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NASA 2005 SBIR Phase 1 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Scientific Systems Co Inc.
500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3000
Woburn, MA 01801-6580

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jovan Boskovic
jovan@ssci.com
500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3000
Woburn,  MA 01801-6580

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
SSCI proposes to develop innovative algorithms for the integration of Health Monitoring (HM) subsystem with the existing FLARE (Fast on-Line Actuator Reconfiguration Enhancement) system that achieves rapid stabilization of the closed-loop flight control system in the presence of flight-critical failures. While both systems generate on-line estimates of the failure-related paramaters, the HM system can generate false failure information, while the FLARE system may result in poor performance in subsequent flight regimes if its parameter estimates are far from their true values. The main idea is to combine the failure parameter estimates from the HM and FLARE systems to assure robustness to false alarms, missed detections and detection delays in the HM system, and to use the combined estimate in the adaptive reconfigurable control law to assure the desired closed-loop performance. In order to achieve the project objectives, we plan to carry out the following tasks in Phase I: (i) Modify F/A-18 aircraft simulation to test the feasibility of the proposed approach; (ii) Develop the IHM-FLARE architecture and algorithms; and (iii) Evaluate the performance of the flight control system under false failure information. Phase II will result in algorithm enhancements, and implementation and testing using high-fidelity and piloted F/A-18 simulations. Boeing Phantom Works (Mr. James Urnes, Sr.) will provide technical and commercialization support throughout the project.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Health Monitoring systems are becoming increasingly complex, and are commonly well suited for accommodation of a limited class of single failures since their emphasis is on failure detection and identification. On the other hand, our FLARE system is well suited for accommodation of severe multiple simultaneous failure but may result in poor long-term performance. Effective integration of these systems will enable efficient usage of the health monitoring information to assure robustness of the system under a variety of false failure information scenarios, and improved system performance. Immediate NASA applications are in civil aviation, and the development of an effective IHM-FLARE system is consistent with the goals and objectives of the NASA Flight Safety Program. Other important NASA applications are in the area of spacecraft control, and Space Exploration where an efficient IHM-FLARE system will decrease the crew workload and assure the desired system performance for the Crew Exploration Vehicles (CEV).

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed system has substantial potential in commercial aviation where effective control reconfiguration techniques that are robust to false failure information can substantially improve flight safety. Immediate applications exist in military aviation where the advanced fighter and transport aircraft are already equipped with sophisticated health monitoring systems. Other important applications are in the area of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) where effective integration of health monitoring and reconfigurable control that assures robustness to false failure information can substantially increase the autonomy of the vehicle. Related applications are envisioned in the areas of robotics, and unmanned ground and underwater vehicles.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Pilot Support Systems

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
15400 Calhoun Drive, Suite 400
Rockville, MD 20855-2785

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Leonard Haynes
lhaynes@i-a-i.com
15400 Calhoun Drive, Suite 400
Rockville,  MD 20855-2785

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
IAI proposes an innovative solution to enable unrestricted flight in low-altitude airspace for small aircrafts This solution includes an L-band RF transceiver-sensor package, which continuously transmit Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) compatible beacons to alert other cooperative aircrafts and ATC ground stations about the UAV's position and intent. In addition, it uses the reflected beacon signal as a radar signal to detect and track any non-cooperative targets within its effective range. A multifunctional RF transceiver serves as both the primary radar and secondary surveillance radar (SSR). The advantage of the proposed sensor package is low-cost, low-power (estimated power consumption < 50 watt) and compatibility with current aviation technologies. This sensor package is coupled with on-board collision avoidance logic and situation awareness display concepts for a remote ground control station. Simulation-based demonstration ? leveraging IAI's CybelePro<SUP>TM</SUP> agent infrastructure ? is also proposed to exercise the system "end-to-end" and allow for nearly seamless transition to human-in-the-loop evaluation of display concepts.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
One of the applications of NASA-related application for this sensor system is UAV collision avoidance. For UAVs to be more efficient in their increasing applications, they must be integrated into the Air Traffic Control system that currently only controls piloted aircraft. To achieve this, developers must deliver collision avoidance equipage sufficient to assure air safety. Current procedures for UAV operation within the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) are cumbersome and unsustainable for the long term. They often require separate attention from air traffic control authorities, limiting user flexibility and responsiveness, and hindering effective operations - military or commercial. The proposed research will add the ability to see and avoid both cooperative (transponding) and non-cooperative aircraft to UAVs. Such capability is crucial to providing military services and industry with sustainable, flexible UAV operations, sufficiently robust to safely deploy whenever and wherever needed. Additionally, these technologies will increase safety in the civil sector through integration on manned aircraft.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed sensor package can also be used on other onboard-pilot operated aircrafts as a replacement of expensive TCAS system. In the near future more and smaller size aircrafts will be equipped with low-cost ADS-B or UAT system. Current technologies are based on beacon signaling instead of active sensor, thus cannot effectively detect and track noncooperative threats. The proposed technology will help to develop next generation collision avoidance systems with enhanced situation awareness and minimum cost.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Pilot Support Systems
RF

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Micro Analysis & Design, Inc.
4949 Pearl East Circle, Suite 300
Boulder, CO 80301-2577

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Angelia Sebok
asebok@maad.com
4949 Pearl East Circle, Suite 300
Boulder,  CO 80301-2577

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
To prevent aircraft accidents due to wake vortex hazards, FAA procedures specify the minimum separation required between different categories of aircraft. However, a mandate for increased National Airspace System capacity has led to efforts to tighten these time-tested separation constraints. One of these efforts, NASA's Wake Vortex Advisory System (WakeVAS), is intended to measure, calculate, and display wake vortex information to air traffic controllers. The controllers will utilize this information to decrease the time and distance between aircraft, thereby increasing capacity while maintaining safety. To complement this ground-based approach and provide an additional layer of safety, we propose to increase pilot situation awareness (SA) to the wake vortex hazards in the airport vicinity. In this proposal, our goal is to design a conceptual prototype of a wake vortex display for eventual use on commercial air carrier flight decks. We have chosen the commercial air carrier domain as the focus of our efforts because this is where the pressure to increase capacity is the greatest and thus, we believe, maintaining safety via pilot SA is more critical. Further, we will develop human performance models to evaluate the effect of the display on pilot SA, workload, and performance.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A potential NASA application for this project is an avionics display within the cockpit that increases air safety. This display could be implemented in NASA aircraft to allow the pilots to see wake vortex. This information could be of particular interest to pilots of aircraft in the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS), since wake vortex poses a more serious threat to smaller rather than larger aircraft. That information can then be used to avoid the hazard areas and reduce accidents and incidents caused by an aircraft entering the wake of another aircraft. Another application for NASA is the IMSAS-based human performance model. This could be used to predict pilot performance in future aircraft systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The potential commercial application for this project is an avionics display within the cockpit that increases air safety. This display could be marketed to manufacturers of commercial, military, and private aircraft to allow the pilots of these aircraft to see wake vortex. That information can then be used to avoid the hazard areas and reduce accidents and incidents caused by an aircraft entering the wake of another aircraft.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Simulation Modeling Environment
Pilot Support Systems
Human-Computer Interfaces

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Aptima, Inc.
12 Gill Street, Ste 1400
Woburn, MA 01801-1728

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Dr. Amy Alexander
aalexander@aptima.com
12 Gill Street Ste 1400
Woburn,  MA 01801-1728

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The insertion of new technology in the cockpit, especially "smart" technology designed to become an additional crewmember, will necessarily impact flight-related operations and crew functioning. We propose to develop an observer-based assessment tool, and associated measures, that will allow National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) researchers to assess the impact of new technologies on crew resource management (CRM) performance. This is particularly important because the new FAA Advisory Circular on CRM training specifically calls for specialized training and evaluation in advanced technology cockpits (AC 120-51E, Page12, Part 13c). Our proposed approach is innovative in two respects. First, in contrast to existing measures of CRM performance, the measures will be sensitive to performance effects related to the insertion of crew-centered technologies in the cockpit. Second, the performance measures will be implemented in a hand-held PC instrument, the Scenario-based Performance Observation Tool for Learning in Team Environments?Aerospace Crew-centered Technologies (SPOTLITE-ACT), with a relational database that will allow for easy collection, storage, and retrieval of experimental data. SPOTLITE-ACT will provide NASA researchers with the capability to measure and evaluate the effects of crew-centered technologies on pilot performance.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The SPOTLITE-ACT tool will allow NASA to conduct human factors research and examine the impacts of new cockpit technologies on crew resource management (CRM) performance. The tool will be implemented on a tablet PC with a relational database allowing for ease of data collection, storage, and retrieval in both operational and simulation environments. SPOTLITE-ACT will allow NASA to compare performance within and across technologies, pilot groups, and operation-types. Furthermore, the tool provides a flexible software framework for the future addition of other measurement "modules" for assessing performance under different conditions and in different domains. For example, another SPOTLITE module can be developed to analyze air traffic controllers' performance during sector handoff procedures. SPOTLITE-ACT will be relevant for vehicle safety technologies such as synthetic vision systems (SVS) and cockpit displays of traffic information (CDTIs), as well as other NASA-sponsored projects.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The SPOTLITE-ACT tool will appeal to customers who need to assess the impact of new crew-centered technologies on CRM performance and those who develop and conduct training for pilots on new crew-centered technologies. Aerospace system designers can benefit by using the proposed tool to analyze technology-related effects on performance throughout the development cycle. Government or industry personnel concerned with technology implementation and certification can use the proposed tool to compare performance observed with the new technology to that obtained with other new or existing options. Additionally, complex human-machine systems or organizations like an air traffic control tower, power plant control center, or hospital emergency room would benefit from an analysis of the effects of emerging technologies on human performance.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
15400 Calhoun Drive, Suite 400
Rockville, MD 20855-2785

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
George Zhao
xzhao@i-a-i.com
15400 Calhoun Drive, Suite 400
Rockville,  MD 20855-2785

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The integrity of rotor disks in engine turbines or fans is vital to aviation safety. Cumulative cracks at critical loading and high stress areas, if not detected and repaired in time, can lead to a catastrophic failure. Traditional inspection methods such as Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection (FPI) and Eddy current are point-by-point methods and very time consuming. Disassembly of the engine is needed for each inspection, which may generate more problems. We propose a wireless in-situ ultrasonic guided wave health monitoring approach that can eliminate all the disadvantages of conventional methods. It applies light, thin ultrasonic guided wave circumferential patch transducers around the root of the disk. Guided waves travel in the radial direction and can inspect the whole disk area. The electrical signal is coupled wirelessly to the circumferential patch through a pair of RF antennas mounted on the rotor shaft and a stationary fixture around the shaft, respectively. The inspection can be done even when the disk is rotating. The envisioned system has minimal impact to the rotor performance, can instantaneously provide reliable and quantitative data such as crack location and severity level, can minimize and eventually eliminate the need for structural disassembly, and is able to communicate wirelessly for in-situ engine health monitoring.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The ability to detect and characterize cracks in the engine rotor disks in an early and accurate manner is always critical for improving safety and reducing cost for many NASA aviation vehicle propulsion systems. At the end of Phase 2, we will have a small, light weight, low cost, and robust system with both hardware and software integrated together for cracks detection and localization. The success of such a system will greatly enhance the aviation safety while reducing the downtime due to scheduled maintenance.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
In-situ wireless health monitoring and fault diagnosis is equally important for many military and commercial systems such as aircraft, automobiles, trains, home appliances, nuclear reactors, etc. The system can either perform continuous monitoring for the critical high strength components or switch on-off when needed. We expect the market for this system to be at least 10 million dollars.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
En'Urga, Inc.
1291-A Cumberland Avenue
West Lafayette, IN 47906-1385

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jongmook Lim
jongmook@enurga.com
1291-A Cumberland Avenue
West Lafayette,  IN 47906-1385

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
En'Urga Inc. will evaluate the feasibility of utilizing reflected, multi-wavelength, near infrared radiation for detecting fires in inaccessible areas within aircraft. The two key issues that will be addressed during the proposed work are: (1) the feasibility of obtaining near infrared radiation signatures from inaccessible areas through multiple internal reflections within the enclosure, and (2) the feasibility of decoding the signatures with sufficient fidelity so as to eliminate false alarms. Three Phase I tasks are planned to address the feasibility of the proposed project. The first task is to design and fabricate a system for obtaining near infrared radiation signatures within an instrument rack, representative of the inaccessible areas in aircrafts. The second task is to develop a fire detection system that readily discriminates between real fires and false alarms. The final task is to evaluate the system in a laboratory. It is anticipated that at the end of the Phase I work, the feasibility of utilizing reflected near infrared radiation for uniquely distinguishing fires would have been demonstrated. For Phase II work, a prototype, low cost and low weight system will be fabricated and evaluated both at En'Urga Inc. and at the microgravity facilities at the NASA Glenn Research Center.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The primary NASA application for the proposed fire detector is in the prevention of on-board fires in spacecrafts. A false alarm free fire detector that can quickly detect and locate fires hidden behind instrument panels and in cargo bays is crucial to developing mitigating strategies in the event such fires occur. With the ongoing emphasis on space exploration, it is likely that more manned space flights will be required in the future. For such manned missions, even false alarms that sometime occur in current NASA spacecrafts have the potential of leading to disasters, particularly if their frequency is such that they are ignored. Therefore, the proposed fire detector is crucial to NASA for building a portfolio of fire detection technologies that can be readily employed for various missions in the future.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The primary commercial application of the proposed fire detector is in the detection of instrument panel and cargo hold fires within aircrafts. Aircraft fires, though infrequent, can be potentially devastating to the industry. Every year, there are several dozen instances of false fire alarms in civilian aircrafts, leading to flight delays and high costs associated with dealing with the alarms. Any fire detector that is as reliable as the existing smoke detectors and less false alarm prone is commercially attractive to the aircraft industry. In addition to the aircraft industry, the proposed fire detector will be beneficial for various military applications within small enclosed spaces such as inside submarines and ships. The low false alarm feature of the fire detector will also be beneficial to museums, art galleries, and large warehouses, where a single deployment of a fire protection system due to a false alarm has very high monetary loss.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Combustion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Innovative Dynamics, Inc.
2560 North Triphammer Road
Ithaca, NY 14850-9726

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jack Edmonds
jedmonds@idiny.com
2560 N. Triphammer Road
Ithaca,  NY 14850-9726

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Significant improvements in existing technologies for icing weather information systems are required to increase the level of safety for all aircraft flying in the atmospheric icing environment. Innovative Dynamics, Inc. proposes to develop a cloud properties sensor for providing warning of hazardous airborne icing conditions. The proposed innovation is a new capability for measuring cloud properties that would consist of a small expendable radiosonde-borne optical probe. This cloud property information is currently obtained by launching an aircraft or positioning a satellite to the desired location, which makes it difficult obtain this information economically. New low cost commercially available semiconductor lasers, developed for the fiber optic communication industry, allows this innovation to be possible. The sensor would measure liquid water content, mean drop size, and droplet phase using a low-power infrared laser based sensor system. These parameters would be used to identify certain cloud conditions that pose airborne icing hazards to aircraft. Current low cost expendable radiosondes provide altitude, location, temperature, and atmospheric pressure information, but not water content information that indicate aircraft icing potential. This cloud property information is crucial to aircraft operating at altitudes, as well as important in weather forecasting models. Phase I will develop the sensing technique for cloud icing potential. Phase II will integrate this technology with a current weather radiosonde for complete atmospheric profiling.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed technology will provide advanced warning of aircraft icing conditions. NASA conducts atmospheric studies using instrumented balloons that fly from just a few hours to over 100 days. A light-weight sensor that measures cloud content would be a useful addition.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed technology will improve aircraft safety by predicting when and where icing hazards exist. This is particularly advantageous to general aviation and to commuter aircraft which are most susceptible to icing accidents. NOAA and universities also conduct atmospheric research and could use the technology.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Optical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Scientific Systems Co Inc.
500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3000
Woburn, MA 01801-6580

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jovan Boskovic
jovan@ssci.com
500 West Cummings Park, Suite 3000
Woburn,  MA 01801-6580

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
SSCI, in collaboration with Boeing Phantom Works, proposes to develop and test an efficient Integrated Damage Adaptive Control System (IDACS). The proposed system is based on the development of a coupled structural and aerodynamic model of aircraft dynamics under wing damage, and multiple-model damage estimator whose estimates are used in the reconfigurable control law to stabilize the aircraft and achieve acceptable performance of the closed-loop flight control system. In order to achieve these objectives, we propose to carry out the following tasks in Phase I: (i) Develop an integrated structural and aerodynamic model of wing damage; (ii) Evaluate the feasibility of a multiple-model wing damage estimator; and (iii) Test and evaluate the performance of the IDACS. Boeing Phantom Works (Mr. James M. Urnes, Sr.) will provide technical and commercialization support under the project. The main emphasis of the Phase II work will be on enhancements and integration of the proposed IDACS algortihms, and the development of the corresponding software tool.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Due to increasing terrorist threats, in the recent years there has been a lot of interest in the development of effective adaptive reconfigurable control systems that can compensate for the damage in commercial aircraft caused by man-portable air defense systems (ManPADS), and NASA added this aspect of the fault-tolerant control problem to the existing Aviation Safety program. The techniques developed under this project are also expected to contribute to technologies that will enable autonomous or semi-autonomous Space Exploration mission.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential non-NASA applications of the IDACS are in the area of commercial and military aircraft. Autonomous IDACS will find wide applications in other programs such as spacecraft control and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Pilot Support Systems

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems Corporation
650 Vaqueros Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94085-3525

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Behzad Moslehi
bm@ifos.com
650 Vaqueros Avenue
Sunnyvale,  CA 94085-3525

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Fiber Bragg Grating had been identified as very important elements, especially for strain measurements in smart structures. In many applications, arrays of FBG sensors along a single fiber at multiple locations are required to collect data samples at high speed with microstrain resolution. However, the traditional approaches based spectrum scanning and Wavelength Division Multiplexing are either lacking in sampling rates due to scanning and processing speed or cost prohibiting, respectively, as the number of optical sensors increased. The technique IFOS is proposing is based on the combination of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) and Frequency Modulation (FM) techniques. In addition, IFOS will implement multi-fiber multiplexability to the present high-speed WDM systems with Space Division Multiplexing scheme to increase the number of sensor array based on fast optical switch. These approaches will have advantages over scanning systems as well as WDM based in terms of speed and the capability of multiplexing FBG sensors at lower cost. Potential implementation of proposed technique and high-speed FBG sensors in structure health monitoring and intelligent sensing will be demonstrated, in collaboration with the research team at the University of Akron.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed project has direct NASA applications in the following areas regarding aerospace vehicles and structures: o Automated Nondestructive Evaluation for faulty structural components o Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring (IVHM) o Flight control System o Real-time autonomous sensor validity monitors o Monitor statistical manufacturing, assembly process, and control; composite materials for internal temperature and pressure during the curing process; composite bonded repairs; sandwich structures; gun barrel; reusable launch vehicles; pressure vessels and tanks burst testing; aero propulsion flight tests o Self-monitoring structures with alarm and abort capabilities o Pyrotechnic test and data acquisition for shock response spectrum analysis.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
For aerospace vehicle health monitoring applications, this fiber sensor network will significantly increase the sensing capability as well as extend the applicability of grating-based fiber-optic sensors systems at low cost. Further applications include instrumentation for jet and Flight Control Systems, oil exploration, marine structures and nuclear power plants requiring real-time control and monitoring, and critical infrastructure monitoring for homeland security.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Structural Modeling and Tools
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Optical
Photonics
Optical & Photonic Materials
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Valcor Engineering Corporation
2 Lawrence Road
Springfield, NJ 07081-3121

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Marcos Simon
marcossimon@electroid.com
45 Fadem Road
Springfield,  NJ 07081-3121

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Valcor Engineering Corporation proposes to develop an advanced On Board Inert Gas Generation System, OBIGGS, for aircraft fuel tank inerting to prevent hazardous in-flight conditions and to mitigate their effect when they do occur. Aircraft fires represent a small number of actual accident causes, but the number of fatalities due to in-flight, post-crash, and on-ground fires is large. The novel OBIGGS system will inert aircraft fuel tanks with nitrogen generated by a hollow fiber membrane module. The system will provide a cost effective method for fuel tank inerting, will be robust and resistant to chemical contamination. An OBIGGS system that is based on nitrogen generation is environmentally friendly and does not require hazardous chemicals for fire suppression. In addition to improving aircraft safety by mitigating hazardous in-flight and on the ground conditions the OBIGGS systems will also contribute to aircraft security and will mitigate aircraft damage from hostile attacks.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Advanced OBIGGS systems will be used to inert center fuel tank on new commercial aircraft such as; Boeing 7E7, and to retrofit the existing commercial aircraft fleet including the Boeing 747, and 737, as well as for fuel tank inerting of military aircraft including C-17.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The novel advanced OBIGGS technology will generate spin of applications in nitrogen generation and in membrane based gas separation in general. The technology will advance membrane gas separation system design for commercial and military applications. Both stationary and mobile membrane gas separation systems are used commercially to generate nitrogen for blanketing, inerting, purgin and other applications. In particular, the technology will bring major advances to currently employed mobile nitrogen generation system: ship-board inerting (cargo and tanker), mobile nitrogen generating ground carts, SIGNAS, (Navy and Air Force) and mobile container inerting (trucks and ships).

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airport Infrastructure and Safety

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
INNOSENSE LLC
2531 West 237th Street, Suite 127
Torrance, CA 90505-5245

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Kisholoy Goswami
kisholoy.goswami@innosense.us
2531 West 237th Street, Suite 127
Torrance,  CA 90505-5245

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This project will develop a sensitive and specific biosensor worthy of field deployment for autonomous operations. The underlying technology will enable in situ detection of terror agents in the cargo space of an aircraft or in airports and thereby reduce vulnerability of the Air Transportation system. There is a critical need for sensitive, rugged biosensors capable of performing assays under harsh conditions with minimal crew attention for decreasing the time and cost of analyses. Toward that goal, tasks have been designed in this Phase I proposal to develop a biosensor using molecularly imprinted polymers - a class of synthetic receptors that can be tailored to selectively interact with analytes for which recognition molecules of biological origin may not be available. The feasibility of a sensor array will be demonstrated by using nerve agent simulants. A prototype sensor array device, and smart signal processing algorithm will be developed in Phase II. For Phase III manufacturing engineering and Phase III follow-on funding, discussions have been held with two potential partners. A highly proficient engineering team, with a cumulative 70 person-years of experience in materials science and optical sensors, is in place to develop the biosensor.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Aside from use in the air transportation system, this project would offer robust biosensor for monitoring air quality and water quality during human exploration of space. The resulting device will minimize frequent calibration needs and make the system autonomous freeing the crew to tend to priority assignments. Imprinted polymers can be tailor-designed to detect analytes for which no naturally occurring receptors are available. The ability of imprinted polymers to withstand harsh conditions is ideally suited for NASA missions in orbiting platforms, vehicles in transit, and on the surface of a celestial body.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This project will also allow NASA to leverage its resources in support of National Security, allowing monitoring of other ground facilities that are vulnerable to terrorist attack in which chemical and biochemical warfare agents as well as explosives may be used. The cost, shelf life, and storage conditions of receptor molecules are important considerations in constructing a commercially viable biosensor. Current leading biological detection technologies use naturally occurring receptors such as antibodies and DNA strands. However, these materials, especially proteins, must be preserved at low temperatures. The proposed work will demonstrate innovative antibody mimics that can be synthesized instead of growing biologically. Besides NASA, more than 17,000 potential biosensor market customers could become users of the proposed technology. These include the Homeland Security Department, environmental monitoring companies, military bases and mobile units, biotechnology companies, medical research institutions, and clinical laboratories.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Testing Facilities
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Air Revitalization and Conditioning
Biomedical and Life Support
Biomolecular Sensors
Waste Processing and Reclamation
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools
Biochemical
Optical
Photonics
Earth-Supplied Resource Utilization
In-situ Resource Utilization
Microgravity
Optical & Photonic Materials
Organics/Bio-Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Vibroacoustics Solutions, Inc.
2205 229th Place
Boone, IA 50036-7003

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jerry Vogel
vogel@iastate.edu
2205 229th Place
Boone,  IA 50036-7003

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This Phase I research proposal is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of an innovative architecture comprising control augmentation and on-line health monitoring system. This architecture integrats Flush Air Data System (FADS) with Reconfigurable Generalized Predictive Control (RGPC) technologies. The Phase 1 effort includes identification and description of all supporting modules, their functionality and associated algorithm structures, connectivity, and final simulations using a specific aircraft for system performance evaluations. Proof-of-concept study will include demonstrating the capability using selected aircraft health degradation and/or failure situations. The concept innovation is derived from the prognostic nature of the system feedback used by the controller for applying corrective aircraft control. In traditional controllers the errant transients possessing loss of control potential are detected after the fact and corrective actions for recovery are commanded by controller posteriori. The proposed system performs a real-time autonomous monitoring of aircraft surface pressure fields that contain precursor information for prediction of incipient errant transient motions. The proposed system will enable reconfiguration of control based on measured pressure field anomalies that indicate standard control system equipment malfunctions.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
If the proposed research goals are achieved NASA will be benefited in following different areas: 1. Overall aircraft safety - Due to predictive nature of FADS and RGPC control system several failure and/or malfunction scenarios can be avoided. Also, in the event they are not avoidable, the proposed system will detect the problem sooner and exploit its reconfiguration capability to recover from the failure efficiently. 2. On-Board Health Monitoring - The FADS system coupled with RGPC provide wealth of information that can be used to monitor the health of the aircraft. 3. Improved Pilot Information System - The incipient perturbations/ anomalies can be made known to the pilot instantaneously with cockpit display. 4. Enhanced Attitude Determination and Control and Enhanced Guidance, Navigation, and Control - Direct consequence of predictive nature of the system. BROADER IMPACT: The proposed system can also be adopted in spacecraft avionics.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The civil aviation, general aviation, and recreational aviation industries will have largest impact of the proposed technology. The primary benefit these industries will receive is the ENHANCED SAFETY of the aircraft and its occupants. Several of the accidents that occured in the last decade due to malfunction and/or failure and pilot errors could be avoided with the proposed system. The passenger safety coupled with aircraft safety can translate to billions of dollars for civil aviation industry.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Attitude Determination and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Autonomous Control and Monitoring

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
NEMOmetrics Corp
28 Constitution Road
Boston, MA 02129-2008

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
John Rodriguez
NEMOmetrics@aol.com
28 Constitution Road
Boston,  MA 02129-2008

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This SBIR Phase I project will develop the Flight System Monitor which will use non-intrusive electrical monitoring (NEMO). The electronic system health of components and systems will be measured and tracked by carefully monitoring and analyzing of power usage and start up and shut down transients. In depth analysis of this data enables real time assessment of system and component functioning and identifies potential system and component faults and failutes. The system is light weight, small and inexpensive because the system requires only a sensor at the mains power input and uses existing power wiring to carry data. Phase I will involve ground measurements on the control and power systems of a small UAV. Phase II will involve measurements and analysis of a system in flight.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Initial applications will provide safety and system reliability to NASA UAVs including including the ESCD (Earth Science Capabilities Demonstration) Project and its REVEAL (Research Environment for Vehicle-Embedded Analysis on Linux) system, the Airborne Electric Remote Observations Systems (AEROS) project and the High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) platforms and systems. During Phase II, capability will expanded to be used on manned aircraft, spacecraft and ground support systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Nonintrusive electrical monitoring (NEMO) is also applicable to wheeled vehicles including autos, trucks and military vehicles and to ships and hovercraft. It also can be used for energy monitoring and conservation in buildings and other industrial facilities.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Intelligence
Testing Facilities
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Metis Design Corporation
222 Third Street
Cambridge, MA 02142-1735

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Seth Kessler
skessler@metisdesign.com
222 Third Street
Cambridge,  MA 02142-1735

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Metis Design Corporation (MDC) proposes the development of a strain-based power replenishment technology to harvest energy for recharging remote sensors. MDC has been working to development of a structural health monitoring (SHM) device, which essentially evolves the embedding of sets of sensors into a structure to allow continuous remote monitoring. MDC's work is aimed at developing a robust infrastructure package to support a variety of sensor types and detection methods for aerospace structures. Components have been developed to acquire data, excite transducers, store and wirelessly transmit data, as well as a thin-film battery and packaging to protect the electronics from moisture, EMI and impact. During the course of this SBIR, MDC will work to develop a power replenishment patch that uses piezoelectric technology coupled with an innovative circuit design to "top-off" SHM system batteries. These thin patches would be intimately bonded to the structure in order to harvest strain energy to recharge a thin-film Lithium battery slowly over time. This concept is unique since it takes advantage of the low duty cycle of SHM electronics, instead of attempting to harvest energy for continuous system operation. MDC will demonstrate the ability to performing structural integrity testing using only harvested power.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
There are four basic areas of applicability to NASA. The first is long duration spacecraft, such as satellites and space exploration vehicles, which need cheap and light monitoring to confirm damage that occurs during launch or deployment. Another important area is expendable launch vehicles to facilitate launch/no-launch decisions, due to damage sustained during vehicle assembly or pre-launch. Of probably greatest importance, SHM systems will be a key technology for reusable launch vehicle for quick turn around times. Lastly, SHM systems would also be useful for the space station to help guide wear and maintenance, especially near docking regions.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Structural integrity monitoring has the potential for economic benefits in a broad range of markets. These systems can be utilized by structures from military or civil aircraft, to cars, ships or civil infrastructure. The first major benefit is that integrity monitoring eliminates the need for scheduled inspections. A second major economic benefit is that a continuously monitoring system would allow for the use of the much more efficient condition based maintenance (CBM) design methodology of a structure, otherwise known as need-based repair. A third benefit would be from increased service time of the structure. Finally, an SHM system could have a significant financial impact if it is able to detect the need for maintenance before a catastrophic failure, potentially saving lives and a costly vehicle.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airlocks/Environmental Interfaces
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Tankage
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Data Input/Output Devices
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Composites
Metallics
Multifunctional/Smart Materials
Energy Storage
Power Management and Distribution
Renewable Energy
Wireless Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Aerotech Research
11836 Fishing Point Drive, Suite 200
Newport News, VA 23606-4507

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Paul Robinson
paulrobinson@atr-usa.com
11836 Fishing Point Drive, Ste 200
Newport News,  VA 23606-4507

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Financial constraints and the need for improved operational efficiency are requiring airlines to emphasize "on-condition" maintenance over scheduled maintenance where possible. However, many of the specific conditions and events of interest to airline maintenance are not being monitored by automatic systems. Some of these events are detected through a subjective determination by the aircrew. This subjective determination can result in both maintenance being performed unnecessarily and maintenance not being performed when needed. AeroTech will develop a multi-tier, Quantitative Condition Alerting and Analysis Support (Q-CAAS) system for aircraft that will in real-time, automatically downlink to maintenance personnel, reports on the occurrence of specific conditions and events (e.g. loads exceedance). The reports will be displayed on a web based, ground station network. The system will also track individual aircraft's exposure to particular in-flight conditions allowing airline personnel to tailor maintenance programs to individual aircraft. By providing quantifiable data in real-time, operational decisions can be made to minimize the impact and maximize the benefits of on-condition maintenance. The Q-CAAS system will be comprised only of software that can be implemented on most current fleet aircraft, keeping costs low, minimizing the time to market, and therefore maximizing the likelihood of industry adoption.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This system will directly support the Aviation Safety and Security Program's focus of protecting and preventing damage to aircraft due to abnormal operations and system failures, and can be directly applied to two elements of this focus: 1) the Phase I Single Aircraft Accident Prevention element, whose goal is to develop health and usage technologies that enable realtime and trending status of critical on-board aircraft systems in order to reduce failed equipment citings in fatal accident reports by 15%, and 2) the Phase II Aircraft & Propulsion Systems Self-Diagnosis & Self Reliance element, which includes a subproject for developing sensors for self-diagnostics of structural components. The fact that the system comprises software only, lends itself to straightforward integration into simulations, laboratory tests, and flight experiments on NASA research aircraft.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed system will have numerous benefits to airlines (including regional jet operators) and business jet operators in their efforts to keep their aircraft in top working condition, to ensure safe operation of aircraft, to reduce maintenance costs, and to reduce operational delays (and therefore costs) due to unscheduled maintenance. The system also has applications within the Department of Defense, including UAVs. The real-time information provided by the system will enable maintenance personnel to make immediate decisions regarding the need for maintenance and the scheduling of the maintenance. Maintenance will then be able to work with operations personnel to minimize the impact to overall operations. Delta Air Lines has agreed to support AeroTech in the development of the system. When the goals of this work are complete, with Delta's participation, the operational and maintenance benefits will be quantifiable, and the commercial case for adoption of this system will be demonstrated.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sentient Corporation
850 Energy Drive
Idaho Falls, ID 83401-1563

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sean Marble
smarble@sentientscience.com
850 Energy Drive
Idaho Falls,  ID 83401-1563

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Diagnostic and prognostic algorithms for many aircraft subsystems are steadily maturing. Unfortunately there is little experience integrating these technologies into a complete and practical on-board prognosis system, and integration often proceeds in an ad-hoc manner. Sentient Corporation proposes to develop a general-purpose architecture and set of reusable algorithms for integrating diagnostics and predictive models into an efficient and highly accurate prognostic system. The architecture is based on a flexible and powerful model updating algorithm that provides optimal fusion of diagnostics with model-based state indications and minimization of uncertainty in remaining life predictions. This project will focus on development of several key features of that algorithm, including automatic recognition of a failure that is not progressing according to the physical model, and practical considerations for on-board use such as minimizing computational and memory requirements. By the end of Phase II, Sentient will demonstrate a working prototype of an on-board prognostic system developed using the proposed architecture and tools. This demonstration will use diagnostic and model algorithms developed under the DARPA Prognosis Program, and will be compared to a large set of fault data for turbine engine and subscale bearings.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This general-purpose set of reusable tools and code will substantially reduce the time and cost of developing on-board prognostics for new aircraft and spacecraft health management systems, while helping to ensure robust and accurate performance of the final system. Any system that uses sensor-based diagnostics to indicate state and models to predict fault progression would benefit from the proposed toolset. This includes vehicle health management systems in spacecraft, launch vehicles, propulsion systems, and similar applications.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed toolset will have extensive military and commercial applications. Aircraft and specifically propulsion systems are currently leading the way in implementation of new prognostic health monitoring technologies. Programs such as the Joint Strike Fighter will likely be first to adopt these architectures and tools, followed by other military/commercial aircraft and shipboard/industrial equipment markets. Sentient will strive to eventually make the architecture the de facto standard for prognostics by utilizing open interfaces and providing robust plug-and-play components.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Comet Technology Corporation
3830 Packard, Suite 110
Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2051

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Satha Raveendra
rraveendra@cometacoustics.com
3830 Packard, Suite 110
Ann Arbor,  MI 48108-2051

