Award Data

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to provide software service to correct Earth observation satellite (EOS) data to at-ground reflectance. EOS must look through the Earth?s atmosphere that induces systematic error in measuring the actual reflectance of ground targets through scatter and attenuation of light. Atmospherically-induced ...

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to promote empowerment of millions of blind and visually-impaired (BVI) people by enabling greater independence, supporting increased educational attainment, proliferation of vocational opportunities, and enhancing their overall quality of life. There are currently no commercial solutions for providing BVI users with an assistive tech ...

A seminal report by MIT estimated that Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) could provide 100 GW of cost competitive base-load capacity by 2050. Successful integration of this renewable power source and the offsetting of fossil fuels (mainly coal) could reduce 401 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and decrease the US total CO2 emissions by 6.1%. The development of this geothermal resources presen ...

Long-term disposal of nuclear waste continues to be an issue of national and international importance. A 2012 Blue Ribbon Commission report to the Secretary of Energy states, .“..this nation’s failure to come to grips with the nuclear waste issue has already proved damaging and costly and it will be more damaging and more costly the longer it continues….” The proposed thermal salt sealing ...

The U.S. depends on its fleet of nuclear facilities for the clean and reliable generation of electricity. With much uncertainty facing long term, geologic storage facilities, long duration on-site waste storage is being considered. VRC Metal Systems, in collaboration with our academic research partner, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T), and our robotics system developer, Rob ...

There is a worldwide, nearly insatiable demand for renewable energy and a dramatic shift away from central power grids to smaller, more secure, robust and reliable grids powered by renewable energy. ORPC estimates the total addressable global market for marine hydrokinetics is 433 gigawatts (GW), and ORPC has taken a leadership position in the early adopter, high cost islanded community market in ...

The problem being addressed is that electrical generation capacity is expected to fall short in the near future for two reasons. One is that many coal-fired power plants are reaching the end of their life, and the other is that demand for electrical power is expected to increase steadily through year 2050. From emissions concerns, new coal-fired power plants are less likely to be built. While natu ...

Marine life entanglement is one of the critical permitting issues that is currently constraining the growth of domestic offshore aquaculture. Synthetik Applied Technologies is proposing to develop a low-cost entanglement detection system for offshore aquaculture operators. The system will use a combination of near real-time satellite imagery, intelligent on-site cameras (both above and below the w ...

bluShift Aerospace is developing fully modular hybrid rocket motors, referred to as MAREVLs (Modular Adaptable Rocket Engine for Vehicle Launch). Having a modular hybrid rocket motor will allow bluShift and other organizations to rapidly develop various launch vehicles for a micro satellite (CubeSat) launch fleet. There are two innovative fundamental ideas behind bluShiftrsquo;s MAREVL: Modularity ...

We propose to develop effective robust rechargeable and economic antimicrobial coatings tofight cross-contamination in food manufacturing and improve food safety. The severeconsequences of microbiological contamination (e.g. foodborne illnesses food recalls branddamage and economic losses) demand food industry to re-examine the current food safetycontrol strategies and introduce novel technologies ...