NASA STTR 2020-I Solicitation

Proposal Summary

PROPOSAL NUMBER:
 20-1- T5.03-5050
SUBTOPIC TITLE:
 Electric Field Mapping and Prediction Methods within Spacecraft Enclosures
PROPOSAL TITLE:
 Numerical Simulation of Fields in Cavities with Detailed Antenna Modeling
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (SBC):
Electro Magnetic Applications
7655 West Mississippi Avenue, Suite 300
Lakewood CO  80226 - 4332
Phone: (303) 980-0070
RESEARCH INSTITUTION (RI):
Wichita State University
1845 Fairmount
KS  67260 - 0007
Phone: (316) 978-3285

Principal Investigator (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)

Name:
Matthew Miller
E-mail:
matt@ema3d.com
Address:
916 North State St Monticello, IL 61856 - 1148
Phone:
(217) 840-1382

Business Official (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)

Name:
Emily Hennerberg
E-mail:
emily@ema3d.com
Address:
7655 West Mississippi Avenue, Suite 300 Lakewood, 80226 - 4332
Phone:
(720) 974-1215
Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) :
Begin: 3
End: 7
Technical Abstract (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)

Engineers at NASA are faced with the challenge of understanding complex electromagnetic effects that can impact payloads and launch vehicle hardware located under rocket fairings. Approximate approaches for modeling antennas that interact with rocket fairings assume a plane wave incident upon the fairing for external antennas or a simple representation of the antenna (e.g., Hertzian dipole, simple monopole, etc.) for antennas located inside the fairing. However, in certain situations, the precise antenna radiation characteristics can have a large impact on propagation and the distribution of fields within the enclosure. To further complicate matters, EMC engineers must often consider antennas in their analysis for which they do not have geometric or material details. 

Electro Magnetic Applications, Inc. (EMA) and the National Institute of Aviation Research (NIAR) at the University of Wichita propose to develop a user-friendly software tool for the estimation of field distributions within large and small spacecraft enclosures due to antennas radiating internal and external to the enclosures. The tool will include a Power Balance (PwB) method solver, a full-wave three-dimensional solver, and a multi-conductor transmission line solver. The tool will be optimized to model antennas and will include features for reverse-engineering COTS antennas that are commonly encountered on NASA missions. Capabilities will also be developed to import existing antenna models from standard antenna simulation tools such as HFSS, CST, FEKO, and WIPL-D. The resulting tool will allow NASA analysts and eventually commercial customers to model field distributions and shielding effectiveness problems for rocket fairings due to internal and external antennas that are radiating prior or during a launch. This tool will be applicable during all stages of the design (from concept to launch) and will represent a major costs savings for NASA.

Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)

The proposed tool would be used by engineers at NASA to understand complex electromagnetic effects that can impact payloads and launch vehicle hardware located under rocket fairings. The tool will be used to predict field distributions within rocket fairings due to transmitting antennas located both internal and external to the fairing. The tool will be used to predict the potential for interference or damage to the electronic devices located inside of the fairing as well as human exposure limits for manned vehicle missions.

Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)

The software product described in this proposal is applicable to the commercial aerospace industry, military aerospace applications and the automotive industry. There is a very large application space outside of NASA where the software product could be sold along with consulting services. 

Duration: 13
Form Generated on 06/29/2020 21:14:08