Award Data

Oscilla Power, Inc. (OPI) is developing a utility-scale wave energy harvester that is enabled by low cost and readily-available magnetostrictive alloys. T his device, which utilizes no moving parts, has the potential to deliver predictable quantities of electric power to coastal utilities, industrial users, and remote facilities at costs competitive with coal or gas. The Phase I project demonstra ...

This Phase II SBIR will execute the research to commercialization process developed in Phase I, when WorldWinds, Inc. developed and implemented a procedure to showcase graphical NOAA products for on-air consumption by the general public. Through collaboration with Baron Services, Inc., of Huntsville, AL, the Phase I project developed a prototypical composite Blended Total Precipitable Water produ ...

Over 300 HF RADARs worldwide are producing ocean surface data that is used in oil spill response, search & rescue, vessel traffic management, and research. In the U.S. there are 100+ systems supplying real-time data to the Coast Guard, NOAA IOOS, OR&R and other operational groups. To provide the highest quality data to stakeholders, systems should be calibrated by measuring the receive antenna p ...

Commercial microalgal production still relies heavily on batch culture methods. Recent investigations have been successful in the development of enclosed photobioreactors, though mostly still at the research level. Due to several factors, production costs of continuous culture methods remain high and thwart the adoption within the commercial aquaculture sector. This project will investigate the us ...

Responsible and efficient use of agrochemicals is a balance between mitigating the undesirable drift and other off-site movement and optimizing the efficacy of the applied spray. Often, these demands can be in direct conflict, e.g., very large droplets reduce drift but may run off the target or may be ineffective against pests on leaf undersides. Depending on the immediate weather conditions, the ...

A new semisolid artificial diet enclosed in membranes that allow feeding by the predacious green lacewing, Chrysoperla rufilabris, has been invented by USDA/ARS scientist A. Cohen. Phase I studies conducted by Beneficial Insectary showed that the Cohen diet in the Cohen food pack was superior in several key areas to the live insect diet currently used for commercial mass rearing of C. rufilabris. ...

Fruit blotch is a serious seedborne disease of watermelon. In an attempt to control this disease, the seed industry has adopted a zero tolerance of infected seeds. Available tests for detecting infected seeds include grow-out, liquid plating, classical PCR tests. These tests are either not sensitive enough, resulting in false negative, not specific enough, resulting in false positives, or are very ...

WE WILL CHARACTERIZE THE SERRATIA MARCESENS CHIB GENE BOTH PHYSICALLY AND IN BIOCONTROL EXPERIMENTS. WE WILL GENETICALLY ENGINEER TOBACCO PLANTS TO EXPRESS HIGH LEVELS OF THE CHIB ENCODED CHITINASE IN LEAF TISSUE, THEN WE WILL EXAMINE WHETHER THESE TRANSFORMED PLANTS ARE RESISTANT TO INFECTION BY ALTERNARIA ALTERNARIA, THE CAUSATIVE AGENT IN TOBACCO LEAF BROWN SPOT DISEASE.

In this Phase II USDA SBIR we propose to research and develop a SPLAT CMMP solution that is effective and long-lasting, that can be applied in a cost-effective manner, and that can economically replace Malathion dusting. Specifically, we will work toward further increasing the longevity of SPLAT CMMP, formulate different doses of SPLAT CMMP, explore alternate methods of application, and evaluate v ...

The majority of grape growers in the eastern US grow grapes for juice on farms of less than 100 acres, yielding less than $200,000 in income. Most of this acreage is grown under contract with National Grape Cooperative for processing into Welch's grape juice and related products. Recently the grape industry lost a number of effective insect pest management tools, remaining with very few options fo ...