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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