking the dependencies between these models. A new analyzer would also provide for model sharing and review over the internet. Such innovations and renovations will pave the way for the next two generations.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Several thermal analysis programs exist as commercially viable products, but they are based on aging technologies. The advances proposed will be compelling in that marketplace. In addition, the innovative design of this tool will create a market for embedded analysis tools. Embedded tools are used by other analysis engines such as stress, CFD and pipe flow design tools. This development will also give us a number of small standalone analysis tools that can each be marketed as additions to such widely used tools as Excel and MATLAB.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Steven Ring
Cullimore and Ring Technologies, Inc.
9 Red Fox Ln.
Littleton , CO 80127 - 5710

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Cullimore and Ring Technologies, Inc.
9 Red Fox Ln.
Littleton , CO 80127 - 5710

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.06-9874 (Chron: 000127 )
PROJECT TITLE
Lightweight Passive Vaporizing Heat Sink

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)

This project develops a lightweight passive heat sink that uses a vaporizing coolant for transient thermal control of spacecraft components. Particularly during launch and reentry, there are heat loads in electronics and batteries that require special handling. The Space Shuttle, for example, uses water flash evaporator systems that are, however, complex and unsuited for isolated electronics boxes, batteries, or sample return containers. We propose heat sinks based on innovative wicks and fiber heat exchangers that enable high thermal effectiveness in a lightweight compact package that can be dedicated to individual components.

Phase 1 will analyze the concept, survey materials candidates, identify applications requirements, and fabricate test articles to acquire performance data for a range of heat fluxes and total energy. Vaporizing heat sink tests will be performed in vacuum at different gravity orientations. Phase 2 would further develop the concept, designs, and materials, leading to a prototype heat sink for a selected NASA application, such as cooling of a battery or electronics box.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Passive compact heat sinks that use expendable but rechargeable coolants that may be integrated with portable electronics, lasers, and power generation equipment to provide thermal control where conventional refrigeration or spray cooling equipment is unsuited because of size or weight. The innovative wick and heat exchanger structures offer potential benefits to commercial heat pipes and convective heat sinks for high power microprocessor thermal control applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Timothy Knowles
Energy Science Laboratories, Inc.
6888 nancy Ridge Drive
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2232

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Energy Science Laboratories, Inc.
6888 Nancy Ridge Drive
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2232

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.07-7827 (Chron: 002174 )
PROJECT TITLE
Permanent Magnet Linear Shaft Coupler for Cryogenic Fluids

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
An extremely simple Permanent Magnetic Linear Shaft Coupler is presented that would magnetically couple the linear motion of a hermetically sealed shaft with an Actuator that operates in ambient conditions. The proposed Coupler will eliminate potential leak paths for the cryogenic valves at the Kennedy Space Center. The Coupler consists of only three parts and is based upon permanent magnets acting through a non-magnetic medium. The Coupler utilizes an outer and inner set of many flat, washer-shaped permanent magnets. The inner magnets easily fit within the hole of the outer magnets. A leakproof Linear Shaft Coupler that can withstand adverse conditions is immediately needed in the hazardous chemical, cryogenic and nuclear Industries.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The Permanent Magnet Linear Shaft Coupler is immediately needed in the hazardous chemical, cryogenic, and nuclear industries as a leak proof coupling between the actuator (operating in ambient conditions) and the mechanical movement of the valve. The proposed Coupler will eliminate all maintenance and hazardous emissions (and their clean air purges) associated with dynamic ?stem packing? seals. The proposed Coupler will permit actuator R&R while the valve is loaded with hazardous chemicals, which is not possible with competing solenoid valve technology that seals the actuator inside the hazardous environment. And of course, the proposed Coupler will have an immediate market of providing a maintenance free ?leak proofing? of all hypergolic and cryogenic valves at the Kennedy Space Center. An engineer with the local Trane, Inc. manufacturing facility stated that a well proven, leak-proof coupler is desperately needed for the million?s of air conditioners manufactured in the HVAC industry each year.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Douglas Thorpe
Thortek
10015 Winchester Road
Irvine , KY 40336 - 9008

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Thortek
10015 Winchester Road
Irvine , KY 40336 - 9008

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.07-8421 (Chron: 001580 )
PROJECT TITLE
Zero Boil Off Storage of Liquid Hydrogen Using a Linear-Drive Pulse Tube Cooler

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Future NASA missions will involve transportation and/or storage of liquid hydrogen tanks for use as propellant. If no precautions are taken substantial amounts of liquid may be lost by evaporation due to inevitable parasitic heat loads well before cryogen utilization. Cryocoolers may intercept parasitics, thereby, achieving zero boil off (ZBO) of the cryogen. ZBO is necessary if the mission design requires a small tank volume or if the mission duration is sufficiently long. A linear-drive 20K pulse tube cooler is an ideal choice for this application. By virtue of the absence of cold moving parts the PTC is inherently more reliable and induces less vibration at the cold tip than the alternative coolers including the competitive Stirling cooler. Consequently, the PTC is becoming the cryogenic cooler of choice on-board spacecraft.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed pulse tube cooler can be employed in a wide variety of commercial applications. The following lists potential applications for this cooler:

-Cryopumps for semiconductor manufacturing
-Superconducting magnets for MRI systems
-Superconducting magnets for power applications
-SQUID magnetometers for heart and brain studies

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ben Helvensteijn
Atlas Scientific
1367 Camino Robles Way
San Jose , CA 95120 - 4925

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Atlas Scientific
1367 Camino Robles Way
San Jose , CA 95120 - 4925

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.07-8598 (Chron: 001403 )
PROJECT TITLE
New and Innovative Valving Technology for Cryogenic Applications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The innovation proposed is an axially operated, high efficiency, low mass cryogenic valve. This innovation, termed Venturi Off-Set Technology (VOSTtm), addresses four critical needs for effective storage, transfer and use of cryogens in aerospace. These are: thermal isolation to minimize heat leakage,low pressure drop to accommodate high flows without cavitation, minimal mass and space requirement due to low profile, and adaptability to electromechanical actuation. Existing cryogenic valves require elaborate insulation measures to mitigate heat leakage through actuator stems, they are also characterized by: high pressure drop at high flows, large mass to envelope ratio, and high actuation torques. VOSTtm valves eliminate actuator contact with internal wetted parts, potentially improving thermal and fluid containment characteristics necessary for densified propellants while maintaining high flow. VOST valves are suited for electromechanical actuation due to low torque requirements. These features combine to improve valve reliability necessary for use of cryogens in Earth, space, and extra-terrestrial environments.
Phase 1 will determine the feasibility of adapting the innovative VOST tm design for cryogenic service. Tasks include material evaluation, sealing technology investigation, performance modeling and a conceptual design. Phase II will prototype, test, evaluate and deliver a cryogenic valve for system testing
and integration.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Successful adaptation of the VOSTtm valve to liquid fuels and oxidizers will lead to commercial opportunities within and beyond the cryogenic industry. Known applications include chemical process industries (both cryogenic and toxic), hydrocarbon exploration and production and any industry where thermal and fluid containment is essential. The VOSTtm design will potentially provide for efficient cryogenic transfer,storage, and delivery in extreme cooling operations such as low temperature superconductors or high temperature superconductor (HTS) research, high volume gas delivery systems such as LN2, and a variety of low temperature manufacturing operations. This technology can be cost effective, emission free, and therefore favorable for conversion from technology currently in use by industry.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Robert Burgess
Big Horn Valve, Inc.
555 Absaraka
Sheridan , WY 82801 - 0000

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Big Horn Valve Inc
555 Absaraka
Sheridan , WY 82801 - 5501

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.07-9325 (Chron: 000676 )
PROJECT TITLE
Evacuated Microsphere Insulation Panels

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Technology Applications, Inc. is proposing to develop a unique evacuated microsphere insulation (MSI) panel that is over twice as effective as polyurethane foam insulation in a one-atmosphere environment and approaches multilayer insulation performance in a vacuum environment. The MSI is rugged, easily applied to cryogenic transfer lines, and not subject to degradation from environmental exposure or thermal cycling. This insulation system will enable the effective distribution and transfer of cryogens over long distances; it is a promising candidate for reusable launch vehicles, space applications, and low-pressure atmospheric applications, such as cryogenic storage and transfer for Mars missions.

The MSI consists of microsphere filled panels that are vacuum tight and can be configured to fit any symmetrical shape. The microspheres provide structural support for the vacuum shell while reducing radiation heat transfer by reflection and scattering. Gaseous conduction is greatly reduced by evacuating to <10E-2 torr, and solid conduction is minimized because the glass microspheres make only point contact with each other. The Phase I study will demonstrate the feasibility of the MSI through design, analysis, and the fabrication and testing of candidate panels. During the Phase II development program, representative MSIs will be fabricated and rigorously tested under operational conditions

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Reliable and efficient insulation systems are critical to many NASA programs such as reusable launch vehicles and in-situ propellant generation for extra-terrestrial applications. The airline industry requires a lightweight insulation for its proposed liquid hydrogen powered aircraft. The petroleum industry needs efficient, long-life, and minimum maintenance insulation for long-distance transfer of LNG for their ground and underwater applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Robert A. Mohling
Technology Applications, Inc.
5445 Conestoga Court, #2A
Boulder , CO 80301 - 2724

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Technology Applications, Inc.
5445 Conestoga Court, #2A
Boulder , CO 80301 - 2724

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.07-9534 (Chron: 000467 )
PROJECT TITLE
Low-cost, mid-size reverse Brayton oxygen liquefier

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Mesoscopic Devices proposes to develop a low-cost, highly compact and efficient mid-capacity reverse Brayton cycle cryocooler for liquefying oxygen and fuel on Mars. Suitable for cooling loads between 0.1 kW and 5 kW at 90K, this cryocooler will be a factor of five smaller and lighter than competing Stirling and pulse tube cryocoolers at this size scale. An innovative system configuration utilizes recent advantages in power electronics, bearings and high power density magnets to allow an order of magnitude reduction in cost for the cryocooler. A innovative recuperator design allows very high performance recuperators to be manufactured at low cost. In Phase I, we will demonstrate the feasibility of our approach through a combination of analysis, design, and proof-of-concept fabrication trials. In Phase II, we will build the cryocooler and demonstrate its advantages over alternate approaches.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The reverse Brayton cycle cryocooler proposed for the liquefier has applications in both military and commercial markets. Cryocoolers in this size range will be needed to support two emerging markets ? power high temperature superconductor (HTS) applications and small-scale industrial gas liquefaction. Power HTS applications for the military include electric motors for ship propulsion and electric motor and generators for the More Electric Aircraft program. Commercial power HTS applications include motors, superconducting magnetic energy storage systems and transmission lines. All of these applications will require reliable, compact, cost-effective cryocoolers for widespread applications, as will small scale liquefaction of industrial gases at distributed sites. The proposed reverse Brayton cryocooler will meet the needs of these markets through high reliability, high power density, low cost and easy integration.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Christine Martin
Mesoscopic Devices, LLC
3400 Industrial Lane, Suite 7B
Broomfield , CO 80020 - 1650

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mesoscopic Devices, LLC
3400 Industrial Lane, Suite 7B
Broomfield , CO 80020 - 1650

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.07-9878 (Chron: 000123 )
PROJECT TITLE
Propellant Densifier

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Development is proposed of a novel refrigerator capable of achieving cryogenic temperatures to be used for densified (sub-cooled) propellants, specifically liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX).

The refrigerator is a closed cycle two-stage pulse-tube refrigerator capable of providing, simultaneously, cooling at temperatures of 1) 10 K to densify liquid hydrogen (normal boiling point 20 K) and, 2) 80 K to densify liquid oxygen (normal boiling point 96 K).

Alternatively the first stage cooling available at 80 K may be entirely or partially consumed to precool and shield the second stage so as to maximize the cooling capacity available at the lower temperature, 10 K.

The compressor of the pulse-tube refrigerator consists of twin metal diaphragm compressors with hydraulic oil used to move the diaphragms to accomplish compression of the working fluid. One compressor acts as the pressure wave generator for the first stage. The other compressor acts as the pressure wave generator of the second stage. The second stage compressor operates at a lower speed than the first stage compressor.

The system is designed to be a compact lightweight unit of high efficiency. There are no moving parts and no rubbing or wear surfaces so no detritus is generated and very long unattended service life is anticipated with no maintenance required. There is no mechanical vibration, no noise and no electromagnetic induction or static electricity generated.

The propellant densifier uses conventional readily available materials with no exotic or strategically sensitive parts. Its operation has no deleterious impact on the environment.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
In the hydrogen economy predicted for the automotive future the proposed unit would find domestic and small commercial application as an overnight hydrogen liquefier. A more likely application is the use of a simpler, lower cost, single stage version used as a methane liquefier to refuel overnight liquid natural gas vehicles by liquefying pipeline gas supplied to homes and industrial companies.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Michael Scott
MJS Manufacturing Enterprises Inc.
731 W. Commerce Ave.
Gilbert , AZ 85233 - 0000

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
MJS Manufacturing Enterprises Inc.
731 W. Commerce Ave.
Gilbert , AZ 85233 - 4303

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.07-9891 (Chron: 000110 )
PROJECT TITLE
Pressurized Propellant Densification System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The current and future need for readily available densified cryogenic propellants warrants the investigation into alternative methods of performing the densification process. Present processes are based on heat exchange with cryogenic fluids boiling under reduced pressure achieved with the use of expensive and difficult to control compressor systems. The system proposed in this investigation avoids these problems and costs by operating at atmospheric or higher pressures. Estimates indicate that the proposed system will have significantly reduced capital investment and operating costs coupled with improved reliability and availability. The Phase I effort is intended to refine these estimates and to design a suitable pilot plant experiment to accurately define the operational characteristics of the system. The Phase II effort will complete the construction of the experimental system, conduct sufficient experiments to verify the process method and determine the values of certain constants that are not presently known. The purpose of the investigation is to provide data that will make it possible to design full scale systems.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The densification of cryogenic propellants is anticipated to become more necessary in the future to maximize fuel loading and payloads. At that time, there will be a demand for densification systems that will function with maximum efficiency and minimum overall cost. These densification systems can be marketable to aerospace companies and to government agencies involved in launch site construction. The proposed system can also be applied to test installations for high temperature superconducting devices, where temperatures lower than 80 K are often needed and can be utilized by companies engaging in developing and marketing such devices.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Charles B. Hood
PHPK Technologies Incorporated
4051 Gulf Shore Blvd
Naples , FL 34103 - 3437

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
PHPK Technologies Incorporated
535 Enterprise Drive
Westerville , OH 43081 - 8846

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.08-8557 (Chron: 001444 )
PROJECT TITLE
MEMS Chemical Sensors for Monitoring In Situ Propellant Production

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Makel Engineering, Inc. (MEI) proposes to develop a suite of miniature chemical sensors for process monitoring remote propellant manufacturing systems on Mars. Manned exploration of space may require production of vital elements from in-situ resources for life support (e.g. oxygen production) and propellant production (e.g. methane production form carbon dioxide and water). The systems for in-situ processing will be required to operate for long periods of time with little or no human on-site supervision. Autonomous computer control of these systems will require the use of advanced control systems, sensors, and data fusion algorithms. Exploration of Mars will require in-situ propellant production. The most probable bipropellant combinations under consideration are oxygen/methane and oxygen/carbon monoxide. The objective of this proposal is the development of a lightweight, low power chemical sensor suite to measure carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen, and oxygen using thin film MEMS sensors. Microfabricated chemical sensors offer the potential of achieving miniature sensors needed for process monitoring for continuous, unattended, propellant production on Mars.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Significant commercial applications exist for low cost chemical sensors. Emerging technologies such as fuel cells for vehicles will require low cost, on-board, sensors to monitor performance. MEMS type sensors are ideally suited for these types of applications because they can be mass produced. Other applications for the sensors are emissions monitoring of green house gases from manufacturing, plants and vehicle exhaust monitoring.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Darby B. Makel
Makel Engineering,Inc.
1020 Marauder Street, Suite D
Chico , CA 95973 - 9001

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Makel Engineering,Inc.
1020 Marauder Street, Suite D
Chico , CA 95973 - 9001

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.08-8934 (Chron: 001067 )
PROJECT TITLE
An inexpensive, versatile micro-machined mass spectrometer

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The inexpensive, versatile micro-machined mass spectrometer (IVM^{2}-MS) is envisioned as a inexpensive replacement for large, complex, macroscopic instruments in use in the field and in the laboratory. At its core it is a 180 degree magnetic deflection mass filter fabricated from Si wafers. A small vacuum chamber for mass separation with an entrance slit and exit slit are micro-machined from the wafer by anistropic etching. An acceleration grid is built over the entrance slit and a small faraday cup built around the exit slit using standard lithographic methods. On the largest dimension they are on the order of 1.5 millimeters, with different accelerator to collector distances useful for changing the m/Z tuning characteristics of the filter. Arrays of such small mass filters can be created on a single wafer, and multichannel detection becomes trivial. Funding is requested to fabricate such a device and perform an elementary proof-of-concept study.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The inexpensive, versatile micro-machined mass spectrometer (IVM^{2}-MS) is envisioned as a inexpensive replacement for large, complex, macroscopic instruments in use in the field and in the laboratory. These microscopic chemical sensing devices would be robust enough to be used in demanding hazard detection work on board spacecraft and at launch sites, small enough to be mounted to EVA equipment, and inexpensive enough to be used in a variety of less demanding chemical sensing applications. They would be simple and small enough to allow for arrays of mass filters to operate in parallel, allowing for simple, multichannel mass spectroscopy.
The need for inexpensive, versatile mass spectrometers does not end with space exploration. The market for chemical sensors already spans the military, security, research, and industrial sectors of the economy. A versatile micro-machined mass spectral analyzer such as the IVM^{2}-MS would fit the chemical detection needs of many at a substantially lower initial price, lower total cost of ownership, and with greater reliability. Although not a replacement for ultra-high resolution instruments used in some research applications, it frees many end-users from large, cumbersome, high maintenance macroscopic instruments. Further, the introduction of a low cost versatile chemical sensing instruments would have the potential to create new possible applications in the home and workplace.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Jon Fox
Research Support Instruments
73 West Broad Street
Hopewell , NJ 08525 - 1901

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Research Support Instruments
4325B Forbes Blvd
Lanham , MD 20706 - 4854

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.09-8140 (Chron: 001861 )
PROJECT TITLE
Virtual Spaceport Prototyping Environment (VSPE)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The ultimate goal of this SBIR initiative is to conceptualize, design and prototype an advanced software architecture towards a Virtual Reality (VR)-enabled, distributed, collaborative simulation modeling and analysis environment. Once realized, this capability will help NASA to design and operate (via modeling and analysis) highly complex systems (such as Vision Spaceport?the next-generation space transportation system) at substantially reduced cost and time with increased reliability. The key innovations include (i) the integration of systems engineering models with VR models, (ii) novel mechanisms for Immersive Process Analysis (IPA), and (iii) realization of distributed simulations via HLA. The results of this effort will be the concept of operation, architecture, and a limited prototype implementation of a Virtual Spaceport Prototyping Environment (VSPE). Phase I will define the VPSE requirements and architecture, and demonstrate its potential benefits through a limited version, proof of concept implementation. Phase II will develop a large-scale implementation of the VPSE architecture in collaboration with other tools and technologies developed for the ISE program. The proposed innovation directly addresses some of the technical challenges of the NASA?s Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE) initiative?the lack of robust enabling technologies for distributed, collaborative, simulation modeling for engineering design and synthesis.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Simulation Based Design and Virtual Prototyping of complex systems and their interactions including vision Spaceport operations, spacecraft manufacturing, aircraft maintenance, and ship building.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dursun Delen, Ph.D.
Knowledge Based Systems, Inc.
1408 University Drive East
College Station , TX 77840 - 2335

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Knowledge Based Systems, Inc.
1408 University Drive East
College Station , TX 77840 - 2335

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.10-7868 (Chron: 002133 )
PROJECT TITLE
Using XML for Workflow Management

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This proposal is aimed at developing a web based workflow system, which will use XML as the main data exchange mechanism. In Phase 1 of this project we will focus on researching and selecting the right technologies for the application, developing the high level architecture of the system and finally developing a proof-of-concept of the workflow toolkit.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The potential commercial applications of this research are numerous in both the private and the government world. Any distributed organization, which has some complex process and need to deploy on a wide variety of platforms, will be interested in this type of product. In the government, many organizations have heavy processes. NASA is a good example with the Space Station program, where different teams are working all over the world to build and operate it.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Michel Izygon
Tietronix Software, Inc.
1002 Gemini Ave., Suite 126
Houston , TX 77058 - 2746

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Tietronix Software, Inc.
1002 Gemini Ave, Suite 126
Houston , TX 77058 - 2746

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 10.10-8907 (Chron: 001094 )
PROJECT TITLE
GPS Multipath Mitigation and a GPS Signal Processing System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This project develops two innovations: new effective GPS multipath mitigation algorithms, and a flexible GPS signal processing system. The multipath mitigation algorithms aid the GPS receiver in maintaining accurate code-phase tracking under multipath conditions. The GPS signal processing system enables development and real-time evaluations of the multipath mitigation algorithms, and other algorithms for multi-antenna digital GPS receivers. Advanced signal processing neural network techniques are used for multipath mitigation, and commercial off-the-shelf digital radio ICs are used for the GPS signal processing system hardware.
The implications of this approach and the anticipated results of this project include: facilitation of human presence in space by effecting accurate control of space structures and robots, accurate GPS position and attitude navigation under multipath for consumer-grade and for professional-grade multi-antenna GPS receivers, an inexpensive modular and flexible GPS signal processing system that enables development and evaluation of various receiver signal processing techniques.
The NASA needs addressed by this project include: the reduction in the ground control personnel workload, development of high-performance techniques for autonomous position and attitude navigation, development of autonomous self-calibrating GPS sensor algorithms, and development of a flexible GPS testbed for design and validation of self-correcting navigation solutions.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The commercial applications include: land vehicle navigation and tracking, commercial trucks, city buses, automotive electronics, IVHS equipment, off-road navigation equipment, marine and space vehicle attitude determination systems, personal navigation systems integrated with other complementary sensors, GPS receiver firmware options, research and instrumentation laboratory equipment.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Jack Borninski
ENDEAVOR
316 Little Street
Wilmer , TX 75172 - 1127

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
ENDEAVOR
316 Little Street
Wilmer , TX 75172 - 1148

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 11.01-7935 (Chron: 002066 )
PROJECT TITLE
Novel Biomatrix System for Human Tissue Growth & Angiogenesis in Microgavity

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
One of NASA’s missions is to develop noninvasive models for monitoring the potentially deleterious effects of microgravity on human cell/tissue functions. Previous work has shown that gravitational changes can modify a variety of host cell-matrix interactions. Angiogenesis, an essential process for tissue growth and regeneration, is a coordinated process of activated endothelial cell proliferation and differentiation controlled by specific matrix and growth factor signals. However, little is known about the human angiogenesis process in microgravity, primarily due to the lack of defined functional models. We have created a new human biomatrix (Amgel)
culture system which supports endothelial cell growth and function. This unique biomatrix simulates human cell morphogenesis only in the presence of specific modulators (FGF, VEGF). We now propose to employ this natural matrix to further develop an all-human angiogenesis model adaptable for microgravity studies. Endothelial cell cultivation models with controllablebioactivity utilizing Amgel-layered disk and microbead configurations will be evaluated in rotary culture systems. New 3-D bioassays, generated with GF-enriched matrix, would allow examination of both early mitogenic and late angiogenic events. This R&D proposal should positively impact the fields of wound healing, tissue engineering and vascular disease.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
No acceptable commercial model for examining human cell morphogenesis currently exists which utilizes a defined 3-D biomatrix system. We will develop, optimize and evaluate these microgravity adaptable human cell-matrix systems. Sale of proprietary Amgel and pre-packed bioassays would have a world-wide market in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Thus, multiple utility of the Amgel model in biomedical and pharmaceutical research highlights its commercialization potential.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Raj Singh, Ph.D.
Diversified Scientific Inc.
1601 12th Ave. South
Birmingham , AL 35205 - 4709

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Diversified Scientific Inc.
1601 12th Ave. South
Birmingham , AL 35205 - 4709

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 11.01-7950 (Chron: 002051 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Portable Non-invasive Detection/Identification System for Biological Pathogens

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose to develop a non-invasive, portable fluorescence-based detection system that will be capable of detecting and identifying biological pathogens commonly found in air, water, food, blood or even tissue that has been solublized in water. The innovativeness of this proposal involves the development of peptide ligands, using phage display technology, that specifically interact with different bacteria and/or viruses. The ligands will be covalently affixed to a chip that is inserted into the detection system. The Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering (CBSE) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, previously developed phage display peptide ligands that attach to specific spore strains of Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus subtilis. A laboratory fluorescence-based detection system identified the individual type and strain of spore. Our system will provide a tool for monitoring crew health and environment on long distance space flights (ISS). This proposal addresses SBIR subtopic: 11.01, Commercial Microgravity Research-"Portable Biological Sensors- The need for sensing devices that can detect and identify biological pathogens (airborne or in vivo) is desired to support NASA’s mission for a permanent presence of man in space". Our system will be useful to monitor the crew and the vehicle environment for biological pathogens.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed biological sensor will be extremely valuable in any healthcare setting since it will provide the healthcare practitioner with an immediate, non-invasive diagnosis. It will be extremely valuable for differential diagnosis of any bacterial strain, and of a bacterial versus viral or fungal infection. This will enable physicians to immediately determine the proper mode of treatment thereby improving the quality of medical care and decreasing medical costs. The detection system can also be
used to monitor pathogenic contamination in food, water reservoirs (for consumption or recreation), and air.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David Hamrick
Diversified Scientific Inc.
1601 12th Ave. South
Birmingham , AL 35205 - 4709

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Diversified Scientific Inc.
1601 12th Ave. South
Birmingham , AL 35205 - 4709

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 11.01-9407 (Chron: 000594 )
PROJECT TITLE
Optical Based Imaging for Protein Crystal Diagnostics

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Photon-X has developed a patented imaging process which could potentially reduce the burden on X-ray crystallography and potential provide a tool to monitor in real-time the growth of each crystal to provide maximum efficiency and to grow more perfect crystals effortlessly. The Photon-X imaging technology is called spatial phase imaging. Photon-X's three innovations are one identifying protein crystals in a solution, two identifying the quality of the crystals grown and three in situ protein crystal growth diagnostic tool.
It is not unusual to set up hundreds or even thousands of crystallization solutions at a time, at different conditions when doing initial crystallization trials or when refining known conditions for any given protein. In industrial or commercial cases, up to hundreds of thousands of solutions being set up in some cases. Repeated examination of these numbers of solutions for just one protein is too much for any one or group of people to keep up with, and the problem becomes considerably greater when one considers that most structural laboratories are working on several proteins at any one time. Pharmaceutical company laboratories are working on many proteins at any one time, making the problem even greater in their case. A robotic optical imaging solution is needed to setup and monitor crystal growth of many varieties of crystals. The commercial potential of such a device could increase drug therapy by orders of magnitude.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The ability to conduct robotic screening of large numbers of crystallization solutions will be of immediate appeal to large pharmaceutical companies, which routinely set up hundreds or thousands of crystallization experiments on a daily basis. As the National Structural Genomics initiative gets under way, this ability will also become desirable at the academic laboratory level as well. Once crystals are identified, the ability to determine their relative X-ray diffraction characteristics, the likely quality of the structural data to be obtained from them, becomes very important indeed. This technology will be immediately desirable in virtually all structure laboratories, commercial, academic, and governmental.
This technology could potentially lead to the ability to diagnose crystal growth and to develop optimum growth parameters to grow the "perfect" protein crystal each time. The commercial potential would be staggering for in situ crystal growth in most situations, could potentially speed new drug development and new techniques for molecular and structural growth.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Blair A. Barbour
Photon-X, Inc.
102A Wynn Drive
Huntsville , AL 35805 - 1957

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Photon-X, Inc.
102A Wynn Drive
Huntsville , AL 35805 - 1957

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 11.01-9583 (Chron: 000418 )
PROJECT TITLE
Combustion Synthesis of Nanoparticles

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed R&D plan focuses on the development of an innovative liquid combustion process for the production of unagglomerated nanopowders of uniform size, crystallinity and composition in a microgravity environment. The project is designed primarily to exploit reduced buoyancy in a microgravity environment to accelerate the development and commercialization of technology for production of advanced materials for use in electronics and electro-optics. Candidate materials are doped and undoped zinc oxide (ZnO) (for displays), barium-strontium-titanate (for advanced dielectrics), and platinum metal (for catalysis). A related goal of this effort is to use the knowledge about microgravity-grown material behavior to improve ground-based nanopowder production capabilities. The powders will be collected during experiments in a drop-tower and characterized for microstructure, stoichiometry and physical properties as a function of process variables.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Although the proposed experimental study will be conducted using ground and drop-tower based experiments, the ultimate goal is to develop a commercially viable system for mass production of nanoparticles for advanced applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Miodrag Oljaca
MicroCoating Technologies, Inc.
5315 Peachtree Industrial Blvd.
Chamblee , GA 30341 - 2107

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
MicroCoating Technologies, Inc.
5315 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard
Chamblee , GA 30341 - 2107

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 12.01-8974 (Chron: 001027 )
PROJECT TITLE
Next-Generation Collaboration Tools to Support Telescience and Outreach

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed innovation is a set of next-generation collaboration tools and techniques utilizing standard Internet Protocols (IP). The primary use is to support "24 x 7" mission operations and telescience; secondary use includes education and public outreach. Existing first-generation "24 x 7" IP-based collaboration systems such as the International Space Station (ISS) Internet Voice Distribution System (IVoDS) are limited to audio-only conferencing. They replicate the functionality of legacy business telephony-based systems. Our goal is to incorporate the power of the personal computer, Internet, multimedia, and videoconferencing into these systems.

Phase I will test those technologies that promise to dramatically increase the effectiveness of performing telescience. Four collaboration areas have been identified: audio, video, conference management, and application sharing. Representative tasks and metrics for collaboration performance monitoring will be developed. Candidate capabilities will be prototyped and tested utilizing ground-based experimenter and educational groups.

In Phase II the most promising capabilities will be incorporated into a prototype CONTACT system and tested with larger groups, including researchers performing "live" ISS telescience and NASA Quest educational audiences. The prototype system will be interfaced to IVoDS, demonstrating techniques for providing unsecured secondary users limited access to secure telescience conferences.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The immediate market is hundreds of International Space Station experiment telescience users over the next decade. Additional markets are other NASA missions, as well as military and commercial systems such as air traffic control. Several of the techniques may be applicable to business/consumer market. For example, the capability to monitor multiple conferences may be very helpful to a future AOL Instant Messenger user deciding which of several audio chat rooms to join.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Terri Speir
AZ Technology, Inc.
7047 Old Madison Pike
Huntsville , AL 35613 - 2107

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
AZ Technology, Inc.
7047 Old Madison Pike, Suite 300
Huntsville , AL 35806 - 2107

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 12.01-9719 (Chron: 000282 )
PROJECT TITLE
Authoring software for developing 3D photo-realistic terrain models.

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Platform Digital proposes to develop a Remote Experience Authoring Language (REAL) that will allow educators, multi-media developers and scientists to create, quickly and easily interactive 3D models from NASA data sets for the study, evaluation and presentation of science in an engaging and fun way. REAL will enable the public to actively explore NASA remote sites via 3D computer game style representations derived from 3D sensor data from past and current NASA missions such as the Mars Global Surveyor MOLA, stereo range data from lander/Rover missions such as the 1997 Mars Pathfinder, or the Laser mapping of the Eros Asteroid. The Remote Experience Lab at Carnegie Mellon University is completing a phase-one proof of concept demo that will allow the public to explore a representation of Mars. REAL builds upon this by creating an authoring tool so that many educators and multi-media artists may create numerous remote experiences based on any NASA exploration mission. Eliminating the need to hire programmers, our software will increase the visibility and use of data collected by NASA. For the first time this data will become widely accessed and viewed. Locations throughout the solar system will be charted, mapped and explored like never before.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The NASA Planetary Data System (PDS) is an active archive that provides high quality, usable planetary science data products to the science community. Unfortunately, much of the information is under-utilized by the general public. To date, there has not been effective software or computer browser that has unlocked the door to this information. In our effort to create educational software, we have experienced first-hand the need for a software package that will allow better access to 2D and 3D NASA data. Our editor will create a user-friendly interface for the use and presentation of the vast amount of NASA data files. Using a hybrid-WYSIWYG editor, lucid dialog boxes and other editing features, our software will generate interactive 3D models with professional presentation capability. Creating and displaying photo-realistic terrain models will become the preferred method for presenting science and for educating students. Our Remote Experience Authoring Language (REAL) will incorporate the advantages of VRML, Java 3D and the Internet to create an interactive, easy-to-use 3D presentation with commentary. Our software utility will benefit all individuals interested in science. With an effective 3D modeling editor, educators, researchers and scientists can create interesting and effective content with little or no programming knowledge.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Peter Coppin
Carnegie Mellon University
4615 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh , PA 15213 - 3712

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Platform Digital, LLC
414 So. Craig St, # 283
Pittsburgh , PA 15213 - 3709

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.01-8166 (Chron: 001835 )
PROJECT TITLE
Transition Zone Hyperspectral Sensors Suitable for Remote Piloted Vehicles

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Tropical, temperate, and glaciated littoral zones differ widely in character and time variability. Their study and characterization requires high spatial resolution and repeated measurement which may be accomplished from remotely piloted, manned, or other atmospheric vehicles. MEDECO proposes the development of an aperture stabilized, miniature hyperspectral imaging interferometer sensitive between 400 and 2500 nm. The transition zone DASI or TZ-DASI, will be a new, high throughput variant of the digital array scanned interferometers MEDECO has previously used in RPAs and has the necessary characteristics for light aircraft and remotely piloted aircraft application, as well as in situ use. The sensor will provide superb hyperspectral imagery for the definition and characterization of the transition boundaries of land and water (littoral zone) scenes. The hyperspectral data from this sensor will be processed using calibration and signal extraction methods developed specifically under this effort for the TZ-DASI .

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Numerous applications of these technologies in medicine, biology, geology, oceanography, and agriculture have been identified and all will benefit from the analysis and algorithms to be developed here. These include medical sensing and monitoring, atmospheric sciences (cloud effects on climate via scattering, absorption) and biogeochemical remote sensing (plant canopy, geochemical remote sensing, volcanic and industrial plume monitoring, site surveillance and toxic species monitoring).
The study of the demixing methods for Earth science applications is directed towards biological, agricultural, and mineralogical evaluation of diverse regions of the Earth, as well as the littoral zone. The successful development of a demixing method that is real or near-real time and reliable can lead to the realization of a data product interpretable by suitably knowledgeable users. Such a data product can lead to potential commercial applications to hyperspectral imaging in mineral exploration, agricultural and biosphere assessments, and urban planning and development.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dennis Angelisanti
MEDECO,Inc.
89 Arundel Place
Clayton , MO 63105 - 3105

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
MEDECO, Inc.
89 Arundel Place
Clayton , MO 63105 - 3105

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.01-8239 (Chron: 001762 )
PROJECT TITLE
An Advanced Multispectral Imager for Marine and Coastal Remote Sensing

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The world's oceans and coastal zones represent the earth's most diverse and productive resources. Instruments are needed to monitor the health of these fragile eco-systems on an ongoing basis. Duncan Technologies, Inc. proposes the development of a compact, portable digital imager that delivers 5 bands of geo-referenced, pixel-registered imagery in the visible, near infrared, and thermal infrared spectral bands. Several innovative techniques will be implemented to address the unique issues of data acquisition in coastal and marine environments. A fast sequential exposure system will generate image pairs with different exposure settings to cover the large albedo created by the combination of water and vegetation in the field of view. The image pairs will be fused into a single image with expanded sensitivity. A radiometric moisture measurement will enable correction for atmospheric effects in the acquired data. Automated camera control algorithms will maximize information content by maintaining an optimal operating point. Resolution of the thermal band will be enhanced by techniques that extract additional spatial data from the other spectral bands. The imager system will consist of an imaging head and control unit in a compact, portable package for easy application on platforms ranging from aerial to shipboard systems.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed system will have broad commercial appeal to the remote sensing community. This rapidly growing market addresses a broad range of application areas including coastal management, oil spill remediation, disaster recovery, precision agriculture, forestry, geology, archaeology and municipal planning.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David Duncan
Duncan Technologies, Inc.
11824 Kemper Rd.
Auburn , CA 95603 - 9500

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Duncan Technologies, Inc.
11824 Kemper Rd.
Auburn , CA 95603 - 9500

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.01-8742 (Chron: 001259 )
PROJECT TITLE
An Integrated Optical System for Synoptic Remote Sensing Validation: The DOLPHIN

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Integrated, optical sampling systems capable of rapid surveys are needed in several areas of remote sensing validation, including the validation and calibration of aircraft-based and future space-based lidar technologies. These sampling systems require the development of innovative deployment strategies, multi-sensor sampling packages with integrated acquisition, and software networks designed for automated and integrated processing.

In response, we propose to develop a self-contained, compact, in-situ optical measurement system, the DOLPHIN (Diving OpticaL Profiler and High-speed Integration Network). The sampling package will be a towed profiler to maximize spatial coverage. Data acquisition and processing will be automated. A water sampling system will additionally pump water to the vessel for laboratory analyses.

The towed sampling package will provide a continuous set of calibration points for validation, instead of a single point (station) as typically obtained from a ship. Equally important, substantial time and money will be saved by the research community by purchasing a sampling system already equipped with complete sensor integration and automated processing.

At the end of Phase-I we expect to have design work for the system completed. We will construct and test all DOLPHIN components in Phase-II. Phase-II will culminate in a completely operational system transitioned to a commercial product.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The DOLPHIN will have immediate commercial applications in remote sensing validation research in oceanography and limnology. We expect it to be particularly applicable to important up-and-coming remote sensing technologies such as space-based lidar systems. The DOLPHIN will also be ideally designed for validating bio-optical algorithms for obtaining aquatic biogeochemical properties from water-leaving radiance, particularly in coastal, Case II waters. By developing a compact sampling system that can be operated from a small research vessel, the DOLPHIN will open the door to new opportunities in the measurement of optical properties in riverine and lacustrine systems. It will also be economical with a target price range for the complete system of $80,000 to $100,000.

Synoptic surveys of in-situ optical properties will have many other promising potential applications. After the DOLPHIN system for remote sensing validation is complete, the sensor package on the DOLPHIN system could easily be modified for other applications such as environmental monitoring and assessment. For example, sensors could be integrated to detect and map sewage plumes or oil spills rapidly in multiple dimensions.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Michael Twardowski
Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island
South Ferry Road
Narragansett , RI 02882 - 1197

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
WET Labs
P.O. Box 518
Philomath , OR 97370 - 0518

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.02-8118 (Chron: 001883 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Long-lived Seasurface Salinity Sensor for Autonomous Sampling Systems

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The need for surface salinity observations has been expressed in several forums: climate predictions, seasonal to decadal climate variability research, model assimilation, flux closure, hydrologic budgets, and coastal and littoral zone dynamics. Recent studies indicate that ENSO predictability is measurably improved with the proper initiation of salinity fields in forecast models. Salinity also has a major influence on the dynamics of buoyancy-driven coastal jets and currents and serves both as a tracer and index of flow strength. Salinity observations by autonomous systems have been difficult because of conductivity sensor biofouling causes post-calibration uncertainties, and expensive because including a salinity sensor as a stand-alone instrument requires duplicating system components already present in the host: electrical power, computational power, and case. This proposal addresses the development and testing of a novel combination of mechanical systems and chemical treatments that will insure calibration stability for both coastal and open ocean applications, and that permit the deployment of salinity sensors on autonomous surface drifting buoys for observational programs exceeding one year. We look to achieve this goal, at a small incremental cost (<$2K), for our GPS-locating buoys that can be deployed in varied experiments.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Clearwater Instrumentation, Inc. is a supplier of sophisticated, multi-sensor buoys to oceanographers and meteorologists. Development of a long-lived sea surface salinity sensor will be an important addition to other sensors that currently provide long-term, accurate measurements of properties at the ocean surface: temperature, air pressure, wind speed, and ocean color. Our clients have asked for SSS sensors, but are unwilling to include them in instrumentation because their limited life makes many proposed deployments too expensive in relation to the useable data return. Our goal of an effective SSS sensor for ~$2K will bring this sensor into the realm of what can be afforded for a widely used sensor to add to inexpensive autonomous equipment such as the WOCE SVP drifter.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
W. Gary Williams
Clearwater Instrumentation, Inc.
304 Pleasant Street
Watertown , MA 02472 - 2401

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Clearwater Instrumentation, Inc.
304 Pleasant Street
Watertown , MA 02472 - 2401

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.02-8165 (Chron: 001836 )
PROJECT TITLE
Miniature In Situ Hyperspectral Thermal Infrared Sensor

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
MEDECO proposes to develop the Miniature In situ HyperSpectral Thermal Infrared sensor, MIHSTI, a novel, uncooled, miniature, hyperspectral thermal infrared Fourier transform sensor. MEDECO, joining with GATS, Inc., will provide proof-of-concept measurements, novel relative and absolute calibration methods, and specialized analysis algorithms for analysis of long-wave infrared spectra that can result in a quantitative, spatially resolved determination of atmospheric microphysical properties, greenhouse gas abundances and their variability.
MIHSTI will be capable of providing high signal-to-noise, long wave infrared hyperspectra at a spectral resolution from 10 to 300. To achieve the measurement goals, MIHSTI utilizes its throughput advantage and fast optics to achieve the high illumination levels required to reach high S/N with uncooled micromachined bolometer focal plane arrays. The proposed measurement goals will be achieved in the LWIR terrestrial atmospheric windows between wavelengths from 5 microns to 50 microns so that detailed tropospheric radiative balancing can be accurately determined.
MEDECO has previously developed with NASA a related visible-nir imaging interferometric sensor flown successfully in the ERAST remotely piloted aircraft. We propose to develop an rpa capability for MIHSTI in situ measurements of microphysical properties of the atmosphere. The proposed sensor provides a means to determine microphysical properties over substantial volumes quickly to relate to local properties measured by active sensors.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
MIHSTI's ability to measure spatially resolved spectra at high sensitivity over a broad spectral region in the LWIR can be applied to a wide range of remote sensing and in situ applications for government and commercial goals. In particular, MIHSTI applications include remote sensing of biogenic atmospheric gases related to primary productivity and net gas exchange, for biogeochemical remote sensing, volcanic and industrial plume monitoring, site surveillance and toxic species monitoring, and rapid forest fire characterization.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dennis Angelisanti
MEDECO, Inc.
89 Arundel Place
Clayton , MO 63105 - 3105

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
MEDECO, Inc.
89 Arundel Place
Clayton , MO 63105 - 3105

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.02-8759 (Chron: 001242 )
PROJECT TITLE
Miniaturized Ultraviolet Absorption Ozonesonde for Small Aerial Platforms

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The measurement of ozone is one of the most critical atmospheric chemistry measurements made in the study of the Earth's atmosphere. The depletion of stratospheric ozone and the photochemical production of tropospheric ozone from pollutants are two major areas of study which demand accurate, high-resolution ozone data.
QEI Technologies, Inc. proposes to develop a next-generation ultraviolet absorption photometer for mounting on small aerial platforms. The compact, single-beam photometer will be based on earlier designs developed by the Principal Investigator for use on tethered and sounding balloons. The new design, in keeping with the philosophy of the earlier single-beam designs, will offer performance matching heavier, more expensive double-beam instruments while greatly reducing size and power consumption. In contrast with electrochemical sondes, the ultraviolet technique offers far greater precision as well as immunity to interferences from virtually all other atmospheric species at typical concentrations.
Phase I work will involve constructing one prototype to demonstrate a range of design improvements over earlier versions. Phase II will involve design refinement and extensive field tests with several instruments.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The new ozonesonde will find applications in a wide range of atmospheric science and air quality programs. It will be suitable for use on small aerial platforms (RPVs, UAVs, and balloons) as well as in surface air quality monitoring stations.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. John Bognar
QEI Technologies, Inc
2715 S. St Paul
Denver , CO 80210 - 6428

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
QEI Technologies, Inc.
2715 S. St Paul
Denver , CO 80210 - 6428

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.02-8814 (Chron: 001187 )
PROJECT TITLE
Miniaturized Carbon Monoxide Sonde for Small Aerial Platforms

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a valuable tracer in atmospheric studies. For example, in the study of stratosphere/troposphere exchange, it is possible to differentiate between stratospheric or tropospheric origins of air parcels based on carbon monoxide content. Carbon monoxide also serves as an excellent tracer of anthropogenic air pollution in the troposphere.
QEI Technologies proposes to develop a miniaturized CO sonde suitable for use on a variety of small aerial platforms including balloons and RPVs. The device will be based on a related design developed by the Principal Investigator for use on tethered kites and balloons. The sensor will be based on the principle of a reducing gas detector, but with significant new modifications to the instrument layout and chemistry. These changes will greatly reduce the size, mass, and power consumption of the new detector in contrast to previous designs. The new design will also be far more user-friendly and require very little maintenance in contrast with its predecessors.
Phase I work will focus on demonstrating the nontraditional design improvements incorporated into the CO sonde design. Phase II work would involve finalizing the design as well as extensive field trials with several prototypes.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
CO sondes would be of use in a variety of atmospheric research programs, including studies of photochemical air pollution, stratosphere/troposphere exchange, and satellite verification programs. Furthermore, the CO sonde would be well-suited for use on any small aerial platform, including RPVs, UAVs, light aircraft, and balloon sondes. This is a unique market niche not currently addressed by any sensor manufacturer.
The CO sonde could also be adapted to serve as a low-cost benchtop CO monitor. This version would find its largest market niche as part of regional air quality monitoring networks. As this CO monitor would be far more inexpensive than existing non-dispersive infrared instruments, it would be possible to equip more stations with CO monitors than can be afforded today.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. John Bognar
QEI Technologies, Inc
2715 S. St Paul
Denver , CO 80210 - 6428

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
QEI Technologies, Inc.
2715 S. St Paul
Denver , CO 80210 - 6428

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.02-9213 (Chron: 000788 )
PROJECT TITLE
Compact Trace Gas Analysis for Airborne Applications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Los Gatos Research has developing a new technique for absorption based spectroscopic analysis of gas samples for use in atmospheric analysis. This absorption capability will be developed for applications in the near-infrared using established InGaAs infrared laser sources, however it can be easily employed with any of several new continuous infrared light sources such as cw-OPO, difference frequency sources, and the new Quantum Cascade diode lasers. The innovation we are developing is based in the sample cell and signal analysis end of such instruments. The net result of our innovation is an increase in sample analysis path length of one thousand to ten thousand times. Using our new cell technology, the user is essentially free to employ traditional laser modulation techniques and data analysis as long as the light source frequency modulation remains less than 1 GHz. We will demonstrate the new absorption analysis technique at wavelengths of ~1.33 microns in Phase I and demonstrate that the approach can be used with sensitive low power sources such as InGaAs lasers.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The absorption instrument proposed here has significant commercial and research potential for applications in airborne chemical analysis and diagnosis. Additionally, the technology also holds great promise for applications in the characterization of liquid and solid state media such as solvents and in trace analysis.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Los Gatos Research
67 East Evelyn Avenue, Suite 3
Mountain View , CA 94041 - 1518

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.02-9349 (Chron: 000652 )
PROJECT TITLE
VLF Lightning Location System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The use of both time-of-arrival and direction finder techniques to locate the sources of VLF radiation from distant lightning is well established. The accuracy of the locations, especially for distances beyond several hundred kilometers, has been limited by error sources such as polarization errors, instrumental errors, and errors due to interference between flashes. The last is believed to be the predominant source of error at distances greater than 1000 km. In this context, Nova Technology Systems is proposing a Phase 1 study to design a system for measuring, recording, and locating VLF radiation from distant lightning, as well as developing the algorithms required to discriminate among multiple overlapping, although spatially separated, VLF radiation sources. The innovation is based on the use of time-of-arrival techniques to determine the direction of arrival of the VLF waveform, the use of digital signal processing techniques to extract nanosecond-scale information from the VLF signatures, and the combination of results obtained by several receiving stations to accurately determine the location of the lightning strike. Innovative DSP algorithms will be developed for the identification and location of simultaneous sources while minimizing the effect of polarization and instrumental errors.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The VLF Lightning Location System is expected to generate interest from the commercial community, given the information it can provide while using a relatively small number of receiving stations. A unique competitive advantage is obtained as a result of lower operating costs, which are significantly reduced since receiving stations can be placed on a 2000 km grid instead of 200~300 km apart. The system can be designed to track developing thunderstorms and produce statistics on lightning activity over vast regions, including transoceanic lightning activity. The VLF Lightning Location System has numerous potential commercial applications, including:
- Fire fighting crews could respond quicker to a fire started by lightning before it spreads out of control.
- Manufacturers of explosive material can postpone dangerous activities until the thunderstorm activity has terminated.
- Golf courses could advise players of incoming thunderstorm activity.
- Airline pilots can use the information to avoid potentially dangerous thunderstorms, thus increasing public safety.
- Cruise and cargo ships away from the mainland could receive information about the location of thunderstorms hundreds of kilometers away from the coastline in locations where local, shorter baseline systems, do not provide coverage.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Pedro Medelius
Nova Technology Systems, Inc.
845 Lakewood Circle
Merritt Island , FL 32952 - 5887

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Nova Technology Systems, Inc.
845 Lakewood Circle
Merritt Island , FL 32952 - 5887

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.03-9401 (Chron: 000600 )
PROJECT TITLE
Lightning Mapping Sensor

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposal is to develop a lightning mapping system (LMS) camera based on a solid state array of "smart-pixels" that can detect, locate and quantify lightning transient events in the focal plane pixels without reading out the array. This concept is applicable to lightning mapping systems operating from synchronous orbit as well as low Earth orbit. In Phase I the proposed lightning/meteor detector smart-pixel concept will be developed into a conceptual design that will be refined, built and evaluated in Phase II. Phase II will include designing, building and evaluating a prototype LMS.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
In addition to weather satellite monitoring of lightning such smart pixel arrays, with the ability to detect, locate and measure unpredictable events, have application in other scientific research such as cosmic ray shower detection and in military weapon systems.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
John Lowrance
Princeton Scientific Instruments, Inc.
7 Deer Park Drive
Monmouth Junction , NJ 08822 - 1921

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Princeton Scientific Instruments, Inc.
7 Deer Park Drive
Monmouth Junction , NJ 08852 - 1921

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.04-7894 (Chron: 002107 )
PROJECT TITLE
Performance Improvements to Dimensionally-Stable Articulated Deployable Mast

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In SAR and radar interferometric altimeter instruments, the transmit / receiving antennas are separated as far apart as possible to increase resolution in the signal. This requires a stiff and dimensionally stable deployable mast to provide the necessary length between the two radar antennas. Deployable mast length is constrained by available stowage volume, spacecraft platform attitude control constraints (such as deployed frequency) and the requirement for high stability under on-orbit thermal environments and accelerations. AEC-ABLE has developed the ADAM (ABLE Deployable Articulated Mast) as an innovative solution for providing this deployable and extremely stable structure. ABLE has also developed a novel ADAM variation (the ?stiff-soft? design) that uses stiff rods as one set of diagonals in the face of each bay of the mast. These stiff rods have the benefit of greatly increasing shear and torsional stiffness of the mast as well as having low CTE relative to metallic cables, which are the conventional ?soft? diagonals used for the ADAM. Further development of this unique and enabling design is proposed here: specifically; to develop and run a kinematic model that will help alleviate primary concerns with this design ? demonstration of proper stowage and deployment kinematics of the stiff-soft ADAM design.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The commercial applications of an optimally performing synthetic aperture radar(SAR)or interferometric ocean altimeter are numerous and growing. Current and potential end data users are numerous and vary greatly in their imagery needs and desires for data a SAR/interferometric altimeter can provide. The future trend will be for these users to require higher fidelity/resolution data, necessitating the space-based SAR/radar altimeter hardware be built to achieve the highest stability and reliability, the topic addressed by this proposal.