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Noise has become a primary consideration in the design and development of many products, particulary in aerospace, automotive and consumer product industries. Communities near airports are often exposed to high noise levels due to low flying aircraft in the takeoff and landing phases of fligh and the major contribution to the overall noise is comming from the propulsion source noise. It is proposed to develop solutions based on integrated generalized acoustical holography and active noise control technologies that will enable the identification and reduction of turbomachinery noise. In this development, generalized acoustical holography will be used for noise source identification and active noise control together with passive control will be used for the noise reduction.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The developed system will enable the identification and reduction of noise radiated by turboengine, rotocraft and advanced propeller aerodynamic noise. The adaptation of the developed system will enable noise reduction in other situations such as control of aircraft cabin noise and helicoper cabin noise.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The adaptation of the developed system will have applications in many areas such as identification and reduction of noise radiated by internal combusion engine, exhaust noise, automotive interior noise as well as noise radiated by industrial noise sources such as vacuum pumps, forced air blowers, gas turbine exhausts, and airconditioning systems.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
KJB Consultants
11641 Weston Pointe
Strongsville, OH 44149-9270

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Kenneth Baumeister
annak51@yahoo.com
11641 Weston Pointe
Strongsville,  OH 44149-9270

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA requires accurate numerical simulation of high bypass nacelle acoustics and the development of advanced nacelle absorption techniques to reduce engine noise levels. Thus, this Phase I effort will expand current Transient Finite Difference (TFD) nacelle algorithms to include ? Simulation of active and passive nacelle exhaust splitters, ? 3D simulation of passive and active absorbing radial struts, ? Optimization of multiple segment wall, splitter and strut absorbers for maximum noise reduction. The exceptional performance and accuracy of the TFD method has already been documented for passive and active noise reductions in 2D aircraft nacelles. Recent experimental data have show promise for significant noise reduction for active noise treated struts as well as classic exhaust splitters. Therefore, this Phase I study will extend the current TFD nacelle algorithms to optimize splitter rings usage in exit nacelle ducts and 3D active and passive treatment of exhaust duct struts. The Phase II effort will include the capability of analyzing more complex 3D ducts with circumferential-segmented absorbing liners as well as external cowling and airframe noise sources. The numerical algorithms of this TFD Phase I study will provide NASA Glen and industry an innovative tool for acoustic nacelle design.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The Phase I code will allow NASA to significantly reduce both tone and broadband engine noise in scale and full size engine nacelle exhaust ducts as well as inlets. The code will predict both engine noise reductions for both passive and active treatments over a wide frequency range. The exact analytical predictions will eliminate some expensive experimental design and testing of complex 3D engine hardware with splitters and engine struts. The Phase II study will analyze advanced noise treatment concepts such as circumferential passive phase treatment, which has been shown to significantly reduce engine noise. The code will be very versatile; thus, it could also be used in the acoustic design and testing of NASA's advanced engine concepts such as the pulse detonation engine or other advances in combustion-based propulsion. The code should increase NASA's productivity and reduce operational costs by reducing expensive experimental testing of large-scale engine hardware.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The Phase I code will allow aircraft nacelle manufactures to significantly reduce the time between initial prototype and final design of acoustically treated nacelles. The code will aid in their reduction of tone and broadband noise by the optimal application of both conventional and advanced engine acoustic treatments. The manufacturer will be able to quickly evaluate both passive and active treatments for complex 2D and 3D nacelle structures over a wide frequency range. To meet a variety of other commercial needs, the geometry and grid generation codes will be constructed with enough flexibility to model mufflers, automobile interiors, and other business applications besides an aircraft nacelle. The code could also be useful in quieting large exhaust ducts in power and industrial plant operations. Architectural engineers may find the code useful in quieting their duct ventilation systems.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Lynntech, Inc.
7607 Eastmark Drive, Suite 102
College Station, TX 77840-4027

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Anuncia Gonzalez-Martin
anuncia.gonzalez-martin@lynntech.com
7607 Eastmark Drive, Suite 102
College Station,  TX 77840-4027

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Fuel cells offer a promising technology for clean, efficient power generation important to both High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) remotely piloted aircraft, and future envisioned environmentally friendly commercial transports. In addition, hydrogen and fuel cells have the potential to solve several major challenges facing America today: dependence on petroleum imports, poor air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most challenging issues in today's Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell is to increase unit power and power density (volume and weight). Bipolar plates play a critical role in the PEM fuel cell performance and durability, and they represent the major part of the fuel cell stack in weight and volume. Bipolar plates are also a significant contributor to the stack costs. Lynntech will develop a new type of bipolar plate using electrically conductive polymer sheets. The material is light, inexpensive, highly conductive, chemically inert, easy to process, and corrosion resistant. The use of this conductive polymer bipolar plate in PEM fuel cells will reduce cell weight, volume, and cost, while simplifying cell assembly. This in turn will drastically increase fuel cell unit power and power density.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Fuel cells offer a promising technology for clean, efficient power generation important to both High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) remotely piloted aircraft, and future envisioned environmentally friendly commercial transports. To realize these aircraft applications will require one or even two orders of magnitude improvement in unit power and power density (volume and weight) for the fuel cell stack, as compared to ground based systems. Bipolar plates represent the major part of the fuel cell stack in weight and volume. Thus, reducing bipolar plates weight and volume will have a direct impact on increasing the fuel cell unit power and power density.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The new material has significant commercial potential because of its lightweight and low cost. It also has a high potential for public acceptance because it will solve some of the serious problems associated with today's PEM fuel cell technology. The inexpensive approach developed by Lynntech for the fabrication of conductive polymer sheets will significantly simplify the assembly of fuel cells, increase power density (kW/L) and specific power (kW/kg), while substantially reducing the cost. This in turn will enable wider commercial adoption of PEM fuel cells. This new technology will be of particular interest to the federal government and private industries that can be benefited by the use of stationary and mobile PEM fuel cells. Examples include: (i) replacement of gasoline and internal combustion engines in cars and buses, (ii) small portable power units for cell phones, lap tops, and computers; and (iii) stationary power units for homes, industries and communities.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Multifunctional/Smart Materials
Renewable Energy

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc.
575 McCorkle Blvd.
Westerville, OH 43082-8699

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mokhtar Maklad
mmaklad@lakeshore.com
575 McCorkle Blvd.
Westerville,  OH 43082-8699

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This SBIR Phase I proposal addresses the need for explosion proof, sensitive and reliable hydrogen sensors for NASA and commercial hydrogen fuel systems. It also addresses the need for multiple sensing points with minimum tank or bulkhead feedthroughs. The proposed innovations will increase the response speed of reported hydrogen sensors by a factor of 5 and the sensitivity by a factor of 10. In the Phase I feasibility work, it is proposed to demonstrate these attributes for single sensors. In Phase II, the multiplexing, detection reliability and special packaging necessary to make the sensors practical for NASA and other applications will be demonstrated in preparation for commercialization in Phase III.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The use of hydrogen as a fuel in many air and space vehicles that will be subjected to severe and unknown stresses over long lifetimes, and its storage and transfer on the ground, exposes personnel and facilities to potential fire and explosion hazards, making hydrogen leak detection necessary. These sensors will find applications wherever there is a compartment, tank or other environment where the lower explosive limit of 4% hydrogen in air might occur. These include cryostats, launch tanks, ground tanks, piping, near engines, and others.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The early adoption of these hydrogen detection systems by NASA will lead to applications experience, production enhancements and cost reductions. Applications will then appear as the hydrogen economy grows. The advanced, explosion proof hydrogen detectors will be adapted for fuelling stations, ground vehicles and potentially in every hydrogen fuel cell. The same systems as used in NASA aerospace will also be utilized in civilian and military aircraft powered by hydrogen.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
High Energy Propellents (Recombinant Energy & Metallic Hydrogen)
Propellant Storage
Control Instrumentation
Feed System Components
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Fluid Storage and Handling
Optical
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Photonics
Metallics
Optical & Photonic Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Eltron Research, Inc.
4600 Nautilus Court South
Boulder, CO 80301-3241

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
James White
eltron@eltronresearch.com
4600 Nautilus Court South
Boulder,  CO 80301-3241

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This proposed Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I addresses development of a compact reformer system based on a cyclic partial oxidation (POx) technology for the purpose of generating hydrogen for fuel cell systems. The need for improved reformers arises from: 1) the tendency of hydrocarbon fuels to deposit carbon on surfaces; 2) requirement of large quantities of steam; 3) a massive and voluminous fuel desulfurization stage; 4) substantial size and power consumption requirements; and 5) the lack of efficient, robust, and compact hydrogen separation technology. These issues will be addressed by employment of a fixed bed cyclic redox system utilizing a metal oxide oxygen carrier for partial oxidation of fuel. The reformer will consist of a small heated bed of sulfur tolerant partial oxidation catalyst and will operate by alternate exposure to air and vaporized fuel. Carbon deposition and steam requirements and, possibly, the need for a prereformer will be reduced or eliminated by this cyclic mode. This cyclic operation will also eliminate the need for an expensive air separation unit or for H2/N2 separation. Phase I will consist of identification of catalysts, testing under cyclic conditions with real fuel, and integration of reformer and hydrogen separation modules. On the basis of Phase I data, a prototype system will be designed, fabricated, and tested during Phase II.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
If successful, the resulting device and technology would enable improvements in hydrocarbon reforming that would impact fuel cell applications and, in particular, fuel cell systems for zero emissions and high altitude long endurance remotely operated aircraft (HALE ROA) applications. An additional potential benefit is that partial oxidation as employed in the proposed Phase I may ultimately be able to replace the fuel desulfurizer, prereformer, and steam reformer in such systems with a single compact unit.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The technology discovered herein may serve to accelerate utilization of hydrogen as a practical fuel for civilian transportation and municipal power applications. For example, use in other mobile (e.g., automotive) applications can be envisioned. Additionally, the resulting technology will find use in combustion applications such as fuel fired heating systems. Stable, active and selective catalysts discovered under this contract will be immediately applicable toward development of a compact, economic fuel processor for reformation of logistic fuels into a high purity hydrogen gas stream suitable for introduction into the anode compartment of a hydrogen/air fuel cell.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Propellant Storage
Energy Storage

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Applied Sciences, Inc.
141 W. Xenia Ave., PO Box 579
Cedarville, OH 45314-0579

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
David Burton
dburton@apsci.com
141 W. Xenia Ave., PO Box 579
Cedarville,  OH 45314-0579

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The goal of NASA's Quiet Aircraft Technology project is to reduce perceived aircraft noise by half in 10 years and by 75 percent in 25 years, using 1997 levels as the baseline. These reductions are necessary to meet the expected demand for air travel and increasingly stringent noise standards around the world. A significant portion of noise reduction will be achieved through lighter aircraft as a result of advances in composite materials, such as nanocomposites. Vibrations are undesirable for structures, due to the need for structural stability and dynamic response, position control, and durability. Vibration and acoustic reduction can be obtained in structural materials by increasing the damping capacity (expressed by the loss factor) and/or decreasing the stiffness (expressed by the storage modulus). It is proposed to investigate carbon nanofiber composites for their expected acoustic damping properties by adjusting fiber volume fraction and length to appropriately tailor acoustic damping responses for this material. Nanocomposites based on carbon nanofibers have high potential for advances in material performance (weight specific strength and stiffness, vibration damping, flammability reduction, and electrical conductivity) as well as manufacturing simplification and cost reduction.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This innovation is applicable to any metal or polymer-based aircraft or aerospace structures which are subjected to vibration / noise. This innovation will enable the substitution of nano-enhanced polymers, with increased stiffness and superior damping properties, to be substituted for metal components which tend to have inferior acoustic damping properties.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Beyond the aircraft and aerospace applications, this innovation would increase the substitution of polymer components vs. metal components to reduce vibration and noise in automobiles, and other transportation vehicles, as well as machinery, sporting goods, anti-sonar submarines, and loudspeaker diaphragms.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Composites
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
MetaHeuristics
209 W. Alamar Ave, Suite A
Santa Barbara, CA 93105-3701

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Kannan Premnath
nandha@metah.com
209 W. Alamar Ave, suite A
Santa Barbara,  CA 93105-3701

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The overall objective of the proposed project is to develop a generalized lattice Boltzmann (GLB) approach as a potential computational aeroacoustics (CAA) tool for noise prediction thus contributing to NASA's goal of reducing noise levels of subsonic aircraft. Lattice Boltzmann equation (LBE) based simulations are attractive for CAA as they can handle very complex geometries and parallelize with excellent scalability. This enables efficient simulation of very large problems, such as airframe systems. The innovativeness of the proposed GLB method lies in employing multiple relaxation times to capture different hydrodynamic/acoustic modes accurately, in contrast to usual LBE solution methods using a single relaxation time for all modes. The GLB approach would enable higher fidelity CAA simulations as well as exhibit stability at higher Reynolds numbers. Multiple relaxation times can also enable represent turbulence better for large eddy simulation. In phase I, the feasibility of the GLB method will be evaluated by coding a 3D solver, including a subgrid scale turbulence model and multiblock grid refinement algorithms, with testing against several CAA benchmark problems. If successful, a validated package based on the GLB method interfaced to NASA pre/post processors, like CART3D, for complex geometries would be developed in Phase II.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed GLB approach for computational aeroacoustics will have a broad range of applications, particularly for structures with complex geometrical shapes. These include noise prediction from a variety of airframe structures such as landing gear, flaps and slats during take-off and landing. The approach is also well suited for acoustic analysis of aircraft internal systems. In addition to prediction of noise, the computational package would also be applicable to computational fluid dynamics of low Mach number flows in aircraft systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential non-NASA commercial applications of the GLB computational package include prediction of noise from a variety of automotive components and industrial equipment such as HVAC systems. There is a significant opportunity in these sectors as the existing commercial computational packages for fluid dynamics, which are based on decades old algorithms, are not able to address such large-scale coupled acoustics/fluid dynamics problems adequately.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Simulation Modeling Environment
Structural Modeling and Tools
Airport Infrastructure and Safety

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Brimrose Corporation of America
#19 Loveton Circle, Hunt Valley Loveton Center
Sparks, MD 21152-9201

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Dr. Chen Wang
ccwang@brimrose.com
#19 Loveton Circle, Hunt Valley Loveton Center
Sparks,  MD 21152-9201

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose an innovative pulsed laser vibrometer technology for the monitoring of interior noise inside an aircraft. The optical speckle-tolerant nature of the pulsed laser vibrometer, coupled with its high sensitivity and bandwidth in surface vibration monitoring, makes the proposed technology ideal for the monitoring of aircraft interior vibrations from surfaces with widely varying colors and degrees of optical speckle inducing power. The highly sensitive pulsed laser vibrometer allows handheld, portable operation, even in places difficult to access, thanks to its remote and non-contact nature for surface vibration monitoring. Other advantages enabled by the proposed technology include the compactness and low optical power requirement, which make it ideal for deployment in situations where the availability of space and power can be significantly restricted, for example, spaceborne applications. The feasibility of using the proposed photo-EMF pulsed laser vibrometer to monitoring surface vibrations of samples with widely varying surface characteristics will be demonstrated during the Phase I program. A working prototype pulsed laser vibrometer system for aircraft interior noise monitoring will be developed during the Phase II research program.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Successful execution of this proposed program will lead to a compact, highly sensitive, and low power-consumption pulsed laser vibrometer capable of detecting surface vibrations with high sensitivity and bandwidth. The optical speckle-tolerant nature of the proposed technology makes it ideal for applications including the inspection of structural integrity of turbine engine blades, the integrity of insulation foams on the space shuttles. Further NASA applications include the monitoring of operational characteristics of mechanical apparatus through vibration sensing.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential non-NASA commercial applications include the quality control on industrial assembly lines, for example, household appliances and automotive windshield wiper motors, as well as the monitoring of the performance and maintenance of machines, for example, locomotive engines.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Structural Modeling and Tools

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Satcon Technology Corp
27 Drydock Ave
Boston, MA 02210-2377

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Edward Lovelace
ed.lovelace@satcon.com
27 Drydock Ave
Boston,  MA 02210-2377

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Superconducting electric propulsion systems will yield improvements in total ownership costs due to the simplicity of electric drive when compared with gas turbine engines, and due to greater power densities and efficiencies of electromechanical energy conversion processes. Two principal types have been considered in Naval propulsion studies that have promise for all electric aircraft. Both of these classes of motor, however, have technical risk attributes that are less than ideal with respect to reliability and efficiency: complex rotating cryocoolers for the AC synchronous machine, and low voltage (hence high current) brushed armatures for the DC acyclic (homopolar) machine. SatCon proposes a 'stationary field synchronous motor', which combines the benefits of both synchronous and acyclic motors by combining the ability to use COTS cryocoolers inherent to the acyclic motor with power transfer to the armature at reasonable voltage and current levels. This will be traded off against an AC synchronous machine using a rotating cryocooler with a novel flow management design to reduce the complexity and losses. The result of the two-phase effort will be the design, prototyping, and testing of an improved power density superconducting propulsion motor suitable for aircraft propulsion applications.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Today fuel prices are increasing with cost roughly 1/3 higher than at the same time in 2004. Simultaneously, the issue of Global Warming and the impact of greenhouse gases, and depletion of the ozone layer has increased the emphasis on reduced or "zero" emission from combustion processes. As the lead government agency developing future aviation technologies, NASA has a critical role to play in this area. This work is directly relevant to NASA long-term goals for all electric aircraft for zero emissions and fuel independence. This will enable long endurance military missions and cost effective civilian transport with beneficial environmental and sustainability impacts.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Once fully developed by SatCon, this technology while designed for NASA applications can also be used to leverage development costs for zero emission, civilian aviation transport propulsion systems. Also, a high power density electric propulsion system will have far reaching effects in the area of Hybrid Electric Vehicles.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Superconductors and Magnetic
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Hyper Tech Research, Inc.
1275 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH 43212-1155

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Matthew Rindfleisch
mrindfleisch@hypertechresearch.com
110 E. Canal St.
Troy,  OH 45373-3581

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Many are pursuing the development of electric propulsion systems for large aircraft due to the potential of being cleaner, quieter, lighter, and more versatile than current platforms and because the use of liquid hydrogen (LH2) fuel in these systems decreases our dependence on petroleum. It is desirable to have very light components, such as the stator, for these electric propulsion systems. Superconducting stator coils can be lighter weight than cryogenically cooled copper stator coils. The recent development of magnesium diboride (MgB2) superconducting wires makes possible the potential to have much lighter weight superconducting stator coils than with any other metal or ceramic superconductor. The MgB2 superconductor, cooled in the available liquid hydrogen fuel, is the ideal candidate wire material for stator coils for large aircraft motors. The lighter weight coils, especially in the stator, will enable a lighter weight motor. During the Phase I we will demonstrate using this magnesium diboride superconductor wire in diamond wound stator coil form. This will show feasibility of fabricating full size diamond patterned stator coils in a Phase II effort.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Besides large aircraft motors, magnesium diboride superconductors can benefit NASA applications for superconducting ADR coils, transformers, inductors, magnetic bearings, actuators, MHD magnets, and other potential power conditioning applications.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Commercialization of magnesium diboride superconducting wires will allow less expensive and more open MRI systems for medical use, and lower cost and more efficient power utility applications such as transformers, motors, generators, fault current limiters, and SMES.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Superconductors and Magnetic
Power Management and Distribution
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
American GNC Corporation
888 Easy Street
Simi Valley, CA 93065-1812

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Dr. Ching-Fang Lin
cflin@americangnc.com
888 Easy Street
Simi Valley,  CA 93065-1812

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The objective of this Phase I project is to demonstrate an automated on-line structural health monitoring system for aircraft structures using a combination of wireless data acquisition and fault detection filter via a sensing network for vehicle-embedded large arrays of MEMS sensors and actuators. A fault detection filter, whose functions are to identify and localize the damage, is considered as a new concept in the field of structural health monitoring. Sensor validation is implemented in the distributed sensor network to ensure only validated data are sent to the central station for further system utilization. Wireless communication provides a safe, affordable, and more efficient method for the online health monitoring of vehicle subsystems and information monitoring. It also involves signal processing to support decision-making related to safety, maintenance, or operating procedures.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
In addition to the potential applications for on line monitoring of spacecraft, it can be applied to remote sensing platforms and distributed monitoring environments, such as, a robotic systems, long-endurance sensing platforms (LESPs), unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and ground engine tests.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed component can be applied in many fields for real-time data sampling and processing. Applications can support general manufacturing, the commercial aviation industry and real time monitoring sensors environment.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Autonomous Control and Monitoring

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
TPL, Inc.
3921 Academy Parkway North, NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109-4416

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Charles Lakeman
clakeman@tplinc.com
3921 Academy Parkway North NE
Albuquerque,  NM 87109-4416

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Wireless sensors show enormous promise for safety improvements and cost reductions in monitoring the structural health of aircraft and spacecraft. A significant challenge for wireless sensors is power. Because of the labor and associated costs associated with changing hundreds, if not thousands of batteries, combined with the fact that many will be deployed in inaccessible locations, these systems will have to rely on harvesting energy from the environment to provide long-lived power. TPL and Washington State University (WSU) propose to develop a vibrational energy harvesting system based on the P3 (Palouse Piezo Power) Micropower Generator. The P3 is a patented, MEMS-based, piezoelectric membrane generator that has been demonstrated to operate over 1 billion cycles. In this effort, TPL will team with WSU researchers to develop a microfabricated proof mass for coupling vibrational energy into the piezoelectric membrane and to develop packaging for the device so it can be deployed in real world situations. Combined with TPL's patented microbatteries and microsupercapacitors for energy storage, the proposed system will provide a stand-alone power source that does not need recharging or refueling for wireless structural health monitoring (SHM) systems.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed technology will provide a stand-alone power source for wireless sensors that does not need recharging or refueling. There are numerous applications for wireless sensors in aerospace, defense, medical, environmental, and industrial sectors ranging from structural health monitoring, industrial process control, environmental (HVAC) management, infrastructure security, and battlefield chemical and biological weapons detection, among others. NASA's interest in structural health monitoring, in particular, extends to air and space vehicles, fixed wing and rotorcraft, satellites, inter-planetary mission vehicles, and high altitude, long endurance (HALE) vehicles. For wireless sensors in general, NASA applications will extend from remote sensing on earth, climate and meteorological monitoring, and geolocation in planetary exploration.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
There is a myriad of non-NASA applications for structural health monitoring, including bridges, buildings (particularly high value, or sensitive buildings such as nuclear power or chemical plants), seismic detection, and ships (e.g. oil tankers or other vessels carrying cargoes that may be harmful if spilled). Other applications of wireless sensors extend into medical, industrial manufacturing (inventory management, process control), agricultural, domestic (smart house), and automotive (some estimate up to 1trillion automotive sensors in 2010 including tire pressure monitors and stability control).

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Nanosonic, Inc.
1485 South Main Street
Blacksburg, VA 24060-5556

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Andrea Hill
ahill@nanosonic.com
1485 South Main Street
Blacksburg,  VA 24060-5556

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The objective of the proposed program is to develop lightweight and highly elastic electrically conducting interconnects and strain sensor arrays for next generation adaptive aerospace vehicles and structures. The systems-level problem this would solve is the inability of currently available materials to undergo the large strains and displacements associated with shape changes of morphing structures. NanoSonic will demonstrate the feasibility of the Metal RubberTM family of freestanding nanocomposite materials to serve as 1) electrically conductive, low modulus electrodes for large displacement mechanical actuators required to affect large shape changes, and 2) an integrated network of strain sensors to allow mapping of strain and determination of shape in adaptive structural components. Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> is fabricated via layer-by-layer, molecular self-assembly, which enables thickness and placement control over multiple molecular constituents for true nanostructured multifunctionality. As an electrode material, new, ultra-low modulus Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> can be strained to 1000% elongation while remaining electrically conductive; it returns to its original shape and nominal conductivity when released. As a strain sensor, strains up to 1000% have been measured in very highly flexible structures. During Phase I the feasibility of using such electrodes and strain sensors would be demonstrated in cooperation with a large aerospace company.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA applications for materials developed on this program include 1) highly flexible electrical interconnects for mechanical actuators, flex circuits, robotics, prostheses and flexible displays, 2) strain sensors capable of measuring very large strains, 3) low-weight replacements for metal electromagnetic interference shielding materials and electrostatic discharge materials, 4) low-weight RF antenna and waveguide components, and 5) low mass density replacements for metal wiring and cabling on spacecraft and exploration vehicles.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> can be used as replacements for conventional tin-lead solder for the mechanical, electrical and thermal interconnection of electronic and mechanical components. Similar materials may also be used in high performance, highly flexible and mechanically robust electronic flex circuits, flexible displays and smart electronic fabrics.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Perception/Sensing
Airframe
Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI)
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Ceramics
Composites
Metallics
Multifunctional/Smart Materials
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Rolling Hills Research Corporation
420 N. Nash Street
El Segundo, CA 90245-2822

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Michael Kerho
mike@RollingHillsResearch.com
420 N. Nash Street
El Segundo,  CA 90245-2822

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A robust flow control method promising significantly increased performance and virtual shape control for natural laminar flow (NLF) sections is proposed using a novel momentum porting concept. Significant aerodynamic, systems, and control benefits are possible through the integration of virtual aerodynamic shaping technology into modern aircraft. Virtual aerodynamic shaping involves using flow control technology to manipulate the flow field to achieve a desired result regardless of the geometry. A high-payoff approach to significantly increased air vehicle performance is the use of a novel momentum porting concept for the virtual shaping of extended run natural laminar flow sections. The objective of this research is to incorporate a robust and simple tangential pulsed jet blowing system that requires no external air to design and virtually shape an extended natural laminar flow section offering radical performance enhancement in the form of increased lift-to-drag and maximum lift. Additionally, the system will produce a wing design enabling a hinge-less, full-span virtual shaping capability which can be used for fully pilot reactive roll control, span load tailoring, and gust load alleviation. The system will provide significantly enhanced performance for the air vehicle throughout the entire flight envelope.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed virtual shaping natural laminar flow technology has significant potential application in several NASA programs. The virtual shaping system could be fielded in several NASA aircraft unmanned systems, including UAVs, high-altitude long-endurance remotely operated aircraft (HALE-ROA) for reconnaissance, and Mars exploratory aircraft. NASA designers will be eager to exploit the advantages of the virtual shaping technology coupled with realizable pilot reactive flow control. The technology developed in the program can be applied to several other active flow control areas. The system will be applicable throughout NASA's high altitude sensor and UAV aviation community.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The commercialization potential for advanced, high performance airfoils, designed with a reliable and robust active flow control system is quite good. By using Rolling Hills Research's new design approach coupled with realizable pilot reactive flow control, designers of new air vehicles will be able to take advantage of virtual shaping for unconventional designs. The technology developed in the program can be applied to several other active flow control areas. The air vehicle industry will be eager to exploit the advantages of robust active flow control technology. Both commercial and military air vehicle designers will find the technology extremely appealing, allowing significant commercialization potential. The system will be applicable across a wide range of platforms, including high flying UAV type aircraft and sensor platforms and smaller, mid-range UAVs.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Attitude Determination and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Acuity Technologies, Inc.
3475 Edison Way Bldg P
Menlo Park, CA 94025-1873

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Clark
bob@acuitytx.com
3475 Edison Way Bldg P
Menlo Park,  CA 94025-1873

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The cyclogyro, an aircraft propulsion concept with the potential for VTOL to the lower bounds of transonic flight, is conceptually simple but structurally and aerodynamically complex. To our knowledge no cyclogyro has ever flown. We propose to demonstrate through simulation and rotor testing that with appropriately designed cyclogyro rotors and propulsion algorithms, aircraft can transition smoothly from low-speed and vertical flight to near-transonic forward flight. We posit that lift and propulsion can be achieved while increasing the aircraft critical mach number above that of conventional subsonic airplanes with fixed wings. We will show that thrust and lift can be maintained across all speeds, and attainable thrust increases with increasing airspeed for constant rotor speed. Gliding and vertical autorotation can be performed safely with rotors stopped or rotating, respectively.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A practical cyclogyro would provide a NASA with a versatile, capable observation platform, chase plane, and instructional aeronautics demonstrator, as well as a test vehicle for improving cyclogyro flight characteristics and efficiency.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The benefits of a VTOL capable craft that can approach the speed of sound in forward flight without radical reconfiguration are many, including convenient commercial transportation, rapid disaster/rescue response, and flexible multi-mission defense vehicles. We propose that the realization of a successful cyclogyro design can be accomplished with revolutionary structural and aerodynamic innovations, and a successful cyclogyro would be a revolutionary subsonic aircraft.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI)

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
M4 Engineering, Inc.
2161 Gundry Avenue
Signal Hill, CA 90755-3517

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Myles Baker
myles.baker@m4-engineering.com
2161 Gundry Avenue
Signal Hill,  CA 90755-3517

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Development of a toolkit for optimization and virtual flight test of HALE vehicles is proposed based on extensions of the IHAT system for integrated multidisciplinary analysis/optimization of high speed weapons.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Applicable to development of many aircraft, but focused on high alitutde, long endurance (HALE) vehicles.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Applicable to development of many aircraft, but focused on high alitutde, long endurance (HALE) vehicles. Numerous applications in DoD (e.g., Sensorcraft)

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Simulation Modeling Environment
Testing Requirements and Architectures

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Rolling Hills Research Corporation
420 N. Nash Street
El Segundo, CA 90245-2822

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Michael Kerho
mike@RollingHillsResearch.com
420 N. Nash Street
El Segundo,  CA 90245-2822

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
An important mission for NASA is the development of revolutionary flight concepts and technology. The development of Micro unmanned air vehicles (MAVs) and Mars aircraft has received considerable attention recently. Unlike conventional aircraft, MAVs and Mars aircraft suffer from operation in an extremely low Reynolds number flight regime. Generally, a low Reynolds number is considered to be between 150,000 and 500,000. Both MAVs and Mars aircraft, however, can have operational Reynolds number regimes from 20,000 to 120,000. At these extremely low Reynolds numbers, the aerodynamic flow features are dominated by laminar separation and separation bubble effects, which are highly unstable and very dependent upon the free-stream conditions and atmospheric turbulence. Although it is often argued that an exploratory vehicle will operate over a benign portion of the flight envelope, an encounter with strong winds or gusts, particularly during a maneuver, could excite a highly non-linear response. This means that the assumption of linear derivatives for stability and control may not be valid, which could cause the loss of a vehicle designed with a control system based on linear assumptions. It is proposed that a low-cost, integrated ground test, simulation, and flight control development environment be created to address these challenges.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The use of the water tunnel to acquire aerodynamic databases at low Reynolds numbers, which match the flight Reynolds number for small UAVs and other exploratory aircraft, will make this system highly desirable. NASA will be able to utilize this integrated test and design environment to measure nonlinear aerodynamics and account for them in flight control systems for MAVs and Mars exploratory vehicles

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The use of the water tunnel to acquire aerodynamic databases at low Reynolds numbers, which match the flight Reynolds number for small UAVs and other exploratory aircraft, will make this system highly desirable. RHRC will be able to provide both testing and design services to smaller companies that are developing MAVs. The demonstrated utility of the system will also help market RHRC's water tunnels, balances, and software for use by universities and larger companies. Since many universities currently operate their own UAVs as teaching and research tools, the ability to mathematically model them correctly, simulate them, and develop experimental control systems for them will greatly enhance the value of the UAV as a teaching tool.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Simulation Modeling Environment
Testing Facilities
Testing Requirements and Architectures
Guidance, Navigation, and Control

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Continuum Dynamics, Inc.
34 Lexington Avenue
Ewing, NJ 08618-2302

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Todd Quackenbush
todd@continuum-dynamics.com
34 Lexington Avenue
Ewing,  NJ 08618-2302

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Ongoing work under NASA sponsorship is defining promising High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) demonstration vehicle designs for remote sensing, communication relay, environmental monitoring, and other critical missions. Continuing challenges in preparing these vehicles for flight test include issues that will also be critical in the development of operational HALE vehicles: time-accurate simulation of aeroelastic effects; simulation-based design of flight control and propulsion systems for high efficiency, structural stability, and adequate control at all flight conditions; and effective, validated, full-vehicle dynamics analyses for aeroservoelastic applications. The proposed effort will address these needs by making available modular, state of the art modeling tools for use in full aircraft simulations to support vehicle assessment and control system design throughout the HALE flight test and development process. These tools will be operable in a range of modes with up to real-time turnaround and will feature a unique ability to support hardware-coupled ("hardware in the loop") simulation in conjunction with finite element-based aeroelastic modeling. This capability will support both near term flight demonstrations of prospective HALE vehicles and long-term design and analysis tasks for NASA HALE platforms.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A key benefit of the proposed effort would be the development of a fully-coupled nonlinear aero-elastic analysis, simulation, and design tool for HALE aircraft that would support projected NASA flight test activities. This tool would enable non-real-time design/optimization analysis functions and real-time hardware-in-the loop flight simulation, testing and support capabilities; this functionality improves on competing approaches that offer only non-real-time analysis of a purely computational nature and require the acquisition of commercial analysis tools. The ability to couple directly to flight hardware is judged to offer a significant advantage in terms of providing direct support to flight test preparation.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This effort would provide major defense contractors, DoD agencies, prime contractors for HALE programs, and manufacturers of high altitude aircraft or airships a comprehensive analysis with the capability for high fidelity, configurational aerodynamics analysis of both high altitude fixed wing aircraft and airships in calculation times conducive to both support of flight test activities and design. No computational tool exists that can provide this capability incorporating full airframe aerodynamics and aeroelastic modeling, as well as a capability for hardware-coupled simulation. In addition, design information on high altitude propulsion systems would be generated to assist optimization current propeller and wing designs.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Simulation Modeling Environment
Attitude Determination and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Los Gatos Research
67 East Evelyn Avenue, Suite 3
Mountain View, CA 94041-1518

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
An-Dien Nguyen
a.d.nguyen@lgrinc.com
67 East Evelyn Avenue, Suite 3
Mountain View,  CA 94041-1518

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development of condition-based monitoring sensor network systems has the potential to provide an enhanced aircraft safety by real time assessment of the aircraft's structural integrity. Los Gatos Research proposes to develop a structural health monitoring sensor system, capable of simultaneously monitoring dynamic strain and structural damages in aircraft components in real time. Our novel sensor technology offers a number of advantages including compactness (0.2mm x 5mm x 5mm), lightweight (few grams), low cost, and fast response (milliseconds). We achieve this by fabricating Bragg gratings on stress-sensitive polymer planar waveguides on a flexible substrate, which is capable of measuring stress, strain, and temperature, and monitoring damages in advanced material structures. In Phase I, using a DFB laser with a feedback control we will demonstrate the sensor's capability to measure both static and dynamic strain with large dynamic range, high accuracy and high sensitivity. In addition, combing the low-cost laser-based demodulation technique and an acousto-ultrasonic method we will demonstrate the polymer gratings' capability to monitor ultrasonic stress waves indicating the presence and severity of damages in a metal structure, when the structure is probed by an ultrasonic wave generation actuator device.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Integrated optical technology provides significant advantages for advanced aerospace platforms because they are lightweight, immune to electromagnetic wave interference, and do not produce short circuits or ground loops. The development of integrated optic Bragg grating sensors has the potential to increase reliability, enable lower cost, and facilitate effective condition-based structural health monitoring of NASA's advanced aircraft and spacecraft components and systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The novel dynamic strain and damage monitoring sensor system will offer significant cost saving for the civil and aerospace industries by providing a cost-effective solution for structural monitoring for large aerospace and civil structures.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Laser
Optical
Photonics
Optical & Photonic Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Tao of Systems Integration, Inc.
144 Research Drive
Hampton, VA 23666-1325

