NASA SBIR 2015 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Nuvotronics, LLC
7586 Old Peppers Ferry Loop
Radford, VA 24141 - 8846
(800) 341-2333

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Benjamin Cannon
contracts@nuvotronics.com
2305 Presidential Drive
Durham, NC 27703 - 8039
(800) 341-2333 Extension :97

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Scott Meller
contracts@nuvotronics.com
7586 Old Peppers Ferry Loop
Radford, VA 24141 - 8846
(800) 341-2333

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 4

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Microwave Technologies for Remote Sensing is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
To meet the needs of future NASA Earth science objectives, significant advancements in the overall level of integration and functional density that is achievable in multi-band microwave radar and radiometer instruments are proposed. The targeted system is the Wideband Instrument for Snow Measurements (WISM), which is a technology development effort to measure Snow Water Equivalent that targets the requirements of the proposed Snow and Cold Land Processes Mission. During Phase I, we developed concepts for enhancing the WISM by incorporating signal multiplexing and active devices in the PolyStrata antenna feed that are not present in the baseline version of the instrument. On the Phase II program, we propose to demonstrate these enhancements to the WISM with deliverable hardware prototypes of such active multi-band feed antennas. Drastic improvements in system noise figure and overall size are made possible by integrating the first stage of LNAs into the PolyStrata feed antenna, eliminating additional cable and diplexer losses that occur in the current modular system.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
SnowEx and Snow and Cold Land Processes (SCLP) mission and other active and passive microwave Earth science remote sensing missions.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
DoD spaceborne polarimetric radiometer systems for missions similar to that of WindSat. Military multi-band radar applications, for example: guided missile seeker technology, UAV collision avoidance, and operation in degraded visual environments.