The commercial applications of SAR remote sensing of land/water areas are abundant. In addition to domestic and foreign governments, commercial users in telecommunications, nonrenewable extraction and forestry are all showing interest. An active imaging system, SAR sends and receives a scattered signal from the earth's surface, enabling the signal to "see through" clouds and some vegetation. Given the important advantages of SAR and the wide range of possible applications, the greatest challenge for this industry will be to keep up with demand from of end users. Environmental, natural resource management, disaster management, industrial planning, and surveying/mapping are some of the applications that will utilize high-resolution SAR data made available by the hardware to be addressed in this proposal.

The benefits of higher resolution, all-weather remote sensing of mesoscale phenomena on the surface of the oceans (as will be obtained from the Wide Swath Ocean Altimeter instrument)include better tracking of currents and their relationship to weather patterns, wavelength and direction of wave systems and sea surface topography for determination of faster shipping lanes, environmental studies and management, and control of ocean natural resources.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Gary Heinemann
AEC-Able Engineering Company Inc.
7200 Hollister Ave.
Goleta , CA 93117 - 2807

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
AEC-Able Engineering Company, Inc.
7200 Hollister Ave
Goleta , CA 93117 - 2807

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.04-9282 (Chron: 000719 )
PROJECT TITLE
Time Modulated Ultra-wideband Phased Array and SAR Radar

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The key innovation of this proposal is development of a single chip T/R module based on Time Modulated Ultra-wideband (TM-UWB) radar. Low cost components which can measure delays down to 3 picoseconds are now available, and these now make it practical to build TM-UWB radar and communication systems which have no carrier signal. The only signals transmitted are single pulses. Impulses in the time domain generate very wide bandwidth signals in the frequency domain, and the signals generated by our current hardware have bandwidths in the gigahertz range. Because of this wide bandwidth, TM-UWB radar and radio is virtually impossible to detect and difficult to jam. TM-UWB radio requires no frequency allocation since energy is effectively transmitted on a wide band of frequencies simultaneously. Multiple non-interfering channels can be implemented in a single radio, hence very high data rates can be achieved, and the conventional problems with multipath do not affect TM-UWB. Because all that is transmitted is binary pulses, implementation of electronically steerable phased array systems is easy and effective. True time delay, the goal of past phased array development, becomes easy to achieve with TM-UWB radio and radar.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Our partner company, Time Domain Corporation (TDC) has invested $25 million in private funds to commercialize this technology, and early products are already available. The work herein proposed will focus on developing a single chip T/R module for TM-UWB radar. This work will, however, be synergistic with TDC's commercial development, and result in improved commercial products.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Leonard Haynes
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
2 Research Place, Suite 202
Rockville , MD 20850 - 6205

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
2 Research Place, Suite 202
Rockville , MD 20850 - 6205

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.05-9060 (Chron: 000941 )
PROJECT TITLE
Radiometer Calibration with an Active Noise Source

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This study will provide the basis to advance microwave radiometer calibration technology using internal active devices. CME proposes the design of a small, automated, stepped cold/warm noise source injection calibration device to simplify on-board calibration. We will build upon existing FET cold noise technology and develop an innovative calibration concept applicable to spaceborne, airborne, and ground-based radiometers. For direct access to leading edge foundries, we propose to investigate and characterize emerging Raytheon FET technologies and develop innovative methods of improving radiometer calibration. This effort leverages CME's microwave radiometer R&D experience on our Air Force Phase II SBIR contract for a small ground-based, multi-frequency microwave radiometer. Teamed with Raytheon's Microwave Remote Sensing Group and Dr. L.P. Dunleavy from University of South Florida's Wireless and Microwave research program, CME can effectively address NASA's need for new calibration technologies. Phase I will result in a device design for a new microwave radiometer calibration system capable of replacing on-board, complex and expensive state-of-practice techniques. This effort will provide a solid foundation leading to a proven automated calibration device for smaller on-board microwave radiometers in future spacecraft sensors.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Advances in active calibration technology will benefit Atmospheric Scintillation Prediction, Satellite Cloud Ice Prediction, Deep Space Water/Cloud/Gas Prediction, and Atmospheric Refraction Prediction among others. Radiometers are stand-alone instruments as well as support instruments to radars. Space altimeters need radiometers to correct for water vapor path delay. Scatterometers need correction for atmospheric path loss. A new "smart" calibration device will result in better sensitivity and accuracy for NASA radiometers. The improvements will benefit ground-based propagation measurement instruments, smaller lightweight satellite and airborne radiometers, and especially unattended vehicle (UV) radiometers used for varied applications. Unattended microwave radiometers/sensors need autonomous calibration devices. Through our development of a microwave radiometer for the Air Force, CME has performed extensive commercialization studies related to microwave radiometers. Applications for a new calibration device are directly proportionate to the opportunities for our microwave radiometer. Our commercialization interests include communications fade loss detection, airborne "hot spot" forest fire detection, medical microwave imaging, in-flight ice detection, and a small ground-based microwave sensor for intelligence missions. Using MMIC and MEMs technology to miniaturize the radiometer for our Air Force customer, has expanded our interest in developing an improved calibration device for this and other applications such as NASA.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David J. Arft
Custom Manufacturing & Engineering, Inc.
2904 44th Avenue North
St. Petersburg , FL 33714 - 3804

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Custom Manufacturing & Engineering, Inc.
2904 44th Avenue North
St. Petersburg , FL 33714 - 3804

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.05-9957 (Chron: 000044 )
PROJECT TITLE
Ultrastable Radiometer for Sea Surface Salinity Sensing

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Quadrant Engineering Inc. (QEI) proposes to develop and characterize an ultrastable microwave radiometer operating at L-band and capable of providing a measurement of sea surface salinity to an accuracy of 0.1-0.1 parts per thousand (ppt). This level of accuracy is necessary to produce useful oceanic data relating to ocean circulation, and requires a radiometer measurement stability precision in the range of 0.05-0.10 K.
Based on the performance of existing and similar spaceborne radiometers such as SSM/I and AMSU, we believe that this performance can be achieved. To demonstrate, this study will focus on laboratory development of high precision/high stability front-end architectures and integration of low noise amplifiers, switches, and noise diodes into low loss antenna feeds. In addition, the precision calibration apparatus necessary for long term testing of the radiometer stability will be identified and designed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

- marine and water quality applications where remote measurement of ocean salinity is important.
- agricultural and forestry applications where remote measurement of soil moisture is needed.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mark Goodberlet
Quadrant Engineering Inc.
107 Sunderland Road
Amherst , MA 01002 - 9998

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Quadrant Engineering Inc.
107 Sunderland Road
Amherst , MA 01002 - 9998

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-7803 (Chron: 002198 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Very Low Power, Highly Integrated Multichannel Scaler

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Multichannel Scaler (MCS) electronics are currently used in lidar-based remote sensing applications for photon counting and histogramming functions. As front-end photon detector technology improves, the need for advanced, high-performance multichannel scalers will increase so as to not limit system performance. This proposal describes a high-speed, low power MCS chip design and circuit board that incorporates multiple, popular processor interfaces and other on-chip functionality such as storage memory. The proposed innovation will provide improved time resolution, smaller size, and lower power than comparable industry implementations. By integrating multiple interfaces in a single device, the proposed chip could be used as a building block for other MCS programs wherein specific program needs dictate size constraints, data transfer rates, or performance criteria. Phase-I provides a two-fold opportunity. First, it provides for a study to determine current industry trends and user needs and to trade-off design issues so as to provide the most useful functionality in the Phase-II development. Second, it provides for the development of a prototype in order to validate the conceptual basis for the final Phase-II proposal. The proposed innovation will aid in expanding the measurement capabilities of current airborne, spaceborne, and ground-based lidar systems.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
· Atmospheric Studies by Lidar
· Time-of-Flight Ion Mass Spectroscopy
· Time-Correlated Single-Photon Counting
· Laser-Induced Chemical Reactions
· Phosphorescence Lifetime Measurements
· Mössbauer Experiments
· Neutron Time of Flight

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Edward Leventhal
ASRC Aerospace Corporation
6301 Ivy Lane, Suite 300
Greenbelt , MD 20770 - 6356

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
ASRC Aerospace Corporation
6301 Ivy Lane, Suite 300
Greenbelt , MD 20770 - 6356

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-7979 (Chron: 002022 )
PROJECT TITLE
High speed, low noise, near infrared HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
High efficiency and speed silicon avalanche photodiodes (APD) are currently available for low-light detection in the 200 to 1150nm range. However, silicon has weak optical absorption beyond 1000 nm. The NASA Surface Topography and Oceanic Measurements programs requires high efficiency, high speed, and low noise detectors in the 1500 to 2200 nm wavelength region. The semiconductor alloy Hg1-xCdxTe, with its wavelength tunability over a broad spectral range, high quantum efficiency, low dielectric constant permitting high speed operation, and low noise in APDs (due to the resonant enhancement of hole ionization coefficient), is an attractive material for meeting NASA's specifications. We propose a new generation of high quantum efficiency, high speed, photon counting, near infrared (1500-2200 nm) avalanche photodiodes with excellent noise and gain-bandwidth performance. They will be an asset to NASA's proposed Earth Science Enterprise program and related space programs as part of three-dimensional imaging systems. The goals will be achieved by i) using the established flexible manufacturing molecular beam epitaxy technology for device quality HgCdTe material growth on silicon substrates, and ii) developing novel APD device architectures including separate absorption and multiplication.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
High speed and low noise infrared APDs promise many military, space, communication, medical, optoelectronic and microelectronic applications. HgCdTe APDs can be incorporated into fast receiver modules, confocal microscopes, and particle detection equipment. They can also be used in laser range finder equipment and can be operated with low light levels and short laser pulses thus making the finders more "eye safe".

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Silviu Velicu
Smart Pixel Inc.
1416 Dun Robin Road
Naperville , IL 60540 - 8284

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Smart Pixel Inc.
1416 Dun Robin Road
Naperville , IL 60540 - 8284

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-8224 (Chron: 001777 )
PROJECT TITLE
349-nm Source for Direct Detection Measurements of Winds

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Q-Peak, Inc. proposes to develop an efficient, single-frequency, diffraction-limited, 10-W-average-power laser source at 349 nm for use as a Lidar transmitter for direct-detection measurements of winds. The laser source proposed will be based on a compact, cw diode-pumped, high-pulse-repetition-rate, Q-switched Nd:YLF laser. The laser will be injection-seeded using a single-frequency, cw diode-pumped, 10-mW Nd:YLF laser developed by Q-Peak. The system will feature intracavity tripling to convert the near-IR output of the Q-switched Nd:YLF laser into the UV. Due to the use of both diode pumping and intracavity conversion, the electrical efficiency of the proposed source is substantially higher than that of lasers now used in the wind profiling lidar systems. High repetition rates (5 ? 10 kHz) allows the possibility of reducing the data acquisition time. Single-frequency, short pulses (20-30 nsec) allows for a high accuracy and high range resolution.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The development of the proposed technology, high-efficiency intracavity conversion in the Nd:YLF diode-pumped lasers, is expected to advance the state of the art in solid-state laser technology with further applications in material processing, in particular, the laser would be a low cost pulsed UV source for via drilling, stereolithography and precision micro-machining applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Yelena Isyanova
Q-Peak, Inc.
135 South Road
Bedford , MA 01730 - 2307

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Q-Peak, Inc.
135 South Road
Bedford , MA 01730 - 2307

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-8332 (Chron: 001669 )
PROJECT TITLE
Laser Materials for Remote Sensing of Ozone

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Space based lidar systems for the remote sensing of Ozone require high-power, high-efficiency lasers operating in the ultraviolet. Diode-pumped solid-state lasers are the primary candidates for this application. Operation in the ultraviolet is typically achieved through two or three frequency conversion steps using nonlinear optical materials. This reduces the efficiency of the laser systems placing very stringent demands on the laser design and the gain media. A promising material for use in lasers for the remote sensing of Ozone is Nd:Y2O3 operating at 914 nm and 948 nm using the 4F3/2 to 4I9/2 transition of the Nd3+ ion. This material offers several advantages over other crystals, including a lower threshold for oscillation of this transition, a high thermal conductivity, and a broad transmission range from 0.23 microns to 8 microns. Recent studies indicate that this material is well suited to Ozone lidar applications provided that crystals of sufficient size and quality are available. This Phase I SBIR project is aimed at developing growth systems to produce high optical quality Y2O3 and at demonstrating proof of concept for scaling of such systems to produce laser rods of sufficient size for use in lasers systems capable of meeting NASA's requirements for Ozone sensing.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Yttria has the potential of several commercial applications. First is the replacement of Nd:YAG in laser oscillators and amplifiers. The material may also lead to new applications because of improved material performance. A second application is 4-8 ƒÝm optics. This material may make a very practical optic in this region on the spectrum. A third application is for high temperature optics. This material can be inserted directly into a hot gas stream for thermal studies above 2000 C.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Randy W. Equall
Scientific Materials Corporation
310 Icepond Road
Bozeman , MT 59715 - 5380

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Scientific Materials Corporation
310 Icepond Road
Bozeman , MT 59715 - 5380

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-8440 (Chron: 001561 )
PROJECT TITLE
Single-Mode DFB InGaAsP lasers at 1.8 to 2.2 um

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose to develop single-mode DFB lasers at 1.8 to 2.2 um based on InGaAsP materails at room temperature with a linewidth of 0.1 to 0l.2 MHz. MBE regrowth technology will be used for the grating. We will also study the device reliability. A compact mid-IR single mode laser could be extremely useful for the enviromental monitoring and pollutant sensing. We have a lot of experience in the IR lasers and demonstrated single-mode type-II interband-cascade (IC) laser with single-frequency mode operation with an output power > 5 mW at 4.5 um, and type-II SL lasers from 2.5 to 4.1 um. An operation temperature of 260 K was achieved for a 2.9-um type-II SL laser. The peak output power per facet exceeds 800 mW at 100 K, and 200 mW at 200 K with a threshold current density of 1.1 kA/cm2. Operation at 286 K was achieved for 3.6 um IC lasers. An external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 580% was achieved for a 4.5-um IC laser at 80K.