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Siva Mangalam
siva@taosystem.com
144 Research Drive
Hampton,  VA 23666-1325

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Micron-thin surface hot-film signatures will be used to simultaneously obtain airspeed and flow direction. The flow-angle and airspeed sensor system (FASS) will provide airspeed with practically zero-lag and to less than one knot accuracy and flow angularity to a fraction of a degree, with natural immunity to EMI and RFI. Unlike Pitot-static and other conventional techniques, which experience serious limitations in accuracy, pneumatic lags, and frequency response in thin upper atmospheres, FASS will measure airspeed all the way to zero knots and perform equally well at sea level as well at high altitudes and even in the thin Martian atmosphere. The FASS addresses important flight-operation and flight research problems with crucial impact on vehicle performance, stability & control, structural loads, and pilot action. FASS will permit easy integration with aircraft avionics systems including conventional instruments used for pressure, temperature, and density measurements. Sensor elements will be coated to withstand harsh environment and waterproofed for underwater applications. FASS will be developed and marketed both as a stand-alone device and as an embedded, non-intrusive system. Commercial applications include aerospace vehicles, submarines, ships, boats, atmospheric wind sensing, oceanographic measurements, and tall structures.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
? High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) platform, including solar-powered vehicles and remotely operated aircraft (ROA) program. ? High-altitude and high-endurance UAVs such as Global Hawk ? Mars exploration plane. ? Reusable Launch Vehicles. ? All NASA flight-testing R&D applications, from low speeds to supersonic speeds.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
? Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV). There is now a strong spurt in developing RLV. FASS will be a valuable component of such vehicles and will provide accurate and reliable information for the flight-critical reentry phase of the flight envelope ? FASS will be useful for UAV and UCAV, particularly because of its desirable features like low power consumption, small size, and weight ? FASS will be used by high altitude airship (HAA) used for long endurance vehicles that require to be accurately controlled and maintained in fixed positions for long duration ? FASS can be retrofitted on all existing small and large, civilian and military aircraft and helicopters. The low speed and accurate angle of attack and side-slip angle features will contribute significantly to their safety, performance and control. ? FASS will also be useful for underwater applications. For example, FASS can be used with waterproofed sensors to operate on submarines. ? FASS will find use in atmospheric and oceanographic engineering applications.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Attitude Determination and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Pilot Support Systems
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Optimal Synthesis, Inc.
868 San Antonio Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303-4622

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
P. K. Menon
menon@optisyn.com
868 San Antonio Road
Palo Alto,  CA 94303-4622

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development of an Eulerian model based en route traffic flow management agent for the ACES software is proposed. The proposed research will use a recently-developed automatic modeling technique, together with a predictive air traffic flow control approach. Performance of the traffic flow management agent will be evaluated in several traffic flow control situations. The sensitivity of the traffic flow management system to variations in traffic patterns and weather will be investigated. Phase I research will demonstrate the feasibility of developing the traffic flow management agent. A complete version of the proposed software agent will be developed during the Phase II work. It will be fully integrated with the ACES software and commercialized during the Phase III work.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
ACES software is being used by NASA researchers for developing and evaluating advanced ATM concepts. The traffic flow management agents developed under the proposed research effort will help support NASA's research initiatives.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The strategic flow control methodology developed under the proposed research will help develop decision aids for future air traffic flow management. This flow control technique is also useful for developing decision support tools for collaborative flow control and for designing regional metering strategies.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Simulation Modeling Environment
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Software Development Environments
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Aerotonomy, Incorporated
117 Herron Street
Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30742-3127

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
James Neidhoefer
jneidhoefer@aerotonomy.com
117 Herron Street
Fort Oglethorpe,  GA 30742-3127

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Aerotonomy, Incorporated, and subcontractors Georgia Tech and the AAI Corporation will combine state-of-the-art adaptive UAV control, optimized sensor suites, innovative strategic and tactical maneuvering systems, and a wealth of experience in manufacturing and operating Tactical UAVs (including the Shadow 200) to create a practical and autonomous See-and-Avoid System (SAAS) for safe UAV operations within the National Airspace System (NAS) and outside of Special Use Airspace. The SAAS will enable UAVs to autonomously perform both strategic maneuvering to follow the same predictable "right-of-way rules" followed by manned aircraft, as well as tactical maneuvering to perform close quarter collision avoidance. The primary innovation in this project is the Strategic Maneuvering System (SMS), a rule-based "maneuver executive" that will enable a UAV to interact with manned aircraft or other UAVs in a manner that is predictable and consonant with NAS operating procedures.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The most immediate and obvious synergy with an existing NASA program is the Access 5 program. Although some specifics of the Access 5 program differ from this project (Access 5 focuses on UAV operations above 18,000 ft. while we focus on operations below 18,000 ft.; also our SAAS considers UAVs and manned aircraft that may not be equipped with transponders), many of the conclusions and lessons learned during Access 5 will greatly benefit the proposed program. The deliverables of the proposed program will also directly benefit Access 5. The SAAS developed in this program will also have potential applications to several other NASA programs including work on modernizing the Air Traffic Management System taking place at the NASA Ames Research Center, as well as the work on Intelligent Flight Controls being done by the Adaptive Controls Group in the Intelligent Systems Division of NASA Ames Research Center.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
AAI Corporation, the manufacturer of the Shadow family of UAV systems, recognizes the potential benefits of the proposed technology and has endorsed our proposal. AAI's wide range of UAV products and advanced development activities provide numerous opportunities for NASA, military, and commercial application of the technologies developed here. In addition to opportunities with AAI, Aerotonomy will pursue commercialization of these technologies with other major UAV systems developers, such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics, Aerovironment, Lockheed Martin, and Aurora Flight Sciences. We will also seek synergistic funding from the DoD and other government agencies including the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Army, and DARPA for additional research, systems development, and testing.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Intelligence
Perception/Sensing
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Attitude Determination and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Expert Systems

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Intelligent Automation, Inc.
15400 Calhoun Drive, Suite 400
Rockville, MD 20855-2785

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Vikram Manikonda
vikram@i-a-i.com
15400 Calhoun Drive, Suite 400
Rockville,  MD 20855-2785

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Large-scale agent systems have become key tools in modeling and simulation tools such as NASA's Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES), an agent-based simulation of the National Airspace System (NAS). However, existing tools for single host debugging and analysis do not address the problem of understanding large distributed systems consisting of thousands of autonomous and independent agents. In this Phase I effort, we propose a distributed debugging and event tracing capability for multi-agent systems advancing the state of the art in development tools for distributed systems. This capability will dramatically reduce the time and effort required to understand and diagnose the behavior of complex, distributed applications. With the proposed innovation, the build and test development cycle for ACES will be dramatically reduced, enabling more functionality to be added in the form of toolboxes with less time spent in expensive system level testing. This will allow more future concepts to be evaluated with ACES in a shorter time ? meeting a critical need for customers such as the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) in their development and analysis of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) concepts using ACES.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The initial target customer of the proposed toolset and capability is NASA's CTO7 ACES program and ACES users such as the AwCNS program. The resultant software will be directly integrated in the CybelePro framework as part of IAI's agent system development product line and provided to NASA users.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed system debugging capability will be directly marketed to private industry, the government, and universities engaged in development of distributed systems in need of such a debugging capability. The distributed debugging and analysis tools will be supplied to existing DoD CybelePro users and applications for mobile ad-hoc network modeling, battle command and C2 systems, and distributed robotic teams.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Software Development Environments
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mosaic ATM, Inc.
1190 Hawling Pl
Leesburg, VA 20175-5084

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Stephen Atkins
atkins@mosaicatm.com
3 Primrose Lane
Westford,  MA 01886-3312

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The NASA-developed Surface Management System (SMS) is currently being used by several air carriers on a daily basis. Although SMS was intended to create shared awareness between FAA and National Airspace System (NAS) user stakeholders in airport traffic management, it was not designed to address the specific needs of air carriers or airport authorities. This suggests a market for an airport automation tool aimed directly at the decisions that air carriers must make every day and which can significantly impact their business efficiency. This project will design and build a tool to improve the efficiency with which airport ground resources are used. Substantial re-designing of the displays relative to those available in SMS will improve the system's usability. Moreover, the complexity of the problem of optimizing resource assignment in the presence of the uncertainties involved suggest that automation may be able to improve efficiency and reduce the planner's workload. The Airport Ground Resource Planning (AGRP) tool will include both appropriate graphical user interfaces for visualizing resource allocations and making manual entries as well as advanced planning algorithms to recommend efficient allocation decisions. Phase 1 will study a single resource ? the off-load crews for a cargo operation.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed SBIR is focused primarily towards a commercial product and, therefore, potential NASA applications are limited. However, one application for this work is to NASA's continuing analysis of the impact and benefits of other automation or surface traffic management changes. NASA could use the ground resource planning algorithm to study how other changes on the airport surface would affect delays or throughput. The ground resource planning problem, fundamentally, is a queuing problem where each resource is a separate queue. The algorithm optimally assigns flights to queues and calculates the wait and service times. Therefore, the algorithm could even be applied to study runway usage, where each runway is a resource, or taxiway usage where the resources of interest are the intersections. In addition, NASA could integrate the new user interface into NASA's advanced airport surface automation research to broaden the capabilities available to address NASA's research goals.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The AGRP tool is intended to be used by air carriers or airport authorities responsible for managing ground resources such as parking gate assignments. Ground resource managers will use the AGPR tool to aid parking gate assignments, off-load and load crew utilization, fuel and catering scheduling, maintenance crew assignments, and marshalling/tug dispatching. The benefit from the AGPR tool will be most noticeable for air carriers at hub airports or airport authorities responsible for utilization of a resource for the entire airport. This technology is applicable both here in the United States as well as internationally. Ground resources, including parking gates, are shared between air carriers at many international airports, making efficient use of the resources including fairness more important. In addition, fuel or catering companies contracted by the air carriers to provide services could use the AGRP tool to better manage their operations.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Expert Systems
Human-Computer Interfaces

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Micro Analysis & Design, Inc.
4949 Pearl East Circle, Suite 300
Boulder, CO 80301-2577

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Kenneth Leiden
kleiden@maad.com
4949 Pearl East Circle, Suite 300
Boulder,  CO 80301-2577

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA's Future Air traffic management Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) is a simulation tool to evaluate next generation air traffic management (ATM) systems. FACET has been gaining popularity with ATM researchers in research years due to its well-designed user interface and robust capabilities for simulating the interaction between the National Airspace System (NAS) and new ATM concepts. Since controller task load and performance is a critical aspect of any future ATM concept, we propose to integrate human performance metrics into FACET. Currently, the only representation of human performance in FACET is through calculation of dynamic density, which estimates controller task load at the sector level through regression analysis of subjective controller ratings for current operations. However, the applicability of dynamic density in its current form for predicting controller task load of future ATM operations is unknown. By integrating human performance metrics directly into FACET, preliminary task load implications and predictions of workload-constrained sector capacity of any future ATM concept would be immediately available to researchers. This would be particularly useful to future ATM tradeoff studies and could be used in lieu of subjective controller ratings for preliminary recalibration of dynamic density for future ATM operations.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
FACET is widely used by ATM researchers at NASA and other government agencies. Since controller workload and performance is a critical aspect of any future ATM concept, integrating human performance modeling into FACET will expand the robustness of the tool for performing system tradeoffs and focusing expensive human-in-the-loop experiments.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The commercial potential of FACET integrated with human performance modeling is growing as more countries privatize or consider privatizing their air traffic services. Companies providing air traffic services can evaluate controller workload issues using FACET to determine if investments in controller tools and technologies are worthwhile.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Simulation Modeling Environment
Training Concepts and Architectures
Computer System Architectures
Human-Computer Interfaces
Software Development Environments
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Metron Aviation, Inc.
131 Elden Street, Suite 200
Herndon, VA 20170-4758

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Terry Thompson
thompson@Metronaviation.com
131 Elden Street, Suite 200
Herndon,  VA 20170-3456

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Leveraging extensive experience from Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) environmental analysis, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Airspace Re-design projects, as well as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) environmental modeling and decision-aid projects, Metron Aviation develops a software system to enable balanced noise and emissions reductions by integrated Air Traffic Management (ATM)/aircraft systems. The proposed capability, Emissions and Noise Total Impact REduction (ENTIRE) is innovative in the follow ways: 1. It spans the spectrum of environmental impacts, encompassing both noise and local air-quality; 2. It conjoins both ATM and aircraft-based activities for the management of these impact; and 3. It provides a tractable algorithmic approach to achieving specific noise and emissions impact reduction goals. The proposed capability directly supports the next-generation capabilities and environmentally friendly ATM capability sought under Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Subtopic A3.01 ? Next Generation ATM Systems, directly addressing integrated ATM/aircraft systems that reduce noise and emissions. This software system enables NASA to provide quantitative techniques for finding ATM/aircraft operations that achieve specific combined noise and emissions impact reductions using methods that identify relative contributions of each aspect of ATM and aircraft operations to these reductions. At its core the system will utilize greedy/breedy algorithms with variance in degrees of freedom and comparison of subsequent solutions towards meeting specific impact reduction goals.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The goals of the JPDO mandate that environmental impact be a part of almost all changes in the future systems and procedures being designed and integrated into the NAS. This indicates that there is a strong need and a growing market for a system like ENTIRE. This need may lead to commercial opportunities for NASA in the following ways: 1. The ENTIRE effort will allow NASA to design and develop robust and adaptable mixtures of ATM/aircraft operations reducing combined noise and emissions impacts. This capability will potentially allow NASA to develop tools and solutions that may be of commercial value to other firms and other government agencies such as the FAA. 2. With the development of these capabilities, and related expertise in developing solutions to aviation-related environmental impact, NASA may win research opportunities from commercial firms and airlines seeking to mitigate environmental impacts.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The Phase I and Phase II non-NASA commercial potential for the ENTIRE method and supporting algorithms is significant in the following ways: ? Aviation-related commercial firms of all types (airlines, aerospace companies, consultants, etc.) need access to a methodology and algorithms that will help them plan and execute optimal mixtures of ATM and aircraft operational activities to reduce environmental impacts associated with aviation noise and emissions; and ? The long-term nature of the JPDO development of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) implies that the changing nature of the business strategies of NAS users will require continued adjustment in the ATM/aircraft operational activities, perhaps in a tactical fashion. This will provide commercial opportunities for firms able to rapidly ingest large amounts of complex demand, capacity, and weather information, analyze this information, and produce optimal operational-activity plans.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Simulation Modeling Environment
Human-Computer Interfaces
Software Development Environments

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Aerotech Research
11836 Fishing Point Drive, Suite 200
Newport News, VA 23606-4507

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Paul Robinson
paulrobinson@atr-usa.com
11836 Fishing Point Dr, Suite 200
Newport News,  VA 23606-4507

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Every day, turbulence has an adverse effect on aircraft operations and capacity of the NAS, costing the airline industry at least $100 million annually in operational inefficiencies, unscheduled maintenance, and injuries. A contributor to these costs is that controllers' and dispatchers' current tactical knowledge of turbulence hazards relies heavily on verbal pilot reports of turbulence, which are often inconsistent, late, and subjective. AeroTech will develop a turbulence hazard decision support tool (TurbDST) that will enhance controllers' and dispatchers' situational awareness of the location and severity of turbulence; by providing real-time quantitative turbulence information down-linked from aircraft. TurbDST will enhance tactical and strategic decision making with regard to airspace usage and aircraft routing by enabling users to predict the effect of the reported/detected turbulence on aircraft whose route may take them through that location. With enhanced turbulence knowledge, collaboration with pilots regarding route changes can be improved and cost savings to the airlines can be gained through more efficient and safer aircraft routing. Phase I will prove technical feasibility of integrating the turbulence information and will develop, using controller and dispatcher inputs, CONOPS and requirements for the TurbDST. By Phase III, a meaningful controller/dispatcher TurbDST will be developed, tested, and evaluated.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
When the goals of the proposed R/R&D are met, this turbulence hazard decision support tool will be supportive of NASA's Airspace Systems program's goal to "improve throughput, predictability, flexibility, collaboration, and efficiency of the National Airspace System" and the Efficient Flight Path Management's (EFPM) goal to develop "integrated air traffic management decision support tools and advanced traffic management concepts to facilitate modernization of the NAS." The TurbDST has direct applications to the EFPM's Advanced Routing technical area and the Direct-To (D2) tool, specifically with assisting in the visualization and notification of routing conflicts due to hazardous weather (turbulence). The Strategic Airspace Usage project's Collaborative Traffic Management portion would also benefit from the tool. TurbDST will also directly contribute to NASA's Aviation Safety & Security Program's stated national goal of a 50% reduction in aviation accidents by 2007 and benefit the efforts of the Turbulence Prediction and Warning System (TPAWS) program.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
AeroTech's TurbDST will provide controllers and dispatchers with improved situational awareness and information concerning turbulence location and severity that will both enhance decision-making and enable more efficient collaboration with pilots concerning flight path changes to avoid hazardous turbulence. Use of the TurbDST can result in more efficient routing of aircraft around turbulence, reductions in enroute delays due to weather/turbulence, and reductions in injuries due to turbulence, which all translate into cost savings for aircraft operators. The TurbDST also has potential as a preflight planning tool for both dispatchers and pilots. The tool will be software that can be used as a standalone system or integrated into current controller or dispatcher flight following and routing displays. Air Traffic Control Centers and Part 121 carriers (both domestic and international) will be the primary markets for the TurbDST. Delta Air Lines supports AeroTech's Phase I efforts.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Structured Materials Industries, Inc.
201 Circle Drive North, Suite 102/103
Piscataway, NJ 08854-3723

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Joe Cuchiaro
jcuchiaro@aol.com
201 Circle Drive North, Suite 102/103
Piscataway,  NJ 08854-3723

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A ferroelectric non-linear dielectric was recently discovered that, in their film form, possess a number of properties that make it an excellent choice for radiation-hardened electronics, particularly a radiation hardened (total dose hardened and SEE immune) non-volatile (NV) static random access memory (SRAM). Electrical measurements of these films demonstrated a relatively low dielectric constant (~20), an inherent ability to form a native buffer layer when deposited directly on silicon, and a strong polarization hysteresis effect. These results indicate that this film may be used to replace the two n-channel and two p-channel transistors in a traditional 4-T SRAM latch cell with two n-channel and two p-channel non-linear dielectric field effect transistors (NLDFETs). The threshold voltage hysteresis effect of the NLDFET should achieve full SEU immunity to at least 80MeV-cm2/mg of ionizing radiation, when used in a standard 6-transistor SRAM cell structure, thus have ultra-fast access times (like commercial SRAMs) while offering full non-volatility. In Phase I we will provide the device proof of concept, then in Phase II build a prototype memory. Phase III will see commercialization by licensing and sales. The resulting NV-SRAM products have the potential to be orders of magnitude faster than any existing EEPROM or FLASH devices because the nonlinear dielectric film forms a native dielectric with silicon giving the structure resistance to "wear-out" or "data-retention" problems. Finally, the SMI material is fully compatible with CMOS processing and has been accepted into major commercial silicon fabrication lines as a high-k dielectric for linear applications.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential NASA Commercial applications include licensing of 6T SRAM technology to major semiconductor manufacturing companies, radiation hardened high-density SRAM 916 - 32M) and Non-Volatile embedded memory product that operate fast with state-of-the-art microprocessor speeds.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The commercial products derived from this program have the potential to be orders of magnitude faster than any existing EEPROM or FLASH devices because of the employment of the non-linear dielectric, which also give the structure resistance to "wear-out". Thus the technology can be broadly applied to slicon semiconductor devices in general.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Testing Facilities
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Highly-Reconfigurable
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Semi-Conductors/Solid State Device Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
AeroAstro, Inc.
20145 Ashbrook Place
Ashburn, VA 20147-3373

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
William Seng
bill.seng@aeroastro.com
20145 Ashbrook Place
Ashburn,  VA 20147-3373

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
AeroAstro's innovative design approach for implementing reconfigurable electronics frees the spacecraft designer to concentrate on the mission at hand with significant assurance that single-point failures can be automatically corrected. It also uses dynamic reconfiguration to change circuit functions which will create the opportunity to conserve mass, volume, and power while providing capabilities that may have been valuable, but deemed to be less important or infrequently needed so that they could not justify dedicated hardware. The system operates at a much finer level of granularity than with other reconfigurable approaches, which increases not the only adaptability and versatility, but also reduces the redundancy required to assure the success of the mission. Unlike traditional approaches that employ redundant systems, there are no mass penalties, and affordability is achievable. Significant benefits include dramatic orders of magnitude reduction in mass, volume, and cost.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Reconfigurability benefits all missions by providing graceful degradation of electronic systems after damage, and also enabling additional functionality. The improved safety achieved is essential to success. Failures result in loss of experiments, the mission, and even the astronauts' lives. Delays in restoring failed equipment to at least minimal functionality are intolerable. The demands of interplanetary travel are more difficult, beginning with Mars exploration missions, much longer in duration, thus increasing the likelihood of failure. There will be powerful contention over the allocation of resources. Compromises reducing spare parts are inevitable. Self-diagnosing, self-repairing systems enhance the success of these bold ventures.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Military systems, to destroy sensitive equipment if capture is imminent, to cloak equipment by stealth or to enable graceful degradation after battle damage. Electronic systems not used simultaneously can be combined into a single reconfigurable system. The aircraft industry. Critical system failure might cost hundreds of souls. Other transportation systems, including automotive, trucks, railroads, and ships. Power plants, electrical transmission/distribution systems, financial networks, homeland security-related systems. Medical systems, vital in operating rooms and other areas of hospitals, and personal electronic systems that sustain life benefit from increased reliability.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
Attitude Determination and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Architectures and Networks
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
RF
Computer System Architectures
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Data Input/Output Devices
Manned-Manuvering Units
Portable Life Support
Suits
Tools
Highly-Reconfigurable
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Science and Novel Technology
27 Via Porto Grande
Rancho Palos Verdes , CA 90275-2049

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Vladimir Katzman
traffic405@cox.net
27 Via Porto Grande
Rancho Palos Verdes ,  CA 90275-2049

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Current and future programs of near-Earth and deep space exploration require the development of robust serial data transfer electronics within the spacecraft's subsystems while preserving open system architecture. The electronics must be reconfigurable, fault-tolerant, and have the ability to operate effectively for long periods of time in harsh environmental conditions. Existing data transfer systems based on passive backplanes are slow, power hungry, slightly reconfigurable, provide limited expandability, and have low tolerance to radiation effects. One of the most promising approaches to alleviate these system shortcomings is based on switching fabric (SF) backplane architecture with serial (i.e. Space Wire (SW)) interfaces. In response to the described needs, we propose to develop a novel, radiation-tolerant, SF with a user-selectable standard SW interface or our patent-pending multi-level (ML) interface that features a high frequency range, low power consumption, and advanced functionality. Our ML interconnect technique eliminates the need for the second information channel utilized in the SW data-strobe encoding scheme. Instead the channel can be used as a redundant link for improving the system's fault tolerance specification. Radiation tolerance of the proposed system is achieved through the combination of the state-of-the-art and proprietary hardening-by-technology, hardening-by-design, and hardening-by-architecture techniques.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The successful accomplishment of this project will result in the development of a compact Application Specific Integrated Circuit or Multi-Chip-Module, which has the potential to revolutionize intra-space craft system development. The universal software-reconfigurable interface will not only speed-up the system's design and assembly process, but will open the way for the implementation of a true Plug and Play architecture and in-situ hardware adaptation. This is extremely important for the realization of future innovative concepts for space exploration over the next decade.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The novel space wire protocol based switching fabric approach that will be developed during Phase I will be implemented as a low power, open architecture, radiation hardened, application specific integrated circuit. The developed technology will mitigate new mission risks and minimize system cost and development time. This communication technology will also help computer and system designers to increase the processing power of future large computer systems in the movie industry and in a variety of military and industrial applications.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Highly-Reconfigurable

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
CFD Research Corp
215 Wynn Dr.
Huntsville, AL 35805-1926

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Marek Turowski
jls@cfdrc.com
215 Wynn Dr.
Huntsville,  AL 35805-1926

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This project aims to provide Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools for radiation-tolerant, wide-temperature-range digital, analog, mixed-signal, and radio-frequency electronic components suitable for operation in the extreme environments of the Moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations. All such exploration systems will need reliable electronics able to operate in a wide temperature range (-230?C to +130 ?C) and high radiation levels. There is very little knowledge of semiconductor device behavior in extreme low temperatures (currently ongoing research) and no reliable models or design tools. CFDRC will develop first commercial-quality validated models and CAD tools for predicting the electrical performance and reliability of electronic components in extreme low temperatures, with included radiation effects and reliability analysis, using coupled semiconductor and thermal-mechanical simulation. This work will use and implement the newest data from the ongoing NASA Exploration Systems and Research Technology (Code ES&RT) program, led by Prof. Cressler at Georgia Tech (subcontractor in this proposal), involving JPL, BAE, Boeing, Vanderbilt, and others, aimed at developing electronics technology for mixed-signal circuit applications for lunar (to -230?C) applications. Reliable and validated CAD tools will help to predict electronics performance and radiation response in the extreme temperatures, and reduce the amount of testing cost and time.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Improvements in electronic components and systems reliability and radiation hardness are required to enable NASA future exploration missions. The proposed Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools will support development and design of radiation-tolerant, wide-temperature-range digital, analog, low power, mixed signal, and RF electronic components, and integrated modules suitable for operation in the extreme environments of the Moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations, in particular, in extreme low-temperatures. The new CAD tools for predicting the electrical performance and reliability for low-temperature electronic systems and components will help NASA to: ? better understand and predict behavior of electronic devices and systems in deep space environments; ? assess and select new electronic technologies, devices, and materials for extreme low temperatures; ? better evaluate the extreme-temperature performance and radiation response at early design stage; ? set requirements for hardening and testing; reduce the amount of testing cost and time.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential users include other space electronics suppliers, in particular for DoD space communication and surveillance systems as well as commercial satellites. There is also an interest in cryogenic electronics for high-sensitivity, low-noise analog and mixed-signal applications, like metrology, sensors (radiation, optical, X-ray), radiometrology, radio and optical astronomy, infrared and photon detectors, and other high-end equipment.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Simulation Modeling Environment
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Arkansas Power Electronics International, Inc.
700 W Research Blvd
Fayetteville, AR 72701-7174

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Roberto Schupbach
marcelo@apei.net
700 W Research Blvd
Fayetteville,  AR 72701-7174

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to investigate and prove the feasibility of developing ultra-wide temperature (-230 <SUP>o</SUP>C to +130 <SUP>o</SUP>C) motor drives utilizing Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) asynchronous logic digital control electronics. Asynchronous circuits remove the concept of a global clock by incorporating handshaking protocols to control the circuit. The handshaking protocols allows for flexible timing requirements, high power efficiency, and low noise/emission generation. The flexible timing nature of asynchronous logic makes this type of logic circuit an excellent candidate for extreme temperature control electronics. In addition, the outstanding low-temperature performance of SiGe coupled with its industry standard manufacturing processes makes the SiGe-based asynchronous digital electronics an ideal technology choice for developing digital electronics for space applications. By utilizing the benefits of asynchronous logic in conjunction with the excellent temperature performance of SiGe, future ultra-wide temperature digital control electronics will operate reliably, exceeding the capabilities of today's state-of-the-art Si electronics by several folds. Lastly, The marriage of SiGe-based asynchronous control with power electronics into an ultra-wide temperature range DC-motor drive will prove to be immensely valuable to the NASA program in reducing systems' weight, improving efficiency, reliability, and performance?all resulting in significant cost savings.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The first market for this technology will be in the power electronics systems of NASA Lunar and Martian science missions and deep space exploration vehicles, including spacecraft, balloons, rockets, and aircraft. APEI, Inc. plans to develop the technology throughout Phases I, II, and III with this purpose and goal in mind. There are a wide range of NASA applications in which this technology could significantly improve performance and/or reduce launch costs. Ultra-wide temperature electronics will eliminate (or reduce) the need for thermal control reducing size, weight, and power usage.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential applications for this technology are found on the commercial avionics, medical and defense sectors. The avionics industry is actively pursuing the development of extreme temperature electronics for sensors, radio-frequency power amplifiers and actuators/motor drive application. This technology has the potential of simplifying the design the next generation of crafts and commercial satellites expanding their current capabilities. The medical fields and the defense sectors have particular interest on extreme temperature electronics since it has the potential of impacting several areas such as magnetic resonance imaging, particle accelerators, etc.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Semi-Conductors/Solid State Device Materials
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
SJT Micropower
16411 N. Skyridge Lane
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268-1515

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Joseph Ervin
joseph.ervin@asu.edu
16411 N. Skyridge Lane
Fountain Hills,  AZ 85268-1515

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We are proposing a new extreme environment electronics (EEE) technology based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs). Our technology allows MESFETs to be fabricated using commercial SOI CMOS foundries with no expensive changes to the process flow. The MESFETs are radiation tolerant and the use of SOI substrates makes them SEU immune. They offer unique advantages compared to equivalent geometry MOSFETs including: i) higher operating frequencies in the ultra-low power regime; (ii) 10 ? 100X lower 1/f noise; (iii) high voltage operation (>20V). The MESFETs show excellent performance up to 200C, as do simulations down to ? 185C. The low-noise, high-speed (GHz) and ultra-low power capability of the SOI MESFETs makes them ideally suited for a variety of EEE mixed-signal circuits including analog-to-digital converters, low-noise amplifiers and voltage/current references for advanced sensor applications. The high voltage capability also suggests MESFET applications in power amplifier communication modules, as well as DC-DC converters in power management systems. During Phase 1 we shall develop device models that describe MESFET operation over the temperature range ?180 to + 130C. The models will be calibrated against data taken from our existing MESFETs, and will operate within industry standard CAD tools. The models will be used to design and simulate an operational amplifier, a voltage controlled oscillator, a power amplifier and a low noise amplifier. The layout of the simulated designs will be completed during Phase 1, for fabrication during Phase 2 in partnership with a commercial foundry.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A low power, mixed-signal MESFET technology will be valuable to NASA wherever extreme environment electronics are required. This will include missions to the moon and Mars, where wide temperature swings will be experienced. Missions to Jupiter will benefit from the high radiation tolerance of the MESFETs. The low-power capability of the MESFETs will reduce the overall power consumption of spacecraft communication and sensing systems. The high voltage capability will be of use for advanced power management systems. The development of MESFETs for medical implants will benefit NASA through improved astronaut health monitoring. Because the MESFETs can be manufactured using commercial SOI CMOS processes, our technology is extremely affordable, and is compatible with the future scaling of SOI CMOS.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The MESFET technology we are developing will have widespread applications in commercial electronics, wherever low-power, mixed-signal circuits are required. Applications include the transceiver components of personal communication systems that will benefit from the low-noise, low-power, RF capability of the MESFET in the receive stage, and from the increased efficiency of the MESFET power amplifier in the transmit stage. MESFET component such as A/D converters and operational amplifiers will be of use in sensor networks and systems. The ultra-low power, RF capability of the MESFETs will be particularly useful in medical implants, such as pacemakers and artificial cochlea. SOI MESFETs offer significant 'added-value' to existing SOI product lines because of their high voltage capability that greatly exceeds the maximum operating voltage of the SOI MOSFETs. This will allow new SOI products to be developed, without additional cost. Examples include multiplexors, DC-DC converters, voltage and current regulators etc.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
RF
Data Input/Output Devices
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Semi-Conductors/Solid State Device Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
International Electronic Machines Corporation (IEM)
60 Fourth Avenue
Albany, NY 12202-1924

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Zack Mian
zack786@nycap.rr.com
60 Fourth Avenue
Albany,  NY 12202-1924

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
International Electronic Machines Corporation, a leader in the design of precision imaging systems, will develop an innovative multispectral, panoramic imaging system for use on exploratory landing craft. During Phase I, IEM will build upon and advance alternative strategies, including our patent pending Synthetic Field of View (SynthFOV) technology and our Pan/Tilt Mirror System (PTMS), initially conceived by IEM for the USMC Gladiator UGV. These two technologies will eliminate or significantly reduce the use of conventional moving parts, will decrease power demand, will reduce launch weight, and will require less space than current imaging systems. SynthFOV incorporates an array of Off-Axis Telescopes to focus light to a sensor via a series of optically precise mirrors. The PTMS uses a centrally configured mirror that rotates and tilts along both horizontal and vertical axes thereby directing the reflected light to a sensor. Alternative configurations include use of two imagers for stereo panoramic imaging; incorporating filter wheels for multispectral imaging on a single sensor; use of multiple sensors for imaging visible, near IR, and other wavelengths, and use of multispectral lenses to further reduce weight. IEM will evaluate these and other alternatives and will demonstrate the applicability of the selected approach through pre-prototype testing.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The Multi-Spectral Panoramic Imaging System will advance future planetary exploration. The smaller size, lighter weight, fewer conventional moving parts, and adjustable fields of view will improve imaging capability over current mechanically based pan/tilt camera systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The markets for a successful implementation of this panoramic imaging system are very large and diverse. Security systems which do not require constant monitoring by human operators, which are adaptable and customizable, and which can automatically detect security risks and notify the appropriate personnel would be of vast interest to all branches of the military, to all law-enforcement organizations at Federal, State, and local levels, and to industry in a wide variety of settings. In the current security-minded political climate, security is a multibillion-dollar market which is only likely to expand in the next decade. Multispectral components of this imaging system would also have wide application in security, safety, industrial maintenance, and scientific roles.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Perception/Sensing
Optical
Photonics

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Epsilon Lambda Electronics Corporation
396 Fenton Lane, Suite 601
West Chicago, IL 60185-2687

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Knox
bobk@epsilonlambda.com
396 Fenton Lane, Suite 601
West Chicago,  IL 60185-2687

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In Topic X1.03 NASA (JPL) is seeking to extend and implement long distance exploratory surface rover missions to gain knowledge of surface topology and roughness. The benefit is to identify suitable sites for future landings of human or robotic missions and to aid in pinpoint landings. High resolution millimeter wave radar sensors provide a low cost, reliable way for a Moon or Mars Rover to detect hazards and negative obstacles (i.e. holes and drop-offs) while moving or stationary. A radar sensor is effective as a stand-alone sensor, or as a complement to the stereo vision based and laser line systems used on previous successful rover missions. The low computer overhead and inherently rapid response of a radar sensor enables a rover to rapidly traverse extremely rugged terrain without risk of falling into a hole or being otherwise trapped. The rapid traverse speed provides a wider area for collection of science data, and reduces the fraction of limited mission time spent on moving, as opposed to measurement. The overall objective of the proposed program is to develop a practical rover radar sensor for negative and positive obstacle detection.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Beyond the application stated in SBIR topic X1.03, the radar sensor is applicable to all NASA robotics and rover requirements, whether for Mars, the Moon, and destinations beyond. The proposed concept may also be applicable for certain landing and docking activities, where precise, automated actions can be supplemented with MMW radar.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential Non-NASA commercial applications include robotics and unmanned vehicle applications, where concerns similar to that of the Moon/Mars rover apply ? ie. avoiding positive and negative hazards. This may include all areas of robotics and unmanned vehicles, including those used in Homeland Security Operations, Surveillance, Rescue Operations, and Land Surveys. Another application includes terrestrial robots for exploration of hostile environments (arctic, volcanoes, etc).

