NASA SBIR 2011 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Invocon, Inc.
19221 IH 45 South, Suite 530
Conroe, TX 77385 - 8746
(281) 292-9903

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Doug Heermann
heermann@invocon.com
19221 I-45 South, Suite 530
Conroe, TX 77385 - 8746
(281) 292-9903 Extension :128

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
A device is proposed that can track the electrical charge dispersion that is created when hyper velocity impact (HVI) occurs between two entities with a closing velocity greater than 1 km per second. This same device can measure the time of arrival of the charge wave front at transducers placed throughout the vehicle. Using the known speed of light minus the reactive effects of the skin of the vehicle on the "charge", the system can calculate the exact point of impact. Further, the nature of the charge dispersal wave front contains critical information as to the damage incurred as a result of the HVI.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
NASA, DOD, and commercial space enterprises fly a variety of spacecraft with a resulting risk of high velocity impacts with space debris and/or incoming particles from the cosmos. Impact location and damage assessment have long been a desirable capability for both manned and unmanned vehicles. NASA and our satellite customers have indicated that a system that detects and locates impacts can provide much needed information as to the subsequent management of remaining satellite resources to optimize the remaining capabilities of the spacecraft.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Detailed data and analysis on the physics of the high speed energy transformations that occur in an HVI environment are critical to verification of high resolution models that attempt to predict HVI collisions with details of fracturing paths, and other material failure mechanisms that are used in the design of commercial and military structures. High resolution modeling has become a valuable tool in the design process in that it allows engineers to subject designs to harsh environments and examine the failure modes in detail in order to provide the basis of component re-design without the expense of destructive testing.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING (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.)

3D Imaging Ad-Hoc Networks (see also Sensors) Antennas Avionics (see also Control and Monitoring) Circuits (including ICs; for specific applications, see e.g., Communications, Networking & Signal Transport; Control & Monitoring, Sensors) Coding & Compression Composites Condition Monitoring (see also Sensors) Data Acquisition (see also Sensors) Data Modeling (see also Testing & Evaluation) Diagnostics/Prognostics Display Electromagnetic Ionizing Radiation Microfabrication (and smaller; see also Electronics; Mechanical Systems; Photonics) Models & Simulations (see also Testing & Evaluation) Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE; NDT) Recovery (see also Autonomous Systems) Recovery (see also Vehicle Health Management) Sensor Nodes & Webs (see also Communications, Networking & Signal Transport) Software Tools (Analysis, Design) Spacecraft Instrumentation & Astrionics (see also Communications; Control & Monitoring; Information Systems) Structures Transmitters/Receivers