The Phase I effort will be directed towards the demonstration of the single-mode DFB InGaAsP lasers at 1.8 to 2.2 um at high temperature.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Critical military needs include lidar and remote chemical sensing for defense against biological/chemical warfare, eye-safe covert illumination, and free-space communications. Commercial markets include leak detection, chemical process control, remote chemical sensing for atmospheric pollution and drug monitoring, IR spectroscopy, and medical analyses. With the development of room-temperature single-mode tunable DFB lasers, this program should considerably accelerate the huge potential needs of the defense and commercial applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. James baillargeon
Applied Optoelectronics Inc.
242 Kingfisher Drive
Sugar land , tx 77478 - 4710

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.
242 Kingfisher Drive
Sugar Land , TX 77478 - 4710

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-8805 (Chron: 001196 )
PROJECT TITLE
High efficiency laser for space-borne lidar applications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The next generation of space-based lidar systems requires high energy and highly efficient solid-state laser transmitters. High efficiency enables the system volume and weight to be reduced, both for the laser and the primary power source. For a space-based lidar application, this means reduced launch weight (and cost) and longer satellite lifetime. The current baseline approach is to use diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers. These lasers must exhibit good beam quality for efficient frequency conversion into the near infrared for cloud and aerosol measurements and into the ultraviolet for ozone detection. Typical electrical efficiency for a spaced-based Nd:YAG laser is ~6%. Aculight Corporation proposes to develop a >10% electrically efficient, 1J/pulse, diode-pumped laser based on the new material ytterbium strontium fluoroapatite (Yb-SFAP) as the gain medium. The laser developed in the Phase II shall be traceable to space-based applications. In Phase I, Aculight proposes to demonstrate a diode-pumped Yb:S-FAP Q-switched oscillator that generates a flattop beam with high extraction efficiency. In Phase II, a laser system with an output energy of ~1 J/pulse at up to 10 Hz with greater than 10% electrical efficiency will be produced and delivered to NASA for evaluation.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed laser development could revolutionize the use of high energy, diode-pumped pulsed lasers in medical and industrial applications. With non-linear frequency conversion, this laser can access a wide wavelength region, from the UV to the mid-IR. This laser will have at least a 50% price advantage over a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser of similar performance.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mark Bowers
Aculight Corporation
11805 North Creek Parkway S. Suite 113
Bothell , WA 98011 - 8803

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Aculight Corporation
11805 North Creek Parkway S. Suite 113
Bothell , WA 98011 - 8803

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-8893 (Chron: 001108 )
PROJECT TITLE
Improved Nonlinear Mixing for High Average Power, Near-UV Generation

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
For many ultraviolet applications, beta-barium borate (BBO) is the material of choice for harmonic generation due to the outstanding nonlinear properties, ultraviolet transparency, and mechanical robustness of the single crystals. Despite these attractive features, issues that limit the usefulness of BBO for ultraviolet generation include heating, due to Intensity Dependent Loss (IDL) and surface damage. IDL, which is known to be a significant problem at 266 nm and shorter wavelengths while relatively unimportant at 355 nm, will be characterized at an intermediate wavelength of 315 nm. Despite being grown at high temperatures, BBO is water soluble so that polished surfaces are difficult to AR coat for high power, laser damage resistance. Characteristically, damage occurs at the AR coated surface at a lower level than the bulk, which has a high threshold. Results of Phase I will identify the severity of IDL in the near ultraviolet in flux-grown BBO, identify factors that may affect this limitation, such as flux inclusions, and investigate the use of CLBO as an alternative non linear crystal. In addition, Phase I damage tests will determine optimal AR coating techniques for BBO-type crystals when used in these high power applications. Phase II work will optimize the non linear material properties and AR coating.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
High average power ultraviolet sources have numerous applications in remote sensing, micro-machining, marking, and medicine. Diode pumped infrared lasers, which incorporate harmonic generation steps, which are driven by nonlinear crystals, have good wall-plug efficiencies and will be a practical approach for production of ultraviolet laser beams for these important applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Thomas Caughey
INRAD, Inc.
181 Legrand Avenue
Northvale , NJ 07626 - 2404

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
INRAD, Inc.
181 Legrand Avenue
Northvale , NJ 07647 - 2404

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-9558 (Chron: 000443 )
PROJECT TITLE
High-Power, Single-Frequency Laser Transmitter for Direct Detection Wind Sensing

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA is actively pursuing the development of technologies that enable satellite-based laser wind sounding. Of particular interest are technologies that enable tropospheric wind profiling at low cost and high efficiency. Traditional laser-based wind sensors utilize coherent-mode detection, which depend on high aerosol concentrations to measure wind fields, and are therefore not suited for tropospheric wind profiling where the aerosol concentration is low. Direct-detection lidars do not suffer from this restriction because they can sense backscattered radiation from moving molecules as well as aerosols. A key component required for direct-detection lidars is a high-power, single-frequency, efficient, conduction-cooled UV laser transmitter. Lite Cycles proposes to develop a high-power (>30 W), efficient (>4% wall-plug), single-frequency (<50 MHz), UV (355-nm) laser transmitter that utilizes our unique conduction-cooled, diode-pumped gain module designs. The Phase I effort will produce a report containing a design trade study and conceptual design for a high-power laser transmitter, and the product of the Phase II effort will be an operational deliverable prototype laser.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Lite Cycles has identified three potential markets to pursue in the Phase III commercialization effort: (1) Global and local wind-sensing instrumentation, (2) laser machining and materials processing, (3) Rayleigh beacon sources for adaptive optics. Global wind-sensing instrumentation is required to measure the transport of atmospheric constituents and improve the prediction of weather. Local wind-sensing instrumentation is required to measure and predict clear air turbulence and air-borne toxin transport. Laser machining and materials processing is the single largest market for high-power, diode-pumped, solid-state lasers. The majority of laser machining and processing applications require laser sources with higher brightness and efficiency to compete with standard technologies. Ohter specialized applications like photolithography require more efficient and reliable high pulse energy, narrow-band, UV sources. The proposed conduction-cooled, diode-pumped laser system architecture constitutes a significant improvement over the current state-of-the-art laser systems. Very specific laser sources are used by the military and astronomy community to generate artificial beacons in the atmosphere to correct aberrations caused by refractive turbulence. The laser system we propose to build is ideally suited for use as a Rayleigh beacon source in these Adaptive Optics systems.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
James T. Murray
Lite Cycles, Inc.
2301 N. Forbes Blvd., Suite 111
Tucson , AZ 85745 - 1445

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Lite Cycles, Inc.
2301 N. Forbes Blvd., Suite 111
Tucson , AZ 85745 - 1445

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-9620 (Chron: 000381 )
PROJECT TITLE
Thermally Stable Lightweight Mirrors for Earth Observing Instruments

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Lightweight telescopes are a key technology for the remote sensing of earth. Examples of applications for modest size aperture telescopes for earth observation include: GIFTS, GOES, VIIRS for science missions, SBIRS low and SBIRS high for military missions, and Orbview, Ikonos, and Quickbird for commercial remote sensing missions. Earth observation often contains significant transient thermal loads. This load can be sufficient to cause aberrations that exceed limits for diffraction limited optics. Traditional lightweight mirror materials have high stiffness to density ratios. However, hybrid mirrors constructed of glass facesheets and carbon fiber composite support ribs have low thermal expansion and high thermal conductivity making them robust to solar heat loads. We propose to accomplish four goals with the Phase I effort: compare the thermal distortion performance of hybrid mirrors with traditional designs, optimize the design of a hybrid mirror for earth-observing applications, develop a test plan to demonstrate the performance of a hybrid mirror under radiative heat loading conditions, and manufacture a hybrid mirror substrate. The Phase II effort will concentrate on optical polishing of the substrate, testing of the hybrid mirror, and application of the technology to a pending mission.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Earth-observing science missions (e.g. GOES), military missions (e.g. SBIRS Low/High), and commercial missions (e.g. Ikonos).

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Brian Catanzaro, Ph.D.
Composite Optics, Incorporated
9617 Distribution Avenue
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2393

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Composite Optics, Incorporated
9617 Distribution Avenue
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2393

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-9681 (Chron: 000320 )
PROJECT TITLE
An Ozone DIAL Transmitter Module for UAV

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose to develop an autonomous differential absorption lidar (DIAL) transmitter module for measurement of atmospheric ozone profiles from a high altitude unpiloted airborne vehicle (UAV). This UAV based lidar provides a powerful low cost capability for measurement of ozone distributions in the lower stratosphere and troposphere with good spatial resolution over large regions. The UAV places severe constraints on the size, weight, power and operational environment for the laser. A compact Ce:LiCAF laser pumped by a diode-pumped Nd:YAG frequency quadrupled laser, to provide ~1mJ energy at 1kHz, tunable over 290-315nm will be built to satisfy these requirements. Ozone measurements from 20km altitude with good horizontal resolution (~5km) and accuracy (5-10%) will be obtained using this laser. The laser will be packaged into a replaceable modular transmitter which allows for easy reconfiguration of the UAV for other measurements. This transmitter, together with the water vapor DIAL transmitter recently fabricated by us, will constitute the core of a versatile NASA remote sensing facility. In Phase I we will carry out the wavelength tuning and operational characterization of a bread-board tunable Ce:LiCAF laser, and also design an optimized transmitter. In Phase II the autonomous ozone DIAL transmitter will be built and tested.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
In addition to the NASA?s applications of lidars for remote sensing of ozone many other applications are envisaged. Lidar systems for environmental monitoring, and for measurements of pollutants, fluorescence lidars for biological agents are some of the anticipated applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Coorg R. Prasad
Science & Engineering Services, Inc
4032 Blackburn Lane
Burtonsville , MD 20866 - 1168

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Science & Engineering Services, Inc
4032 Blackburn Lane
Burtonsville , MD 20866 - 1168

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.06-9858 (Chron: 000143 )
PROJECT TITLE
Shared Aperture Diffractive Optical Elements for LIDAR Reception

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)

Conical scanning LIDAR systems and laser ranging systems that measure atmospheric backscatter, clouds, aerosols, winds, trace species, and sub-surface ocean layers require ruggedized construction and easy alignment. We are proposing to reduce the complexity and alignment chores by building five telescope objectives into one large shared aperture using holographic volume multiplexing techniques similar to those used in some holographic data storage systems. The holographic objectives will then be stationary with five simultaneous look angles that may be turned on and off with a smaller coaxial out going beam scanner or a separate laser in each channel. This simple scheme can eliminate all moving parts which simplifies alignment while providing a more rugged and transportable system.

The addition of a holographic aberration correction plate is now possible in a static position near the detector. This small HOE gets illuminated by incoming LIDAR signals and outputs a collimated wave which is easily focused by a simple doublet to a near diffraction limited spot. The benefit is that the field of view can be greatly reduced, thereby reducing background noise levels. The additional diffractive surface squares the wavelength dependant filtering function provided by diffractive optics, thereby further reducing out of band noise.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Commercial LIDAR applications such as terrain mapping, the same design and fabrication methods work for big photon buckets for laser communications, medical imaging optics, fast spectro-photometers, solar collection and dispersion, solar laser pumping and architectural lighting.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Richard Rallison
Ralcon Dev Lab
8501 S 400 W
Paradise , UT 84328 - 0142

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ralcon Dev Lab
8501 S 400 W
Paradise , UT 84328 - 0142

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.07-8526 (Chron: 001475 )
PROJECT TITLE
Trace gas sensor based on a novel room temperature mid-infrared laser source

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose here to develop a practical multi-species sensor for atmospheric gas concentrations and fluxes. The sensor will be based upon Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS), which is a highly sensitive and selective measurement technique. The practicality of this technique has up to now been limited by the use of cryogenically cooled diode lasers. In this work, a compact room temperature sensor will be enabled by a novel mid-infrared laser source developed by Aculight. The source is based upon direct nonlinear frequency conversion of near-infrared diode lasers, by an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). In phase I, we propose to demonstrate the multi-species sensor capability of the device by measurement of methane isotope ratios and formaldehyde concentrations. Potential detection sensitivities for relevant species within the 1 to 4um tuning range of the OPO will be analyzed. In phase II we will upgrade the power level, frequency control and device engineering to provide a deliverable source compatible with ultra-sensitive automated monitoring of multiple species.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Potential commercial applications of this work include methane sensors for pipelines and coal mines, toxic gas sensors for hospitals, and a significant scientific market for a compact mid-infrared laser.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Angus Henderson
Aculight Corporation
11805 N. Creek Parkway S.
Bothell , WA 98011 - 8803

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Aculight Corporation
11805 North Creek Parkway S. Suite 113
Bothell , WA 98011 - 8803

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.07-8634 (Chron: 001367 )
PROJECT TITLE
Miniaturized Multi-spectral Imaging Radiometer Using AOTF

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Brimrose proposes to develop miniaturized acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF)based multi-spectral imaging radiometer. This radiometer will operate in the wavelength range of 1 to 2.5um. We propose a novel fabrication procedure to make it capable of withstanding extreme environments of space. It involves moving parts, has high throughput and extremely fast scanning capability. The work focuses on 4 major areas: (1) Using newly developed bonding technique to bond transducer to the acousto-optic crystal to fabricated a more rugged AOTF, (2) The spectral characterization and calibration of the AOTF and, (3) Radiometric calibration of the multi-spectral AOTF, (4) Develop the bread-board design for Multi-spectral Radiometric Imaging System.

In Phase II, the bread-board design will be optimized, the compact Multi-spectral Radiometric Imaging System will be built, optimized and thoroughly tested.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The successful completion of the proposed program will result in a miniature multi-spectral imaging radiometer capable of operating in the wavelength range of 1-2.5um under extreme conditions. It will have a number of scientific applications which include meteorology and atmospheric physics. Other applications include areas of military, space technology, medicine and photo-biology to mention a few.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Jolanta Rosemeier
Brimrose Corporation of America
5024 Campbell Blvd., Suite E
Baltimore , MD 21236 - 4968

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Brimrose Corporation of America
5024 Campbell Blvd., Suite E
Baltimore , MD 21236 - 4968

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 13.07-9288 (Chron: 000713 )
PROJECT TITLE
Stacked Waveguide Imaging Spectrometer for Airborne and Spaceborne Applications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
To meet the challenges of multispectral and/or hyperspectral imaging from NASA manned and unmanned airborne platforms and next-generation space platforms, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes a miniature Stacked Waveguide Imaging Spectrometer (SWIS), a hyperspectral imaging system. The monolithic design of the SWIS keeps it small, lightweight, and low-cost, with high throughput and inherent environmental stability. SWIS spatio-spectral 3-D (2 spatial dimensions and 1 spectral dimension) images will have high spatial and spectral resolution provided by the 2-D detector array. Because of their compactness, many SWIS modules can easily be combined, expanding spectral sensing capability to cover the UV, visible, and IR bands. In Phase I, POC will initiate SWIS system design and analysis, and will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concept by developing the components and integrating a laboratory proof-of-concept SWIS module. In Phase II, the system design will be optimized based on Phase I results for SWIS prototype development. When fully developed, the proposed SWIS sensor system will be compact, light, power efficient, and producible at low cost. Its high resolution hyperspectral imaging will cover a wide band, and its inherent environmental stability will make it well suited for airborne/spaceborne applications.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The direct applications of this technology will be in multispectral and hyperspectral imaging systems for remote sensing, including Earth observation, environmental monitoring, coastal research, pollution control, and agricultural surveillance. The system will also find a wide range of applications in medical devices, manufacturing, scientific research, biological and chemical spectroscopic imaging, optical communications, and a broad range of portable low-cost instrumentation.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Yunlu Zou, Ph.D.
Physical Optics Corporation, EP Division
20600 Gramercy Place, Building 100
Torrance , CA 90501 - 1821

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Physical Optics Corporation, EP Division
20600 Gramercy Place, Building 100
Torrance , CA 90501 - 1821

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.01-8132 (Chron: 001869 )
PROJECT TITLE
Organic-inorganic nano-hybrid composite as atomic oxygen durable coating

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Polymeric materials, graphite and polymer-based composites exposed to atomic oxygen (AO) in low Earth orbits (LEO) have been shown to undergo significant accelerated surface erosion and mass loss. Protective coatings is one of the way to stop the erosion. In this Phase I research proposal, a unique silicone based, nanoparticle containing composite coating material will be developed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The hybrid nanocomposite coating has applications in anti-atomic oxygen attack coating, oxydation protection coatings, hard coating.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Gengwei Jiang, Ph. D.
Chemat Technology, Inc.
9036 Winnetka Ave.
Northridge , CA 91324 - 3235

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Chemat Technology, Inc.
9036 Winnetka Ave.
Northridge , CA 91324 - 3235

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.01-9798 (Chron: 000203 )
PROJECT TITLE
Hydrogen-Air Fuel Cell for High Altitude Aircraft Use

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV?s), especially High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft, offer unique combinations of capabilities for use as observation and relay platforms. They operate closer to the ground and at lower cost than satellites, while being capable of staying over a small area for extended periods and remaining aloft for extended periods. The current generation of vehicles for fixed duration operations are based on conventional turbine or piston technology and have flight times limited to one or two days. There are no potential improvements that could extend this time to a week or longer. Missions of this duration can be achieved by electrically driven craft using liquid hydrogen fuel with a lightweight proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell to generate electricity using ambient air as the oxygen source. Fuel cells have adequate performance for this application without the need for precompression, as used with combustion engines, even when operated at the low pressures present at high altitudes (~2 psia at 50,000 ft), but current densities are limited, requiring high active areas. Success requires lighter fuel cell hardware than is currently available. The proposed project will demonstrate a novel fuel cell architecture that substantially reduces the weight of a fuel cell stack.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
There are numerous commercial applications for long duration HALE-UAV?s as extremely long range relay and transmitter towers, which will benefit from this development. The prospect of using UAV?s as telecommunications relays is currently a topic of commercial interest around the world. The same lightweight fuel cell that permits hydrogen fueled UAV?s to remain aloft for extended periods and operate at all latitudes will extend their operating ranges as well, a property that is beneficial for meteorological and environmental monitoring applications. The lightweight fuel cell technology will also improve the performance of other low current density fuel cell devices.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Alan Cisar
Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive
College Station , TX 77840 - 4024

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive
College Station , TX 77840 - 4024

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.02-8580 (Chron: 001421 )
PROJECT TITLE
DWDM Filters for High Efficiency Optical Communication

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is dramatically increasing the bandwidth on telecommunications networks and will have a direct impact on internet-based communication architecture for data delivery from NASA near-earth platforms. The optical demultiplexers in DWDM systems rely on complex interference filters to transmit a very narrow wavelength region while reflecting the larger out of band region. We propose a filter fabrication approach that uses DC magnetron sources, a unique optical coating chamber configuration, very efficient filter designs, and, most importantly,an innovative insitu optical monitor. The result will be the capability to fabricate low cost, high performance DWDM filters, both as single filters and spatially variable filters.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The commercial potential of DWDM, and especially a low cost, high throughput filter fabrication method, is enormous. The North American market for DWDM technology has grown to over three billion dollars in the last four years and is expected to grow to just under five billion dollars in 2001. High performance, low cost, DWDM interference filters, fabricated in large quantities will directly increase telecommunications bandwidth.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Thomas D. Rahmlow, Jr.
Rugate Technologies, Inc.
P.O. Box 875
Brookfield , CT 06804 - 0875

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Rugate Technologies, Inc.
P.O. Box 875
Brookfield , CT 06804 - 0875