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Mobility
Perception/Sensing
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Microwave/Submillimeter
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Voxtel, Inc.
12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 230
Beaverton, OR 97005-1687

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
George Williams
georgew@voxtel-inc.com
12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 230
Beaverton,  OR 97005-1687

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The object of this effort is to design a miniature, low power, angle-angle-range, 3-D flash LADAR receiver that can be implemented using germanium-on-insulator/silicon-on-insulator (GOI/SOI) hybrid wafer stacks. The germanium layer of the wafer stack will be used for photodetection functions, so as to take advantage of its excellent photoabsorption in the visible and NIR, as well as its high carrier mobilities. Low-noise, high-bandwidth amplification and pulse detection circuits will be fabricated in the silicon layer of the wafer stack, using mature complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The proposed design is optimized to be both low power and radiation tolerance. The SOI architecture is inherently tolerant of radiation, as the small volumes of device material involved have a correspondingly smaller scattering cross section. Moreover, isolation of the thin device layer from the substrate means that CMOS receiver circuits fabricated on such a wafer will benefit from increased speed, reduced power consumption, and lower noise. Finally, as the proposed design can be manufactured using commercial CMOS foundry lines, no additional cost, development time, or quality control measures relative to a standard CMOS process will be incurred, once the hybrid wafers are procured. In Phase I, the proposed receiver will be designed, simulated, and optimized using TCAD tools. The design and simulation tasks will be complemented with a short-loop fabrication experiment in which critical receiver components will be fabricated from hybrid GOI/SOI wafer prototypes and characterized.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA may use LADAR's terrain mapping capabilities for space exploration, and autonomous navigation. As example, one of the recent NASA Mars probes, lost while attempting to land near the planet's South Pole region, probably fell into a crevasse. A 3-D imager could provide highly accurate maps of potential landing areas, offering mission planners more accurate site selection data. NASA also is investigating LADAR applications for spacecraft docking systems. LADAR is also usefully for unattended vehicle navigation, hazard avoidance, detection of obstacles present in the path of an autonomous vehicle, and 3-D scene structure applications.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
LADAR systems have applications for obstacle detection, land and building survey, 3-D modeling, target identification, terrain mapping, and navigational guidance. The military is currently using LADAR in missile seekers and UAV platforms, and is interested in using the 3-D mapping capabilities of LADAR. For example, in an urban operation, if terrorists were suspected of operating in a building, accurate LADAR maps could be used to do 3-D modeling of the area, permitting ground forces to find the best ways to approach the structure without being seen.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Microwave/Submillimeter
Optical
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Photonics
Optical & Photonic Materials
Photovoltaic Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Aeronix, Inc.
1175 W. Hibiscus Blvd, Suite 200
Melbourne, FL 32901-2703

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jeff Ernst
jernst@aeronix.com
1775 W. Hibiscus Blvd, Suite 200
Melbourne,  FL 32901-2703

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Exploration of planetary surfaces will require a communication architecture that supports operational capabilities in which fixed and mobile assets on the planetary surface can communicate seamlessly and securely. Aeronix understands the issues and believes that the solution lies in the development of radiation tolerant wireless devices that employ the benefits of FPGA technology as an underlying architecture feature. Aeronix is currently developing two technologies that will be directly leveraged. ? A FPGA/DSP based enhanced 802.16-2004 wireless LAN air-to-ground solution targeted for DoD applications with peak throughput of 65.5 Mbps. ? A Radiation Tolerant FPGA based, NSA Crypto Mod compliant cryptographic module for space. The specific problem addressed by this Aeronix Phase I SBIR effort is to identify enhancements to the 802.16-Terrestrial architecture and design required to meet the harsh environmental and radiation conditions expected in space and on planetary exploration missions. The new radiation tolerant communications solution will be identified as 802.16 RadT and will have operational capabilities of 65.5 Mbps / 70 miles. Additionally, this SBIR will address the unique requirements for Information Assurance and Type 1 crypto for classified command, control, and data requirements via integration of radiation tolerant crypto.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential NASA applications include spaced-based wireless networks, lunar-based wireless networks, and Mars-based wireless networks. Usage models include point-to-multipoint and Mesh networks for communication between base stations, mobile rovers, mobile humans, and sensors. Equipments supported via this SBIR include base station access points, subscriber stations, wireless bridges, and wireless NICs for radiation environments.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
IEEE 802.16 (i.e. WiMax) is an industry-lead standard that is being targeted broadly for metropolitan area networks and last mile applications with extended range and high-speed data requirements. Aeronix is investing in 802.16 PHY and MAC intellectual property to address markets such as DoD, NASA, and commercial. Award of this SBIR will extend the capabilities. Commercial applications include applications that require Aeronix extended Doppler and rotor craft communication capabilities. Examples include air-to-ground commercial wireless LAN's (such as air-to-ground Internet access) and ground-to-ground high speed mobile applications (automobiles). Traditional 802.16 last mile applications are a market potential market.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Architectures and Networks
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
RF
Manned-Manuvering Units
Highly-Reconfigurable
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
NanoTex Corporation
9402 Alberene Drive
Houston, TX 77074-1306

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Felipe Chibante
fchibante@ntxcorp.com
9402 Alberene Drive
Houston,  TX 77074-1308

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This SBIR proposal is to establish a platform technology of space durable thermally/electrically conductive fabrics for space environment applications. The fabrics are based on nanoengineered fibers and yarns under development at NanoTex Corp. With increased emphasis on long term manned space missions with limited resources, there is increased need for efficient passive thermal control systems. Furthermore, the proposed fabrics are multifunctional as they will have improved strength and tenacity, designed electrical conductivity, and greater thermal stability.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This innovative manufacturing technology will provide lightweight high-strength, thermally conductive textiles that can also carry electrical charge for space-based applications. Other NASA areas such as: weight/cost reduction of spacecraft systems; radiation shielding; nanoscale devices; electronics and thermal management would benefit from increase nanotube composite availability.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The initial applications will focus on high value added components for the $10 billion advanced composites market segment (aerospace/ defense, semiconductor, sport) and niche applications requiring minimal material such as electrostatic dissipative films and thermal management.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Composites
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
GFT, LLC
310 E. South Street
Pennville, IN 47369-9465

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Philip Griffith
phil@gftco.com
310 E. South Street
Pennville,  IN 47369-9465

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The development of highly flexible thermal insulation materials with multifunctional properties based in polyimide polymers and designed to provide significant radiation abatement is proposed. These new material forms provide their enhanced properties while ensuring benign behavior in adverse thermal environments ranging from cryogenic to elevated temperatures. In addition, the introduction of radiation abating materials into the polymeric precursor or foam provides a protective element not available in current state-of-the-art insulation materials. The proposal team provides a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and physics of polyimide foams, the test facilities for measurement of structural and mechanical properties and production facilities sufficient to produce materials in volume necessary for prototype tests in NASA applications.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA applications include cryogenic and thermal insulation for deep space vehicles and earthbound launch systems; space suit insulation; cryogenic and thermal protection for radiation sensitive components; multifunctional flight deck and passenger compartment insulation aboard aircraft, launch vehicles, and CEV designs; noise and vibration abatement material for launch vehicle payloads.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA applications include cryogenic insulation for the LNG and other liquefied gas production and transport industries; multifunctional insulation for military and commercial aerospace and marine entities; radiation shielding for the electronics industries; acoustic deadener for the automotive industry; flame resistant acoustic foam for the entertainment industry; acoustic and flame resistant ceiling tiles for building construction; home attic and wall insulation once product matures later in its lifecycle.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Propellant Storage
Solar
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Reuseable
Thermal Insulating Materials
Tankage
RF
Fluid Storage and Handling
Instrumentation
Manned-Manuvering Units
Portable Life Support
Suits
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
In-situ Resource Utilization
Composites
Radiation Shielding Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ultramet
12173 Montague St
Pacoima, CA 91331-2210

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Gautham Ramachandran
gautham.ramachandran@ultramet.com
Ultramet
Pacoima,  CA 91331-2210

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA and DoD are seeking economical and high-performance bipropellant thrusters for various applications. These goals cannot be achieved using the silicided C103 chambers in current use. Ultramet has developed and successfully demonstrated carbon fiber-reinforced zirconium carbide (C/ZrC) and carbon fiber-reinforced zirconium-silicon carbide (C/Zr-Si-C) ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) for use in liquid propellant applications up to 4200<SUP>o</SUP>F. Although the density of these CMCs is less than that of C103, further reducing overall weight is desired with a target goal of 2.6 g/cm3. Carbon/carbon (C/C) is widely used because of its light weight and high specific strength at elevated temperatures. However, adequate long-term protection of C/C is the limiting factor for its use in liquid propellant propulsion components. Ultramet will combine the light weight of C/C and the ultrahigh temperature oxidation resistance of C/Zr-Si-C CMCs in a unique laminate composite. This system will possess an overall density that is similar to C/SiC while increasing the operating temperature to 4000<SUP>o</SUP>F in liquid propulsion applications. Net-shape fabrication of CMC-lined C/C combustion chambers will be accomplished by adapting an innovative variant of Ultramet's melt infiltration technology.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed materials concept will apply to many NASA applications, including hot gas components for liquid propulsion applications. The combination of the long-duration oxidation resistance of ultrahigh temperature CMCs with lightweight C/C will also make this system ideal for applications such as surface skin structures in leading edges and thermal protection systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Many applications in DoD and DOE systems require lightweight, high strength, high temperature oxidation-resistant structures. DoD applications that use liquid propulsion, such as IHPRPT programs, would benefit from the developments in this project. DOE has significant needs for energy generation and management that could also be targeted.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Ceramics
Composites
Metallics

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
NEI Corporation
201 Circle Drive N., Suite 102/103
Piscataway, NJ 08854-3723

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Amit Singhal
asinghal@neicorporation.com
201 Circle Drive N., Suite 102/103
Piscataway,  NJ 08854-3723

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
High performance silicone coatings are desired for flexible fabrics used in several space and consumer applications. For instance, the total weight of silicone coatings that are used on Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) airbags can be reduced by improving their thermal stability and mechanical properties. The proposed program focuses on developing advanced silicone coatings by working with a manufacturer of coated and laminated fabrics for industrial and general-purpose applications. In Phase I, we will develop coating formulations, deposit coatings on a few different types of fabrics, and characterize the coatings for various properties that are required for airbag applications. Additionally, plans for commercialization and scale-up will be developed during Phase I for implementation in Phase II, so that the product can be manufactured and marketed in Phase III.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed silicone coating technology will help to reduce the coating weight on airbags used for MER applications while maintaining or increasing the seam strength. This generic technology may also be utilized in a broad range of space-related flexible fabric applications, including inflatable space structures, parachutes and space suits.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The silicone coating technology that is being developed in this program has immense potential in industrial textile coatings that are used in various sectors, including manufacturing and processing, transportation, construction, sports and leisure, and personal and property protection. For example, transportation applications, such as airbags, inflatable boats, interior trim and lining, convertible tops, truck covers and lifejackets, need coatings with high abrasion resistance and durability, high chemical resistance, fire resistance, high thermal stability, and good tear strength.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Erectable
Inflatable
Portable Life Support
Suits
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Nanosonic, Inc.
1485 South Main Street
Blacksburg, VA 24060-5556

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jennifer Lalli
jlalli@nanosonic.com
1485 South Main Street
Blacksburg,  VA 24060-5556

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NanoSonic has fabricated revolutionary nanostructured, yet macroscale, multifunctional Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> films via layer-by-layer, molecular self-assembly, which enables thickness and placement control over multiple constituents for true nanostructured multifunctionality and homogeneity (surface roughness +/- 5 nm). NanoSonic has recently transitioned this innovative approach into a method to produce flexible, super lightweight, conductive fabrics for inflatable spacecraft. In support of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, low cost Metal Rubber Fabric<SUP>TM</SUP> would be optimized as high performance textiles and sensors for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Specifically, nanostructured fabrics with ultra-low mass density (0.0011 g/cc), offer electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and the elastomeric variants exhibit a novel approach to large area sensors. Metal Rubber Fabric<SUP>TM</SUP> is not fabricated from conducting polymers or sputter coated fibers. NanoSonic's in situ approach involves chemically reacting monolayers of nanosized components, eliminating residual stress between each constituent. Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> technology has led to advanced electrically conductive (as low as 10-5 &#937;&#8729;cm) inorganic/organic hybrid nanocomposites that can be strained to > 1000% elongation that return to the original shape and nominal conductivity when released, even at cryogenic temperatures (-80&#61616;C). Metal Rubber Fabric<SUP>TM</SUP> requires less than 1 vol% of metal, allowing the manufacturing a cost effective, advanced textiles.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA applications for Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> Fabrics include ultra-lightweight textiles for NASA inflatables (ballutes, habitats, airbags, parachutes and suits), protective coatings against electrostatic charging, EMI, radiation, and abrasion. Low modulus Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> Fabrics and films can also function as conducting electrodes for high strain mechanical actuator and sensor devices, and as low-weight, electrically conductive and mechanically flexible coatings for systems requiring physically-robust electromagnetic shielding, ground planes or electrical interconnection.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> can be used as replacements for conventional tin-lead solder for the mechanical, electrical and thermal interconnection of electronic and mechanical components. Such materials may also be used in high performance, highly flexible and mechanically robust electronic flex circuits, flexible displays and smart electronic fabrics.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Reuseable
Ceramics
Composites
Organics/Bio-Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Infoscitex Corporation
303 Bear Hill Road
Waltham, MA 02451-1016

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Kovar
bkovar@infoscitex.com
303 Bear Hill Road
Waltham,  MA 02451-1016

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Lightweight composite structures are required to provide space vehicles with increased thrust-to-weight ratio and durability. New methods for toughening composites that also add functionality, such as making high temperature structural composites more thermally and electrically conductive, can increase spacecraft performance. Infoscitex proposes to enhance toughness of a thermal-oxidatively stable structural composite by more than 50 percent (measured by G1C) by depositing dispersed carbon nanofibers within insulating, resin-rich, interlaminar regions. Our approach also increases z-direction thermal and electrical conductivity, enabling dissipation of heat and electrical charge from hot spacecraft power supply and propulsion enclosures. In Phase I, we will process commercial carbon nanofibers and high temperature composite prepreg into nanofiber-toughened and control composite test panels using an autoclave. Cured composite test panels will be tested for G1C, open hole tensile and short beam shear strength, thermal and electrical conductivity and failure analysis to demonstrate feasibility. In Phase II, we will refine the composite toughening process and materials, conduct compression-after-impact tests, scale-up and produce a prototype multifunctional composite spacecraft structure for testing. Our team includes commercial prepreg and carbon nanofiber suppliers, a space vehicle structure manufacturer and experts in high temperature composite processing.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed biomimetic enhanced damage tolerance high temperature system will find use in ultralightweight, multifuctional, structural applications for future space vehicle platforms. The high temperature performance of the composite will make it particularly attractive for hot zones of the space vehicles approaching 700F.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
In addition to NASA applications, the composite technology will be attractive for terrestrial aircraft (i.e. advanced military aircraft). Additional applications include body and vehicle armor with enhanced ballistic performance.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Composites
Organics/Bio-Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Folded Structures Company, L.L.C.
1142A Old York Road
Ringoes, NJ 08551-1045

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Daniel Kling
kling@netcarrier.com
1142A Old York Rd
Ringoes,  NJ 08551-1045

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A recently developed mathematical theory has great value for deployable space structures and in situ manufacture of large beams, panels, cylinders and other components. The new technology offers diverse capacity to design, manufacture, and self-assemble periodically folded sheet material. The range of materials includes many customized core materials for laminated panels, cellular habitat wall constructions, structural beams, parabolic reflectors, and efficient truss systems that can be packaged ideally as a roll of sheet material and deployed in space by inflation or passive radiation. The goal of this proposal is to launch the technology by demonstrating the diversity of folding architectures for deployable and in situ manufacture of space structures, and by developing the design and simulation software for distribution to the engineering community. To fully illustrate the scope of applying the design methodology for deployable space structures, inventories of the strategy for deployment, the desired laminate geometry, and the folding architectures will be made. By relating the dynamical constraints of these three inventories in a three-axis matrix and then optimizing the found solutions through the software, a diverse scope of deployable structures will be illustrated. Moreover, proof of concept for a second generation of software operating through new algorithms will be shown concurrently for space applications and others.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This proposal will generate a comprehensive summary of the applications of this new materials technology to deployable and in situ manufactured space structures. This summary will give an overview of the architectural structures and deployment strategies available. Habitats, rigid panels, box beams, I-beams, large rings, large cylinders, large tori for possible space station design and others. The key advantages are that rolled sheet material transports compactly, the self-assembly, in situ manufacture and deployment strategies are diversely controlled through the algorithms, the sheet material is natural for shells, and many multi-laminate constructions are available. Other applications are in stretchable fabrics, nano-devices, self-correcting parabolic dishes, and self-healing multi-laminate flexible cloth.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This new sheet technology applies to paper, metals, polymers, composite cloths, wire meshes, nano sheets, and ceramic filled papers. The technology is completely scaleable and the structures generated diverse. Specific applications include cores for stronger corrugated cardboard, protective packaging wrap, high-performance cores replacing honey-comb in airplanes, steel sub-floors in office buildings, nano light boards for high speed processors, crash and vibration absorbing materials in automobiles, composite bridge decks, a particle board substitute, and ceramic filters.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Erectable
Inflatable
Kinematic-Deployable
Large Antennas and Telescopes
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
Structural Modeling and Tools
Suits
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Firestar Engineering, LLC
557 Burbank St., Unit J
Broomfield, CO 80020-7160

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
David Fisher
david@firestar-engineering.com
557 Burbank St., Unit J
Broomfield,  CO 80020-7160

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
By combining thin thermoplastic films, woven Vectran reinforcements, and heat a reliable, deployable, rigidizing space habitat can be created. Although much research has been performed on rigidizing space structures, characteristic material flaws prevent reliable deployment of rigidizing extraterrestrial habitats. Many materials fail space qualification due to the catalytic nature of their rigidization method. However, by layering thin low-density polyethylene with virtually any composite weave, a pliable composite is created. When inflation pressure and heat are applied, the low density polyethylene melts into the composite weave and causes the entire matrix to harden. The proposed composite would consist of Vectran with a low-density polyethylene laminate. Because our composite is stable at nearly cryogenic temperatures through around 100 C, it outperforms most other rigidizing materials currently being studied. The thermal properties coupled with nearly zero creep provide strong promise for its compatibility with rigidizing habitats.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Rigidizing habitats would promote extended stays in space. Inflatable rigidizing habitats would allow NASA to expand on the ISS as well as create a large living volume for deep space exploration. Volume and mass limitations on launch vehicles restrict the living space permitted with normal materials. The material we propose minimizes volume and mass so as to maximize living space. Any application where a large habitable volume is needed, our composite can be implemented.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
As the private sector's interest in space grows with technology, space tourism is bound to grow as well. Currently Bigelow Aerospace is seeking technology to create an orbiting space hotel. The composite habitat proposed would be a viable solution to house space tourists. Terrestrially the composite could be used for long term habitats in extreme conditions such as the north/south pole. The composite is stable over a wide range of temperatures, so if a light weight rigid structure were needed, a Vectran/polyethylene module could be used. Additionally, deployable components for satellites are always needed. Since our material needs no inflation pressure to remain structural, deployable booms, solar arrays, antennas, and trusses could also be made out of the same material. Because technology is progressing at such an astonishing rate, high performance rigidizing material will become increasingly important.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Erectable
Inflatable
Kinematic-Deployable
Portable Life Support
Composites
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Wright Materials Research Co
1187 Richfield Center
Beavercreek, OH 45430-1120

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Seng Tan
sctan@sprintmail.com
1187 Richfield Center
Beavercreek,  OH 45430-1120

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Space deployable and rigidizable structures that are ultra-lightweight, and have gas barrier property, space durability, and high impact resistance are desirable to improve the reliability and launching cost of space habitat structures. Some of the components currently in use such as shelters or habitats use double-wall thick films with high internal pressure. All these hollow components are vulnerable in space because of the debris and meteorites that can strike them. They will lose their functions if hit and damaged by foreign objects. These structures typically rely upon electro-mechanical mechanisms and devices for deployment and maintaining them in space for operation, which occupy over 90% of the total mass budget in many cases. In this Phase I project, we propose to develop ultra-lightweight, self-deployable microcellular foamed sandwich structures from nanocomposite shape memory polymers (SMP) and CHEM deployed technique as structural components of space habitats. Such a structural module can be compacted into a very small volume to facilitate launching. The deployment energy is the heat from the sun. This concept greatly simplifies the entire operation, reduction in weight and cost, and improves reliability. They also feature great impact resistant. Foams processed by the conventional chemical-blowing agent have toxicity problems. Our microcellular SMP foamed sandwich structures do not involve any toxicity and will have higher mechanical properties than those processed by the conventional techniques. They can be used to replace or supplement to the inflatable technology.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed ultra-lightweight microcellular nanocomposite foamed sandwich structures from SMP/CHEM have a number of potential applications for space structures including space habitats, rigidified boom and support structures for Gossamer space structures, rover subsystems like wheels, chasis, insulation boxes masts, solar array deployment devices, shelters and hangars for space habitats, airlocks, electronics boxes, tanks/shells/shields, insulation for propellant tanks, solar arrays radar boards, and support structures for telecommunication subsystems like struts and beams, etc.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Shape memory polymers are fairly recently developed functional polymers that find applications in a broad range of temperature sensing elements. Shape memory gels have been explored to perform various functions including artificial muscles and organs, drug-delivery devices, chemical valves, and actuators. Additional potential applications may include self-deployable tanks, coolers/thermoses, construction, toys, automotive components, thermal insulation, packaging, impact energy absorption products, filters, high damping sound and electromagnetic shielding.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Erectable
Inflatable
Kinematic-Deployable
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Reuseable
Thermal Insulating Materials
General Public Outreach
Earth-Supplied Resource Utilization
Composites
Radiation Shielding Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
United Applied Technologies, Inc.
11506 Gilleland Road
Huntsville, AL 35803-4327

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
LARRY BRADFORD
l.bradford@unitedappliedtech.com
11506 Gilleland Road
Huntsville,  AL 35803-4327

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
An innovative structures concept has been developed that uses space qualified flexible thin film polyimide to produce ultra-lightweight inflation deployed self-rigidizing structural components with very small packaging volume and extremely high buckling/bending strength to accurately deploy and provide precision assembly of modular space systems. This membrane material can be thermally formed to virtually any shape to produce booms, elbows, tees, flanges, and flat or curved panels to support or connect space structure components and facilitate in-space assembly. Tube and panel specimens with various stiffener cross section geometries have been produced that demonstrated precision modular assembly and impressive stiffness. This Phase I effort is proposed to design and fabricate a representative sub-scale structure subassembly comprised of flat or curved structural panels, support tubes/struts, and associated connector/interface components to demonstrate the structural integrity and modularity of the technology and scalability of the manufacturing process. Phase II can produce and demonstrate a full-scale mission applicable inflatable space structure or habitat assembly that can be compactly packaged for launch, pressurized for deployment, and rigidized after deployment/assembly with no internal pressure required to maintain structural stiffness and shape. Emphasis will be placed on deployability, providing for modular assembly, and scalability of the manufacturing technology.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The deployable self-rigidizing technology is of direct relevance to any future space mission under consideration that includes large structures. The optimized stiffener design and related manufacturing processes are applicable to lunar habitat and other lunar base structures, solar sail deployment/support, large space telescopes, satellite communications antennae, support structure for large solar reflectors for solar thermal propulsion, deployment/support of thin film solar photovoltaic arrays, large space deployable radiators, and many other as yet not envisioned large space structures where launch volume and weight is critical.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Commercial space applications include support structures for large communications satellite antennas. Non-space commercial applications include: packaged mast/antenna to be deployed in remote areas for both military and civilian use (firefighters/law enforcement/rescue operations, etc); small packaged, deployable portable emergency shelters; wings/fuselage for both model airplanes and unmanned expendable aerial vehicles; emergency deployable life rafts; and other applications where small volume stowable/deployable articles have substantial merit.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Solar
Airframe
Erectable
Inflatable
Modular Interconnects
Structural Modeling and Tools
Composites
Multifunctional/Smart Materials
Aerobrake

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Coatings International
2990 Gilchrist Rd., Suite 1100
Akron, OH 44305-4418

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Steven Johnson
sjohnsonaci@core.com
2990 Gilchrist Rd. Suite 1100
Akron,  OH 44305-4418

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This innovation uses photochemical cyclopolymerization of polyimides to manufacture ultraviolet rigidizable composites for use in RIS (ridgidizing inflatable) structures. Sunlight initiated polymerization (UV polymerization) has been identified as a promising method for ridgidizing composites for inflatable space structures. The use of in-situ polymerized polyimides will provide superior dimensional and dynamic properties to enhance the performance characteristics of RIS deployed space based structures such as antennas, solar arrays and sunshields. As a class, polyimide polymers are known to possess excellent physical and chemical properties superior to conventional thermoset resins. But polyimides are typically produced at very high temperatures, making their use as RIS materials impractical. By utilizing a unique chemistry and polymerizing in-situ with sunlight, a new ridgidizable composite will be fabricated. The resulting polyimide impregnated composite can be rigidized in space and provide mechanical properties superior to those achieved with previous radiation cured composites. Stability of the polyimide precursors will permit long term storage of RIS prior to deployment. When produced in scale the composite will provide a cost competitive method of fabricating RIS and meet the growing demand for this type of space architecture. Terrestrial applications also exist in the homeland security and disaster response sectors.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Solar arrays and concentrators Satellites and antennas Spaceship structures and habitats Landing strictures and habitats

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Homeland Security Portable, rapidly deployed structures that can withstand rigorous environments such as wind and snow. Disaster Relief Portable, rapidly deployed structures that can withstand rigorous environments such as wind and snow. Housing/Commercial With further research, the composites developed in this program could be used in these applications. Advertising Inflatable structures are commonplace now for advertising purposes. Structural Components Aircraft part fabrication and repair, field repair of lightweight vehicles. Anywhere lightweight rigid materials are needed with superior physical properties, especially fabrication in the field.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Airlocks/Environmental Interfaces
Erectable
Inflatable
Testing Facilities
Structural Modeling and Tools
Tankage
Manned-Manuvering Units
Portable Life Support
Radiation Shielding Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Materials Modification, Inc.
2721-D Merrilee Drive
Fairfax, VA 22031-4428

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ramachandran Radhakrishnan
radha@matmod.com
2721-D Merrilee Drive
Fairfax,  VA 22031-4428

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA's programs to send manned and unmanned missions to Moon, Mars and the planets beyond will require structural materials that can protect the crew and the spacecraft from Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR), Solar Energy Particles (SEP) and micrometeroid impact. In this Phase I effort, MMI proposes to reinforce high hydrogen content epoxies with nanotubes to obtain high performance composites with 20-25% higher primary load-bearing properties

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The primary NASA application for the proposed multifunctional composites will be for the CEV, the International Space Station, lunar and Martian habitats, micro spacecrafts and planetary rovers. The composites also could be used to shield the numerous spacecrafts and satellites against meteoroid and space debris impact.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
DoD: The major government sector that will utilize these composites besides NASA will be the Department of Defense. They also have spacecrafts and satellites that need protection against micro meteoroids and space debris. Military aircraft and helicopter structure, reconnaissance satellites and high flying long-duration spycraft, structures for long range missiles, and uninhabited combat air vehicles, can be fabricated using the proposed composite materials. The excellent impact properties indicate these composites can be used for ballistic armor. Civilian: Applications will focus on commercial aircraft structure and interiors, satellites, wind turbine blades, and ballistic protection for law enforcement officers.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Radiation Shielding Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Microwave Power Technology
1280 Theresa Avenue
Campbell, CA 95008-6833

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Espinosa
micpwrt@aol.com
1280 Theresa Avenue
Campbell,  CA 95008-6833

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Pollution of the environment is a world wide concern and is the subject of broadly based R&D into means of prevention and remediation. The innovation proposed here is the design of and electron beam source for clensing air.Bombardment by electrons has proven to be effective in destroying a wide spectrum of chemical and biological pollutants. Maintaining air purity becomes particularly critical in densely populated closed spaces. Such as occupied buildings, passenger transport vehicles, orbiting space vehicles and lunar or planetary exploration stations. The work proposed here is to appraise the feasibility of down sizing this effective technology to meet the much more restrictive cost, weight and reliability requirements attendant to commercial passenger transportation and manned space exploration. Key to meeting those requirements are carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters to replace the thermal electron sources as was done, by MPT, in developing the cold cathode x-ray tubes subsequently produced by Oxford X-ray Technology. MPT, working with Valence Corporation and others, have developed systems for eliminating odors and chemical components from air streams exhausted from sewerage treatment, large scale painting and food processing plants and environmental remediation installations.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This phase I proposal involves the design of large-array CNT cold cathodes for an electron beam source suitable for use air conditioning systems for confined populated spaces. This technology has been demonstrated to be effective for destroying a broad spectrum of chemical and biological agents on a large scale. The key to applying e-beam technology to small scale applications is reduced weight and cost made possible by the use of CNT field emitters. Large numbers of such systems will be used for the reduction of emissions from small industrial and commercial applications. They will be particularly efficient for maintaining air purity in densely populated closed spaces, such as occupied buildings, passenger transport vehicles, orbiting space vehicles and lunar or planetary exploration stations.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This work will allow us to develop large arrays of more intense, narrow electron beams as are required for such applications as x-ray diffraction and development of other vacuum electron devices. MPT is currently working on designs for electron beam tubes for industrial applications. The current tubes utilize thermionic cathodes but focused beams from cold cathodes would greatly improve both performance and efficiency. Uses include the purification of air, elimination of odors, non-burning destruction of evaporated hydrocarbons from fuel tanks and painting operations, cleaning of flue gasses and enhancing chemical reactions such as increasing the ignition of fuels, drying ink on high speed presses and sterilization of surfaces. They have the potential of reducing the build up of green house gasses and cleaning up the atmosphere on earth.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Air Revitalization and Conditioning
Biomedical and Life Support
Sterilization/Pathogen and Microbial Control
Waste Processing and Reclamation
Earth-Supplied Resource Utilization
In-situ Resource Utilization

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
NanoPulse LLC
54 Huntley Way
Bridgewater, NJ 08807-5565

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Yubing Wang
ybngwang@yahoo.com
54 Huntley Way
Bridgewater,  NJ 08807-5565

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Offerers will build on their recent innovation of a microwave-induced route to the rapid functionalization, solubilization and reactive synthesis of carbon nanotube-ceramic and nanotube-polymer composites. The microwave process is environmentally friendly and results in the complete removal of metal catalysts used in the synthesis of the pristine nanotubes. These residual nanoscale metals are known to be toxic. The functionalization will be carried out via different routes so that the nanotubes can be rendered soluble in different solvents including water, alcohols, and nonpolar liquids. This will facilitate mixing with different polymer matrices for fabrication of composites, and also facilitate the formation of coatings and films. The reactive synthesis of ceramic and polymer composites involves the formation of the composite structure on the nanotube sidewalls via a microwave-assisted reaction. This will lead to the formation of a novel class of nanomaterials with unique structural, electronic and thermal properties.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The opportunity addressed in this proposal is in the critical NASA Research Topic area X2.03 on Nanostructured Materials. Within this research topic we will focus our Phase I R&D effort on two areas that are of significant interest to NASA. It will include: (1) demonstration and initial development of metal-free, functionalized, soluble and alignable single wall carbon nanotubes that can be used in the fabrication of next generation composites; (2) development of reactive synthesis routes and the production of ceramic and polymer nanocomposite with single wall carbon nanotubes for high strength and tunable electrical/thermal properties.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed work will have non-NASA applications in the areas of adsorbents, solar cells, light emitting diodes, active coatings, fuel cell electrodes, nanoenergetics and medical imaging.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Biomolecular Sensors
Biochemical
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Composites
Radiation Shielding Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials
Photovoltaic Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
MER Corp
7960 S. Kolb Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85706-9237

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
James Withers
jcwithers@mercorp.com
7960 S. Kolb Rd.
Tucson,  AZ 85706-9237

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Nanotechnology which includes carbon nanotubes has the potential to produce materials that exhibit properties beyond those expected from conventional materials which are anticipated to have a profound impact on NASA's future missions. Graphite fiber composites are multifunctional with high strength to weight ratios which form the basis of many aerospace systems. The combinations of carbon nanotubes with graphite fibers have the potential to significantly enhance fiber strength; offering significant advantages in multi-functional space flight applications. A unique approach will be utilized to incorporate carbon nanotubes onto existing graphite fibers to produce exemplary fiber strengths that will be utilized in composites with significantly higher strength to weight ratios. Nanotube reinforced graphite fibers will be produced and characterized in epoxy composites to demonstrate the expected property enhancements.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The application for ultra high strength graphite fibers include missile launch tubes, attitude control systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, satellite systems, high speed transport aircraft (military and commercial), pressure vessels for H2 and other gas storage and high payoff lightweight systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NON-NASA Ultra high strength graphite fibers have applications in pressure vessels for gas (H2 and natural gas) storage in transportation, structures for bridge and building reinforcements and earth quake surviving, a variety of structures, defense applications and sporting goods/golf shafts, etc

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
International Scientific Technologies, Inc.
P O Box 757
Dublin, VA 24084-0757

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Russell Churchill
intlsci@earthlink.net
P O Box 757
Dublin,  VA 24084-0757

