Award Data

Sensor networks embedded on structures, such as pipes, bridges, railways, aircraft wings and fuselage, among others, are required to transfer data related to the health of the structure. This data is typically sent to a central location where it can be processed, displayed, and analyzed. Typical Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) uses embedded ultrasonic transducers exclusively for non-destructive ...

Distributed Spacecraft Missions (DSM) architectures provide unique scientific and programmatic benefits including multipoint in-situ measurements, multi-angle viewpoints, and improved understanding of the connections between separately measured phenomena and their time variations. However, these missions impose significant operational demands on ground tracking resources and mission operators alik ...

Luna will team with Dr. John Bowers of UCSB to continue development of an Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) system-on-chip using heterogeneous silicon photonics to enable a minimal weight structural health monitoring system. This system-on-chip will be the building block for distributed sensing interrogation systems that are the size of a deck of playing cards. This lightweight, rugged ...

Physical Sciences Inc. and Purdue University propose to develop a novel approach to scavenging heat from high intensity thermal environments encountered during space missions and converting this thermal power to electrical power at high efficiency. Examples include extremely hot heat shields during vehicle entry into planetary atmospheres (Mars/Venus probes) and during high speed ascent through p ...

Today, urban underground spaces are shared by multiple utility companies for laying power lines, gas lines, water supply/sewage pipes, fiber-optic cables, etc. The recordings of such buried utilities are often erroneous, inadequate, or outdated (if they ever exist) due to insufficient surveying methodologies and as-built recording practices. Ability to accurately locate and provide awareness of bu ...

Pipeline operators employ cleaning tools for improving product throughput, inhibiting corrosion, and preparing their pipes for inline inspection. For many pipeline risk models, improving the scope and quality of input data is a long-term process. If the combined cost of pigging and inspecting was low and could be done simultaneously, pipeline operators would be encouraged to perform inspections mo ...

In the inspection and quality assurance framework, coercimetry refers to non-destructive testing of mechanical properties based on measurements of the magnetic characteristics of a metal. This technology relies on the continuous and noticeable (100-400%) increase in the magnitude of the coercivity, while the metal passes from as-delivered to its final state. As both magnetic and mechanical propert ...

The SBIR Phase II proposal outlines the approach of Night Crew Labs (NCL) in designing, and developing, and testing a system prototype to perform Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultations (GNSS-ROs) from a high-altitude balloon platform. NCL will continue building from the positive results achieved in Phase I that successfully demonstrated the feasibility of performing balloon-borne GN ...

NOAA is pursuing sustained, in-situ sensing technology to support improved atmospheric modeling of the upper ocean boundary environment, including the air-sea interface, during turbulent storms. Improved atmospheric modeling in this critical region will lead to better forecasting and support NOAA's mandate to protect property and save lives. Small, unmanned aircraft, equipped with atmospheric sens ...

Poor air quality represents a major public health risk, contributing to an estimated one of every eight deaths worldwide. Low-cost air quality sensors have developed rapidly over the last few years and offer the opportunity to make air quality monitoring widespread at an affordable price. However, low-cost sensors are currently unable to deliver accurate, reliable data due to a lack of understandi ...