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.02-8594 (Chron: 001407 )
PROJECT TITLE
Severless Traveling Wave Tube for High Data Rate Space Communications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A new generation of Ka-band helical traveling wave tube (TWT) power amplifiers with efficiencies of over 60% will be developed. The dramatic increase in efficiency over current state-of-the-art amplifiers with about 45% efficiency will be achieved by the introduction of a novel taper to suppress all parasitic power flow, the elimination of severs, and new approaches for the minimization of circuit losses. These innovations will lead to large reductions in power requirements, circuit size, and system weight, and will result in enormous cost savings for launch and operation of communication satellites. The proposed technology development promises to provide the biggest contribution to efficiency enhancement in helical TWTs since the introduction of velocity tapers some 35 years ago and will enable high frequency digital broadband communications for near-Earth and deep-space missions with multi-gigabit-per-second data rates.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Helical traveling wave tubes are the power amplifiers of choice in satellites for telecommunications, data transmission, broadcasting, and radar mapping. High frequency, high data rate digital communications and high power broadband electronic countermeasures are the primary space applications for our new technology. Additional high volume applications are in satellite ground stations, phased array antennas, microwave power modules, radar for air traffic control and weather forecasting, and medical as well as scientific areas. The successful development of a new generation of helical TWTs with very high efficiencies will significantly increase the global competitiveness of the U.S. power tube industry.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Wolfgang Mueller
AmpWaveTech, LLC
30047 Persimmon Drive
Cleveland , OH 44145 - 5151

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
AmpWaveTech, LLC
30047 Persimmon Drive
Cleveland , OH 44145 - 5151

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.03-8858 (Chron: 001143 )
PROJECT TITLE
Optical Backplane Using Substrate-holograms for High-speed Data Communications

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The limited bus bandwidth is a major bottleneck for efficient communication among processing components, memory modules, and other I/O interface units. In the conventional electrical backplane, the bandwidth of communication path is limited by signal-propagation delay, skew, power consumption, and capacitive effects. To solve these problems, Radiant Research, Inc., proposes a substrate mode holograms-based guided-wave optical backplane scheme that is capable of providing the equivalent interconnectivity and the architecture flexibility promised by three-dimensional optical interconnects while maintaining packaging reliability, low system insertion loss and cost-effectiveness. The total aggregate bandwidth is expected to be three orders of magnitude higher than that of electrical interconnection. The guided wave optical backplane employed is a waveguiding plate in conjunction with photo-polymeric multiplexed volume holograms. In the proposed scheme, the electrical connectors are positioned as usual, and the active optoelectronic modules including transmitters and receivers are placed on the bottom of the electrical backplane board, and a new broadcasting scheme is proposed to provide n.(n-1) even fanout for a backplane containing n boards. Thus the insertion or removal of circuit boards during normal operation does not affect their alignment. This approach also provides bi-directional signal broadcast capability, making the system compatible with existing electrical boards.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Apart from addressing backplane bottleneck faced by conventional electrical methods, the idea we proposed here can be used to replace any free space optical interconnect systems. For example, a perfect shuffle network can be implemented using the substrate waveguiding plate in stead of free space optical interconnects. An array of applications can be realized based on the proposed interconnection scheme and the spin-off technologies. These include even fanout 1-to-many couplers, guided wave perfect shuffle networks, wavelength division multiplexers and spectrum analyzers. Compatibility with the existing electronic backplane makes the proposed idea attractive to companies interesting in packaging and high speed optoelectronics.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Bipin Bihari
Radiant Research, Inc.
3006 Longhorn Blvd., Suite 105
Austin , TX 78758 - 7631

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Radiant Research, Inc.
3006 Longhorn Blvd., Suite 105
Austin , TX 78758 - 7631

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.04-7989 (Chron: 002012 )
PROJECT TITLE
Computer-Aided Design Environment for Multi-Satellite Formation Control

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Earth Science Enterprise (ESE), formerly known as Mission to Planet Earth, is a NASA-initiated concept that uses space-, ground-, and aircraft-based measurement systems to gather scientific knowledge for understanding the Earth's climate system and its variations. The space-based components of ESE will provide a constellation of satellites to monitor Earth from space. The variety of satellites contributing to ESE investigations collectively carries different Earth observation sensors. These sensors enable ESE observations for assessment of various Earth processes: hydrologic, biochemical, atmospheric, ecological, and geophysical. Scientific investigations can benefit from complementary sensor measurements that can be fused to produce Earth Science data otherwise not attainable with single sensors. Simultaneous collection of such data from different sensors may require the coordinated flight of different satellite platforms, making it necessary to control satellites in a coordinated formation over the period of data collection. A computer-aided design (CAD) environment is proposed to include modeling, design and simulation technologies for the study of multi-satellite formation control. The CAD environment will include two major components: a configurable simulation environment with extensible modeling tools for realistic evaluation of the operation of these vehicles, and a guidance and control design environment with special emphasis on satellite formation flight.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed technologies constitute two separate but related commercialization directions for OSI. The configurable simulation environment developed through the proposed research will be applicable not only to almost all aerospace vehicles, but also to other automatic control applications such as advanced transportation systems, robotics, and manufacturing processes. The software architecture can be generalized into reusable "frameworks," which will form the basis for extending the established technology into these other application areas.
OSI already has a product for nonlinear controller design applications. The new formation control technology will enhance this product line. Besides satellite formation control, the technology will also be applicable to intelligent vehicle highway systems for controlling platoons of automobiles in close formation to improve traffic efficiency.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Victor H.L. Cheng
Optimal Synthesis Inc.
4966 El Camino Real, Suite 108
Los Altos , CA 94022 - 1406

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Optimal Synthesis Inc.
4966 El Camino Real, Suite 108
Los Altos , CA 94022 - 1406

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.04-8309 (Chron: 001692 )
PROJECT TITLE
Adaptive structural control for space systems

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Vibration reduction will be an important contributor to the success of future earth observing platforms. Unwanted motion in the micrometer to nanometer range must be prevented from interfering with components requiring precise alignment and pointing such as telescopes and interferometers. Active structural control employing smart materials is an ideal technology for accomplishing this goal, however, development is required to produce the algorithms which can maximize the performance of these systems. The control system must be capable of tuning itself to maximize performance in the presence of uncertain dynamics.

Herein, ACX proposes to develop an adaptive control system for the robust piezoceramic structural control problem. The proposed system will have several major components, each of which takes advantage of the unique characteristics of systems using piezoceramic actuators for structural control. The control system will consist of several software modules. A system ID module will be used to obtain initial models of the spacecraft dynamics subsequent to major configuration changes. Several different adaptive control schemes including adaptive feedback, adaptive feed-forward and auto-tuning techniques will be included for implementing control laws. A supervisory system will monitor overall performance and the disturbance environment and will switch between control architectures when appropriate.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Structural control utilizing piezoceramic actuators has been demonstrated in a number of applications including automotive, robotics, and manufacturing equipment. All of these applications can benefit from the proposed adaptive control system.programming controllers in production.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Robert Jacques, Ph. D.
Active Control eXperts, Inc.
215 First St.
Cambridge , MA 02142 - 1227

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Active Control eXperts, Inc.
215 First St.
Cambridge , MA 02142 - 1227

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.04-8553 (Chron: 001448 )
PROJECT TITLE
Compact Scalable Navigation and Stabilization System for Spectral Imagers

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Innovative Technical Solutions (ITS) is pleased to propose the development of a compact stabilization and navigation system which will correct the optical paths of spectral imaging systems in real time. It is our goal to provide NASA and the remote sensing community with a system which is unique in its combination of compactness, scalability, modularity, and adaptability to a variety of sensors and platforms. Additionally, the system will function autonomously, requiring only minimal user input. ITS? planned graphical user interface will greatly simplify mission planning and data acquisition.

The proposed system, which ITS has named COMPASS for COMPact Airborne Stabilization System, immediately addresses the problems of reliable geo-registration, image degradation through aircraft motion, and incomplete area coverage, providing great utility to the remote sensing community. The Phase I program will first survey the candidate approaches to the problem, with the discussion of the pros and cons of various system architectures, emphasizing performance, modularity, and compactness. A recommendation will be made as to which type of system concept should be pursued, with the final goal of the Phase I program being the preliminary design of a scalable, modular stabilization/navigation system for a variety of airborne spectral imaging systems.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The successful development of a compact, modular stabilization system for airborne sensors offers tremendous potential for commercial applications. The remote sensing market has been identified as having great potential, with a projected volume of over the next 5 years. A stab/nav system adaptable to multiple platform and sensors will add value to any remote sensing campaign, and greatly simplify data collection and processing. ITS has the technical expertise from a seasoned employee base and sufficient resources and capital to pursue the commercialization of a derivative of the proposed stabilization/navigation system.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Detlev Even
Innovative Technical Solutions
2800 Woodlawn Dr. #192
Honolulu , HI 96822 - 1863

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Innovative Technical Solutions
2800 Woodlawn Dr. #192
Honolulu , HI 96822 - 1863

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.05-9172 (Chron: 000829 )
PROJECT TITLE
Polyimide Ionomer Nanocomposite for Aerospace Structures and Part Fabrication

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose to modify thermoplastic polyimides by reducing molecular weight, incorporating ionic terminations and nanoparticulate clay to deliver new composite materials with exceptional properties. A clay nanomer will be combined with thermoplastic ionomerically terminated polyimides to produce melt fabricable nanocomposites. Ionomeric polyimides have not previously been available to the composite formulator, and it is expected that constructions using this material will exhibit superior physical properties below its Tg. Ionic bonding diminishes at thermoplastic processing temperatures, and combined with low molecular weight polyimides provides lower melt viscosity to assist in manufacturing large shaped parts, structures and laminates by conventional extrusion, injection molding, hot-gas welding and filament bonding methods. Nanoparticulate blends with high polymers are known to demonstrate enhanced physical properties. Expected improvements are increased modulus; tensile strength; impact, abrasion and ablation resistance; and resistance to mono-atomic oxygen. Improved properties include decreased thermal expansion coefficient, flammability and gas diffusion rate. Ionomers are known to be self-healing toward high-energy projectile impacts, making this type of material useful as space armor. Improved gas diffusion rate may enhance containment vessels for liquefied propellant and fuel storage. The result of this research will be a high performance polymer economically processable with conventional equipment.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Imitec will initiate quantitative commercialization test results to support the market assessments during Phase I, to be completed during a Phase II. mechanical properties (tensile strength, modulus, elongation); processing conditions, (e.g. thermoforming and extrusion temperatures) and electrical properties (dielectric strength, dielectric constant, dissipation factor).

Market development will be directed toward applications where reduced material cost, enhanced material physical properties, and the processing advantages of using conventional industrial equipment supply significant economic opportunities. Specific current applications are:

High strength, lightweight, contoured, shelter and radiation shields in space using highly filled material, for example boron for shielding against high energy heavy metal ions.

Energy absorbing, self-healing space armor to protect satellite system components from particles and debris in a low earth orbit environment.

Lamination adhesives to fabricate piezoelectric transducers and flexible high density circuits.

Aerospace wire insulation systems for both military and commercial aviation.

On-site composite manufacture and repair of industrial structures, vessels and processing equipment.

Low gas diffusion rate composite tanks for liquified propellants usable on launch vehicles to reduce weight.

Water sluices, intake manifolds and valves for power plants made from biological growth inhibiting polyimide ionomers by ATP (Automatic Tow Placement) filament winding and injection molding methods.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Thomas Legbandt
Imitec, Inc.
1990 Maxon Rd. Ext.
Schenectady , NY 12308 - 1124

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Imitec, Inc.
1990 Maxon Rd. Ext.
Schenectady , NY 12308 - 1124

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.05-9179 (Chron: 000822 )
PROJECT TITLE
Controlled Rigidization Technology for Inflatable Spacecraft

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Large space-deployed structures such as synthetic aperture radars, radiometers, and solar arrays are receiving a great deal of interest by NASA in the Earth Sciences program. These large structures by necessity must be ultra-lightweight and low stored volume. Inflatable or self-deployable approaches that become rigid after they reach the correct shape appear to be a promising approach for fabricating structural members for these applications, such as booms, struts, and trusses. There remains a need for a controlled, clean rigidization technology to harden these inflatable spacecraft once they have achieved the required shape. The Phase I program will address structural and manufacturing requirements for ultralight composite tubes and explore the chemistry of an ultraviolet (UV) light-curing matrix system for rigidizing inflatable space structures. Composite architecture will be selected based on the analytical results. A likely structure will be composed of fine denier yarns woven into an open weave architecture with a [0/±45] orientation. Matrix chemistry will be formulated to be compatible with long deploy-ment times and cure in the space environment using photocurable cationic epoxies. Previous work on this rigidization on command (ROC) technology has shown that this approach has considerable potential for controlled rigi-dization of inflatable structures. Sample composite tubes will be deployed and rigidized to demonstrate the concept at the end of the Phase I program.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed work will result in a new materials technology for rigidizable ultralight inflatable spacecraft. Use of this new technology will provide a much needed advance in inflatables technology by providing a clean, controlled rigidization method with long storage life and low outgassing characteristics. It is expected that the ROC technology will be adopted by the inflatables community for use by NASA, the DoD, and their contractors for space missions. The unique features of the ROC technology bring a distinct competitive advantage to the marketplace for inflatable spacecraft compared to competing technologies. The eventual markets for inflatable spacecraft are extremely large for communications antennas and radars. In the commercial sector, over 200 satellites are expected to be launched in the next 10 years to meet consumer demand for cellular phones and other communication devices. A large number of military satellites are also expected to be launched in that timeframe.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Ronald E. Allred
Adherent Technologies, Inc.
9621 Camino del Sol NE
Albuquerque , NM 87111 - 1522

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Adherent Technologies, Inc.
9621 Camino del Sol NE
Albuquerque , NM 87111 - 1522

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 14.05-9586 (Chron: 000415 )
PROJECT TITLE
Inflatable Structure for Tensioned Membrane Planar Antennas

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Planar antenna systems such as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Waveguides offer a sophisticated method of providing transmit/receive communications for spacecraft. They have the significant advantage in space of being electronically steerable. From the mechanical viewpoint, the advantage of the tensioned membrane planar concept, in addition to its ultra-lightweight and low packaged volume, is its inherent shape. Relative to parabolic antennas, the requirement to make an accurate doubly curved surface is removed. L?Garde is currently working in this area to develop lightweight planar technologies utilizing inflatable and thin film deployable methods.

The purpose of this SBIR phase I is to study and identify the structural and rigidization issues specific to the support structure, and address the packaging and deployment issues for this class of planar antenna. Further, to determine the major factors affecting performance, and develop a comprehensive test methodology and plan to fully address these issues. This test plan will be developed and structured so that the most relevant variables influencing system performance will be addressed. Completion of this SBIR will develop the final technology necessary to bring this concept to fruition, that of the ultra-lightweight inflatably deployed rigidizable structures required to deploy and support tensioned membrane planar antennas.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The commercial applications of the Waveguide concept are immense. The lightweight and simplicity of the concept, coupled with the geometric precision of the planar array, will find many applications in the fields of space based radar, radiometry, and communications

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
David Lichodziejewski
L'Garde
15181 Woodlawn Ave.
Tustin , CA 92708 - 6487

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
L'Garde, Inc.
15181 Woodlawn Avenue
Tustin , CA 92780 - 6487

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.01-8344 (Chron: 001657 )
PROJECT TITLE
Compression, Confidentiality & Routing Architectures for Satellite Data

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The goal of this effort is to investigate router architecture to seamlessly unite a terrestrial network to a network of satellites. This proposal generates a specification (Phase 1) and test-bed (Phase 2) to address these NASA needs for sensor data transmission:

 Data Compression Techniques
 Buffer Management Optimization
 Network Architectures
 Provide a Terrestrial-based Test Bed Architecture for Concept Verification.
Below is our program effort summary.

PHASE 1:

1. Define a protocol stack for the network including encryption. This investigation uses existing protocols, such as TCP/IP and PPP, as a basis and examines the impact of one-way communications paths upon these architectures. In addition, we determine the optimal placement of encryption into the stack for data confidentiality.

2. Target a hardware platform for these protocols. Determine and list the criteria for hardware selection and provide a hardware recommendation.

3. List known techniques. List available compression, buffer management and encryption techniques and determine target platform performance.

4. Optimize throughput. Sort the list above according to the estimated target platform performance for maximum throughput.