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA has identified a need for new high performance-to-weight materials capable of protecting critical components from the space environment, mitigating threat of uncontrolled electrostatic discharge, and reducing vulnerability to radiation or thermally induced damage. Recent advances in metallic nanoparticle-polymer composites have shown promise of meeting these multifunctional design goals, but their achievement has been hampered by non-uniform dispersion of nanoparticles within the polymeric matrix. To address these problems, International Scientific Technologies - Aerospace Systems Division will modify metal nanoparticle surfaces with organic ligands to fabricate reliable nanocomposites. The proposed material development is responsive to NASA Subtopic X2.03 by providing a means by which a wide-range of multifunctional nanostructured materials may be designed and fabricated. The Phase I Technical Objectives include fabrication of conductive nanocomposites incorporating metallic nanoparticles in polymeric materials, measurement of nanocomposite properties in simulated space environments, and optimization of proof-of-concept conductive multifunctional nanocomposites. In the Phase I program, metallic nanoparticles will be functionalized for incorporation into polymeric matrices for electrostatic control and prevention of atomic oxygen degradation. The project innovation is the development of ligand-modified nanoparticle additives to realize multifunctional nanocomposites for space applications. Successful completion of the Phase I program will result in multifunctional spacecraft materials that are inherently anti-static for electrostatic control, and self-healing following degradation in harsh space environments. During Phase II, prototype multifunctional nanocomposites will be evaluated for control of electrostatic charging, and resistance to atomic oxygen and/or radiation degradation in simulated space environments prior to commercialization in Phase III.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The multifunctional nanocomposites will find application in the Exploration Systems mission in protecting sensitive optical, electronic, thermal and acoustic components from environmental hazards including dust, radiation, thermal transients, atomic oxygen and spacecraft charging. The nanoparticle composites will be developed to provide transparent conductive layers of considerable importance to sensor systems employed in planetary surface exploration. It is expected that nanoparticle systems will also provide a high-performance-to-weight radiation shield that can be used as a layer within human habitations and space protective apparel. Other missions supported by NASA could also make use of conductive layers amenable to use in low earth orbit or in orbital paths traversing high radiation regions of space.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The nanocomposites developed under the proposed SBIR program will find application to the protection of sensors, antennas and critical components aboard commercial satellites. The development of conductive nanocomposites will provide International Scientific an entry to the burgeoning flexible electronics market. The flexible conducting film market is expected to increase considerably as a result of demands for larger flat panel displays, the growth of distributed chemical, biological and radiation sensor markets for Homeland Security applications and the establishment of improved methods of static discharge control for touch screens. Further uses of the nanocomposites may be found in the development of variable dielectric constant materials utilizing ferroelectric nanoparticles and the fabrication of transparent magnetic components using ferromagnetic nanoparticles within the polymer matrix.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Composites
Metallics
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Nanosonic, Inc.
1485 South Main Street
Blacksburg, VA 24060-5556

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jennifer Lalli
jlalli@nanosonic.com
1485 South Main Street
Blacksburg,  VA 24060-5556

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NanoSonic has developed revolutionary nanostructured, yet macroscale, multifunctional Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> films. In support of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, low cost Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> freestanding or conformal skins would be optimized as protective coatings for human and robotic space exploration. Specifically, ultra-lightweight, nanostructured coatings with protection against electrostatic charging, abrasion and radiation over a wide range of mechanical and thermal fluctuations are offered. Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> is fabricated via layer-by-layer, molecular self-assembly, which enables thickness and placement control over multiple constituents for true nanostructured multifunctionality (nm scale); while advanced polymers have allowed scale-up to free-standing thick films (several mm thick, at < 1 g/cc). Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> is not a conducting polymer or a sputter-coated polymer film. It is a freestanding nanocomposite formed in situ by chemically bonding each monolayer of nanostructured constituent, thereby eliminating residual stress between each component. New, ultra-low modulus Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> can be strained to > 1000% elongation while remaining electrically conductive; and returns to its original shape and nominal conductivity when released. Bulk resistivity (as low as 10-5 &#937;&#8729;cm), and mechanical moduli (0.1 MPa to 500 MPa) have been demonstrated. Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> requires less than 1 vol% of metal, allowing the manufacturing a cost effective, advanced material

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA applications for Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> include ultra-lightweight protective coatings against electrostatic charging, EMI, radiation, and abrasion. Low modulus Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> can also function as conducting electrodes for high strain mechanical actuator and sensor devices, and as low-weight, electrically conductive and mechanically flexible coatings for systems requiring physically-robust electromagnetic shielding, ground planes or electrical interconnection.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Metal Rubber<SUP>TM</SUP> can be used as replacements for conventional tin-lead solder for the mechanical, electrical and thermal interconnection of electronic and mechanical components. Such materials may also be used in high performance, highly flexible and mechanically robust electronic flex circuits, flexible displays and smart electronic fabrics.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ceramics
Composites
Organics/Bio-Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
CFD Research Corp
215 Wynn Dr.
Huntsville, AL 35805-1926

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Marek Turowski
jls@cfdrc.com
215 Wynn Dr.
Huntsville,  AL 35805-1926

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Significant improvements in photovoltaic materials and systems are required to enable future exploration missions. This SBIR project, involving two innovative organizations: CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC) and University of California Riverside (UCR), has two major objectives: 1) develop and provide reliable, validated computational tools for assessment, design, and optimization of novel nanostructures based on Quantum Dots (QD) for future nano-devices for space applications; 2) investigate, design, and demonstrate new photovoltaic (PV) structures based on QD nanotechnology, with improved efficiency and radiation hardness. The inherently radiation tolerant quantum dots of variable sizes maximize absorption of different light wavelengths ("multicolor" cell), which dramatically improves PV efficiency and diminishes the radiation-induced degradation. Phase I includes development of numerical tools for modeling electron-phonon transport in QD superlattices for photovoltaic applications, using experimental data from UCR Nano-Device Laboratory for validation and calibration of the new tools, and computational proof-of-concept. In Phase II, the new QD models will be integrated into CFDRC's advanced photonic-electronic device simulator. Novel QD photovoltaic nano-engineered materials and designs will be down-selected for further development to the point of testable prototypes. They will be fabricated and provided to NASA for electrical characterization and radiation testing.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Improvements in solar cell efficiency and radiation hardness are required to enable NASA future exploration missions. Novel nano-engineered materials and multi-quantum-dot photovoltaic devices promise to deliver more efficient, lightweight solar cells and arrays which will be of extreme value to NASA space missions. The new modeling and simulation tools for quantum-dot-based nanostructures will help NASA to: 1. better understand and predict behavior of nano-devices and novel materials in space environment; 2. assess technologies, devices, and materials of new electronic systems; 3. better evaluate the performance and radiation response at early design stage; 4. set requirements for hardening and testing; reduce the amount of testing cost and time.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
All satellites, military and commercial, suffer from solar cell degradation due to the effects of radiation. The higher efficiency of the novel quantum-dot solar cells will increase capacity of the solar array at the beginning of life (BOL) to compensate for the degradation at the end of life (EOL), to maintain the minimal requirements of the spacecraft. Retarding the degradation will have substantive impact on the size and weight of the solar arrays for both military as well as civilian commercial space systems. The inherently radiation tolerant quantum dots will lead to more robust space defense systems. The new, more accurate modeling and simulation tools for Quantum-Dots based photonic devices will enable better understanding, analysis, and design of novel materials and nano-devices for aerospace systems and their radiation-response. The modeling and design tools will provide reduction in cost and time-to-market through significantly reduced experimental R&D, design cycle, and laboratory testing time and cost.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Semi-Conductors/Solid State Device Materials
Photovoltaic Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sunpower, Inc.
182 Mill Street
Athens, OH 45701-2627

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Seon Kim
kim@sunpower.com
Sunpower, Inc. 182 Mill Street
Athens,  OH 45701-2627

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA seeks highly efficient, long life solar dynamic power conversion systems. The requirements for these missions emphasize low mass and high conversion efficiencies. A reliable and highly efficient Stirling convertor would provide mission planners with less costly spacecraft power options than currently exist. Current Stirling technologies have demonstrated a beginning of life specific power level of 4.2 W/kg, and a useful life greater than 10 years. The proposed effort will result in the preliminary design for an innovative multiple-cylinder alpha free-piston Stirling engine (AFPSE) for high power applications. The program approach minimizes development risk by combining proven technologies, experiences and innovative concepts of Sunpower Inc. and Global Cooling BV (GCBV) with AFPSE. The proposed system is a compact, highly efficient, long life, low mass Stirling machine for a high power conversion system. This configuration having multi-pistons in separate cylinders connected by rejector and acceptor is not only very simple due to one moving part in one cylinder with no displacer, but also highly adaptable due to its versatile shape. This machine is very innovative because it is anticipated to achieve a specific power greater than 100W/kg as well as a heat input to electrical output conversion efficiency greater than 30%.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The resulting convertor will give spacecraft designers the option of utilizing a 1.) compact, low mass, and highly efficient power supply, 2.) a power supply module that can be clustered together to provide higher power levels, 3.) a power supply which can be adapted to both space and planetary atmospheres via simple changes to the gas management system with no impact on the operation of the critical dynamic components inside the convertor, and 4.) a controller design philosophy that allows the system to be easily adapted to varying mission requirements. Such a system is extensible to several areas of NASA's power generation needs including electric propulsion, robotic rovers, and backup power supplies for human surface expeditions.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
In addition to the space applications which this proposal directly addresses, there is a significant potential market for commercial small-scale power generation, particularly in light of increasing attention to the environmental cost of fuel consumption and the new stringency of fuel emissions regulations in some areas of the world. Sunpower licensee MicroGen, for example, has determined a substantial European and worldwide market for household cogeneration devices. Additionally there are numerous opportunities for remote and mobile power generation applications, including the marine market, auxiliary power markets, remote power generation, standby emergency power generation, peaking generation, truck-mounted power, power for oil and gas fields and other exploratory and off-grid sites.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Thermodynamic Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
SION Power
9040 S. Rita Road
Tucson, AZ 85747-9194

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Dr. Yuriy Mikhaylik
yuriy.mikhaylik@sionpower.com
9040 S. Rita Road
Tucson,  AZ 85747-9194

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Sion Power is developing a rechargeable lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery with a demonstrated specific energy exceeding 350 Wh/kg and the range of operating temperatures from ?40 to +45oC. The range will be extended to ?60 +60oC and specific energy to 400 Wh/kg. Performance improvement will be based on developing three components: 1. Advanced electrolytes with high ionic conductivity at liquid or glassy state at temperatures down to minus 70-100oC; 2. Advanced cathode with homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts increasing electrochemical sulfur utilization to 90% and energy to 400 Wh/kg; 3. Additives protecting lithium anode surface from reaction with electrolyte and providing long calendar life and low self-discharge; To demonstrate the effectiveness of components developed, we will build and cycle the series of 1.2 ? 2.5 Ah cells in the range of temperatures from ?70 to +60oC at rates from C/20 to 2C.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
High energy, light- weight rechargeable batteries for Lunar and Mars rovers, EVA suits, satellites, and back-up power for electronic.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
High energy, light- weight rechargeable batteries for unmanned vehicles, military communications, portable computers, digital cameras, smartphones, electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Manned-Manuvering Units
Portable Life Support
Suits
Tools
Energy Storage
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Yardney Technical Products, Inc.
82 Mechanic St
Pawcatuck, CT 06379-2167

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Thomas Barbarich
tbarbarich@lithion.com
82 Mechanic Street
Pawcatuck,  CT 06379-2154

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are attractive candidates for use as power sources in aerospace applications because they have high specific energy ( up to 200 Wh/kg) and energy density (~ 500 Wh/L) and long cycle life (1,000 ? 30,000 cycles currently depending on the depth of cycling). However, at temperatures below about ?10<SUP>o</SUP>C, their charge/discharge performance is severely degraded which hinders their use in deep space and planetary missions. This decrease in performance may be due to the precipitation of ethylene carbonate (EC) at low temperatures, which may prevent the migration of Li+ ions between the electrodes during charge and discharge. We propose to determine the cause of the EC precipitation. Appropriate electrolyte systems will be designed to prevent phase separation of the electrolyte at low temperatures during charge and discharge.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
High-energy, rechargeable batteries capable of operating over a wide temperature range are of interest for a number of NASA applications such as orbiters, rovers, space vehicles, satellites, and astronaut equipment. Li-ion batteries are good candidates for many of these applications. The proposed work will extend the low temperature range of these batteries allowing their use on a wider variety of missions.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Li-ion batteries capable of operating over a wide temperature range are needed for a wide variety of civilian and military applications. These applications include electric and hybrid vehicles, satellites, aircraft, portable power tools, portable medical equipment, and other similar applications where the battery is operated outdoors and an external device may not be available to control the temperature of the battery.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Energy Storage

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
EIC Laboratories, Inc.
111 Downey Street
Norwood, MA 02062-2612

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Dharmasena Peramunage
pera@eiclabs.com
EIC Laboratories, Inc., 111 Downey Street
Norwood,  MA 02062-2612

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Li-ion batteries with specific energy >180 Wh/kg, calendar life (>15years), and a wide operating temperature range (-60<SUP>o</SUP>C to 60<SUP>o</SUP>C) are crucial for the deployment of exploration vehicles such as rovers, landers, and penetraters as well as for low temperature burst power communication. The sub-ambient conductivity and liquid range of present rechargeable Li-ion battery electrolytes severely limit low temperature use. Co-solvents freezing as low as -132oC and Li salts with highly delocalized anions, enabling high degree of ionic dissociation in low dielectric environments provide us with a unique opportunity to develop non aqueous electrolytes for the low temperature with ionic conductivities well above 10-4 Scm-1. Our aim is to use these novel electrolytes as a direct substitute for the present electrolytes without affecting Li-ion battery performance or life during normal operation and access as least half the rated capacity at -60<SUP>o</SUP>C and 1/2C discharge rate. Working in collaboration with a leading developer of Li-ion batteries in Phase I, our low temperature electrolyte formulations will be evaluated in Li test cells containing anodes and cathodes used in commercial scale battery manufacture. In Phase II, electrolyte composition will be further optimized and prototype batteries will be fabricated and tested for performance.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Robotic landers, rovers and penetrators play an important role in modern planetary explorations enabling mission of enormous scientific value without risking the lives of astronauts. Rechargeable Li-ion batteries in these spacecrafts are required to perform efficiently over a broad temperature range extending close to ?60oC. The electrolytes being developed will find exclusive use in these batteries. They will also be useful for batteries employed in cold-climate terrestrial applications, high altitude balloons, and applications where non flammability of electrolytes is essential for safety of Li-ion rechargeable batteries.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
We anticipate that flame retardant character of the proposed electrolytes will improve the safety of all Li-ion cells by reducing the reactivity between electrolyte and the electrode materials in the "charged" state. This may allow relaxation of stringent and costly safety related controls without increasing risk and, greatly reduce damage from cell venting by preventing flames, which could lead to injuries or collateral damage. Particularly sensitive applications include portable telephones, laptop computers, video cameras, and heads up displays, night vision equipment and batteries used in enclosed spaces e.g. underwater vehicles or underground bunkers.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Energy Storage

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
ElectroChem, Inc.
400 West Cummings Park
Woburn, MA 01801-6519

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Michael Pien, Ph.D.
mpien@fuelcell.com
ElectroChem, 400 West Cummings Park
Woburn,  MA 01801-6510

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The primary power systems for Space Shuttles and future space vehicles are based on fuel cells. Due to inherent fundamental performance, safety and reliability, NASA is interested in replacing the present alkaline fuel cell system with PEM systems. However, the conventional use by PEM systems of O2 reactant gas recirculation to remove product water, enhance cell uniformity, and control humidity could pose a serious safety concern. A fundamentally new PEM fuel cell design concept is proposed that removes liquid product water by controlled convection and wicking through layered porous structures that are integrated into each cell separator plate. This unique integrated flow field (IFF) concept also automatically and passively clears channels blocked by droplets. Furthermore, the same design includes transport of product water back to the entire flow field for humidification and greater cell performance. The IFF design enables high pressure and high voltage operation resulting in higher efficiency. For removal of product water vapor from the cell, the design concept includes ejectors to passively generate a modest gas circulation. In conclusion, this design innovation will significantly simplify the PEM operating system while generating higher performance and foster greater long-term safety in zero-g as well as ordinary gravity applications.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Applications range from EVA (extravehicular activity) life support systems, to regenerative fuel cells for surface electrical energy storage, to on-board power for reusable launch vehicles such as the current and future versions of the Space Shuttle. The technology will be readily scalable across a range of power capacities and fuel cell system sizes. Applications will also include high altitude flight systems that are based on regenerative operation and need high efficiency. Our innovative PEM fuel cell concept promises to support the performance, reliability, and safety requirements of these applications.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Commercial applications include both primary and regenerative (RFC) fuel cell power systems. Specifically, the RFC systems would be used for backup power, remote power, and residential off-grid electrical power. In addition to many of the above, primary PEM fuel cell applications include aircraft power. Specific market groups would be the telecommunications industry, electric power industry, business computer networks, airplane manufacturers, and homeowners. This same approach could be applied in all PEM fuel cell designs. This would a) simplify flowfield design, b) reduce blower pressure requirements, c) reduce system operation complexity, and d) provide a fail-safe means to prevent gas-channel blockage.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Energy Storage
Renewable Energy
Wireless Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Covalent Assoc., Inc.
10 State St
Woburn, MA 08101-6820

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Konstantin Tikhonov
tikhonov@covalentassociates.com
10 State Street
Woburn,  MA 01801-6820

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA requires advanced high power primary lithium batteries for ultra low temperature applications. The key component that limits the performance at low temperature is the battery electrolyte. Proof-of-concept experiments have shown that Covalent's new non-aqueous electrolyte formulations greatly enhance low temperature primary battery performance while preserving its long shelf life. At temperatures as low as -100<SUP>o</SUP>C, our new electrolyte demonstrates superior transport properties due to minimal triple ion formation. Accelerated storage tests revealed no voltage delay indicative of a stable passive film formed on the lithium anode. When coupled with a high energy density cathode material such as carbon monofluoride (CFx), our new electrolyte formulations will enable primary lithium primary performance over a broad spectrum of ultra low temperature applications. Specifically, Li/CFx batteries incorporating the new Covalent electrolytes will deliver more than 30% of their room temperature capacity at temperatures as low as -100<SUP>o</SUP>C at practical discharge rates.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Future NASA manned and unmanned missions to the moon and Mars require a new generation of primary lithium batteries designed to function at temperatures as low as -120<SUP>o</SUP>C. Such temperatures will be encountered on the moon where the night time lows reach -110<SUP>o</SUP>C, and on Mars where temperatures recorded by the Viking probes were as low as -107<SUP>o</SUP>C. At present, no battery exists that can provide practical discharge rates at such ultra low temperatures. Advanced Li/CFx batteries incorporating Covalent's novel low temperature electrolyte formulations will find use in astronaut equipment (lighting and power tools), communication devices, in situ resource utilization systems and sensor networks.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
There are a number of terrestrial applications where good low temperature performance is required. For example, the average night time temperature in the high Khumbu Himal (Mt. Everest region) is -36<SUP>o</SUP>C and often drops as low as -60<SUP>o</SUP>C. On the South Pole the average annual temperature is approximately -50<SUP>o</SUP>C, while the lowest temperatures recorded are below -90<SUP>o</SUP>C. The external temperature of an aircraft at 30,000 feet can reach -40<SUP>o</SUP>C and below. Portable lighting, electronic equipment, sensors and weapons systems that must function in those environments will greatly benefit from the proposed innovation. Covalent's new electrolyte formulations will also increase the battery rate capability in the temperature range of 22<SUP>o</SUP>C to -40<SUP>o</SUP>C. The unsurpassed room temperature conductivity of the new electrolytes will enable high power pulses required in a wide range of consumer applications, while high discharge rate capability at -40<SUP>o</SUP>C is of particular interest to the U.S. military.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
Manned-Manuvering Units
Portable Life Support
Suits
Tools
Energy Storage
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Aspen Aerogels, Inc.
30 Forbes Road, Building B
Northborough, MA 01532-2501

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Danny Ou
dou@aerogel.com
30 Forbes Road, Building B
Northborough,  MA 01532-2501

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The innovation addressed in this proposal is Sprayable Thermal Insulation for Cryogenic Tanks, or STICT. This novel system could be applied in either an automated or manual spraying process, with much less sensitivity to process chemistry and environmental parameters than cur-rent spray-on foam insulation (SOFI) products like BX-265, while providing better insulation performance. The resulting material would form an aerodynamically smooth, uniform coating with better cohesion and significantly lower thermal conductivity. This would allow thinner layers of insulation which, when combined with greater material strain-to-failure, will eliminate the generation of in-flight debris. In this way, the proposed CryoGel insulation can render future space transportation systems safer and more reliable.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
STICT would replace some of the spray-on foam insulation (SOFI) products used on launch vehicles employing cryogenic propellants. In this application, it would exhibit higher thermal performance and mechanical durability than competing systems. Most importantly, it would minimize in-flight debris shedding, thereby improving the safety and reliability of US space transportation.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
STICT would compete against polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foams anywhere consistency, high quality, and low thermal conductivity are valued. Some examples of this would be subsea oil and gas pipelines, fuel cell systems, and LNG transport ships.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Thermal Insulating Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Technologies Group, Inc.
641 SE Central Parkway
Stuart, FL 34994-3984

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
John Justak
jjustak@advancedtg.com
641 SE Central Parkway
Stuart,  FL 34994-3984

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Advanced Technologies Group, Inc. proposes the development of a Methane Liquid-Level Sensor, (MLS) for In-Space cryogenic storage capable of continuous monitoring of liquid quantities to better than 1% accuracy. The proposed sensor builds on previous liquid hydrogen sensor development successes and patents. It can be utilized to measure cryogenic propellants, and sub-critical cryogenic fluids in use on a wide range of space applications and in ground applications to monitor fluids ranging from liquid methane to MMH and N2O4. The MLS can also indicate the presence of contaminants such as nitrogen used to purge the system. The current methods use either wire resistance measurements, capacitance or point sensors, combined with pressure and temperature measurements. The MLS will be lighter, require less energy to operate, and provide less heat leak than existing technologies. Current techniques will not function correctly in boiling or stratified liquid cryogens or in reduced gravity. During phase I, Proof-of Concept experiments will be performed with liquid methane. Commercial applications in the Power/fuel industry have been identified.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Within the past few years, many technical reviews have indicated the need for advances in zero-g level sensor techniques. The absorption meter design lends itself well to a potentially low cost design. The tank could easily be made from any of the currently used metallic alloys used for the manufacture of cryogenic storage, and depending on the specific wavelength of light used for the optical attenuation measurement, inexpensive solid state electronics could make up the balance of the instrument . Test stands across the country constantly have troubles determining the levels of cryogen remaining in the tank. Level sensors fail and the crews must rely upon flow rate versus time calculations to determine the amount of cryogen remaining. This guess work would be eliminated with this sensor development.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Advanced Technologies Group has recently been investigating a liquid methane sensor for future automotive and storage tank facilities. LNG is composed primarily of methane. LNG producing facilities are receiving a lot of attention as possible replacement fuels for diesel. Advanced Technologies Group has recently been investigating a liquid oxygen sensor for home health care, in the area of oxygen therapy. The liquid methane sensor and the lox sensor are very similar. Currently, several home health liquid oxygen tanks utilize differential pressure measurements to determine liquid oxygen level remaining in the tank. This method is expensive, less accurate, and it biggest detriment to the system is the amount of heat leak introduces through the extra tubing.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
High Energy Propellents (Recombinant Energy & Metallic Hydrogen)
Propellant Storage
Testing Facilities
Tankage
Pilot Support Systems
Biomass Production and Storage
Instrumentation
Optical
Photonics
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
TTH Research
14300 Cherry Lane Ct., Suite 215
Laurel, MD 20707-4990

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Triem Hoang
thoang@tthresearch.com
14300 Cherry Lane Ct., Suite 215
Laurel,  MD 20707-4990

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Significant cost and weight savings of a space mission can be achieved by improving the cryogenic storage technology. Added cryogen mass due to the cryogen boil-off, the oversized tanks and storage systems make the planetary missions prohibitive. The recently proposed Zero-Boil-Off (ZBO) strategy for cryogen tanks, which combines both thermal insulation and "cryocooling" technologies to manage the heat leaks. It is a straightforward concept that could lead to a significant weight/cost reduction for long-duration missions. However, several issues must be resolved before the ZBO benefits can be realized. One of which is the management of the through-the-tank-wall "heat leaks". Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) is a passive two-phase heat transport device that utilizes solely capillary action to circulate the working fluid in a closed loop to transfer heat from one location to another. LHPs do not contain mechanical moving parts and therefore are highly reliable and durable for space applications. A novel cryogenic LHP system is proposed for the ZBO cryocooling. It is capable of acquiring heat from a large area of the cryo-tank wall, transporting it to a cryocooler for heat rejection, and meeting other design requirements of cryogen storage systems for space missions.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Cryogenic cooling has become increasingly important not only for the cryogen storage technology but the thermal management of IR sensors/detectors and high temperature superconductors. Spaceport operations, both on Earth as well as extraterrestrial, are heavily dependent upon a wide range of cryogenic storage systems such as liquid Oxygen and liquid Nitrogen. Each has unique performance requirements that need to be met. In addition, Far IR (FIR) telescopes require temperature control in the range of 20-30K. The LHP system will meet all aforementioned requirements offering a robust passive cryocooling transport over large areas.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) technology has reached a level of maturity that HTS electronic devices could be reliably produced. There were already feasibility investigations of utilizing all-HTS electronics for next generation Navy spacecraft. The proposed HTS electronics subsystem would have to be cooled to 77K for the superconducting properties to take effect. Cooling methods for maintaining an entire HTS electronic box or a cryogenic thermal bus at 77K are being seriously sought. The large area LHP cryocooling technology would provide a perfect solution for the aforementioned cryogenic thermal bus.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Cooling
Fluid Storage and Handling

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mainstream Engineering Corporation
200 Yellow Pl
Rockledge, FL 32955-5327

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Scaringe
rps@mainstream-engr.com
200 Yellow Place
Rockledge,  FL 32955-5327

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Increasing thermal requirements for space-based thermal control systems are straining the capabilities of conventional heat pipes. Mainstream has experimentally demonstrated a new wick configuration that has been shown to more than triple the heat transport capacity of an otherwise identical copper water heat pipe(this proposal contains the experimental data). This Phase I will seek to extend these heat pipe experiments. Improved heat pipe technology is relevant and important to meeting thermal technology needs; it is well known that any means to improve heat pipe capacity widens the potential applications for their use. Extending the capability of a simple, highly reliable passive system means more applications where this passive heat pipe approach can be used instead of the more complex, and potentially less-reliable, active systems. This Phase I includes heat pipe experiments and limited performance optimization. Mainstream has already performed the marketing and commercialization studies, and we have secured a commercial aerospace partner (with funding) for a follow-on commercialization effort. Phase III commercialization would parallel our other SBIR commercialization efforts. Mainstream's prior record of accomplishment has demonstrated that we are very serious about commercialization and our DoD commercialization index is 90%.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed improvement to conventional heat pipe wick structures would be useful wherever heat pipes are currently used and increased heat flux capability would be desirable; i.e., thermal control systems of small satellites with variable duty cycles, spacecraft radiators, high-power electronic cooling, and avionics cooling. Also, when thermal control systems are needed at temperatures above the optimum for an Ammonia Heat Pipe (above about 30?C) and below the optimum for a Water Heat Pipe (about 150?C), the current heat pipe working fluids that can be used have very low liquid transport factors. Methanol--about the best working fluid in this range--has a heat transport factor that is at least half that of ammonia, and even less when compared to water. Since this is an area where considerable electronics cooling could be operating, the use of a higher heat transport configuration could improve the performance of these alternative working fluids as well as extending the operating range of water and ammonia working fluids; this would have a tremendous effect on future cooling system designs. Improved heat pipe wick technology represents a major advancement in the technology and would have far-reaching applications in both manned and unmanned NASA applications.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Heat pipes are not in general a low cost solution to the cooling problem, but they are very reliable and effective and they have tremendous potential as power levels and volume requirements of commercial electronics increase. Until recently, heat pipes have been used mainly in difficult thermal control applications, such as: aircraft electronics, traction drives, portable computers, audio amplifiers and cooling of closed cabinets operating in harsh environments. The most versatile feature of using heat pipes is the wide variety of geometries that can be constructed to take advantage of the available space around the electronics to be cooled. In many applications, the available heat sink volume above the electronics is limited by the board-to-board spacing. In these situations, heat pipes are used in a low profile design that transports the heat to a large fin stack. For such near-term applications, this proposal contains market research data that demonstrates a significant market potential for improved heat pipe technology.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Cooling

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Hypercomp Engineering, Inc.
1080 North Main, Suite #2
Brigham City, UT 84302-0505

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Wayne Clark
waynec@hypercompeng.com
1080 North Main, Suite #2
Brigham City,  UT 84302-0505

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The objective of the research proposed herein is to define the coupled (combined) effect of critical environments on the structural performance of composite overwrap pressure vessels (COPV). The three environments that will be coupled are cryogenic temperature, space irradiation, and hypervelocity (micrometeoroid/space debris) impact. HyPerComp Engineering (HEI) have previously conducted research that studied the independent effects of the three environments on COPV structural performance. Prior research determined that COPV structural performance and capabilities were significantly degraded by each of the environments. Clearly, a space-based cryogenic fuel storage vessel would be exposed to all three environments simultaneously. Therefore, it is of interest to study the coupled effects of the environments, determine the coupled effect, and define design allowables that consider the simultaneous effect. The result will be a safer and more reliable COPV design. Note, the research proposed herein is applicable any space-based composite structure and earth-based COPV

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
POTENTIAL NASA APPLICATIONS 1. Cost and volumetric efficient cryogenic storage vessels (space-base, airplane-based, earth-based). 2. Space-based habitat structures, other composite structures exposed to cryogenic temperature, irradiation, and hypervelocity impact damage from micrometeoroid or space debris. 3. Safer and more reliable long-term usage of earth-based and space-based composite structures.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS 1. LH2 fuel cell applications. 2. Automotive and marine CNG fuel storage. 3. Marine transport of propane, methane, et al. 4. Environmentally-friendly earth-based cryogenic fluid storage. 5. Safer and more reliable earth-based cryogenic fluid storage.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Propellant Storage
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Structural Modeling and Tools
Tankage
Fluid Storage and Handling
Production
Composites
Metallics
Radiation Shielding Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Big Horn Valve, Inc.
354 W Heald
Sheridan, WY 82801-5018

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Zachary Gray
zg@WyomingSilicon.com
354 W Heald
Sheridan,  WY 82801-5018

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A cryogenic flow-control valve based on Venturi-Offset Technology (VOST) will be designed and modeled. VOST provides precise linear flow control within a hermetically sealed, thermally efficient, cylindrical envelope. Intended to demonstrate a breakthrough in cryogenic flow control, the valve has no external leak paths, holds position without power and has no dynamic seals. With only two moving parts, the valve is inherently simple and robust.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Future spaceport systems. High pressure flow-control valves for engine testing.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Aerospace and industrial flow-control valves.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Feed System Components
Fluid Storage and Handling

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Analytical Mechanics Assoc., Inc.
303 Butler Farm Road, Suite 104A
Hampton, VA 23666-1568

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Haijun Shen
shen@ama-inc.com
303 Butler Farm Road Suite 104
Hampton,  VA 23666-1568

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
It is proposed to develop and implement a simulation of spacecraft rendezvous and docking guidance, navigation, and control in elliptical orbit. The foundation of the simulation will be an extension of an existing tool for optimal rendezvous and docking simulations for spacecraft in circular orbit. The existing tool architecture functions in two phases. In the first phase, optimal trajectories are obtained for the point mass model of the docking vehicle subject to path constraints, with the assumption that the target vehicle is in a known, circular orbit. In the second phase of the simulation, the vehicle is considered as a rigid body whose attitude and trajectory is controlled such that the docking port is aligned with the target vehicle at the time of docking, and the flight path follows the optimal trajectory. It is proposed to extend the first phase trajectory optimization capability of this tool to the case when the target vehicle is in an elliptical orbit, and to also add the capability to model rendezvous navigation sensors in order to make use of estimated state feedback rather than true state feedback during the second phase of the simulation.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential NASA applications are in the area of generating requirements and for performing analysis of potential vehicle designs for missions requiring a rendezvous and docking capability, such as CEV missions to the ISS. The rendezvous and docking simulation capability is expected to aid the mission design process for both robotic and human exploration missions to the moon and beyond.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Applications outside of NASA are expected to be in the area of sales of software and services to large aerospace corporations that are designing the CEV. The rendezvous and docking simulation capability is expected to aid the vehicle design process in the area of thruster and docking port layout. The enhanced sensor modeling capability proposed would also aid the design of avionics packages for these vehicles.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Simulation Modeling Environment
Testing Requirements and Architectures
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Collier Research & Development Corp
45 Diamond Hill Road
Hampton, VA 23666-6016

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Phil Yarrington
phil.yarrington@hypersizer.com
45 Diamond Hill Rd
Hampton,  VA 23666-6016

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The innovation of the proposed effort is a unique automated process for the analysis, design, and sizing of CEV structures and TPS. This developed process will permit hundreds of conceptual and preliminary design trade studies to be performed in a matter of only a few days rather than several months. This shorter time is made possible by replacing or reducing currently required experienced analyst interaction (man in the loop) with predefined knowledge based sizing templates and floating virtual structural component definitions for both surfaces zones and connecting bonded/bolted joints. The resulting capability will be an open architecture built within the HyperSizer<SUP>REG</SUP> commercial software suitable for internally integrating NASA or industry developed specialty discipline analysis codes and externally integrating HyperSizer with NASA larger design systems. This new capability will be unique in that no other commercial or non-commercial tool will have the same level of depth, breadth, accuracy, speed, verification & validation, and software robustness for performing weight prediction and reduction, structural integrity margins-of-safety reporting, and reliability prediction and improvement. This innovation will involve four tasks: 1) Development of knowledge based sizing templates; 2) Development of floating virtual components; 3) Support for NASA on-going multi-disciplinary design system integration activities; and 4) Development of an automated HyperSizer-FEM iteration process for achieving FEA load convergence.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The SBIR developed capability for CEV specific structural components will be integrated into the existing commercial HyperSizer<SUP>REG</SUP> structural sizing software. HyperSizer has and is currently being used by both Lockheed Martin/OSC and the Boeing/Northrop Grumman teams for their CEV designs. The listed innovative new capabilities proposed in the work plan are direct requests from these companies for application to their CEV trade studies, and from NASA users. Other active NASA users include Langley, Glenn, and Marshall research centers for planetary structures such as aerobrakes, UAV vehicles such as High Altitude Long Endurance, and cryogenic composite/metallic tanks.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
HyperSizer is being used by aerospace engineers around the country for airframe design and analysis. For example, at Scaled Composites in Mojave, California engineers are using the software for various different experimental airframe designs since 2001, including the unconventional all composite Global Flyer that in 2005 flew non-stop around the world. Non-NASA applications include Boeing's commercial transport 7E7/787; Northrop Grumman's UAVs such as J-UCAS, Global Hawk, and composite ship superstructures; Lockheed Martin's F-22, C-130J, and JSF; Gulfstream's general aviation aircraft and Pratt Whitney's Hypersonic engines.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ablatives
Airframe
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Simulation Modeling Environment
Reuseable
Thermal Insulating Materials
Structural Modeling and Tools
Software Development Environments
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation
Ceramics
Composites
Computational Materials
Metallics
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Emergent Space Technologies, Inc.
6301 Ivy Lane, Suite 700
Greenbelt, MD 20770-6334

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Everett Cary, Jr.
everett.cary@emergentspace.com
6301 Ivy Lane, Suite 700
Greenbelt,  MD 20770-6334

