NASA STTR 2007 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (SBC):		RESEARCH INSTITUTION (RI):
NAME:	Sigma Research and Engineering Corp.	NAME:	University of Maryland Baltimore County
STREET:	4801 Forbes Blvd.	STREET:	1000 Hilltop Circle
CITY:	Lanham	CITY:	Baltimore
STATE/ZIP:	MD  20706 - 4303	STATE/ZIP:	MD  21250 - 0002
PHONE:	(301) 552-6300	PHONE:	(410) 455-3140

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Jeffrey R Dawson
jeff.dawson@sigmaspace.com
4801 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, MD 20706 - 6204
(301) 301-6300

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 5 to 6

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
We propose to develop and demonstrate an receiver system utilizing our novel technique for tracking and compensating for laser wavelength shifts in lidar systems. During Phase 1, we demonstrated that in addition to tracking and correcting for laser frequency drift, the system is able to track and correct for etalon frequency drift (in fact, only this relative frequency drift can be tracked). Data was collected before, during and after a frequency drift over a period of time typical of lidar data integration times. It was seen that integrating without the correction resulted in data too blurred to have any value, but that the correction system compensated for the shift and allowed for proper wavelength measurements. We now look to incorporate this technique into a lidar receiver system and demonstrate its viability in measuring wind velocity. This receiver would prove the ability to reduce the cost and technical difficulties in building a wind lidar system both for NASA programs (NASA-GSFC CATS wind lidar) and commercial systems for use in weather forecasting and airport wind shear monitoring.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
NASA-GSFC is currently building the CATS wind lidar system which will use both a stable, seeded laser source and a tunable etalon. A large technical effort will be put into maintaining the wavelength correlation of the laser to the etalon. This wavelength correction system would allow for looser stability requirement for one or both of these subsystems reducing the development and testing time for the CATS system. Therefore, the Phase 2 of this contract will design and deliver an receiver system for the CATS system. This will provide an opportunity to utilize the CATS system to test and validate the wavelength correction system with real atmospheric measurements while at the same time delivery a major subsystem to the CATS system.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The need for a compact, field deployable Doppler wind lidar has been expressed in exhibitions, conferences and annual meetings of the atmospheric research community. From the feedback Sigma has received as the manufacturer of the Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) under license from NASA GSFC (U.S Patent No. 5,241,315), there is need for a lower-cost Doppler wind lidar with improved range performance in the boundary layer. The drift-corrected wind lidar instrument makes an excellent candidate for a new low-cost wind lidar. The mechanical and optical stability requirements for a ground based system are more relaxed and allow for simplification from a flight version of the instrument and significant cost savings in production. In addition, for Doppler wind profile measurements from a ground based, stationary platform in the lower troposphere the laser requirements are reduced to allow for lower pulse energy and higher repetition rate. The potential customer base for ground-based wind lidar system include not only research institutions such as NASA, DOE, NOAA, and academic institutions but also airports (both metropolitan and municipal) and wind farms for the optimal placement and operation of wind turbines for electrical generation as well as DoD and DOH for evaluation and monitoring of chemical and biological threats.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Airport Infrastructure and Safety Biomolecular Sensors Optical & Photonic Materials Pilot Support Systems Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors