NASA STTR 2011 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (SBC):		RESEARCH INSTITUTION (RI):
NAME:	Innovative Imaging and Research	NAME:	The University of Southern Mississippi
STREET:	Building 1103, Suite 140C	STREET:	118 College Drive #5157
CITY:	Stennis Space Center	CITY:	Hattiesburg
STATE/ZIP:	MS  39529 - 0001	STATE/ZIP:	MS  39406 - 0001
PHONE:	(228) 688-2452	PHONE:	(601) 266-4119

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Robert E Ryan
rryan@i2rcorp.com
Building 1103, Suite 140C
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529 - 0001
(228) 688-2276

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 4

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Innovative Imaging and Research has teamed with the University of Southern Mississippi to develop a novel energy efficient smart light system. Smart lighting adds an occupancy sensor, photosensor, controller, and dimming unit to a light source and has been shown to save up to 50% of the energy required to power traditional lighting in existing buildings and up to 35% in new construction. Our novel system has the potential to further increase energy savings and enable new functionality never before incorporated into a light fixture. Our concept turns a commonly available low cost digital camera into an imaging photosensor using calibration techniques developed for NASA and the remote sensing industry. Our concept also takes advantage of the current mobile device technology boom by using mobile devices to both monitor and process control software within the smart light. Monitoring natural light that may be present, due to a window or skylight is key to our smart light, as our system spatially and temporally adjusts the light it produces when natural light conditions change– a sustainable energy concept known as daylight harvesting. While we will initially work with white light LEDs, our concept accommodates multi-color LEDs that mix to generate white light. Our smart light will therefore be able to spectrally match the natural light found within a room by controlling each color LED separately. Tailoring light spectrums affects biochemical processes and has been shown to improve sleep patterns and academic attention. By working with mobile devices we can reduce privacy concerns and process imagery within the light sensor without recording or transmitting information. It may be desirable however to add that capability as it would enable a host of other safety functions such as general security, and fire detection.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
After a successful Phase II project, Innovative Imaging and Research will be in a position to provide this energy-efficient smart light technology to NASA and other Federal government agencies concerned with providing quality lighting while lowering energy consumption. United States Executive Order 13423, issued in January 2007, mandates that federal buildings reduce their energy use by 3 percent per year, so that they attain a 30 percent reduction in energy use by the year 2015. To enter this market, we will work to establish business relationships with commercial entities, such as Cisco Systems, that provide energy management solutions to Federal government customers. We also plan to approach NASA field office Center Operations offices directly to offer near-term consultation services to identify lighting solutions with the greatest energy saving potential. In general these will be NASA office and laboratory environments with partial solar illumination, that take advantage of the daylight harvesting feature of our smart light concept, and locations within NASA facilities that are intermittently populated such as stairwells and bathrooms, that take advantage of the occupancy sensing technology within our smart light concept. We also anticipate large payoff for NASA adopting this technology in areas that would benefit from security monitoring and fire protection monitoring, additional features that our smart light system will provide.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
After a successful Phase II project, Innovative Imaging and Research will be in a position to provide this energy-efficient smart light technology to non-NASA commercial entities that are interested with providing quality lighting while lowering energy consumption. We believe our technology will have significant appeal within the education sector. Throughout the country more and more school districts are incorporating "green school" concepts. The Green Schools Initiative incorporates a 4-pillared framework that includes energy efficiency and using recourses sustainably. We plan to engage with these programs and initiatives to showcase our unique technology, which is highly applicable to educational environments. Our smart light technology not only reduces the overall amount of energy consumed through efficient light harvesting-producing light only when and where it is needed, but is also capable of tailoring the spectrum of the light it produces to affect natural biorhythms, which has been shown to improve academic attention. Other potential markets include libraries, museums and other public places that would benefit from security monitoring and fire protection monitoring, additional features that our smart light system will provide. We believe that this technology will initially be too expensive for general household consumers, but as markets expand and LED and other component prices continue to decrease, this technology can be marketed to the general public.

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.)

Algorithms/Control Software & Systems (see also Autonomous Systems) Circuits (including ICs; for specific applications, see e.g., Communications, Networking & Signal Transport; Control & Monitoring, Sensors) Condition Monitoring (see also Sensors) Data Acquisition (see also Sensors) Data Processing Detectors (see also Sensors) Radiometric Visible