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA faces many systems engineering challenges as it seeks to conduct exploration and science missions concurrently. One such challenge is implementing a repeatable systems engineering process to missions that vary greatly in scale and complexity. The same process applied to lunar and Mars exploration missions, for example, do not necessarily scale well to Earth science missions. Existing systems engineering tools do not adequately address this problem. They tend to be inflexible implementations of a "one size fits all" approach to process, and provide little or no interoperability with other tools used in the system engineer's workflow. Emergent Space Technologies, Inc. proposes to develop the Systems Engineering Process Realization Toolkit (SE-PRO). SE-PRO will broaden the capabilities for capturing, communicating, and implementing the systems engineering process, regardless of the size of the mission based on the ability to customize the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) approach to process implementation. The innovation lies in the intuitive graphical user interface that allows systems engineers to combine processes like CMMI, NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR's), and Goddard Procedural Requirements (GPR's), into a single process that is modifiable by the missions to specify the workflows, team assignments, and output products according to their needs.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The Systems Engineering Process Realization Toolkit has numerous applications within NASA. Process engineering is a fundamental aspect used to achieve the high quality and reliability necessary for realizing NASA's goals. The key enabler is the fact that the Process Realization Toolkit will not be tied to any specific process and can be applied to processes outside of the system engineering domain. Processes exist everywhere and this tool when applied properly could help users carry-out a process quickly, when time is a factor. An application would be to target mission operations, when a satellite operator who has a limited satellite-uplink window needs to perform an operating procedure in response to an anomaly. This tool could be used to document the steps involved in the procedure, and the organization of the tool would allow operators to quickly find relevant information.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Outside the NASA and aerospace domain, the System Engineering Process Realization Toolkit has broad commercial applications. Processes are documented and followed all the time in business. It may be a proposal process, sales call process, manufacturing process, etc. The market we see for this toolkit are areas where a) access to process must be timely, and b) where the process is very complex or where there are high turnovers in users of the process. Both these scenarios focus on the ability for this toolkit to timely display information in ways which are meaningful for users.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Software Development Environments

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
EDAptive Computing, Inc.
1245-G Lyons Road
Dayton, OH 45458-1818

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
David Barton
d.barton@edaptive.com
1245-G Lyons Rd.
Dayton,  OH 45458-1818

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA's software-intensive extraterrestrial exploration and observation systems are raising performance and reliability bars to unprecedented levels. Exaggerating the complexity, in order for such systems to be robust and responsive they must have the ability to use intelligent processes to self-detect and heal, or literally create new programs in response to new situations. Validating the readiness of such complex automated software for long term remote deployment demands not just covering code or branches, or even inputs and outputs, but rather to cover algorithms, rule bases, and states within the system. Even when reducing the order of the problem through traceable model extraction and abstraction we are left with state explosion that drives the test of mission-critical software to unacceptable cost and time extremes. Yet it must be done. This has been a matter of active research at EDAptive Computing, Inc. (ECI), NASA, and elsewhere. Modern specification and software modeling techniques combined with formal methods have yielded promising results. We have demonstrated parts of the solution with smaller scale flight-critical [USAF] software and [MDA] satellite systems. ECI is now uniquely poised to merge and bring the needed technology to fruition at the scale necessary for NASA Exploration Systems.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA Commercial Applications include high reliability and mission critical systems associated with space, including satellites, life support systems, launch control systems, autonomous space vehicles, and any mission critical system in a high reliability situation.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA Commercial Applications include similarly mission critical or high reliability systems: embedded control systems in medical equipment, avionics systems, nuclear control systems, automotive systems, and any system in a high reliabiilty situation.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Human-Robotic Interfaces
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Simulation Modeling Environment
Testing Requirements and Architectures
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Computer System Architectures
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Software Development Environments
Nuclear Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Time Rover
11425 Charsan Lane
Cupertino, CA 95014-4981

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Doron Drusinsky
nasa_sbir@time-rover.com
11425 Charsan Lane
Cupertino,  CA 95014-4981

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The following background technology is described in Part 5: Run-time Verification (RV), White Box Automatic Test Generation (WBATG). Part 5 also describes how WBATG and RV yield Executable Model Checking (EMC). This proposal proposes using RV, WBATG and EMC for system level software verification. Similar techniques are commercially available for component level software (see Part 5 -- StateRover). The proposal suggests enhancing component-level UML-statechart visual modeling, code generation, Formal Specification of Correctness Properties (FS), RV, WBATG, and EMC towards the end of meeting the technology need of the subtopic, as follows: 1. Integrated specification-based and model-based WBATG for UML statechart models enhanced with FS. Having a seamless WBATG is required for system level verification because systems typically consist of a plurality of models and specifications making human driven verification difficult to perform. 2. Integrated white-box test generation of (1) with system level modeling using modeling. This integration will enable the use of system level data and models by the WBATG. 3. FS, RV, and WBATG's using the following system FS languages: Message Sequence Charts (MSC's) and Harel's Live Sequence Charts (LCS's). Items 1, 2 enable system level EMC as well as component-level EMC. Item 3 enables system level FS.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA/JPL relies heavily on Matlab for system modeling. On the other hand, existing tools and techniques for robust and scalable software verification work primarily on the component level. Robust system level verification will provide significant improvement to the level of NASA's system and software safety because real-environment models will be usable in conjunction with robust formal methods.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA/JPL relies heavily on Matlab for system modeling. On the other hand, NASA's formal method and run-time verification efforts have been using on temporal logic and some statechart specifications for run-time verification model checking. Integrating these two aspects of system representation will provide significant improvement to the level of NASA's system and software safety because real-environment models will be usable in conjunction with robust formal methods. This is the positioning of our commercialization strategy within NASA. Time Rover's UML-statechart based modeling, specification, run-time verification and white box test generation are already commercially successful. For example, the Ballistic Missile Defense Project is using our tools instead of their initial plans to use IBM/Rational Rose Real-time. Time Rover's tools are the only formal specification, run-time verification, and white box test generation tools that have been successful on a commercial basis. We believe that support for system-level and environment modeling languages and tools, as specified in this proposal will appeal to many system level developers concerned with safety critical applications.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Simulation Modeling Environment
Testing Facilities
Testing Requirements and Architectures

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
S&K Technologies, Inc.
56 Old Highway 93 North, Box 339
St. Ignatius, MT 59865-0339

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Carroll Thronesbery
c.thronesbery@jsc.nasa.gov
201 Flint Ridge Plaza, Suite 102
Webster,  TX 77598-4363

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
S&K Technologies proposes to develop a storyboard tool to assist with the generation, verification, and refinement of storyboard information and its subsequent translation into model data for systems analysis and design tools. The most important contribution is an improved communication of the concept of operation between prospective customers and system developers. It addresses the difficulty of communicating highly technical information among specialized engineering groups so that the concept of operations illustrated by the storyboard accommodates the consideration of context of use, user task performance, effective application of new technologies, safety, and reliability. This difficulty is especially pronounced when the user's tasks are unusual (space operations) and the technology to support the task is novel (autonomous software with which humans interact and monitor). Communication is enhanced by focusing on the common language of storyboard information. The storyboard tool will help authors manage versions of storyboards to track alternate approaches for human task support and to maintain libraries of storyboards from previous systems. After assisting with the creation of storyboards and refining them in concurrent engineering sessions, the tool will assist in translating the storyboard information into data forms importable by analysis tools used by NASA systems engineers.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Since most new NASA systems can benefit from storyboards and prototypes, the storyboard tool can provide valuable assistance to a large number of NASA system acquisition projects. Particular attention will be paid to Exploration Systems projects because of the principal investigator's association with an ongoing NASA study of tools to support human factors engineering participation in the early systems analysis for Exploration Systems. Consequently, the storyboarding tool should be particularly applicable to Exploration Systems early analysis activities. However, it is also expected to generalize quite well to a wide span of NASA analyses to support system acquisition.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA applications that could benefit from using the storyboard tool include military system acquisitions and early systems analysis for commercial applications. S&K Technologies has number of projects associated with military system acquisition, and the principal investigator has a background involving system acquisition for the Army, including some MANPRINT and human factors engineering experience. Consequently, S&K Technologies has experience marketing software and analysis services to military customers. For commercial customers, our marketing strategy includes: ? Bundling the toolkit with examples showing commercial applications ? Demonstrating at trade shows and conferences ? Internet advertising ? Trade magazine advertising

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interfaces

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Tietronix Software, Inc.
1331 Gemini, Suite 300
Houston, TX 77058-2794

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Michel Izygon
mizygon@tietronix.com
1331 Gemini, Suite 300
Houston,  TX 77058-2794

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed project is aimed at developing a model based diagnostics system for spacecraft that will allow real time assessment of its state, while it is impacted by a failure mode, and provide to the crew the possible reconfiguration strategies to continue the mission. While a lot of research is being done on the development of Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) system, very little effort is made to provide the spacecraft with the capability to use IVHM information in order to assess the possible strategies possible when a failure event has impacted the vehicle. A model based system can use its understanding of the system state to deduce the potential reconfiguration commands and optimize the outcome in order to preserve the mission goals. Our proposed project is targeted at supporting the spacecraft fault tolerance capability by searching the system states space and selecting the most appropriate sequence of actions to execute in order to optimize the possibility of mission success, by reconfiguring the spacecraft to a desired new state.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA is engaged in one of the most ambitious program with the Vision for Space Exploration which will take the next step in robotics explorations and human expeditions to the Moon and beyond. The concept proposed for this SBIR Phase I is generic and will be developed in such a way that it can support all the multiple kinds of advanced spacecrafts or robotics systems that NASA is going to develop. In the coming years, the CEV will be one of the focus of attention as it represents the new generation of manned spacecraft. Many additional spacecraft systems will be initiated in parallel to accomplish the Vision for Space Exploration. They include among others, complex advanced robotics assistants such as the Science Crew Operations Utility Testbed (SCOUT), the Robonaut project, or the mini AERCam. Providing these programs with a capability to recover from a failure mode by allowing the crew to intelligently select the best set of actions among the numerous alternatives will minimize risks associated with failures modes.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
In the commercial arena, any complex system that is directly impacted by different failure modes and requires the operating crew to select the best set of actions in a limited time could benefit from the proposed concept. Specifically, Power plants and Chemical plants, in which a failure mode could incur millions of dollars of lost revenue are clear target of our model based prognostics system. Other areas such as airplanes maintenance can also benefit from the technology.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Intelligence
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Stottler Henke Associates, Inc.
951 Mariner's Island Blvd., Suite 360
San Mateo, CA 94404-2627

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Richard Stottler
stottler@stottlerhenke.com
951 Mariner's Island Blvd. Ste. 360
San Mateo,  CA 94404-1585

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Scheduling the daily activities of the crew on a human space mission is currently a cumbersome job performed by a large team of operations experts on the ground. This process is expensive, inflexible, and inconvenient for the crew in the spacecraft. As mission durations increase, it will become vital to give the crew more autonomy and reduce operations costs. We propose an Onboard Automated Scheduling Intelligence System (OASIS) that will automate scheduling work, giving the crew more autonomy and drastically reducing operations costs.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
OASIS has immediate application in human space flight crew scheduling. The tool will improve crew autonomy and productivity, and cut costs, while preserving the safety and flexibility of current scheduling techniques.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Stottler Henke will market OASIS to the commercial space flight community. Also, in the process of implementing the proposed system we will be upgrading our generalized scheduling engine, Aurora, furthering our efforts to market Aurora to the manufacturing and supply-chain community.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Expert Systems
Human-Computer Interfaces

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Loats Associates, Inc.
201 East Main St.
Westminster, MD 21157-5201

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
G. Samuel Mattingly
loats@loats.com
201 East Main St.
Westminster,  MD 21157-5201

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This proposal addresses Topic X6.02, Space Assembly Maintenance and Servicing. Spacecraft surface attachments, such as handholds, foot-restraints or tether points are often installed prior to flight, to aid planned EVA (Extravehicular Activity) operations. However, such aids are precluded where their pre-installation could compromise aerodynamic, or other important functions, of certain surfaces. Furthermore, unplanned EVA tasks are, at times, required to address in-flight emergencies or other unanticipated circumstances. For these situations, a versatile means of securing essential EVA assist attachments is needed. This study proposes to research and develop an electrostatic attachment system for rapid surface attachment of portable EVA assist devices, almost anywhere on the exterior (or interior) of a space-borne platform. The system will enhance the addressable scope and efficiency of EVA task performance and aid in astronaut (or material) maneuvering and transit, worksite restraint, and tool or equipment tie-down. The attachment system will incorporate a self-contained power source, capable of operating in a vacuum environment, to produce and maintain a surface conforming electrostatic charge of sufficient magnitude to induce a useful attractive Coulomb holding force between the device and the surface to which it is contacted, without damage or permanent alteration to the surface.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The electrostatic attachment system envisioned by this proposal is applicable to a wide range of EVA and IVA tasks. The versatility and adaptability afforded by an electrostatic attachment system, as proposed herein, to rapidly and strategically position assistive surface attachments, and reposition them as needed, to best suit the specific and evolving maneuvering, transit, positioning and mechanical leverage requirements of each EVA/IVA task, without damage or permanent alteration of the surface, will both improve the efficiency with which such work tasks can be performed and expand the range of tasks that can be effectively addressed. It also has important applications for space-borne parts and material handling and for providing space based robotic systems with astrictive prehension capabilities.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
An electrostatic attachment system has numerous potential commercial applications. These include robotics and automated parts and material handling applications. It offers potential advantages of size, cost and reliability over current equipment as well as advantages in the handling of small, fragile or highly flexible materials. The electrostatic system to be developed in this project can also potentially be used to supply a robot with astrictive prehension capabilities, thus enabling wall walking capabilities.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Mobility
Manipulation
Tools

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ionwerks
2472 Bolsover, Suite 255
Houston, TX 77005-2537

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
J. Albert Schultz
al@ionwerks.com
2472 Bolsover, Ste 255
Houston,  TX 77005-2537

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Miniaturization of mass spectrometers is restricted almost exclusively by the ability of small vacuum pumps to remove gas loads during operation of the instrument. Our answer to this dilemma is a specialized interface that focuses a parallel beam of ionized gas molecules through an orifice that is at least 10 times smaller than ever before achieved in a mass spectrometer inlet. Our recent patent application describes this interface. Not only can we use this interface to radically reduce the pumping requirements within the mass spectrometer, but it should also enable an unprecedented cooling and focusing of the ion beam. This in turn will enable attaining mass resolutions of over ten thousand in a phase I instrument which uses a linear time of flight tube of only 10 cm. A small overall instrumental footprint (probably 1.5 cubic feet including pumping and electronics) should be attainable in a phase II effort.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA will use the instrument for spaceport leak detection and hazardous gas detection.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Commercial applications include on board environmental monitoring including fire detection in vehicles and aircraft.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Particle and Fields

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Frendi
146 Manningham Drive
Madison, AL 35758-7418

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Kader Frendi
frendi@eng.uah.edu
146 Manningham Drive
Madison,  AL 35758-7418

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The complexity of the current launch platforms makes their maintenance and operation very costly. In order to successfully design the next generation platforms, it is necessary to understand the complex, multi-disciplinary environments that exists during a launch sequence. The proposed research and development effort will use state of the art techniques in the various fields involved to compute the virboacoustic environment during launch. The physical insight gained from these models will help guide the design of a new cost-effective launch platform. In particular, the problem of unsteady turbulent flows will be addressed using a newly developed turbulence modeling approach known as partially averaged Navier-Stokes (or PANS). Using PANS nearfield results, the acoustic farfield will be obtained through the use of acoustic analogies. In addition, various passive and active control techniques will be assessed to effectively reduce noise levels in the vicinity of the launch platform.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
It is well-known that a very harsh vibroacoustic environment exits during launch. This environment could be responsible for structural fatigue and failure, debris entrainment and impact on launch vehicles and damage to payloads. Therefore a good understanding of the various physical phenomena taking place during launch is necessary in order to design cost-effective, safe and reliable future launch systems. It is this goal that we strive to achieve through the proposed research work. The benefit to NASA will be significant in both cost, efficiency and most of all safety.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed research and development effort will benefit greatly the commercial launch area and companies such as Boeing and many others will reap te benefit. The outcome of the proposed work will reduce the complexity of the current launch plateforms and hence reduce the launch cost. In addition, many small and cost effective launch sites will be developed around the country. The single most important element that will be gained from the proposed effort will be increased launch safety, which is priceless.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Simulation Modeling Environment
Airport Infrastructure and Safety

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mainstream Engineering Corporation
200 Yellow Pl
Rockledge, FL 32955-5327

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Scaringe
rps@mainstream-engr.com
200 Yellow Place
Rockledge,  FL 32955-5327

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This proposal discloses an innovative, economically feasible technique to capture and re-liquefy the hydrogen boil-off by using carbon nanotube adsorption prior to liquefaction. The hydrogen boil- off involves an average of 10,300 SCFM of hydrogen vapor at pressures below 17 psia for a period of an hour. The configuration disclosed in the proposal significantly reduces the size of the liquefaction equipment and this translates into a substantial reduction in cost for the system. Preliminary calculations have indicated that a payback period of less than 12 months (based on the current cost of hydrogen and the use rate at KSC when shuttles return to flight). The Phase I effort will also experimentally demonstrate the performance of a carbon nanotube coated (CNC) adsorption bed in Phase I. This proposal discloses a patent-pending approach which makes this technology feasible, safe and affordable. The Phase I effort is significant, in that an extensive demonstration of the performance, cost, durability, and simplicity of the CNC adsorption bed as well as a demonstration of the economic benefits of the hydrogen capture system for NASA/KSC will both be achieved before proceeding to Phase II.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Our marketing studies have clearly identified that in addition to the obvious NASA/KSC application for recovering 1.5 million gallons of hydrogen per year[1] with an annual savings of about two million dollars, there is a tremendous market potential for a high-capacity, safe, hydrogen storage method which can be combined with fuel cells. There are also other NASA and DoD spaceflight applications where the safe, and possibly long-term, storage of hazardous gasses or propellants is desired.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Manufacturers of liquefied hydrogen and other commercial users of hydrogen would have recovery needs similar to NASA, however the much bigger commercial market is using the increased hydrogen storage capacity of the carbon nanotube coated adsorption bed for hydrogen fuel cells, such as those proposed for future new vehicles. The nanotube coated adsorption technique would have other commercial applications as the U.S. tends more toward clean-burning hydrogen as a fuel source.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Fluid Storage and Handling

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
INNOSENSE LLC
2531 West 237th Street, Suite 127
Torrance, CA 90505-5245

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Kisholoy Goswami
kisholoy.goswami@innosense.us
2531 West 237th Street, Suite 127
Torrance,  CA 90505-5245

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
For detecting leakage of cryogenic fluids in spaceport facilities and in spacebound vehicles, this project proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of an all-optical sensor that can be fitted into narrow orifices around plumbing junctions. Fast response time and complete reversibility in the detection range of 1 ppm to 100% for hydrogen will be demonstrated in Phase I. This technology will support NASA goal of reducing vehicle and payload cost, and increase safety of ground and flight operations by measuring hydrogen in real-time and in situ. The sensor's thermal shock resistance when exposed to cryogenic fluids will also be tested in Phase I. A prototype device will be engineered, field-tested and delivered to NASA in Phase II. Successful discussions have been conducted with industrial partners for commercialization support including Phase III follow-on funding for this project. One major U.S. aerospace company has expressed strong interest in the proposed technology by providing a letter of support. A technical team having 70 years of cumulative experience in developing commercially viable products has been assembled for this project.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA and its contractors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and other companies in the international arena will benefit from this project. Currently, NASA is relying on mass spectrometers. The all-optical sensor system is designed to decrease pay load while monitoring multiple leak locations in situ and in real time.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The present $1.2 billion worldwide gas sensing market needs small sensors to measure leaks in valves, as well as reliable personal units for general hydrogen gas safety monitoring. The transition from fossil fuel into a hydrogen economy could push the $120,000,000 annual hydrogen sensor market today into annual sales as high as $1,800, 000,000 by 2010 for hydrogen safety sensing according to current available estimates. Hydrogen feed stock sensors, needed to manage gas flow and purity, will further increase the demand for hydrogen sensors.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Propellant Storage
Launch and Flight Vehicle
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Fluid Storage and Handling
Instrumentation
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Data Input/Output Devices
Optical
Photonics
Earth-Supplied Resource Utilization
In-situ Resource Utilization
Microgravity
Optical & Photonic Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Orion Propulsion, Inc.
105 A-4 Commerce Circle
Madison, AL 35758-1863

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Tim Pickens
tpickens@orionpropulsion.com
105 A-4 Commerce Circle
Madison,  AL 35758-1863

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Orion Propulsion, Inc. proposes to develop an Oxygen and Methane RCS Thruster to advance the technology of alternate fuels. A successful Oxygen/CH4 RCS Thruster will also be new reaction control engine that integrates readily with integrates readily with primary propulsion by using the same propellants. Orion has a developed a preliminary design of an Oxygen / Methane (O/M) RCS Thruster, and our purpose is to contribute to NASA Space Exploration goals by increasing the technology readiness of oxygen/methane rocket systems. Orion has demonstrated the current development status of our thruster with some 40 firings at sea level. The objective of the Phase 1 R&D would be to improve credibility of its design by testing another prototype test article, which is equipped with a flight type nozzle and propellant valves. These tests would be performed in a environmental chamber at reduced pressure to simulate space vacuum conditions. Although, the O/M Thruster test article would be constructed of stainless steel, its interior would be coated with a refractory metal alloy. This treatment enables the test article to sustain higher temperatures and enables longer tests. The expected result of a Phase 2 effort would be a flight-ready prototype thruster for delivery to NASA.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The O/M RCS Thruster could be used in any NASA or Commercial Space launch vehicle or spacecraft that uses oxygen and methane for primary or maneuver propulsion. The simple configuration and conventional manufacturing techniques contribute to cost, weight, and risk reductions. NASA and commercial space operators could thereby benefit from these improvements. The O/M RCS Thruster will be particularly useful to space exploration such as mars where methane would be available via appropriate in-situ mining results.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Military and commercial space operations could also benefit by using oxygen / methane propulsion, thereby improving the benefits of higher production volumes for the thruster. The more application of common rocket engine systems by NASA, military, and commercial operators extend the mutual benefits to all of them.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Combustion Research and Flow Technology
6210 Kellers Church Road
Pipersville, PA 18947-1020

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ashvin Hosangadi
hosangad@craft-tech.com
6210 Keller's Church Road
Pipersville,  PA 18947-1020

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
CFD codes used to simulate upper stage expander cycle engines are not adequately mature to support design efforts. Rapid and accurate simulations require more versatile grid frameworks to handle complex geometries of multi-element injector configurations. Turbulence models require upgrades to better predict fuel/air mixing with swirl and to predict heat flux. The innovation proposed initiates work towards developing a mature, high-fidelity simulation tool. Geometry complexity and numerical accuracy problems are addressed via a multi-element UNS grid adaptation strategy that builds upon techniques developed for valving problems and scramjet injectors. Turbulent mixing and heat transfer are upgraded by including PDE's that solve for temperature and species variance (yielding local values of Prandtl and Schmidt number), as well as swirl corrections. Finally generalized preconditioning that accounts for stiffness resulting from a large range of Mach numbers, and generalized thermodynamic formulations for real fluids will be matured to yield robust numerics with improved solution convergence. The tools and technology to be developed here would directly impact design efforts for future long duration lunar and Mars missions that require more durable long-life, light weight system components, and address methodology to operate with novel hydrocarbon fuels that may be harvested in-situ.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
There currently is a need for high fidelity CFD software that can support the design of thrusters for Reaction Control and Orbital Maneuvering systems; current tools are not adequately accurate or robust enough to provide solutions within the rapid turnaround timelines demanded in a design cycle. The proposed Phase I effort will result in a commercial CFD tool that will address some of these deficiencies by developing a more versatile computing framework with more advanced physical models. The framework would also be general enough to model novel hydrocarbon propellants such as Methane that may be harvested in-situ. We anticipate that this tool will be used in conjunction with current design procedures to either refine preliminary designs or rectify potentially anomalous behavior in existing designs. We also anticipate technology developed here to be transferred to other codes used at NASA MSFC after validation and demonstration of improvements they offer.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential customers for this commercial product are companies currently involved in designing propulsion components for future space systems including Boeing, Pratt and Whitney/Rocketdyne, and Northrup Grumman. The design of systems for long duration lunar and Mars missions will require light weight components that have to operate with increased durability. We anticipate our product being licensed by the larger prime contractors to provide simulation support. The ability to handle hydrocarbon combustion in a high-pressure environment will allow us to market this product to the oil and natural gas industry. The high cost of oil is motivating the energy industry to reconsider oil sources that are more expensive to extract. There is also renewed interest at improving efficiency and design of combustors using novel fuel compositions. Thus, the ability to model real fluid, combusting flows at high pressures and temperatures would make this software of interest to the broader energy industry.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Fundamental Propulsion Physics
Simulation Modeling Environment
Feed System Components
Thermodynamic Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Pioneer Astronautics
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood, CO 80215-5516

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Zubrin
zubrin@aol.com
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood,  CO 80215-5516

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Nitrous Oxide Paraffin Hybrid engine (N2OP) is a proposed technology designed to provide small launch vehicles with high specific impulse, indefinitely storable propulsion. In the N2OP engine, the combination of liquid nitrous oxide on solid paraffin as a rocket propellant allows for the development of compact lightweight high performance stages using densely packed propellant tankage. This is because N2O/paraffin hybrids have a very high oxidizer/fuel mixture ratio and because paraffin has a much higher regression rate than typical hybrid hydrocarbon fuels. Propellant slumping can be prevented by molding the paraffin into a 3% by volume graphite sponge matrix. Currently, space launch missions require cryogenic or extremely toxic propellants which are limited in their storage times, reducing their capability for rapid response launch. The much more storable solid propellants have higher cost, and lower performance while still being a large explosive hazard. The N2OP propulsion system also is compatible with ocean temperatures, allowing launch by floating in water. The achievable Isp for this propellant combination using autogenous pressurization is about 235 seconds at sea level and over 310 s in vacuum, making its performance fully adequate to support operation of a safe, fully storable, highly-responsive multi-stage launch vehicle.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The N2OP is an extremely attractive technology for enabling fast response space launch missions, it would have many other applications as well. Commercial applications would include the delivery of small geostationary, medium, and low altitude satellites into orbit, apogee kick, and also for high efficiency re-assignment maneuvers and end of life superboosting for geostationary satellites. The N2OP engine could be used for onboard spacecraft propulsion or for dedicated upper and transfer stages. As an additional advantage, the same N2O that powers the N2OP can be used in N2O monopropellant thrusters for spacecraft RCS, thereby eliminating hydrazine and reducing costs.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A high specific impulse safe, nontoxic long term storable stage would find many customers among commercial, military, and scientific satellites, launch vehicles, or sounding rockets who would value it as a very cost-effective alternative to the current choices of low performance toxic hypergols, cryogenic LOX, or solid propulsion. Smaller N2OP propulsion systems could meet the needs of the amateur experimental rocketry market. The use of N2OP technology for military missile propulsion is also highly attractive, as such systems would be much safer than solids during manufacture, transport, and front line storage, and potentially be much cheaper as well.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Surmet Corp
33 B St
Burlington, MA 01803-3406

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Uday Kashalikar
sjha@surmet.com
33 B Street
Burlington,  MA 01803-3406

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Surmet will demonstrate a novel processing method to develop environmentally resistant C/SiC composites for turbomachinery. The need to reduce the weight, size, and costs of current systems make the use of SiC ideal in these high temperatures and extreme environments. Traditional processing of SiC materials are inherently limited in terms of component thicknesses and overall sizes that can be processed, as well as uniform densification. Also, pure SiC matrices are subject to attack in the environments expected for these components, e.g., hydrogen rich steam and oxygen rich environments. Surmet proposes a protected C/SiC composite from preceramic polymer as a solution to NASA systems' weight, environmental resistance, and cost requirements. A number of specimens will be fabricated to demonstrate mechanical strength, thermal capability, and environmental durability of these materials. The Phase II program will demonstrate repeatability in properties and produce relevant CMC components that will be tested under simulated service conditions.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Preceramic polymer based SiC CMC's provide affordability and potential for scale-up in size. After resolving the major shortcoming of current PIP based CMC's ? poor environmental resistance, these material will find a number of airborne and space based applications, including space optics, advanced earth-to-orbit propulsion systems, and hypersonic vehicles. Specifically, rocket turbomachinery components such as nozzle ramp (active cooled structures), turbine blades, thrust chambers, resulting from this technology will produce substantial improvement in propulsion system performance and cost.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
After this environmentally durable CMC technology is demonstrated in government aerospace applications, it will find a number of military, commercial and industrial applications. These include: a) turbine, combustion chamber and recuperator components in gas turbine engines for unmanned combat aircraft as well as commercial aircraft, b) automotive/diesel engine components such as turbocharger rotors, rocker arms, etc., c) tribological applications such as brake materials, capstans, etc, and d) industrial applications such as pump vanes for handling and distribution of corrosive chemicals and erosive slurries.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ceramics
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Florida Turbine Technologies, Inc.
140 Intracoastal Pointe, Suite 301
Jupiter, FL 33477-5094

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Philip Pelfrey
ppelfrey@fttinc.com
140 Intracoastal Pointe, Suite 301
Jupiter,  FL 33477-5094

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Florida Turbine Technologies (FTT) proposes to conduct research necessary to develop a physics-based pneumatic hammer instability model for hydrostatic bearings operating in a compressible fluid. The innovation of the resulting model is to account for the extreme density, compressibility, and non-uniform pressure variations found in highly turbulent rocket engine liquid hydrogen turbopump hydrostatic bearings as well as the variations resulting from 3-D effects such as tangential and/or axial injection, which are ignored in the pneumatic hammer instability criteria currently used throughout industry. The ability to accurately predict the stability of highly turbulent, highly compressible liquid hydrogen hydrostatic bearings incorporating 3-D effects is essential for NASA to achieve IHPRPT objectives through the use of smaller, faster turbopumps. This project will enable the accurate prediction of bearing stability, resulting in higher performing bearings that enable smaller operating clearances for improved turbopump and system-level performance.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Pneumatic hammer instability due to the compressibility of cryogenic liquid hydrogen is a major concern for NASA rocket engine fuel turbopumps. Current turbopumps, such as the IPD, and future turbopumps are sacrificing performance based on 35 year-old "rule-of-thumb" stability criteria. A validated, physics-based pneumatic hammer instability model will enable higher performing turbopumps, which result in greater system level performance.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
FTT is using the synergy from multiple programs to create a comprehensive advancement in technology for the benefit of many programs. Leveraging existing and planned bearing technology programs, development will include not only hydrostatic bearings applicable to rocket engine turbopumps, but also rolling element bearings and air bearings applicable to ARMY NLOS/UAV's. In support of this, FTT is developing small expendable turbine engine product lines for commercial applications in the 30 to 300 lbf thrust class.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Fundamental Propulsion Physics
Feed System Components

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
AeroAstro, Inc.
20145 Ashbrook Place
Ashburn, VA 20147-3373

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Joshua Elvander
josh.elvander@aeroastro.com
12 Farnsworth Street, Fourth Floor
Boston,  MA 02210-1224

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
AeroAstro proposes decomposing nitrous oxide (N2O) as an alternative propellant to existing spacecraft propellants. Decomposing N2O can be used as either a high Isp, hot-gas monopropellant or as a low Isp, cold gas for ACS thrusters. AeroAstro further proposes to use an innovative technique to achieve N2O decomposition: gasdynamic resonance. Gasdynamic resonance will elevate the N2O to the activation temperatures required for exothermic decomposition, allowing monopropellant operation without the difficulties of a catalyst. One of the challenges of long-duration space exploration systems is finding a propellant for microspacecraft that is safe, reliable, robust, and performs better than current propulsion systems. N2O can replace both hot-gas propellants such as hydrazine and cold-gas ACS systems such as nitrogen or isobutane. N2O is non-toxic, has a low freezing point (-91<SUP>o</SUP>C), and stores as a liquid. N2O is also a byproduct of the catalysis of ammonia, a main effluent of waste-water recycling systems for long-duration manned space missions. The anticipated results of this effort are data demonstrating the operating parameters of resonating N2O, and a dual-mode thruster design capable of both hot-gas and cold-gas operation. Phase II activity will evolve the design of the dual-mode thruster and demonstrate operation over a range of conditions.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A microspacecraft propulsion system based on decomposing nitrous oxide (N2O) could support long-duration, manned space exploration by providing inspection and diagnostic services to the space station, crew exploration vehicle and other long-duration space transportation systems. The storable, non-toxic, stable nature of the propellant and its exhaust products reduce risk to crew and hardware and allow for easy handling and transfer. N2O has potential as a pseudo-ISRU propellant because it is the byproduct of the catalysis of ammonia, which is isolated during wastewater recycling. N2O can operate as either a hot-gas or cold-gas propellant, expanding system capability while reducing mass.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
AeroAstro expects that decomposing nitrous oxide (N2O) thrusters can replace hydrazine monopropellant thrusters and several types of traditional cold gas thrusters. Such N2O systems would drive down propulsion system costs and reduce overall system mass by removing the need for tank/line heaters and separate systems for cold and hot propellants. This could enable a new class of microspacecraft that can afford the propellant to perform a variety of missions, such as monitoring high-value geosynchronous communications satellites for anomalies, assist in on-orbit testing of communications payloads, imagery for marketing purposes, docking and refueling, responsive rendezvous, etc.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Micro Thrusters
Monopropellants
Mobility

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Pioneer Astronautics
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood, CO 80215-5516

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Zubrin
zubrin@aol.com
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood,  CO 80215-5516

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Methane and Carbon Monoxide/LOX rocket (MCLOX) is a technology for accomplishing ascent from Mars. Current Mars in-situ propellant production (ISPP) technologies produce methane and carbon monoxide in various combinations, but with neither generally produced in pure form. While separation and purification of methane fuel is possible, it adds complexity to the propellant production process and discards an otherwise useful fuel product. The MCLOX makes such complex and wasteful processes unnecessary by burning the methane/CO mixtures produced by Mars ISPP systems without further refinement. Despite the decrease in rocket specific impulse caused by CO admixture, the improvement offered by concomitant increased propellant density provides a net improvement in stage performance, and this mission advantage is amplified further by the increase of the total amount of propellant produced and the decrease in mass and complexity of the required ISPP plant. For these reasons the development of the MCLOX rocket is important to achieve maximum benefit from Mars ISPP systems.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
MCLOX propulsion would be uniquely suitable for a Mars sample return or a manned Mars mission using indigenous propellant. Because it can use the mixtures of methane and CO that are produced by the most readily available ISPP systems without further distillation, it minimizes the mass and complexity of such systems and maximizes their useful propellant leverage. MCLOX engines could also be used to take off from the Moon or asteroids, and can be used to fulfill any function required for high-energy space storable propulsion.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The MCLOX has many commercial applications, since it can also work with pure methane fuel. An upper stage driven by such LOX/methane propulsion would be non-toxic, space storable, and offer the highest specific impulse of any chemical stage other than the much more expensive and bulkier LOX/H2 systems. As such, the MCLOX upper stage would find many customers among commercial, military, and scientific satellites, upper stages, and launch vehicles who would value it as a cost-effective alternative to the current choice of toxic hypergol, lower performing LOX/RP, or cryogenic LOX/H2 propulsion.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Fluid Storage and Handling
In-situ Resource Utilization

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Triton Systems, Inc.
200 Turnpike Road
Chelmsford, MA 01824-4000

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Karin Karg
kkarg@tritonsystems.com
200 Turnpike Road
Chelmsford,  MA 01824-4000