5. Generate a specification. Use the results from 1-4 for a router specification deliverable.

PHASE 2:

1. Develop the Test-Bed. Build the terrestrial test-bed to the specification.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

One potential application is commercial satellites, specifically those providing crosslink communication paths between an orbiting constellation. This would allow a robust, fault tolerant communications network in orbit. Another application is in wireless router design applications that would replace the terrestrial landline with a Radio Frequency (RF) links. Both of these commercial applications provide a large market for such a router.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mark Hayduk
Bluestreams Communications Inc.
925 Bassett Rd.
Westlake , OH 44145 - 0113

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Bluestreams Communications Inc.
925 Bassett Rd.
Westlake , OH 44145 - 0113

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.01-9283 (Chron: 000718 )
PROJECT TITLE
Java Based Information Exchange Support System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This system is intended to develop a novel structure to support the onboard information exchange. This structure is based on Internet related techniques, which are very popular in many areas of applications, and have been proven to be commercially successful. Based on Internet related techniques, the system is modularized, and compatible with the current Internet related standards. Leveraging the latest developments of object oriented software engineering, and its widely adopted standards, this structure is cost-efficient, reliable, maintainable and open to all interfaces which are compatible to Internet standards. Under this structure, every onboard instrument will support the unique interface standard: Java. All functional modules take the form of a java class, and are highly modularized. By downloading the latest functional modules from a manufacture's web site, the upgrading can be done or bugs can be fixed. The system maintenance and upgrades can easily be achieved, and this can be done at any time, even during operational flight missions. The structure is technologically compatible with the current commercial applications and information accumulated by the onboard sensors and instruments is accessible to these commercial applications. And in fact, the onboard instruments and sensors turn into a node of information source in the Internet.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The output of this project, a practical JVM Based Information Exchange Support system, is widely applicable to such fields as industrial automatic control, onboard real-time data acquisition, space fight mission control, etc.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Ching-Fang Lin
American GNC Corporation
888 Easy Street
Simi Valley , CA 93065 - 1812

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
American GNC Corporation
888 Easy Street
Simi Valley , CA 93065 - 1812

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.02-8459 (Chron: 001542 )
PROJECT TITLE
An Assisted Change Detection System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA has a critical need for intelligent change detection algorithms and
geoprocessing techniques for digital imagery archives of earth science
data obtained from satellites and aerial platforms. Currently, the change
detection process is slow, labor-intensive, and costly. Change detection
methods that rely on pixel differencing detect all changes between imagery
and are thus not well suited for detecting target-specific changes, such
as riparian zones within a selected watershed. Thus, targets must first
be extracted from both sets of imagery before target changes can be
detected. Visual Learning Systems (VLS) proposes to design and demonstrate
the feasibility of an intelligent target-specific change-detection module
based on VLS's novel, proprietary machine-learning methods. VLS's
approach is expected to provide a mechanism for detecting object-specific
changes that is 50-200 times faster than existing techniques while
maintaining the same level of accuracy.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Visual Learning Systems (VLS) has conducted market research that shows
that the potential market for the proposed assisted target-specific
change-detection module is conservatively worth at least $100 to $250
million. The GIS market for terrestrial applications is a $6.9 billion
dollar industry worldwide. This market continues to experience rapid
growth, consuming spatial information for the following diverse
applications and vertical markets: agriculture and forestry, banking and
insurance, environmental and resource management, petroleum exploration
and mining, electricity and gas pipeline routing, health and public
safety, law enforcement and criminal justice, real estate management,
retail and commercial development, state and local government, and
transportation and telecommunications. There is a large market within the
Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community for the proposed
assisted change-detection module. These applications include the
following: support to military operations; counter-terrorism;
proliferation control of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons; arms
control and treaty monitoring; counter-drug initiatives; and peacekeeping
operations. VLS's proposed change-detection module will also help meet a
widespread need among other federal agencies. For example, NASA and NOAA
both have a pressing need monitor changes in the earth's environment using
remotely sensed imagery.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Stuart Blundell
Visual Learning Systems, Inc.
4600 Scott Allen Drive
Missoula , MT 59803 - 2773

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Visual Learning Systems, Inc.
4600 Scott Allen Drive
Missoula , MT 59803 - 2773

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.03-8088 (Chron: 001913 )
PROJECT TITLE
Universal Mapping System

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed innovation is a total workstation for analytic and digital photogrammetry (also called softcopy) and for integrated mapping from ground, aerial and earth satellite data which is designed to optimize the interaction between human and artificial intelligence. The Universal Mapping System (UMS) provides dual-tracking, optical and digital images by image superimposition in a stereo binocular field of view for real-time interaction between operator and machine. It is designed to match or exceed the productivity of a state-of-the-art softcopy workstation, as well as the precision of the best analytical plotter.
The Phase I effort will accomplish the completion of a second UMS-2 prototype of the UMS hardware with a full complement of software for analytic photogrammetry and for color-stereo film scanning at along-axis speeds of at least 40 mm/sec. It will also install and demonstrate color digital projector technology for stereo image superimposition of cadastral survey and map data, and radar and space imagery. Phase I will prove UMS-2 feasibility and confirm its potential performance advantage over existing systems. It will prepare the UMS-2 for the installation of digital/softcopy and artificial intelligence aids to analytic photogrammetry in a Phase II commercial development program.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The number of stereoplotters worldwide has been estimated at 100,000. They include analog, analytic and digital (softcopy) versions. Perhaps 50,000 analog stereoplotters were installed before they were superseded whereas the move to analytic stereoplotters had only grown to a reasonable volume when the digital stereoplotter appeared on the scene. Now there is argument and confusion as to the relative value of "pure" analytic versus "pure" digital technology. The UMS-2 combines the best of both worlds as a total workstation and is arguably the best platform for R&D of "pure" softcopy. The UMS-2 is designed to set a standard that could promote sales approaching those achieved in the past with analog stereoplotters.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Ronald R. Teeter
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Orbital Technologies Corporation
Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive
Madison , WI 53717 - 1961

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.03-8607 (Chron: 001394 )
PROJECT TITLE
Low Cost True 3-D Virtual Reality System for Scientific Data Visualization

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop an innovative Dynamic Time Multiplexed Holographic (DTMH) 3-D system for scientific data visualization based on direct viewing of an interactive environment that simulates reality in the most natural way. This proposed DTHM system is based on our multiplexed holographic screens, 3-D projection scanners, and electronic signal processing. The innovations include: (1) novel large screen multichannel volumetric 3-D projection that does not require any special eyewear; (2) totally flexible position for viewing 3-D video/graphics, unique high speed multiview virtual world generators with interactive capabilities; and (3) high speed scanning for 3-D image generation.

The key component of the system is a special holographic screen that displays a 3-D volume of visual information in front of a viewer. The volumetric-like display is achieved by projecting slightly different views of the environment at a high refresh rate by polygon scanning. All views are updated every 30 ms (single frame duration), with both spatial (angular) and temporal multiplexing of the visual channels. Each spatial channel displays only the image associated with the specific predefined view, and the channel assignment is fixed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The DTMH system can be applied to a broad variety of training, scientific simulation, and entertainment applications. The DTMH technology can be incorporated into computer games, video conferencing, telemedicine, and advertising. One prime technology focus will be on medical training, to which the system offers unique features. Other 3-D training system for pilots, drivers, and machinery operators will be also considered. Finally, we strongly believe that DTMH technology in the consumer market will replace existing 2-D television with 3-D television.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Andrew Kostrzewski, Ph.D.
Physical Optics Corporation, EP Division
20600 Gramercy Place, Building 100
Torrance , CA 90501 - 1821

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Physical Optics Corporation, EP Division
20600 Gramercy Place, Building 100
Torrance , CA 90501 - 1821

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.03-8753 (Chron: 001248 )
PROJECT TITLE
Automated Map Generalization in Mobile Geographical Information Systems

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Mobile Geographical Information Systems (MOGIS) are applications capable
of running on wireless devices. Two major hardware limitations have
hindered the development of efficient MOGIS: (1) reduced screen sizes
and (2) small memory capacities. An innovative approach that overcomes
these shortcomings is the utilization of map generalization. Map
generalization is a visualization and geospatial data reduction technique
that emphasizes and suppresses information from digital maps in order to
represent a specific theme at reduced scales, while meeting specific
cartographic specifications and maintaining the aesthetic quality of
the geospatial data. The primary objective of the Phase I program is to
demonstrate the feasibility of applying map generalization technologies
towards the development of MOGIS. NASA objectives are met by the creation
of innovative visualization and geospatial presentation techniques for use
in mobile computing. The results of the Phase I effort will be applied
to a Phase II project directed towards the implementation a MOGIS
prototype for personal digital assistants using map generalization technologies.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The results of the research and development effort will facilitate the development of a mobile geographical information systems with improved visualization, presentation, analysis, and geospatial data collection capabilities. Some of the potential commercial applications include:

1. Mobile geospatial data collection, presentation, and analytical tool for use in the field.
2. Technology would permit more multi-purpose geospatial datasets
3. Innovative geospatial data reduction technique without compromising the integrity of data
4. Applicable to Internet-based geographical information systems

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Harold Foley
Apex Systems, Inc.
4303 Fontainebleau Dr.
New Orleans , LA 70125 - 0087

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Apex Systems, Inc.
4303 Fontainebleau Dr.
New Orleans , LA 70125 - 0087

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.03-9127 (Chron: 000874 )
PROJECT TITLE
Real-Time Centimeter-Accuracy GPS Based Location Revisiting in Open Water

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In order to research and monitor the ecology or environmental changes of a water area, efforts are involved in the areas of data collection, management, biological communities and habitat, bottom sediment, and air and chemical depositions. To exactly research the ecosystem of a certain water area, the research crew has to return to the same area to collect data. Especially, in an open water area, it is difficult to find again the location that you have encountered before. Therefore, to bring a research ship back to the same location or area periodically, the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is employed, and the GPS phase measurements are used to achieve centimeter accuracy in positioning. As a result, researchers have more reliable options to guide them to the desired research area. However, integer ambiguities in the phase measurements have to be resolved to achieve the desired high accuracy positioning. In this project, an innovative algorithm for resolving the integer ambiguities on the fly is proposed to effect highly accurate estimates of the research ship's position in real time. Based on the algorithm, a software package is developed and will be embedded in a real-time navigation system.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The system to be developed in this project has excellent commercial potential especially for civilian and military uses in precise location identification and guidance.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Ching-Fang Lin
American GNC Corporation
888 Easy Street
Simi Valley , CA 93065 - 1812

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
American GNC Corporation
888 Easy Street
Simi Valley , CA 93065 - 1812

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.03-9245 (Chron: 000756 )
PROJECT TITLE
Crop Stress Algorithm Using Hyper/Multispectral Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
To support the development of technologies and analysis tools for scientific and commercial applications of remote sensing, Spectral Sciences Inc. proposes a new approach for improved measurement of plant water stress using hyperspectral or multispectral remote thermal infrared (TIR) spectral imagery. Using many TIR wavelength bands together with vegetation cover-sensitive short-wave bands will enable the extraction of accurate plant canopy temperature, the key diagnostic for water stress, along with vegetation emissivity information that is not presently available. The multitude of TIR bands should greatly improve the accuracy of the measurements compared to conventional broad-band systems, and would make remote sensing more practical by reducing the need for ancillary ground and calibration data. By allowing the quantity and timing of irrigation to be optimized, water stress measurements could lead to enormous cost savings in the agriculture industry. The technology would provide a valuable research tool in the immediate term and could be developed into a commercial system for crop health monitoring. In Phase I the basic retrieval concept will be evaluated using both simulations and real data. In Phase II extended field measurements will be conducted and analyzed and a prototype commercial data analysis software package developed.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The approach will have immediate Government and commercial research applications for monitoring crops, forests, wetlands, and other vegetation. Development of a commercial sensor and data analysis system for routine monitoring of water stress together with other crop health parameters could lead to enormous cost savings and productivity gains in agriculture.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Robert Y. Levine
Spectral Sciences, Inc.
99 South Bedford Street
Burlington , MA 01803 - 5169

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Spectral Sciences, Inc.
99 South Bedford Street, Suite 7
Burlington , MA 01803 - 5169

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.04-9299 (Chron: 000702 )
PROJECT TITLE
Three-Dimensional Digital Memory

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to design a novel three-dimensional digital memory (3DDM) system based on 2-photon excitation. A new femtosecond fiber laser system will be used in this optical data storage device to achieve a recording density of approximately 1 Tbit per square inch in 500 layers, or more, in an inexpensive erasable nonlinear nanomaterial. Such a high recording density in nanomaterials will be extremely useful in widespread fields ranging from scientific research to industrial applications, and from video and audio devices to special facilities for super-computers and the information super-highway.

IOS?s 3DDM system will enhance the development of 3-D optical storage systems. The keys to IOS?s system are:
· Superior data density through the use of two-photon excitation and high-resolution, nonlinear response media;
· A highly sensitive and low cross talk data reading system; and
· A lower cost and smaller size light source through the use of innovative fiber lasers.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The growth in demand for digital storage capacity exceeds 60% per annum. Storage area networks, data warehouses, supercomputers and e-commerce related data mining require ever greater capacity in order to handle the volume of data to be processed. High bandwidth Internet and data intensive applications (such as high definition television, and video and music-on-demand), small handheld devices (such as personal VCRs, PDAs (personal digital assistants), and mobile phones), and the proliferation of other information appliances will demand multi-gigabyte and terabyte capacities in the very near future. IOS's 3DDM system can improve storage capabilities in all of these applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
George Voevodkin, PhD
Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc.
2520 W. 237th Street
Torrance , CA 90505 - 5217

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc.
2520 W. 237th Street
Torrance , CA 90505 - 5217

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.06-8529 (Chron: 001472 )
PROJECT TITLE
Performance & Cooperation Among Multiple Autonomous Space-based Agents

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Autonomous planning of space-based unmanned craft is at the cutting edge of science and technology. Problems associated with planning arise when multiple independent agents each on separate spacecraft must work in a coordinated fashion for a combined mission. This proposal examines the ramifications of cooperating and independent autonomous agents controlling unmanned craft toward a common cause. In particular, the "health" of an individual agent as evidenced by state variables are not domain specific; health should be added to the representation of state of the agent which can be communicated to others agents so that they may infer the ability of that agent to carry out its tasks. This information is also used in the scheduling and planning of the remainder of the agents who can plan for an agent to go offline if its state indicates this is a possibility. Collaborating agents are also likely to make mistakes. Pattern analysis can be used to learn from past plan deviations to avoid those situations that are likely to cause failure. Finally having additional information about the state of the software is useful in determining why an agent failed if the actual satellite cannot be recovered in a timely manner.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
We plan to market this technology to software developers who write
internet aware software to allow them to get real-time bug reports on
their fielded software to improve the quality of their products. This
improves the value of their software and allows them to get the quality
that we expect of other commercial products into software.

This technology can also be used to debug running software in real-time.
As a result we will market this as development tool for agent based design.

Finally this software will be able to predict in advance plan deviations
in scheduling and planning software. We are exploring this as a potential
market for this technology.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Darrin Taylor
21st Century Technologies Inc.
8716 North Mopac Expressway Suite 310
Austin , TX 78759 - 0001

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
21st Century Technologies Inc.
8716 North Mopac Expressway Suite 310
Austin , TX 78759 - 0001

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.06-9167 (Chron: 000834 )
PROJECT TITLE
A Unified Framework for Planning and Acting

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Considerable effort has been put into hybrid behavior architectures, with separate components for long-term planning and short-term acting. These systems dominate the field today, to such an extent that it is often assumed that the fundamental tradeoff in real-time behavior is between reactive execution and deliberative inference. But this division is not justified. Deliberation is not always long-term, nor is reacting the same as acting. We believe we can build an agent that has one mechanism for both reactive and deliberative behavior, and for both planning and acting. This is possible because of three innovations: (1) A representation of planning as mental action, which obviates the need for separate representations and mechanisms for inference and acting. (2) The use of mathematics related to nonlinear dynamics to learn inferences and behaviors as attractors of the system, so that long-chain inferences and behaviors are not random, and so agents switch behaviors when necessary, but not continually. (3) The use of mathematics from percolation theory to ensure that the chains of inference and action produced are dominated neither by short, reactive chains, nor by long, deliberative chains, but by a power-law distribution that produces chains of all lengths.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Successful development of this architecture would broaden the possible applications of real-world robots and software agents. Two areas where we are well-suited and where we have experience are military simulations and entertainment applications. In the former, DARPA alone spent $33 million on simulation technology in FY 1998. According to the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA), the U.S. computer entertainment market is already significantly larger than the U.S. movie industry and still growing.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Phillip Goetz
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
2 Research Place, Suite 202
Rockville , MD 20850 - 6205

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
2 Research Place, Suite 202
Rockville , MD 20850 - 6205

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 15.06-9445 (Chron: 000556 )
PROJECT TITLE
ACQUIRE: Agent-based Complex QUerying and Information Retrieval Engine

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The heterogeneous, distributive, and voluminous nature of NASA?s Earth science data archives impose severe constraints on meeting the diverse requirements of thousands of users who analyze the data. Additionally, communication bandwidth limitations, time constraints, and a multiplicity of archives impose further restrictions on users and systems. What is required is a reliable, robust and efficient technique that can be integrated within NASA?s existing data servers for enhancing query support to archive users. We propose to design and prototype an Agent-based Complex QUerying and Information Retrieval Engine (ACQUIRE) for heterogeneous and distributed Earth science data sources over the Internet, while maintaining the autonomy of individual data sources. ACQUIRE translates a user query to a set of sub-queries by deploying a combination of planning and traditional database query optimization techniques. ACQUIRE first spawns a set of intelligent autonomous mobile search agents corresponding to these sub-queries for retrieving data from several Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) (e.g., such as the Alaska SAR Facility (ASF)). The engine then filters and merges data from these agents and returns the answers to the query. The proposed approach will build on existing data servers and meta-database catalogs of NASA?s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS).

