Award Data

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will investigate the feasibility of using vibrations to dislodge and remove contaminants accumulated on ceramic filters. Filter Sensing Technologies (FST) has targeted diesel particulate filters (DPF) as a promising application, since they are expensive and in widespread use to meet mandated emissions regulations. Over time these filte ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project pursues the development of a novel volumetric efficient metamaterial antenna module for wireless and satellite communications, as well as radar applications. This Phase I project incorporates advanced metamaterials and textured ferrite composites to realize a broadband electronic bandgap (EBG) metamaterial as a means for achieving a dr ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project...will develop lightweight titanium engine components for fuel efficiency. The use of advanced titanium-based metal matrix composite materials can significantly improve automotive fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The titanium metal matrix composites also can reduce engine vibration. Reduction in vehicle weight resul ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop a technology to fabricate thin-film spectrally-tunable optical filters with wide bandwidth for operation in the visible and near infrared spectrum. Spectrally-tunable optical filters with electronic controllability are desired in optical imaging systems, such as fluorescence microscopy systems, dual-band cameras, and a ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will investigate the feasibility of producing spider silk fibroins in plant trichomes. Synthetic spider silk has great potential as an environmentally-friendly biomaterial because it is very flexible yet has a tensile strength greater than steel. A great need exists for a novel strategy of spider silk fibroin production in a renewable heterol ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will undertake engineering Escherichia coli to "breathe" (respire) using an electrode instead of oxygen. An increasing number of industrial bioprocesses use engineered E. coli strains for the production of fuels and chemicals from renewable feedstocks. Efficient microbial production of fuels and chemicals is intimately connected to res ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses a major need in the glass manufacturing industry by developing a wireless sensor for 3?]D imaging of glass furnace walls to identify refractory erosion and molten glass leaks. The furnace walls are comprised of insulation and AZS (Alumina, Zirconium, Silica) refractories which are highly lossy and very dispersive at high temp ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a novel soft magnetic material for electric motor cores, a fabrication process to make components from the material, and an electric motor configuration leveraging the benefits of the material and fabrication process. The approach is to utilize a new single-step net-shape fabrication technique based on uniform-droplet s ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is aimed at developing an integrated system to stabilize a conventional high-end, inverted optical microscope to the precision required to routinely achieve the imaging power of emerging super-resolution (SR) microscopy techniques. These recent methods, enabled by particular photo-physical properties of certain fluorescent probes, have ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at developing micro-slit panel (MSP) sound absorbers that are effective over broad frequency ranges. MSP absorbers are reclaimable, non-combustible, and environmentally friendly. Traditional absorbers like foams and fibers deteriorate over time and trap oil and other contaminants. On the other hand, MSP absorbers are made from alumin ...