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Triton Systems, Inc. (Triton) proposes to develop a cost-effective manufacturing approach to fabricate combustion chambers for a rocket technology demonstrator engine. The proposed manufacturing process combines Triton's success in fabricating high strength, ductile, discontinuous fiber reinforced aluminum (FRA) composites and rapid prototyping techniques used in the aluminum casting industry. The ability to insert Triton's FRA technology into boost and orbit transfer components supports critical propulsion goals by improving the thrust-to-weight ratio and reducing hardware costs. Significant weight savings will be achieved with Triton's lightweight FRA technology compared to the current nickel superalloy. Hardware costs savings are anticipated with the use of a proven, affordable and high quality casting process to fabricate FRA materials. An added benefit is the ability to incorporate design changes for improved efficiency and/or research and development efforts.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Triton's proposed approach will support critical next generation launch requirements such as weight savings, improved thrust to weight ratios and reduced hardware and manufacturing costs.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential commercial applications include: engine components, electronic packaging, space structures, machine components, engine blocks and brake components.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Composites
Metallics
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Electron Energy Corporation
924 Links Avenue
Landisville, PA 17538-1615

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jinfang Liu
jfl@electronenergy.com
924 Links Avenue
Landisville,  PA 17538-1615

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
High temperature permanent magnet materials play an important role in NASA's space missions in electric propulsion, energy generation and storage and other applications. We propose to devise accelerated testing methods to test and predict the service life of SmCo based ultra high temperature permanent magnets in a high vacuum environment at high temperatures in excess of 400 degrees C. The proposed research will enable designers to appropriately design and use high temperature permanent magnets to optimize their performance. The proposed efforts will measure outgassing rates through total mass loss methods based on ASTM standards at temperatures from 300 to 700 degrees C at vacuum levels of 10 exp-5 Torr or higher. The microstructure and chemical composition variations at the near-interface region after exposure to high vacuum and high temperatures will be analyzed with scanning electron microscopy and auger electron spectroscopy or energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Magnetic properties will be measured and modeled with finite element analysis. These methods will enable prediction of reliability and performance of high temperature magnets over long space missions through short-term test methods.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA applications include uses for electric propulsion of NASA's Jupiter Missions and other missions. These potential applications consist of high power Hall Effect Thrusters and ion thrusters supporting NASA's NSTAR and NEXT programs. During space re-entry, integral and addressable magnetic characteristics in the flight surfaces could permit use of the plasma layer for heat rejection, power generation, or aerodynamic control. Advanced Stirling and Brayton cycle engine technology for nuclear power driven systems will benefit from advanced understanding of magnet characteristics in high temperature high vacuum environments. High temperature magnetic bearings and rotary generators for kilowatt and Megawatt power gas turbine systems for planetary moon and Mars missions will also benefit from this research. Furthermore, high temperature magnets in a vacuum environment could be used for energy storage / attitude control flywheels.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Traveling wave tubes have been used in NASA's space exploration, satellite communication, missiles, combat aircraft and other defense applications. Higher temperature magnets useable in vacuum could significantly improve the performance of the traveling wave tubes and can improve manufacturability of TWT's which are baked to over 400 degrees C in a UHV environment. Other applications for high temperature and high vacuum resistant magnets would include equipment for ultra-high vacuum equipment and electronic materials processing. Such applications can include magnets used in the chamber of sputtering systems in Halbach arrays and for supporting the move towards UHV sputtering. Some specialty molten electronic material mixing equipment requires magnets to operate at 550 degrees C with very low outgassing or valuable process material would be poisoned. Vacuum gauges and manipulator devices that need to survive bake outs up to 400 degrees C in high vacuum would also benefit from these proposed studies.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Electromagnetic Thrusters
Launch Assist (Electromagnetic, Hot Gas and Pneumatic)
MHD
Micro Thrusters
Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI)
Superconductors and Magnetic
Energy Storage
MHD and Related Conversion
Thermodynamic Conversion
Thermoelectric Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Zona Technology, Inc.
9489 E. Ironwood Square Drive, Suite 100
Scottsdale, AZ 85258-4578

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Lei Tang
tangl@zonatech.com
9489 E. Ironwood Square Drive, Suite 100
Scottsdale,  AZ 85258-4578

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This SBIR Phase I project develops a unified computational algorithm for simulation of hypersonic flows in both continuum and transitional regimes based on a gas-kinetic BGK-Burnett solver. Different from the macroscopic Burnett approach, the proposed gas-kinetic BGK-Burnett solver is unconditionally stable for all Knudsen numbers. Whereas it is almost impossible to correctly set up boundary condition for the Burnett equations, this can be easily done in the proposed BGK-Burnett solver with the Maxwell boundary condition, re-emitting the particles from the boundary according to the accommodation coefficient. More importantly, this BGK-Burnett solver not only allows a single algorithm for both continuum and transitional flow regimes but also is more suitable for integration with either DSMC or direct Boltzmann solver in the rarefied flow regime. This is because in current hybrid CFD/DSMC approach, the inconsistency from the fluxes estimated from CFD and DSMC may cause an artificial flow across the interface between CFD/gas-kinetic zones.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA current mission focuses on human lunar and martian exploration. The design of crew exploration vehicles requires the proposed computational tool, which is able to handle the flows beyond the continuum regime and thereby accurately predict wake heating, single/multiple rocket plume effects on the vehicle aerodynamics and heating.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed gas-kinetic computational algorithm can significantly enhance the capability of aerospace industry to predict the aerothermal loads on a space vehicle. It can also be used to analyze aerobrake systems and to predict leakage flows past seal teeth in gas turbine engines, etc. Such a computational tool is lacking in the market.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Fundamental Propulsion Physics
Simulation Modeling Environment
Aerobrake

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Materials Research and Design
300 E. Swedesford Road
Wayne, PA 19087-1858

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Hans Jensen
hans.jensen@m-r-d.com
300 E. Swedesford Rd.
Wayne,  PA 19085-1858

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This proposal addresses Item #2 of Topic X7.04 Aeroassist Systems and proposes innovative heat shield thermal protection systems (TPS) designs for human-rated aeroassist vehicles returning to Earth from the Moon and Mars. The proposed designs 1) utilize concepts with and without outer ablator materials, 2) employ outer refractory composite material rib-stiffened aeroshells with low emissivity foils on their internal structure to trap the heat and act like a high thermal resistance material, similar to multi-layer insulation but which have the potential to be less complex and less dense, and 3) make use of re-usable refractory composite materials that will be non-parasitic and structurally functional within the heat shield, thereby offering the promise of significantly reducing TPS mass fraction. The following will briefly describe the base heat shield used in Apollo Command Module and discuss the two alternative concepts and why they are advantageous.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Design of any heat shield will benefit from the successful completion of the proposed program. However, of immediate and direct relevance are the TPS elements, especially the base heat shield of the Crew Exploration Vehicle. Designs evolving from this effort will be of use to both of the current CEV teams, specifically the Northrop Grumman/Boeing team and Lockheed Martin.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA commercial applications for this heat shield technology would include TPS for military and civilian hypersonic vehicles.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ablatives
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Reuseable
Thermal Insulating Materials
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Andrews Space, Inc.
505 5th Ave South, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98104-3894

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Dana Andrews
dandrews@andrews-space.com
505 5th Ave South, Suite 300
Seattle,  WA 98104-3894

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Andrews Space, Inc. proposes an innovative transpiration cooled aerobrake TPS design that is thermally protective, structurally flexible, and lightweight. This innovative design will also meet launch volume constraints and satisfy terminal aerobraking requirements. The approach will focus on transpiration cooling of a flexible material and will consider ablative and insulative technologies as key features of the TPS design. The application of aerobraking to reduce velocity for planetary capture and landing has long been assumed for use on Mars missions and has been suggested for Earth reentry. The major hurdle to inflatable aerobrakes becoming reality is the development of a lightweight and structurally flexible Thermal Protection System (TPS). By combining well understood insulative and ablative TPS with an innovative flexible transpiration cooled TPS, a realizable inflatable aerobrake system can be developed.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The successful completion of the anticipated Phase II materials test will significantly reduce the perceived technical risks associated with flexible TPS for inflatable aerobrake development. This success will improve the likelihood of securing government or private funding for the development of a fully operational ballute system to address the needs of NASA and commercial markets. Once inflatable aerobrake technologies are well-understood and an integrated system flight-tested, such an aerobrake could become the design of choice for further use on Earth and Mars missions, maintaining the best combination of design margin, usage flexibility, weight, and cost. Single-use aerobrakes can be used for return of Space Station cargo modules to the Earth's surface as well as for crew return. They can be used for the deceleration of payloads to Mars and other planetary surfaces. Aerobrakes can also be used for Earth and other planetary orbit capture, with potential multi-use capability in those modes.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Outside of NASA, reliable and capable aerocapture will be needed for commercial cargo return to Earth or for hardware return for refurbishment. As on-orbit business opportunities grow, so will the need for recovery and return capability. An additional need is for return of end-of-life spacecraft and launch vehicle stages from LEO, allowing reuse of stage or spacecraft hardware.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ablatives
Control Instrumentation
Airframe
Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI)
Inflatable
Kinematic-Deployable
Cooling
Thermal Insulating Materials
Ceramics
Metallics
Multifunctional/Smart Materials
Thermodynamic Conversion
Aerobrake

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Combustion Research and Flow Technology
6210 Kellers Church Road
Pipersville, PA 18947-1020

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Richard Wilmoth
wilmoth@craft-tech.com
124 Burnham Place
Newport News,  VA 23606-2611

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A hybrid continuum/noncontinuum computational model will be developed for analyzing the aerodynamics and heating on aeroassist vehicles. Unique features of this model include (1) the ability to model rarefied flows with localized continuum features at high altitudes, (2) the ability to model both ablative and non-ablative thermal protection systems, and (3) the ability to model multiple firings of reaction control jets. The model will permit analyzing high-speed, nonequilibrium flows about entry and aeroassist vehicles based on extensions to three-dimensional Navier-Stokes and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) codes. Extension will include effects of liquid and solid particulates along with gaseous species, which should significantly enhance the ability to analyze complex ablation effects. The coupling of these tools to include modeling of multiple reaction-control-jet firings will provide essential data for assessing the aerothermodynamic performance for a wide range of vehicle designs over a wide range of vehicle altitudes and flight conditions. The improved accuracy offered by our proposed hybrid modeling approach offers significant benefits in the design of vehicles for both unmanned planetary missions and manned missions to the Moon and Mars.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed hybrid computational model has potential application to the design and analysis of a broad class of NASA vehicles that experience flight through Earth or other planetary atmospheres under extreme heating conditions. Examples of these vehicles include those being designed to use aerocapture to achieve a low-cost orbit around Neptune and Titan. The model has particular relevance to the design of manned vehicles for return to Earth from lunar and Mars missions that will likely use ablative heat shields for thermal protection such as the proposed Crew Exploration Vehicle.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed hybrid computational model has potential application to design and analysis in a variety of fields concerned with nano-processes, with DOD interest in missile detection and tracking, and RV discrimination, and with various processes that occur in an gaseous environment including (1) solid state materials processing involving laser ablation, (2) solid sampling analysis through plasma spectrochemistry, and (3) solid hydrogen particle ablation occurring in air breathing supersonic combustion.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ablatives
Simulation Modeling Environment
Aerobrake

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Acellent Technologies, Inc.
155 C-3 Moffett Park Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1331

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Amrita Kumar
akumar@acellent.com
155 C-3 Moffett Park Drive
Sunnyvale,  CA 94089-1331

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Acellent Technologies proposes to develop an autonomous and automated diagnostic system for condition based maintenance (CBM) of safety critical structures for space exploration vehicles. The proposed system will provide real-time information on the integrity of critical structures on launch vehicles, improve their performance, and greatly increase crew safety while decreasing inspection costs. The system will encompass a gamut of functions from sensing hardware through diagnosis and prognosis all the way to presentation of the asset condition with recommended maintenance actions. Additionally the system will be developed for qualification and reliable use with space vehicles from the time of manufacture through launch. The biggest payoff of IVHM is development of system determining health prior to vehicle operation. Technologies will be developed to reliably instrument and monitor damage in critical structures such as rocket motors. The system development will be based on Acellent's SMART Layer technology that utilizes a network of sensors and actuators to query and monitor the integrity of a structure. In Phase I, a prototype CBM system for rocket motors will be developed and preliminary qualification tests conducted in collaboration with ATK-Thiokol. Phase II will focus on complete system development and interface with the rocket motor IVHM system.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
System self-assessment support platform technologies for self-assembly, in-space assembly, in-space maintenance & servicing, and high energy space platforms such as highly reliable autonomous deep-space cryogenic propellant refueling systems. These technologies/methodologies have the potential of significantly increasing safety, reliability, affordability, and effectiveness of NASA missions. Recent structural failures, such as those associated with the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and damage due to foam impact on Discovery, have reiterated the requirement for onboard systems that provide comprehensive, reliable, real-time integrated assessment of systems health including as a subset SHM. This requirement is especially true for long-term space deployments in which structural integrity and systems' reliability is essential due to decreased opportunities for remedial action, mission abort, or crew rescue. The proposed system developed in the Phase I and Phase II effort can ensure safety and reliability of these mission critical structures.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Since nearly all in-service structures require some form of inspection and maintenance procedures to monitor their integrity and health condition to prolong life span or to prevent catastrophic failures, the potential applications of the proposed system are very broad. In the future, this system can potentially be used to monitor all types of aircraft, spacecraft and civil infrastructures.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Propellant Storage
Airframe
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Structural Modeling and Tools
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Database Development and Interfacing
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Composites
Metallics
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Metrica, Inc.
8620 North New Braunfels, Suite 603
San Antonio, TX 78217-6363

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Debra Schreckenghost
schreck@traclabs.com
8620 North New Braunfels, Suite 603
San Antonio,  TX 78217-6363

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Managing the health of vehicle, crew, and habitat systems is a primary function of flight controllers today. We propose to develop an architecture for automating many of the response actions in problem situations and coordinating these actions with human response activities. Our approach is to develop a basic module that automates (1) Planning what response actions to take, (2) Executing these planned actions, and (3) Monitoring the effects of these actions to ensure they are successful. These modules will be organized into layers, operating at different levels of abstraction and with different time constants and time horizons. The architecture will support both hierarchical coordination between layers of control and peer-to-peer interaction among modules within a layer. This proposal is innovative in combining centralized planning for hierarchical coordination with distributed negotiation techniques for peer-to-peer coordination to provide flexible contingency response. The successful completion of a Phase II project will deliver a system health management architecture to NASA that improves system safety and makes more effective use of human time and capabilities when problems occur.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The need for increased crew autonomy for exploration missions will require automating aspects of systems health management so the crew can respond effectively with less reliance on Earth. Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) requires (1) detecting and diagnosing problems, (2) taking immediate action in response to problems to minimize impacts to safety and mission, (3) determining how to recover from a problem, and (4) implementing the recovery. Yet most ISHM technologies address problem detection and diagnosis, leaving impact assessment and problem recovery to humans. The health management architecture we propose to develop addresses this technology gap by automating routine response actions in problem situations and coordinating these actions with human response activities. Example applications include health management for vehicles in the Constellation Program, including Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Commercial products for managing failures focus on alerting limit violations and diagnosing root cause of problems, leaving problem response to human operators. By automating aspects of problem response and supporting coordination of these actions with human response, the software developed under Phase II of the proposed project is targeted toward a commercial market with few competitors. Potential markets for this software include industries where timely problem detection and response is essential to the safety of personnel and the productivity of the plant. Example applications where these criteria are important include chemical process plants, the nuclear industry, and control of naval ships and submarines.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
NEMOmetrics Corp
28 Constitution Road
Boston, MA 02129-2008

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
John Rodriguez
john@nemometrics.com
28 Constitution Road
Boston,  MA 02129-2008

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This SBIR Phase I project will develop the Spacecraft Power Monitor (SPM) which will use non-intrusive electrical monitoring (NEMO). NEMO transforms the power distribution network in an spacecraft into a multiple-use service, providing not only power distribution but also a diagnostic monitoring capability based on careful measurement and analysis of power usage and start up and shut down transients. In depth analysis of this data enables real time assessment of system and component functioning and identifies potential system and component faults and failutes. We will use NEMO's ability to track load operation to verify that the systems and components of a spacecraft are operating properly This "spacecraft power monitor" or SPM, based on NEMO, will notify astronauts or ground support personnel when unexpected sequences occur. It can also generally track the health and diagnostic condition of key loads on the system. The system is light weight, small and inexpensive because the system requires only a sensor at the mains power input and uses existing power wiring to carry data. Phase I will involve ground measurements of spacecraft components. Phase II will involve measurements and analysis of an integrated system.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Applications for the Spacecraft Power monitor will include spacecraft for the Mars project plus other near earth spacecraft. NEMO promises also to provide monitoring and support for crew members in commercial, general and military aviation. During Phase I, specific initial system(s) for commercial application will be identified and SPM for an integrated spacecraft will be developed and built during Phase II. NEMO technology can also be applied to electronic health system monitoring on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and on ground test and support systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Nonintrusive electrical monitoring (NEMO) is also applicable to wheeled vehicles including autos, trucks and military vehicles and to ships and hovercraft. It also can be used for energy monitoring and conservation in buildings and other industrial facilities.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Intelligence
Testing Facilities
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ridgetop Group, Inc.
6595 N Oracle Rd, Suite 153B
Tucson, AZ 85704-5645

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Douglas Goodman
info@ridgetop-group.com
6595 N Oracle Rd, Suite 153B
Tucson,  AZ 85704-5645

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
All electronic systems are prone to wear-out and eventual failure and this has direct implications for Vehicle Health Management for NASA with its long space missions. The accurate prediction of an impending failure can provide significant savings in functionality and mission success.[1] Accurate and timely failure prediction can support the mitigation of catastrophic faults in spacecraft systems as well as autonomous control and dynamic repairs to faults. Electronic prognostics provide advanced warnings of impending electronic module failures. The specific innovation proposed will provide tools for setting and determining the advanced warning time for prognostic-enabled electronic systems, also referred to as defining the remaining useful life (RUL). The testbed will be a high efficiency, DC-to-DC Power Converter commonly found in advanced power systems. Such power converters are commonly found in a wide range of electronic systems to adjust power levels, yet are subject to failures. The innovation would help prevent data loss and support uninterrupted operation. The reason for funding is that NASA has a stated requirement for autonomous and automated solutions to systems health management systems and electronic prognostics are required to support this objective.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
There is large potential for prognostics in the commercial sector, expected to exceed $200M by 2010. Ridgetop has segmented the market to focus on high reliability applications, such as automotive, banking systems, industrial process control and commercial aerospace applications. Through work on this SBIR, Ridgetop will improve its market position for Electronic Prognostics and be able to capitalize on a large market. Ridgetop has initiated commercialization activities stemming from its prior work in Prognostics with the introduction of the Sentinel Silicon<SUP>TM</SUP> Library and Sentinel PHMPro<SUP>TM</SUP> products. Prognostics, to the extent that it can leverage existing diagnostic backbones such as JTAG, I2C[2] and CAN buses, supports Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) and Prognostics/Health Management (PHM) strategies for critical industrial applications. For CBM and PHM applications, the value to preserving operational readiness is paramoun,t and these applications are not expected to be cost-sensitive. In addition, prognostics can support remote diagnostics/prognostics. The value proposition to customers is that early detection of impending failures can be made remotely, via the web, and corrective actions can be quickly employed to preserve overall system integrity.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Ridgetop has had detailed discussions with customers in the Automotive Industry, including Daimler Chrysler, Delphi, and Bosch, who have expressed a strong interest in adopting advanced prognostics as part of their automotive product offerings. To the extent that Ridgetop configures the solution to meet the needs of the NASA program, it will provide ample opportunity to refine and adjust product featuers and additional steps in product development that may be necessary to make it more widely saleable to mil/aero customers (and later to commercial customers). Ridgetop's Prognostics products presently consist of the following elements: Ridgetop PHMPro<SUP>TM</SUP> Development System, Prognostics Physics-of-Failure Library ? Some Library items already available Ridgetop Prognostics Development Software ? From NAVAIR Project Precursor Event to Module Failure Calculation (To be developed in this SBIR) Ridgetop PHMPro<SUP>TM</SUP> Implementation Toolkit Sensor Array Hardware ? Sensors already available for current, voltage, and temperature Prognostics Processing Unit with improved False Alarm Algorithms (using Bayesian Network processor from HRL Laboratories) Interfacing software to system Ridgetop Consulting Services

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Electromagnetic Thrusters
Control Instrumentation
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
Electrostatic Thrusters
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Architectures and Networks
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
RF
Instrumentation
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Computer System Architectures
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Data Input/Output Devices
Highly-Reconfigurable
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Biochemical Conversion
Energy Storage
MHD and Related Conversion
Nuclear Conversion
Photovoltaic Conversion
Power Management and Distribution
Renewable Energy
Thermodynamic Conversion
Thermoelectric Conversion
Wireless Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Barrett Technology
625 Mount Auburn St.
Cambridge, MA 02138-4555

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
William Townsend
wt@barrett.com
625 Mount Auburn St.
Cambridge,  MA 02138-4555

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
An ultra-miniature (<50 grams) high-performance brushless-motor controller, code named 'Puck', has been developed by Barrett for Earth-based mobile-manipulation use where efficiency, low mass, and robustness are critical attributes. Application of a distributed intelligent system will enable these Pucks to be used liberally across a variety of NASA's future satellite, articulated-machine, and robotic applications requiring low-level robust brushless commutation directed by high-level task intelligence. In addition to supporting space-vector control of brushless motors, each Puck carries a virtually unburdened 32-bit DSP running at 80 MHz with plenty of memory and high-speed serial communications to neighboring Pucks. So even as machines increase in degrees of freedom - and therefore complexity - the excess computational power provided by the Pucks increases proportionately, working in tandem to overcome increasingly complex controls issues. While another Barrett proposal submitted to NASA is focused on developing the hardware for a space-qualified Puck controller, this proposal focuses on a control architecture that leverages the distributed DSPs. Phase I will build an architecture that best leverages a distributed network of Pucks, such as a solution of computationally-intensive kinematics equations (e.g. Jacobian matrix), and local tasks, such as estimating precise realtime velocities and supporting series-elastic-actuator (SEA) strain-gages.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed architecture for modular, scalable, distributed servomotor electronics designed for use in multi-axis and wheeled robots presents a significant opportunity to address important orbital, interplanetary, and moon/Mars robotics applications involving integrated systems for mobility and manual dexterity. The construction of mining facilities and habitat on the moon and Mars and the servicing of orbiting spacecraft without excessive exposure to human astronauts are two immediate areas that are directly impacted by this proposed research and development. The SBIR supports the increasing importance of complex machines requiring articulated servo-driven machines for all aspects of NASA exploration.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
As the military and commercial sectors continue to ramp up the use of robotics, especially lightweight mobile platforms, the proposed distributed network of motor-controller modules would reduce system weight and control complexity of robotic systems including search & rescue robots, scout robots, advanced wheelchairs, and in-house robotic assistants. Furthermore, brushless DC servomotors are rapidly replacing brushed motors as the technology of choice as both the cost decreases and power increases of Neodymium-Iron magnets over Samarium-Cobalt. The torque density and reliability of permanent-magnet motors have always exceeded those of brushed motors, but the large size and poor power efficiency of the support electronics generally outweigh the benefits except where power conservation is not important and when the controllers can be located off the machine. Providing a power-efficient module that integrates all of the electronic and optical functions into a volume smaller than most motor position sensors suddenly alters the decision point in favor of brushless motors. Most servo-driven machines use multiple servomotors in concert. Each of these systems would benefit from an intelligent means to distribute motion-control intelligence as described in this proposal.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Integrated Robotic Concepts and Systems
Intelligence
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Architectures and Networks
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Computer System Architectures
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Data Input/Output Devices
Database Development and Interfacing
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation
Highly-Reconfigurable

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Payload Systems, Inc.
247 Third Street
Cambridge, MA 02142-1129

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Joe Parrish
parrish@payload.com
247 Third Street
Cambridge,  MA 02142-1129

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Payload Systems Inc. and the MIT Space Systems Laboratory propose Self-assembling, Wireless, Autonomous, Reconfigurable Modules (SWARM) as an innovative approach to modular fabrication and in-space robotic assembly of large scale systems. Fabrication of modular components yields fabrication savings associated with large production volume and automated integration and test. In-space assembly permits staged deployment on an as-needed, as-afforded basis. It also decouples stowed launch geometry from deployed operational geometry. The SWARM concept uses formation flown spacecraft, containing multiple universal docking ports, to dock with modular elements and maneuver them to dock with other, similar elements. In the process, systems can be assembled that are much larger than what can be fit or folded into a launch vehicle fairing, or what can be launched on a single vehicle. Furthermore, such modularity will allow jettison of failed components, upgrade of obsolete technology, and amortization of design costs across multiple missions.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Clearly the prime commercial application for the SWARM system is for modular spacecraft system development within NASA's scope of activity. The SWARM system is wholly novel in its capabilities and flexibility for multiple operational regimes, including terrestrial laboratory testing, parabolic flight aircraft, and spaceflight, making it a relevant development product for the evaluation of operational strategies and design of modular spacecraft and self-assembling systems capable of on-orbit servicing, maintenance and reconfiguration.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This product would have immediate relevance to developers of intelligent modular spacecraft systems, who could purchase a series of modules to assemble a complete spacecraft bus model or, at a lesser scale, component elements (e.g., docking ports). Also because it is inexpensive relative to other associated flight systems, we believe that there could be multiple sales opportunities for the system in the commercial satellite market.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Modular Interconnects
Guidance, Navigation, and Control

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
MicroSat Systems, Inc.
8130 Shaffer Parkway
Littleton, CO 80127-4107

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jeff Summers
jsummers@microsatsystems.com
8130 Shaffer Parkway
Littleton,  CO 80127-4107

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In order to execute the President's Vision for Space Exploration, NASA must find ways to reduce spacecraft cost, complexity, and integration and test time while increasing mission. Modular, reconfigurable satellite technologies are being developed at Goddard Space Flight Center for increasingly ambitious missions involving humans and robots. Development is on-going at both GSFC and the Air Force Research Lab investigating high speed spacecraft data network architectures based on commercial Ethernet protocols. The advantages of an Ethernet network protocol include supporting FPGA implementation, broadcast capability, and most importantly extensive support by commercial standards and infrastructure. MicroSat Systems Inc. is proposing development of an Ethernet version of its modular, plug and play Intelligent Power/Data Ring avionics architecture. MSI's revolutionary architecture provides a modular, plug and play network of standardized attachment nodes distributing power and data management functions. Since the IPDR network implements a common set of standardized nodes for every interface versus customized cards, the system cost and integration time is reduced to 40-60% of comparable centralized systems. During the Phase 1 MSI proposes to develop a concept and analyze the benefits of Ethernet protocol in the IPDR architecture and quantify those benefits in a breadboard test environment.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
These efforts will lay the ground work enabling large quantity, rapid production of low cost satellites and satellite components. Successful completion of the Phase I will generate the impetus for more extensive inclusion of the Ethernet protocol into the emerging spacecraft standards effort within the DOD and NASA. In the near term MSI would consider demonstrating this technology on either the TacSat 3 or 4 flight experiments. Longer term, MSI currently plans to integrate the IPDR architecture as a standard feature in all its future small satellite products. For NASA applications, MSI is aggressively pursuing the "ST-X" series of experimental spacecraft and, following its first flight, plans for inclusion of its IPDR bus product in the RSDO database.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
These efforts will lay the ground work enabling large quantity, rapid production of low cost satellites and satellite components. Successful completion of the Phase I will generate the impetus for more extensive inclusion of the Ethernet protocol into the emerging spacecraft standards effort within the DOD and NASA. In the near term MSI would consider demonstrating this technology on either the TacSat 3 or 4 flight experiments. Longer term, MSI currently plans to integrate the IPDR architecture as a standard feature in all its future small satellite products. This would include potential application on all the TacSat series experiments and other responsive satellite procurements through the DOD.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Testing Requirements and Architectures
Modular Interconnects
Attitude Determination and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Architectures and Networks
Computer System Architectures
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Data Input/Output Devices
Database Development and Interfacing
Software Development Environments
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation
Highly-Reconfigurable
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Nano EnerTex
4131 Grennoch
Houston, TX 77025-2303

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Laura Ignatiev
lignatiev@netscape.net
4131 Grennoch
Houston,  TX 77025-2303

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The utilization of space resources can enable sustained affordable exploration of the Moon and beyond in the nation's Exploration Initiative. The availability of low-cost, abundant indigenous electric power is critical to the aggressive implementation of space resource utilization. This power-rich space environment can be achieved by the generation of electrical power from thin film photovoltaic solar cells produced on the surface of the Moon from lunar resources. This concept of operation offers a specific advantage in the capability of continuous power growth by addition of solar cells, manufactured in situ, to an expanding power grid. Such an effective power system on the Moon would lower operational risks of future robotic and manned missions through higher reliability. In addition, such architecture has the capability to deliver power at a decreasing cost per kWh beyond the first 100 kWh or so. We propose the development of the key thin film silicon solar cell technologies needed to demonstrate the fabrication of thin-film solar cells on the surface of the Moon, and to present a preliminary design of a roving vehicle to support these operations.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This in-situ thin film solar cell fabrication approach to electrical energy generation on the Moon yields a much more cost-effective power system than one transported from Earth, and also results in steadily reduced energy costs due to the continual fabrication of additional solar cells without the need for substantial resupply of materials from Earth. Current projections comparing Earth manufactured and delivered solar cell arrays with in-situ manufactured arrays indicate a clear cost benefit at emplacement of a > 100kW PV power system. Furthermore, the harsh lunar radiation environment, and dust induced mechanical erosion will result in severe performance degradation of traditional earth manufactured solar cells, requiring additional mass to the Moon. The proposed project overcomes these limitations and provides an affordable, power rich environment for exploration and utilization of the Moon and beyond. This unique in-situ resource utilization program which also stresses manufacturing it the space environment is projected to yield major benefit not only through cost-effective supply of energy in space, but also through the generation of an energy?rich environment in space

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Thin film silicon solar cells are currently not a terrestrial production item, with both crystalline and amorphous silicon solar cells capturing most of the market. However, developments under this program may prove viable for silicon-on-glass solar cells that could be cost effective terrestrially. Nano EnerTex will be evaluating the terrestrial possibilities for such terrestrial thin film silicon cells. In addition, efforts in the development of CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells, which have major benefits in energy reduction for lunar fabrication, may also have direct terrestrial application through low-cost, efficient thin film solar cells. This possibility will also be evaluated for commercial opportunities, and could be of further benefit to NASA through the availability of cost-effective solar cells alternative to silicon that could be used in the space environment.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
In-situ Resource Utilization
Photovoltaic Conversion
Renewable Energy

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
MicroCell Technologies, LLC
410 Great Road, Suite C-2
Littleton, MA 01460-1273

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Karen Jayne
kjayne@microcell-tech.com
410 Great Road, Suite C-2
Littleton,  MA 01460-1273

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In this phase I program MicroCell Technologies, LLC (MCT) proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of an electrochemically modulated phase separator for in situ processing and refining in future space missions. Two-phase (liquid and gas) flow can be a vital part of many life support and or thermal management systems which will be supported using in situ resources on spacecraft and on future habitations on the Moon and Mars. In this phase I program, we propose to demonstrate the use of an innovative electrochemically modulated gas/liquid separation system for use in 0-g conditions. In phase I, we propose to develop a supported ionic liquid membrane electrode assembly and demonstrate the separation of CO2 from water. The phase II program will optimize this system, as well as adapt this technnology to selectively separate other gases of interest for ISRU applications such as nitrogen and oxygen in a two-phase flow. In phase II we will also develop innovative reactor designs to minimize size and weight for space applications.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The development of an electrochemically modulated gas/liquid separator has significant commercial potential for NASA. We propose in phase I to demonstrate the feasibility of separating two-phase flow through the development of a supported ionic liquid membrane electrode assembly. The goal of this research in phase I and phase II is to provide an efficient means to incorporate the advantages of ionic liquids into an electrochemical device. The resultant MEA can be easily incorporated into conventional electrochemical cells, membrane separation device, or innovative designs. We foresee that this technology has the capability to become a platform from which many separation schemes can be achieved. This directly addresses NASA's need for downstream processing of product streams resulting from different ISRU technologies.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This technology has significant commercial application in sequestering atmospheric C02 for conversion to methanol via fixation. Thus this technology is important to the commercial production of renewable fuels which is becoming increasingly important to the Nation

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Portable Life Support
Earth-Supplied Resource Utilization
In-situ Resource Utilization
Liquid-Liquid Interfaces

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
NexTech Materials, Ltd.
404 Enterprise Dr.
Lewis Center, OH 43035-9423

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Edward Sabolsky
sabolsky@nextechmaterials.com
404 Enterprise Dr.
Lewis Center,  OH 43035-9423

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In this SBIR Phase I proposal (Topic X9.01), NexTech Materials, Ltd. proposes to develop a high efficiency ceramic oxygen generation system which will separate O2 from the CO2-rich (95%) Martian atmosphere through a solid-oxide electrolysis process at 750-850?aC. The CO2 electrolysis process will produce O2 and CO. The O2 may be used for life support and as an oxidant (for a fuel cell power system), and CO may be collected and used directly as fuel (or converted to methane for use as a fuel). The electrolysis system is based on the Tubular Monolithic Ceramic Oxygen Generator (TM-COG) platform, whereby multiple oxygen separation cells are connected in series across both faces of a porous, flat-tube support. The design allows for simplified gas manifolding, sealing, and current collection and permits a high degree of cell stacking efficiency. In Phase I of the project, a prototype TM-COG module will be fabricated and the performance will be evaluated. The Phase I work will establish a foundation for work in Phase II, where a breadboard prototype TM-COG system will be produced and delivered to NASA that will be capable of producing 125 grams per hour of oxygen (or 1 kg per eight-hour day).