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
We see several potential commercial applications of the developed mobile agent based technology for distributed query processing and information retrieval. The technology can be directly applied to other domains, in particular, automated information gathering from distributed Internet sites, distributed corporate database environments, and shopping over the internet. The dual use of the developed core technology complements various ongoing projects including a current effort sponsored by NASA to build a distributed environment for spacecraft onboard planning and scheduling.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Dr. Subrata Das
Charles River Analytics Inc.
725 Concord Ave
Cambridge , MA 02138 - 1040

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Charles River Analytics Inc.
725 Concord Ave
Cambridge , MA 02138 - 1040

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 16.01-7895 (Chron: 002106 )
PROJECT TITLE
Space-Qualified Fabry-Perot Filter

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Instruments such as those proposed for the High Resolution Solar Optical Telescope (HRSOT) mission will require a very high resolution and high throughput device to isolate absorption lines in the solar continuum. Thus, a very narrow passband is required, and sideband contamination must be minimized. An unavoidable effect of any spectral filtering system is to attenuate the signal even at the bandpass centroid, and there is a tradeoff between providing the narrowest bandwidth, while maintaining maximum throughput. The device must also be robust enough to survive the vibration stresses of launch, and be immune to the thermal, vacuum, and radiation conditions of the space environment over a period of several years. The objective are as follows:
1. Investigate what heritage from prior Fabry-Perot instruments that the Michigan Aerospace Corporation team has worked on is applicable to the HRSOT instrument and develop a simulation and conceptual design for the filter system with the critical initial trade studies and system development.
2. Using existing prototype hardware, demonstrate that a design exists for a tunable, high-finesse etalon that is capable of surviving the rigors of launch by subjecting the existing hardware to an environmental test, comparable to what would be required of HRSOT.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The work that would be performed under this Phase I effort is directly applicable to a number of commercial remote sensing applications that are presently included in the Michagan Aerospace business plan, but are not at present funded. Successful completion of the work contained in this proposal would provide Michigan Aerospace with a significant technological advantage in pursuing these other commercial opportunities. The most applicable potential commercial opportunity is the satellite-based LIDAR (WeatherSat) project. While the ground-baded LIDAR (GroundWinds) program has served to demonstrate the phenomenology of the system and allow the general concept to be developed, it does not provide any funding for the development of spaceflight-qualified hardware. The portion of this SBIR proposal that deals with vibration testing of the interferometer would allow that work to take place, and provide Michigan Aerospace with a design that has been vibration tested. This is a tremendous advantage when competing for both private sector investment, as well as government-funded instrument fabrication. Other activites that Michigan Aerospace is involved in that may be able to leverage the work performed in this proposal involve optical air data systems for combat and civilian aircraft.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Paul B. Hays
Michigan Aerospace Corporation
1050 Highland Dr., Suite E
Ann Arbor , MI 48108 - 2236

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Michigan Aerospace Corporation
1050 Highland Dr., Suite E
Ann Arbor , MI 48108 - 2236

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 16.03-9535 (Chron: 000466 )
PROJECT TITLE
Novel Avalanche Photodiode

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose a new design of silicon photodiode which is based on the Avalanching Metal-Resistance-Semiconductor (MRS) photodiode design. MRS photodiodes, which are themselves under development by a Ukrainian group, offer excellent performance (single photon detection is reported), but utilize a resistive film in their fabrication which is somewhat problematic and difficult to reproduce. Our innovation is to altogether eliminate the resistive layer from the design while maintaining the operating functionality and performance of these devices. This innovation should allow these sensitive new detectors to become cheaper and available to everyone sooner.

In Phase I, we will demonstrate the suitability of these new photodiodes for use in detection of low level light in the visible range. A number of space-based detection systems would benefit from such a sensor, which would have the sensitivity of an avalanche photodiode. Even more importantly, the proposed sensors will be very 'manufacturable', meaning they will be more affordable than current-technology avalanche photodiodes, have consistent specifications, and be available in large areas and in abundant supply.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed research will be aimed at producing low cost, high performance photodiodes for use in space based detection systems. These photodiodes would also be applicable to other applications such as medical imaging instrumentation (gamma cameras and surgical probes). These photodiodes would also find research applications in high energy physics and nuclear physics.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Fred Olschner
Cremat
45 Union St.
Watertown , MA 02472 - 2523

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Cremat
45 Union St.
Watertown , MA 02472 - 2523

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 16.04-7789 (Chron: 002212 )
PROJECT TITLE
Advanced Holographic miniature sun sensor optical system

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Sigma Research and Engineering holds a provisional patent for, and proposes a novel concept for high-resolution attitude determination sun sensor, which reduces mass and power of current commercial technology sensors by orders of magnitude, while at the same time providing high resolution and a very wide field of view. The sensor is based on a few basic principles and state of the art technology. The wide FOV, high resolution, and compact size are achieved by overlapping fields-of-view onto a single high-resolution detector using holographic technology. Overlapping the fields of small angular sectors in the field of view of a fine sensor permits sharing a single high-resolution focal plane array of a moderate size among sectors. For a given array size it allows to spread the signal in the elevation direction over N times the number of pixels that a sensor with a single sector and the same system field of view would have used. thus creating a system that overcomes the inherent problems of wide field of view systems, namely, low resolution.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Miniature sun sensors for aerospace applications. Customers will include NASA, aerospace commercial companies, and other government agencies. A sensor of this characteristics shall have a market potential in the thousands of units given its applicability to nanosatellites. In fact it is one of the only options for a sun-sensor in a nanosatellite-class ship. The combination of orders of magnitude higher resolution, a tenth of the mass and power, and comparable cost to current sensors give this device a tremendous competitive advantage even for large satellites.

The holographic technology developed under this SBIR may have significant impacts in fabrication and performance of next generation filters and multiplexers for WDM systems. Customers will be OEM companies for the telecommunications industry. Sigma has currently market ties to this industry, and given successful development of the components, commercialization would be immediate.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Joe Marzouk
Sigma Research and Engineering Corp.
9801 Greenbelt Road, Suite 103
Lanham , MD 20706 - 6204

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Sigma Research and Engineering Corp.
9801 Greenbelt Road, Suite 103
Lanham , MD 20706 - 6204

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 16.04-8042 (Chron: 001959 )
PROJECT TITLE
Single Event Latchup Mitigation in Commercial Microelectronics

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Nanosat technology will require commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) integrated circuits (ICs) to meet the performance requirements. Single event latchup (SEL) triggered by energetic ions in the space environment is a reliability concern. Thinning the Si substrate material below the active region in the CMOS structure raises the threshold linear energy transfer (LET) threshold for energetic ions to trigger SEL because the thinner substrate region produces less charge when the ion penetrates. With a higher LET threshold, there are fewer ions capable of triggering SEL, rendering the IC more radiation-tolerant with respect to SEL. The innovation of this approach is that substrate thinning will be applied to unhardened ICs which are purchased from commercial vendors and post-processed (thinned and possibly ion implanted) and packaged as a radiation-tolerant product. This will enable use of a large class of high-performance ICs that would not otherwise be acceptable for use in the space radiation environment. The significance of this innovation is that it will reduce susceptibility of COTS microelectronics to SEL and enable their use in future NASA missions. In Phase I we will assess the feasibility of the approach and in Phase II we will demonstrate prototypes.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
All commercial and government implementation of space systems is faced with the challenge of using unhardened commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) microelectronics in the radiation environments of space. This project will be performed with Space Electronics Incorporated (SEI) as subcontractor. SEI serves the space community by re-selling COTS microelectronics after making them more radiation-tolerant through various post-processing methods. The results of this project will feed directly into the commercialization plans of SEI and will become available to commercial and government spacecraft designers.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
James Pickel
PR&E Technology
24631 Ladera Dr.
Mission Viejo , CA 92691 - 5039

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
PRE Associates (aka PR&E Technology)
24631 Ladera Dr
Mission Viejo , CA 92691 - 5039

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 16.05-8347 (Chron: 001654 )
PROJECT TITLE
Active Momentum Control Coatings for Solar Sails

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development of thin-film coatings with an actively tunable solar reflectance is proposed for momentum control on solar sails. As currently conceived, maneuvering and attitude control on solar sail spacecraft is achieved by mechanically adjusting the angle of one or more solar sails or panels with respect to the solar flux to create torque. The maneuvering and propulsion force is obtained from the solar radiation pressure with the realizable force depending on the spectral reflectance and absorption of the sail and its angle with respect to the flux. The proposed coatings offer a non-mechanical, low weight alternative to currently anticipated methods of maneuvering and attitude control. The coatings are applied to a limited area of the solar sail in a location that maximizes the torque on the spacecraft. In Phase I, the materials and design for the coating will be developed with emphasis on performance and stability on thin, flexible polymer sheet suitable for solar sail construction. Functioning, small-area (25 cm2) samples will be fabricated to demonstrate performance. In Phase II, the coatings will be optimized, scaled to larger areas, and integrated into a prototype solar sail and subjected to extensive testing for space environment stability.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
In space applications, the market for variable solar reflectance coatings includes momentum control on solar sails and satellites where differential solar radiation pressure can be used to modulate reaction wheels and minimize propellant use. The variable solar absorptance (as) inherent in the coatings may also be used for thermal control on spacecraft. Variants of the coatings can be used to modulate solar transmittance and may be used as thermal or glare control coatings in spacesuit visors and transparencies in manned spacecraft. Non-government commercial applications included active glare control coatings for automobile mirrors, glare and heat load control coatings for automobile sunroofs, privacy glass, and architectural glass.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Stuart F. Cogan
EIC Laboratories, Inc.
111 Downey St.
Norwood , MA 02062 - 2612

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
EIC Laboratories, Inc.
111 Downey Street
Norwood , MA 02062 - 2612

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 16.05-9043 (Chron: 000958 )
PROJECT TITLE
Biomimetic Fabricated Solar Sail Technologies

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Solar sails have been recognized by NASA as a key technology for enabling many future NASA missions to explore the solar system and beyond. Sailcraft of 250m and above, for outer planetary and extra solar missions, are not feasible with current technology and will require both a paradigm shift away from ground-based fabrication and the development of new innovative sail technologies. The current paradigm of ground-based fabrication followed by space-based deployment could be replaced by in-space fabrication of sails up to a kilometer in size. The Phase I technical objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept of in-space fabrication of a biomemetic, bird-feather-like sail structure based on vacuum flash foaming from spinnaret-terminated tubes. The end result of this research will be the development of a lab scale process for in-space fabrication and metallizing of solar sails with very low areal density. This process would be readily scalable to a larger demonstration of a prototype sail segment under a Phase II effort.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The next phase of solar system and deep space exploration will require a paradigm shift involving new technologies and design philosophies. Solar sails will play an important role in these missions by enabling high mission delta-V's in a lightweight structure requiring no main propulsion propellant. NASA has identified many missions suitable for the use of 250m aperture and larger sails to explore Pluto, the Oort Cloud, the Heliopause, and nearby star systems. Using conventional propulsion systems for such missions would require massive amounts of propellant and exceedingly long mission times that in some cases would exceed 50 years. Additionally, the on-Earth fabrication and packaging of a very large Gossamer sail presents handling, stowage, and deployment complications that render them impractical with current technology. In-space, flash-foam fabrication and metallization of very large solar sails is the key to enabling these future deep space missions in a timely and cost effective manner. Successful development and marketing of this technology for sailcraft could result in commercial sales exceeding $3M based on future missions plans. In addition, in-space foam membrane fabrication could potentially be adapted for other uses such as multifunction Gossamer structures and the large-scale thermal insulation of spacecraft.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Chris Talley
SRS Technologies
500 Discovery Drive
Huntsville , AL 35806 - 0000

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
SRS Technologies
500 Discovery Drive
Huntsville , AL 35806 - 2810

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 16.05-9794 (Chron: 000207 )
PROJECT TITLE
Ultra-light Boom Concept for Solar Sails

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Propulsion of solar sails is strongly influenced by its own mass. It is therefore critical to minimize mass in order to maximize the sail's performance. The proposed innovation is a boom design that can be highly optimized so as to reduce redundant structural mass. The boom can be tailored along its length so that its failure load is a prescribed amount above actual load. Optimization of solar sail booms may result in significant mass reductions, which could in turn boost the mass budget of the "ultra-thin" sail films. This could in turn cause significant cost savings and risk reduction due to the fact that more material can be applied to the sail to make it more robust. Phase I will focus on mass and load study, sail and boom interface issues, and stowing configurations. In addition, a small proof-of-concept sample will be fabricated tested. Phase II will include more structural and deployment studies. In addition, a large deployable prototype will be fabricated and tested for load carrying capabilities, reliability, and durability.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
This research can potentially lead to commercial applications where ultra-light, deployable booms are required.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Mark Pryor
Composite Optics, Incorporated
9617 Distribution Avenue
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2393

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Composite Optics, Incorporated
9617 Distribution Avenue
San Diego , CA 92121 - 2393

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 17.01-8066 (Chron: 001935 )
PROJECT TITLE
High Efficiency, Low Noise Transmission Dynodes

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NanoSciences Corporation in conjunction with Burle Industries proposes to develop a new generation of high efficiency lightweight, low noise multi-pixel photomultiplier tubes. In this proposal we present a novel approach to developing a high secondary electron yield diamond based transmission secondary electron dynode photomultiplier that could play an important role in producing a detector suitable for use in the proposed OWL experiments. The robust negative electron affinity condition that can be stabilized on diamond film surfaces together with newly discovered methods for growth of diamond films coupled with a miniaturized micromachined approach for supporting a transmission dynode stack make possible a low profile light weight imaging photomultiplier. The Office of Space Science's Structure and Evolution of the Universe theme is dedicated to the design and construction of astrophysical observation systems. One such mission is the detection of extremely high energy cosmic rays E > 1019 eV, using the proposed Orbiting Wide angle Light detector (OWL). The OWL satellites are equipped with an array of several million photodetectors for observing scintillation events caused by ultra-high energy cosmic rays as they traverse the earths atmosphere. The proposed compact high gain, low noise imaging transmission dynode PMT directly addresses this application.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
NanoSciences Corporation and Burle Industries have formed an alliance dedicated to bringing novel compact miniature PMT, imaging PMT and Si-MCP based electron multiplier technologies to various markets. A compact tile-able PMT would replace conventional PMT products in applications used in nuclear medical diagnosis, one of the largest PMT markets. Such new high sensitivity imaging PMT's would also create significant new applications in analytical instrumentation for semiconductor process control and wafer level inspection.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Charles Beetz
NanoSciences Corporation
83 Prokop Rd
Oxford , CT 06478 - 1108

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
NanoSciences Corporation
83 Prokop Rd
Oxford , CT 06478 - 1108

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 17.01-8688 (Chron: 001313 )
PROJECT TITLE
Solar Blind AlGaN Photocathode

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I Project proposes to use the semiconducting compound AlxGa1-xN to develop a photocathode for use in highly sensitive, solar-blind photomultipliers. The band gap of AlxGa1-xN has a long wavelength cutoff that can be varied from 365 to 200 nm as the AlN molar fraction increases from zero to one. Further, this compound can show a negative electron affinity (NEA) and can be used in high temperature and high power applications. The phase I effort will employ molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to grow ordered thin-film AlxGa1-xN photocathodes on (0001) sapphire substrates. Surface analysis will be performed at different steps of the growth process to determine what conditions promote the development of the NEA surface. In Phase II, the photocathode will be coupled to micromachined silicon microchannel plate (MCP) and miniature photomultiplier tube (MPMT) technologies to produce high gain (>1,000) detectors that operate at low power, high speed, and over a large dynamic range. Sensitive in the short-wavelength ultraviolet (UV), l < 290 nm, region of the spectrum, these detectors respond to relevant emission bands for UV astronomy, atmospheric ozone monitoring, and the remote sensing of earth resources.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Commercial applications of UV sensitive photomultipliers include: medical diagnostic instruments, chemical analysis, satellite communications systems, astronomical survey instrumentation, fiber-optic communications atmospheric monitoring instruments, in-
flight aircraft sensors, UVR monitoring for agriculture, combustion monitoring of gases, furnace control systems, integrated optical systems, very high speed machine vision and robotic vision sensors, and missile plume signature sensors.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Youssef M Habib
NanoSciences
1014 New Holland Ave.
Lancaster , PA 17601 - 5606

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
NanoSciences Corporation
1014 New Holland Ave
Lancaster , PA 17601 - 5606

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 17.01-9072 (Chron: 000929 )
PROJECT TITLE
Large Format X-Ray Magnetic Calorimeters with Multiplexed SQUID Readouts

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
An innovative large format cryogenic x-ray detector is described that is based on an array of magnetic microcalorimeters and fast, multiplexed SQUID readouts. The proposed microcalorimeter design consists of a thick-film x-ray absorber deposited on top of a paramagnetic alloy that is coupled to a sensitive dc SQUID. The energy deposited by incident radiation causes a temperature increase and subsequent change of the alloy magnetization, which is precisely measured by the SQUID. Owing to the unsurpassed flux sensitivity, high intrinsic bandwidth and low power dissipation of dc SQUIDs, these devices are ideally suited to read out magnetic calorimeters. A novel sequential readout scheme is used to multiplex the outputs, which greatly reduces the thermal heat load of the SQUIDs and the number of wires to the room-temperature electronics. The innovative magnetic microcalorimeter and multiplexed SQUID readout designs to be completed during Phase I and fabricated during Phase II will offer improved performance over current generation designs. These detectors will especially be useful for applications requiring large format arrays of x-ray calorimeters, such for NASA missions and astrophysics research as well as commercial microanalysis systems.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The main products to be developed during Phase I and Phase II include SQUID magnetic calorimeters and multi-pixel arrays with fast, multiplexed SQUID readouts and associated electronics. The primary applications and markets for these products are in instrumentation for research in astrophysics and detectors for commercial x-ray microanalysis systems. Given the large installed base of x-ray microanalysis system