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Breathable oxygen is typically concentrated from air using bulky, loud concentrators or short-lived, expensive filters, or is supplied in bottles of high-pressure gas or cryogenic liquid. Replacing filtration technologies with the TM-COG system will extend mission life for spacecraft and space stations. Also, the ability to in situ generate oxygen from the electrolysis of CO2 gas streams or atmospheres has obvious applications for manned and unmanned exploration of Mars. The electrolysis process will produce both oxygen for human consumption (or engine/generator consumption) and carbon monoxide for direct use as fuel or as a reactant to form methane fuel.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Laboratory, medical, and other hi-tech applications require high purity oxygen (>99.9%) and these industries account for 10-12% of the US and Western European market place. All of these markets typically use high-pressure or cryogenic cylinders, which carry annual maintenance costs as much as $300-1000 apiece and are very expensive to transport. Replacing these cylinders with a rugged in-house technology, like the TM-COG design, would have significant financial and convenience benefits. The TM-COG system is also applicable to air filtration and oxygen separation at biologically and chemically contaminated industrial and military sites, where continuous filtration without filter change would be beneficial.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Portable Life Support
Earth-Supplied Resource Utilization
In-situ Resource Utilization
Ceramics
Energy Storage

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Plasma Processes, Inc.
4914 Moores Mill Road
Huntsville, AL 35811-1558

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
John O'Dell
scottodell@plasmapros.com
4914 Moores Mill Road
Huntsville ,  AL 35811-1558

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Tools for extracting resources from the moon are needed to support future space missions. Of particular interest is the production of raw materials for in-space fabrication. In addition, oxygen and water for habitat and propulsion purposes is needed. The only practical source for these materials is the decomposition of lunar soil, regolith. Proposed herein is an innovative hydrogen plasma reduction technique for the production of nanosize metal powders and water from lunar regolith. This technique is characterized by its high temperatures and rapid quenching. Due to the extremely high temperatures involved, material injected into the plasma flame can be vaporized and dissociated very rapidly into elemental form. Rapid quenching of the vapor prevents the growth of nucleated products while providing insufficient time for them to recombine with the oxygen. This allows the possibility of producing nanosize metal powders and the generation of water vapor. The result of this program will be the development of a lunar regolith hydrogen plasma reduction method for producing nanosize metal powders for in-space fabrication and water vapor for life-support, habitat, and propulsion use.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA commercial applications for the technology include production of nano-size metal powders for in-space fabrication and water for life-support, oxygen production, habitat use, and hydroponics. Applications for the nano-size metal powders that will be produced include solar cells production, photovoltaics, rapid prototyping feedstock, and structural applications. Potential NASA commercial applications for nano-size metal powders include in-situ powder metallurgical products, ultra-thin protective coatings, high surface area/volume ratio catalysts, composite additives, sintering aids, porous structures in microfiltration membranes, additives for solid and hybrid rocket fuels that provide a more efficient combustion process, electrically-conductive adhesives and polymers, component materials for crew vehicles and habitats, semiconductor devices, and high-power electronics for electric vehicles. Potential applications for the plasma technology to be developed include high rate lunar plasma coating production of nano-grain-size parts.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential commercial applications for nano-size metal powders include powder metallurgical products, ultra-thin protective coatings, high surface area/volume ratio catalysts, composite additives, sintering aids, porous structures in microfiltration membranes, additives for solid and hybrid rocket fuels that provide a more efficient combustion process, electrically-conductive adhesives and polymers, component materials for aerospace vehicles, lighter and more reliable satellite structures (decreasing launch cost), smaller, faster, more powerful semiconductor devices, high power, high temperature microwave electronic devices offering improvements to radar and wireless communication, and high-power electronics for electric vehicles. Potential applications for the plasma technology to be developed include high rate plasma coating production of nano-grain-size parts and hazardous waste disposal. Commercial applications for an improved plasma gun will be significant for this $1 billion industry.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Biomedical and Life Support
In-situ Resource Utilization
Metallics
Organics/Bio-Materials
Combustion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Lynntech, Inc.
7607 Eastmark Drive, Suite 102
College Station, TX 77840-4027

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Brian Hennings
brian.hennings@lynntech.com
7607 Eastmark Drive, Suite 102
College Station,  TX 77840-4027

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In situ oxygen production is of immense importance to NASA in the support of the NASA initiative to sustain man's permanent presence in space. The oxygen produced can be used as breathable oxygen, as a source of fuel for Moon or Mars based vehicles (for either return to Earth or as a basis for further space exploration), or as a source of oxygen for fuel cell or other power generating devices. Lynntech proposes to use plasma technology to liberate the oxygen bound in the oxides of regolith to produce oxygen in situ on either the moon or Mars. Lynntech's innovative solid feedstock plasma reformer is simple, robust and unaffected by variations in the composition or particle size of the regolith. Lynntech has previously demonstrated the principle of plasma reformation on a variety of projects and has preliminary results demonstrating the technology proposed here. Lynntech is currently developing plasma reformers for the US Air Force capable of producing several SCFM of hydrogen from JP-8 as well as multi-fuel (gas/liquid) capable reformers. A small (< 10W) plasma reformer has also been demonstrated for the production of hydrogen on Titan for NASA.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
With little or no modification, Lynntech's plasma-based oxygen generation system could be used to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. The atmosphere on Mars consists largely of CO2 (~95%) and is saturated with dust. Preliminary experiments with a Lynntech reformer indicate that CO2 can be reformed to solid carbon and gaseous O2. The dust in the atmosphere does not harm our system; rather it contributes to the oxygen content of the product stream, as it is broken down into constituents, similar to the CO2. Another NASA application for a space-bound plasma system is in the production of hydrogen from hydrocarbon rich atmospheres (such as the methane saturated Saturn moon, Titan), either for buoyancy, power or propulsion. Lynntech has already successfully demonstrated a 10-Watt methane reformer that produces hydrogen from 100K to 300K and weighs less than 500g for the production of make-up hydrogen for a balloon operating on Titan.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The plasma-based system can also be used in several ground-based, non-NASA commercial applications as well. One of these is solid waste processing. With only small modifications, the plasma system proposed could be used to reform solid waste into high value components (i.e. hydrogen and carbon for most hydrocarbon chains, such as plastics and organics). The high value constituents are contingent upon the feedstock, and thus are as diverse. Alternatively, the plasma system could be used to process liquid or gaseous waste streams also. One particularly attractive area is the reformation of used and dirty hydrocarbon wastes from automobiles. These wastes include motor oil, greases, transmission and brake fluids, which can be reformed into products such as hydrogen and nano-structured carbon materials. The process is immune to changes in the feedstock, and mixtures of hydrocarbons can be fed directly to produce a 90+% hydrogen stream prior to clean-up.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
In-situ Resource Utilization

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Technology Applications, Inc.
5700 Flatiron Parkway, #5701A
Boulder, CO 80301-5733

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Stephen Nieczkoski
snieczk@techapps.com
5700 Flatiron Parkway, #5701A
Boulder,  CO 80301-5733

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A method of extracting volatile resources from the Lunar regolith is proposed to reduce the launch mass and cost of bringing such resources from the Earth to enable sustainable human space exploration. Thermal energy is applied to excavated soil releasing the solar wind volatiles and any water resources believed to exist in the Moon's polar regions. The in-situ resource extraction and separation system will be designed to integrate with TAI's planned in-situ collection and purification system to complete an end-to-end facility for producing high density fluids for propulsion, life support, and power generation. Regolith excavation and subsequent volatile production rates are derived from the baseline consumption of resources given in the point of departure mission information for proposals. A method of extracting volatiles in a fluidized, vacuum-isolated chamber will provide an energy-efficient process through effective recuperation of thermal energy. Several hundreds of times the excavation and extraction system mass in volatile product will be processed in the proposed concept per year of operation. The system design will be scalable for initial testing on the Moon and eventual operation on Mars.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The regolith excavation and extraction system concept addresses the operational hurdle of robotically excavating extraterrestrial surface regolith to sample and manufacture cryogenic propellant and life-support products. The proposed excavation system is approximately the size of the Mars exploration rover and is intended to be developed for scalable autonomous operation on the Lunar surface to prospect and excavate the upper-surface layer of fine-grained regolith material. The development of high-vacuum sealing approaches for containment of regolith from a frequently accessed extraction chamber will have significant applications for Lunar surface operations involving crew activities and automated mechanical capabilities where dealing with the abrasive material is unavoidable.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA applications include advancement of soil vapor-extraction processes for removal of contamination from Earth-based chemical spills and landfill remediation. Recovery of toxic volatiles entrained in soils will enable efficient, low-power containment and compact, lightweight designs for portable treatment facilities.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
In-situ Resource Utilization

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Pioneer Astronautics
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood, CO 80215-5516

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mark Berggren
mberggren@pioneerastro.com
11111 W. 8th Ave., Unit A
Lakewood,  CO 80215-5516

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The Lunar Materials Handling System (LMHS) is a method for transfer of bulk materials and products into and out of process equipment in support of lunar and Mars in situ resource utilization (ISRU). The LMHS conveys solids to the ISRU vessel, provides a gas-tight pressure/vacuum seal, and minimizes wear related to abrasive particles. Lunar and Mars ISRU scenarios require that equipment be operated over many cycles with minimal consumption of expendables and with minimal leakage in order to maintain high overall process leverage. ISRU processes can be demonstrated in the laboratory to establish basic feasibility with respect to reagent leverage. Reagent leverage is defined as the mass of commodity produced divided by the mass of reagents consumed. However, the process leverage component related to equipment wear and loss of gasses, reagents, or product through seals and valves is more difficult to establish from laboratory testing. The LMHS increases equipment life and minimizes process losses, thereby increasing overall leverage and reducing uncertainties in ISRU process evaluation. The LMHS is based on a seal arrangement by which lunar regolith can be introduced into and removed from reaction chambers operating under a wide range of batch operating conditions.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The primary application of the Lunar Materials Handling System is to advance in situ resource utilization on the Moon and then Mars. A number of regolith processes to extract oxygen, metals, and metal oxides require a reliable, robust, reusable materials feed and discharge system to achieve high overall process leverage. A tight sealing system reduces process reagent losses. A highly reliable, reusable materials handling system reduces consumables requirements and improves process reliability.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential terrestrial applications of LMHS include improved materials handling and seal systems for hazardous materials or waste processing and nuclear materials processing. Improved containment of process materials would reduce costs and reduce operating risks.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
In-situ Resource Utilization

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Nastec, Inc.
1801 East Ninth Street, Suite 1111
Cleveland ,OH 44114 - 3103
(216) 696 - 5157

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Richard C.   Klein
dickc123@earthlink.net
1801 East Ninth Street, Suite 1111
Cleveland, OH  44114 -3103
(216) 696 - 5157

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Multi-roller traction drives have several advantages relative to geared units for aerospace and commercial drive applications. Among these are zero backlash, low torque ripple, compactness, light weight, and unlike gears, the potential to operate without liquid or grease lubrication. Current traction drives are made from heat treated bearing steels and require special traction fluids which limited their use to terrestrial applications. Space applications such as planetary vehicles operate in hostile environments. Innovations in material technology for non-lubricated operation will be required in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of traction drives relative to gears. Phase I work of this proposal will provide the basis for alternative nonmetallic materials to be substituted for bearing steel. These materials must have low wear but high traction characteristics. The proposed effort under Phase I will be used as a basis for a Phase II effort, in which one or more prototype systems will be designed, built and tested for space exploration applications. Applications include robotic arms, speed and torque balanced drives for scientific instruments and zero torque reaction drives for planetary vehicles.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential NASA space applications for these drives include: Moon and Martian rover transmission drives, robotic arms, construction vehicles and equipment, and essentially any application needing either drive speed increasers or reducers.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
If successful, many more Earth-based uses of these drives may occur, since fabrication of bearing steel drives are very expensive and this has inhibited their use. Alternate affordable processing and manufacturing technologies for final net shape forming roller geometries without final machining or heat treatment will enable much cheaper drives to be made. We will also conduct design and life analysis using non-metallic materials to quantify the benefits of polymer drives. These drives may find uses in automobiles, power lifting equipment, windmills, etc.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Aircraft Engines Human-Robotic Interfaces In-situ Resource Utilization Manipulation Manned-Manuvering Units Mobility Tools Tribology

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Barrett Technology
625 Mount Auburn St.
Cambridge, MA 02138-4555

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
William Townsend
wt@barrett.com
625 Mount Auburn St.
Cambridge,  MA 02138-4555

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The goal of this SBIR is to adapt an initial prototype ultra-miniature high-performance brushless-DC-motor controller, code named 'Puck', for use by NASA across a wide range of motor drives. The Puck was recently developed by Barrett for terrestrial mobile-manipulation uses where efficiency, low mass, and robustness are critical factors. While quite small (<50 grams), the controller can pump from milliamps to several amps continuous. Several features of this controller make it a candidate for NASA's wide range of needs for servomotor control in the demanding environments of extra-terrestrial and interplanetary exploration. One of the key enabling design strategies that led to the Puck is elimination of transmission lines through total integration of power conditioning, rotor-position optics, and commutation into a single tiny module. The module is small and energy efficient enough to make casting within high-heat-conduction plastic feasible. Pure conduction cooling, a distinct advantage for NASA applications, is unusual for motor amplifiers which are generally cooled by natural convection or forced air. The hermetically-sealed packaging also excludes lunar or Martian dust from affecting robustness. The primary strategy for this technology to avail for NASA will be to minimize the effects of radiation while enabling self-diagnosis, self-repair, and ultimately easy change-out.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This innovation's potential benefits to NASA are widespread. The success of this ultra-miniature motor control technology will be a breakthrough necessary for successfully implementing many projects at NASA, including mobile robotic systems, crew vehicle motors, and motorized cargo system mechanisms for robotic lunar and Mars missions. Their inherent modularity and replace ability will allow for easy maintenance and a reduced number of spare parts.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The military and commercial sectors are continually ramping up the use of robotics, especially lightweight mobile platforms. A large majority of these systems are now and will continue to be driven by brushless-DC motors. The commercial availability of a powerful yet miniature motor controller enabled by this innovation will have an enormous impact on future robotic mechanism designs and will greatly increase the practicality of mobile robotics. Furthermore, preparation for space qualification will boost the utility of these motor control modules. Radiation hardening and design for temperature extremes will enable these electronics to be used in telerobotic slaves for nuclear-remediation activities as well as in robots that can be deployed robustly in homeland-security search-and-rescue missions.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Integrated Robotic Concepts and Systems
Intelligence
Mobility
Manipulation
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
Thermal Insulating Materials
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Optical
Highly-Reconfigurable
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Radiation Shielding Materials
Semi-Conductors/Solid State Device Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Colorado Power Electronics, Inc.
120 Commerce Drive, Unit 3
Fort Collins, CO 80524-4731

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Geoff Drummond
geoff@copwr.com
120 Commerce Drive, Unit 3
Fort Collins,  CO 80524-4731

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A low-cost, standardized-architecture power system is proposed for NASA electric propulsion (EP) applications. Three approaches are combined to develop a system that will meet current and future NASA needs and exceed currently available power processor unit (PPU) performance in terms of electrical efficiency, specific mass (kg/kW), and cost. The approaches include the use of (a) high-efficiency, 3-phase, dc-dc converters to minimize cooling requirements, mass, and parts count and maximize reliability and efficiency, (b) modularized and standardized sub-system design and fabrication techniques to accommodate power output scaling and re-configuration for specific ion thruster designs without the need to re-qualify hardware, and (c) attention to cost and manufacturability issues that will allow the implementation of electric propulsion systems on future NASA missions without the hidden costs of "hard-to-build" and "hard-to-scale" designs that are currently available. The innovations proposed herein will allow NASA to obtain the flexibility and performance it needs in power processors for electric propulsion systems while ensuring that their cost and difficulty of fabrication is low.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The primary market for this technology is for space power conversion were low cost power processing is required. Present technology includes PPU designs with real costs that are much greater than $200k per kilo watt of power. The previous designs show poor reuse of modules and power hardware. Additionally the present PPU designs fail to provide a base structure that can accommodate growth and change in module power. The new design will use lower loss elements to simplify fabrication and reduce cost. The proposed "next generation design" will accommodate the addition and subtraction of modules while conserving PPU mass. The extraordinary wide output impedance range of the converter will increase utility by allowing one PPU design to power several different thruster types. A successfully completed Phase II program will result in Phase III programs where brass-board PPUs will be provided for NASA missions utilizing NSTAR and possibly NEXT thrusters. A Phase III brass-board program will be used to flush out all remaining issues related to 3PRC flight use. Once complete, CPE and its sub-contractor Aerojet will be set to fabricate high quality flight hardware at the minimum cost.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA uses for the proposed idea are commercial applications for space power were low cost and high efficiency are desired. Again the same advantages apply here. The most notable being the wide utility and range. This wide range converter will reduce the number of different model types required to satisfy current and future EP thruster needs. One immediate non-NASA application is for Aerojet thrusters that are being developed for geosynchronous satellite use.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Ultra-High Density/Low Power
Electrostatic Thrusters
Highly-Reconfigurable
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
New Era Technology
3720 NW 43rd Street
Gainesville, FL 32606-6190

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Travis Knight
travis@confman.com
3720 NW 43rd Street
Gainesville,  FL 32606-6190

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A new carbon-based fuel is introduced with outstanding potential to eliminate the loss of uranium, minimize the loss of carbon, and retain fission products for many hours of operation in hydrogen environment at temperatures in excess of 3,200K. The proposed fuel is a Cer-Cer made of mixed uranium-refractory carbide particles such as (U, Zr)C or (U, Zr, Nb)C dispersed in a refractory carbide matrix such as ZrC. For efficient operation in NTR applications for Isp of 1000 sec. or more, a fuel temperature of 3000 K or greater is necessary. Various fuel materials have been tested for NTR applications with most based on carbide fuel technology because of their improved thermal properties enabling the design of very small, high power density cores. Fuel designs from dispersed microspheres in graphite, to composite mixed carbides with graphite, to solid solution mixed carbides have been tested. Fuels bearing graphite are not tenable because of the high reactivity of free carbon with the hot hydrogen propellant. Solid solution, mixed carbides are most often brittle but otherwise perform well under the high temperature flowing hot hydrogen environment. The life limiting phenomenon for their use in NTR applications is the loss of uranium due to vaporization from the fuel surface at temperatures in excess of 2800 K. Though the proposed Cer-Cer fuel is relatively at lower level of technology maturity, its unique potential for elimination of uranium loss and retention of fission fragments at very high operational temperatures would amply justify the proposed research program.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The success of the proposed research program will bring about a nuclear fuel with optimum performance characteristics for use in NTP and Bimodal Propulsion systems. Results of more than 50 years of research including more than 20 years of research by the group headed by Professor Samim Anghaie at University of Florida have culminated to the development of the uranium-carbide Cer-Cer fuel concept that is described in this proposal. The main idea behind the development of the proposed uranium-carbide Cer-Cer design is to come up with an NTP fuel that features the highest performance potential in the areas including operational temperature margin, stability in hot hydrogen, retention of fission products, and mechanical properties. The proposed Cer-Cer fuel possess fundamental physical and chemical properties comfortably above the best carbon based fuels such as (U, Zr, Nb)C and (U ,Zr, Ta)C, and the best cermet fuels such as (U, Zr)CN or stabilized UO2 coated with tungsten in W/Re matrix/clad. With the renewed interest in the development of the NTP and Bimodal propulsion systems, it is time to reevaluate the fundamental properties of materials with highest performance potential as we know them in 2005. Considering fundamental materials properties as we have known them, the proposed uranium-carbide Cer-Cer uniquely combines all the right properties to make the best and most robust fuel for the NTP and Bimodal Propulsion applications.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
For terrestrial ultra-high temperature gas-cooled GEN IV and advanced light-water reactors, uranium-refractory carbide Cer-Cer fuels offer a revolutionary improvement in core safety performance, increased efficiency and reduced cost. The proposed Cer-Cer fuels with high enrichments can be used in space based reactors and in terrestrial reactors permitted to burn stockpiled highly enriched uranium (HEU) from as a means of HEU disposal. Using uranium-refractory carbide Cer-Cer fuels in commercial nuclear power plant could potentially result in greater efficiency, reduced cost, and increased safety margin through: ? Higher burnup possible leading to fewer outages and associated costs for fuel replacement. ? Less thermal energy is stored in the core as a result of the higher fuel thermal conductivity. ? Reduced probability of fuel melt or fuel pellet and clad mechanical interaction in an accident scenario ? the higher thermal conductivity reduces the fuel centerline temperature and the higher fuel melting point both give an increased margin to fuel melting. Lower coefficient of thermal expansion reduces the probability of partial or full fuel pellet contact with clad. ? Eliminated or at least significantly reduced core melt probability that is identified as the potential maximum public health risk for light water reactors.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Nuclear (Adv Fission, Fusion, Anti-Matter, Exotic Nuclear)

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Luna Innovations Incorporated
2851 Commerce Street
Blacksburg, VA 24060-6657

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Fielder
submissions@lunainnovations.com
2851 Commerce Street
Blacksburg,  VA 24060-6657

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The new Presidential directive to place humans on Mars and establish bases on the moon will require advances in nuclear thermal propulsion and power generation. Nuclear thermal propulsion has a combined advantage in power density, ISP and low fuel/mass ratio over other propulsion means for these missions. To meet the needs of reactor safety, health monitoring and performance, light-weight, real-time, in-core neutron and gamma monitoring sensors need to be developed. Luna is proposing to develop a real-time miniature gamma and neutron dosimeter. This hybrid sensor will measure gamma and neutron dose independently, as well as temperature, along a single optical fiber at the same location. The transducer will be less than 5mm long and 1mg in mass. This dosimeter will enable real-time determination of reactor power level, health and remaining fuel as well as shielding effectiveness. The design will be based on EFPI measurement techniques developed by Luna and demonstrated in high-radiation and temperature environments. During the Phase I, Luna will demonstrate feasibility of the proposed dosimeter in a nuclear reactor. Phase II will optimize the sensors and demodulation system for performance and cost, considering space hardening constraints, and demonstrate the system in high radiation and high temperature environments.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
While the sensor development will be focused on nuclear thermal propulsion needs, the sensor can also be directly utilized for monitoring nuclear power reactors as well, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial. Potential NASA applications include: 1. Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) for Mars manned missions 2. NTP for deep space probes 3. Lunar surface power reactors 4. Future long duration deep space probe power reactors 5. Future Spacestation power reactors 6. Mars surface power reactors

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
1. Terrestrial nuclear power generation reactor monitoring for improved performance, safety and reliability. 2. Nuclear turbo generator monitoring 3. Spent fuel and storage facility monitoring 4. Real-time facility radiation exposure monitoring

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Nuclear (Adv Fission, Fusion, Anti-Matter, Exotic Nuclear)
Propellant Storage
Particle and Fields
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
High-Energy
Suits
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Radiation Shielding Materials
Nuclear Conversion
Thermodynamic Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc.
1046 New Holland Avenue
Lancaster, PA 17601-5688

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
William Anderson
bill.anderson@1-ACT.com
1046 New Holland Avenue
Lancaster,  PA 17601-5688

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop heat pipe and loop heat pipe (LHP) working fluids for what is known as the intermediate temperature range, from roughly 500 K to 700 K. Currently, there are no working fluids in this range that can be used in NASA applications, due in part to unknown physical properties and insufficient life test data. The overall objective of the proposed Phase I and Phase II programs is to validate one or more fluids for use in the intermediate temperature range. This will include life tests, determination of the physical property data required to design heat pipes and LHPs in this temperature range, and the design, fabrication, and testing of suitable heat pipes and/or LHPs.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The primary application is the development of intermediate temperature heat pipes/LHPs for low-mass space radiators, such as the radiators currently being designed for Project Prometheus, as well as radiators for the lunar and Mars surfaces. One design that is being examined uses a Brayton cycle to generate electricity. The radiator could operate in the intermediate temperature range of 450 K to 750 K, where there are currently no commonly used working fluids for loop heat pipes and heat pipes. The proposed program would develop fluid/wick/envelope systems for these temperatures, and validate them with long-term life tests.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Electronics cooling is a second application, for both NASA and commercial electronics, particularly for SiC devices. The benefits of SiC over silicon include its wide bandgap energy, high breakdown electric field, and high thermal conductivity. Some of these SiC devices operate in the range of 450 K to 750 K. Heat pipe or LHP cooling of SiC devices will require the intermediate temperature systems that will be developed in the proposed program.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Cooling
Nuclear Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc.
1046 New Holland Avenue
Lancaster, PA 17601-5688

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
William Anderson
bill.anderson@1-ACT.com
1046 New Holland Avenue
Lancaster,  PA 17601-5688

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop titanium Loop Heat Pipes (LHPs) that can be used in low-mass space nuclear radiators, such as the radiators currently being designed for Project Prometheus, as well as radiators for the lunar and Mars surfaces. LHPs are two phase heat transfer devices that can be embedded in radiator panels. Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) has completed a radiator trade study that showed that radiators with titanium LHPs have the highest specific power in the temperature range from 300 to 550 K, increasing the specific power over heat pipe radiators by more than 1/3. The Phase I program will develop titanium/water LHPs that can operate in the low to intermediate temperature range (300 to 500K), as well as the lower portion of the intermediate temperature range (450 to 550 K). The Phase II program will develop alkali metal LHPs that can operate in the intermediate to high temperature ranges (700 to 1000 K and higher).

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
LHPs for space nuclear radiators are the immediate NASA application. With Project Prometheus, NASA is examining space nuclear power systems for a number of missions. Other potential applications include power systems on the Moon and Mars. One possible design that is being examined in Project Prometheus uses a Brayton cycle to generate electricity. The radiator could operate in the intermediate temperature range of 350 K to 550 K. With water as the working fluid, titanium LHPs would reduce the radiator mass when compared with the alternate known compatible material, which is Monel. Other proposed systems operate at higher temperatures, and required alkali metal LHPs. An advantage of titanium is that its CTE is suitable for attachment to carbon-carbon or GFRC radiator fins.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Titanium is an ideal LHP material where low mass and high strength are important. An additional benefit of titanium is that it is compatible with heat pipe and LHP working fluids over the broadest possible temperature range. Titanium components have been used with working fluids that include sodium, potassium, cesium, water, ammonia and nitrogen. ACT plans to use the technology developed in this program to provide commercial LHPs at higher and lower temperatures, when low mass and high strength are important.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Nuclear (Adv Fission, Fusion, Anti-Matter, Exotic Nuclear)
Cooling
Nuclear Conversion

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Applied Material Systems Engineering, Inc.
2309 Pennsbury Ct.
Schaumburg, IL 60194-3884

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mukund (Mike) Deshpande.
m.deshpande@amseng.net
2309 Pennsbury Ct.
Schaumburg,  IL 60194-3884

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
identified needs for the thermal control and ESD functions of the Prometheus Program's hardware for the heat rejection system for the planned nuclear system. These efforts can also serve uniquely the (CEV) radiator systems needs. The TCMS for the radiators of the both CEV and Prometheus missions need to operate at higher temperatures and provide the space environment stable low ratio of (&#945;s/&#949;T) performance in high radiation orbits involving intense UV, electrons and protons. The CEV application also needs it to withstand typical launch environments. None of the state-of-an-art material systems that are currently in use are designed for the needs of the space environment stable operation at elevated temperatures, and hence, can not meet the same. This proposal identifies the next generation solid state chemistries and processing requirements that can provide the multifunctional space stable performance at higher temperatures and also provide the required unique ESD performance when these very large thermal control areas get exposed to very low temperatures. The proposed efforts will synthesize the candidate new nano engineered passivated pigments and evaluate its space environment stability with use of recently developed next generation dielectrically engineered binders that can employ nano-cluster chemistry to cure into interconnecting percolation paths along with abilities to tailor CTE, thermal shock and thermal cycling performance. Based on results in the phase I study, the candidate solid-state chemistries based products and their processing will be scaled up in Phase II efforts to provide the next generation "robust" validated TCMS products. The primary aim of this SBIR will focus on evaluating the feasibility of new solid state chemistries that can deliver space environment stable (&#945;s/&#949;T) while being exposed to the elevated temperatures of the order of 600 C.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The suggested and developed new generic solid state chemistries for the TCMS through this SBIR can also benefit the current state-of-the-art TCMS to enhance their multifunctionality. The use of such in envisioned materials can uniquely and timely help CEV radiator which is also expected to operate at high temperatures. These efforts can also enhance NASA's ability to carry out earth science, and space science missions in all earth orbits and in the planetary orbits as well as in the several sun earth connection study orbits, where the exposure to high temperatures can be one of the main degrading species. The motivation to use the new material technology will be high because of increased survivability in the space environments, along with the increased life due to the designed temperature insensitive degradation. This would translate in the increased durability for these missions. Above all, we shall provide designers with new TCMS options as a tool to build more reliable and survivable hardware for NASA exploration missions. The technology of high temperature survivable TCMS materials is generic and will diffuse itself in many other NASA applications that thrive for the long life due to its increased durability.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Like NASA, the commercial industry has planned several satellites for the broad band communication activities. The FAA and NASA are also planning commercial space based radars for air traffic control and distant planet observations. Such radar platforms are also planned by DOD for the battle-field management, and such platform structures are expected to be large and sizable, where charge accumulation can be an over riding concerns. These planned candidate radar application assets and their fleets of such integrated space systems may require putting assets in the mid-earth orbits (MEO) for over all optimization and minimization of mission costs. Such mission and fleet designs can be possible and can be economic only if the "robust" material technologies are made available that can perform at high temperatures without failure. Currently no material technology exists that can mitigate high temperature induced degradation effects. Many future NASA planetary, the commercial and some of the DoD platform hardware devoted to radar applications are expected to operate at higher temperatures and thus will significantly benefit form the new concept material systems being developed through this SBIR.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Cooling
Thermal Insulating Materials
Ceramics
Composites
Radiation Shielding Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials
Nuclear Conversion
Power Management and Distribution

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
CompuTherm, LLC
437 S. Yellowstone Dr., Suite 217
Madison, WI 53719-2902

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Fan Zhang
fan@chorus.net
437 S. Yellowstone Dr. Suite 217
Madison,  WI 53719-2902

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
NASA's missions of space exploration require significant power sources both for propulsion and for on-board power. This motivates the development of high temperature structural materials to maximize the thermodynamic efficiency of power conversion systems. Refractory alloys are essential due to their high operating temperature capability that in turn enables high thermal conversion efficiency. The overall objective of the proposed study is to provide NASA with a simulation tool that can be used to improve the performance of current available refractory alloys and accelerate the development of new refractory alloys with desired properties for space nuclear applications. The tool will include: (1) A thermodynamic database for the multi-component RM-TM-IE system, in which RM represents refractory metals including Nb, Mo, Ta, W, and Re; TM represents transition metals including Ti, Zr, and Hf; and IE represents interstitial elements, such as C, N, and O. (2) A mobility database for the multi-component RM-TM-IE system; (3) A computer software package with needed functions for thermodynamic calculations, kinetic simulations, and user-friendly interface. In Phase I, the tool will be developed for the Nb-Zr-C sub-system to examine the feasibility. In Phase II, its applications will be extended to multi-component RM-TM-IE refractory alloy systems.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The computational tool developed in this project will include thermodynamic database, mobility database and computer software. The databases will provide NASA a knowledge base for refractory RM-TM-IE alloys. Thermodynamic calculation and kinetic simulation will provide scientists/engineers of NASA with phase equilibrium and microstructural evolution information of refractory alloys. Such information is useful for NASA in the selection of alloy composition and processing conditions to obtain desired alloy properties, therefore beneficial to NASA in the development of new structural materials and improve current existing ones for space nuclear systems. The application of the software package developed in the project is not limited to refractory alloys. Instead it can be used to calculate phase equilibrium and microstructural evolution for other alloys if thermodynamic and mobility databases are available for the alloys. This provides NASA a facility to work on other alloy systems beyond RM-TM-IE refractory alloys.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The computational tool developed in this project has many potential non-NASA applications. It can be used by researchers at universities and research institutes who work on high temperature materials. Companies work on the development of structural materials for high temperature applications, such as engine materials will also find this tool useful. The software package with a user-friendly graphic interface is an easy-to-use tool. It will allow users to perform calculations with a few clicks of the mouse, without requiring extensive experience or knowledge of thermodynamics and kinetics. This will make thermodynamic calculations and kinetic simulations of refractory alloys available to a wide range of users. The software package works for other alloys as well if corresponding thermodynamic and mobility databases are accessible. The simulation tool developed in this project can also be used as a consulting tool, provide services to academic and industrial customers.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Nuclear (Adv Fission, Fusion, Anti-Matter, Exotic Nuclear)
Database Development and Interfacing
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation
Computational Materials
Metallics

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Nano EnerTex
4131 Grennoch
Houston, TX 77025-2303

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ali Zomorrodian
lignatiev@netscape.net
4131 Grennoch Ln
Houston,  TX 77025-2303

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The need for radiation protection in humans is critical to the success of the nation's continued presence in space. A new radiation protection system will be developed from the recently defined unique hydrogen uptake properties of polyaniline (PANI) nanotubes. The PANI nanotubes have preliminarily shown up to 6% uptake of hydrogen yielding 11-12% total hydrogen content with low total density. The polymeric nature of polyaniline also makes for good structural stability and form stability for shielding elements fabricated from the polymer. The effort in this proposal will identify the compositional stability of the hydrogen-rich PANI system, will advance hydrogen uptake in PANI to > 15%, will test PANI nanotubes for radiation stability and radiation shielding, and will develop design scenarios for the integration of the PANI radiation protection material as cloth or molded parts for space suits and flexible/inflatable habitat applications.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Nasa benefits will acrue from the advancement of high hydrogen content nanofiber cloth for integration into space systems including space suits, spacecraft, and habitats through both their radiation absorption properties, and their conductive properties. Such efforts will not only result in the design and development of a critical radiation protection system, but also a radiation protection system that can be integrated for use in various physical forms and in a variety of human environments in space

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The loading of hydrogen into H-PANI, and the possible extraction of that hydrogen under specific conditions may allow for the H-PANI to be used as a hydrogen storage medium. Such a possibility has extensive commercial perspectives as it could significantly impact the 'Hydrogen Economy" proposed to expand the clean energy needs of the country. The storage of hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles and other hydrogen needs is of critical interest in today's economy. In addition, however, there will be further benefit for NASA as a result of possible simplification of hydrogen storage from the cryo-storage scenario currently popular in NASA

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Inflatable
Biomedical and Life Support
Portable Life Support
Suits
Radiation Shielding Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ultramet
12173 Montague St
Pacoima, CA 91331-2210

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jason Babcock
jason.babcock@ultramet.com
Ultramet
Pacoima,  CA 91331-2210

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
New and innovative lightweight radiation shielding materials are needed to protect humans in future manned exploration vehicles. Radiation shielding materials are needed for large structures such as the space station, orbiters, landers, rovers, habitats, and spacesuits. Materials currently used are heavy, bulky, and ineffective in shielding humans against cosmic radiation, especially over long periods (months or years). One means of solving the problem of heavy radiation shields is to use lightweight polymeric shields that do not produce dangerous secondary radiation when irradiated, but these are typically not mechanically sound in structural applications. Ultramet has developed a versatile method for producing metal and ceramic foams that would function well as reinforcement phases in polymeric shields. This material is amenable to complexly shaped and large components and has been demonstrated under other programs to provide good particle trap capacity and exhibit no damage under extreme variations of temperature, high porosity, and low density. Ultramet proposes to fabricate high-efficiency polymer matrix composite radiation shields that will withstand repeated exposure to cosmic radiation. Initial shielding performance will be demonstrated through simulated cosmic radiation testing at Eril Research, and the program will benefit from collaboration with Northrop Grumman, a potential end user of the technology.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Radiation shielding for astronauts and the communications electronics, sensitive instruments, and life-support systems upon which they rely is the primary application. High strength-to-weight, impact-resistant materials are important for many other NASA applications, including spacecraft structures and support struts, acreage airframe skins, and other complexly shaped components.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The composite materials to be developed combine innovative foam materials, rapid infiltration of polymeric matrices, and the potential for the production of complexly shaped and/or thick-section polymer matrix composites. In addition to the NASA applications, which are also of commercial interest in spacecraft such as communications satellites and future human space travel, higher temperature capable polymers