NASA 2007 STTR Phase 1 and Phase 2 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Engineering Solutions
6730 Abbottswood Drive
Palos Verdes, CA 90274-3639

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Oklahoma State University
218 Engineering North
Stillwater, OK 74078-5016

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Andy Arena
andy.arena@okstate.edu

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
An integrated computational environment for multidisciplinary, physics-based simulation and analyses of airbreathing hypersonic flight vehicles will be developed. These vehicles are among the most promising alternatives for the next generation of Highly Reliable Reusable Launch Systems (HRRLS). The proposed work will enable development of models with varying fidelity, incorporating the coupled dynamic elements resulting from the tightly integrated airframe-engine configuration. These will include aero-propulsion and aero-elastic interactions as well as thermal loading. The effect of unsteady aerodynamics and nonlinear phenomena such as shock-shock interaction on vehicle performance will be evaluated. Simple and intuitive models for control design as well as high fidelity models for validation and simulation will be developed. The investigators' extensive experience with multidisciplinary software such as STARS and FLUENT will be an asset in this regard. Rather than creating completely new suit of software the approach proposed here is to develop new software when necessary but also produce codes which will enhance the present capabilities of existing software to handle coupled aero-propulsion as well as aeroelastic effects. The methods and products developed in this effort will significantly enhance the present capabilities for modeling, simulation, and control design, for airbreathing hypersonic flight vehicles.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA Aeronautics is focused on research aimed at enabling advanced future flight capabilities. One thrust of this research is hypersonics, including airbreathing vehicles to one day make possible safe, affordable, routine travel to low earth orbit in support of space science, exploration and commerce; and planetary entry bodies to enable manned and unmanned explorations. The next generation of reusable launch vehicles for access to space, the Highly Reliable Reusable Launch Systems, must be conceived, designed, and developed to fulfill the nation's space exploration aspirations, NASA's mission, and maintain the country's aerospace superiority in the 21st Century. Airbreathing hypersonic flight vehicles present one of the most promising alternatives for affordable and highly reliable access to space. Therefore, research into developing predictive capabilities, uncovering, understanding, and addressing challenges involved in control of this class of vehicles is highly relevant to the immediate and future interests of NASA.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The age of airbreathing hypersonic flight is upon us. In addition to their potential for low safe, affordable, routine travel to low earth orbit in support of space science, exploration and planetary entry bodies to enable manned and unmanned explorations they offer an exotic, but promising future high speed mode of civilian transportation. After NASP - which was a full scale transport hypersonic concept vehicle - in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia there is an accelerated pace of research and development toward building test vehicles and experimental facilities with an eye on their potential commercial value. In the last AIAA Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference in Canberra, Australia keynote speeches were focused on conceptual commercial high speed transport vehicles. All of these attest to the feasibility of commercial application of this class of vehicles in the future.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Simulation Modeling Environment
Structural Modeling and Tools

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Rolling Hills Research Corporation
420 N. Nash Street
El Segundo, CA 90245-2822

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Cal Poly Corporation
Building 15
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-9000

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
William Murray
wrmurray@calpoly.edu

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed innovation is to use the refrigerant capabilities of nitrous oxide (N2O) to provide the cooling required for reusable operation of an aerospike nozzle in conjunction with an N2O-HTPB† hybrid rocket motor. The phase change cooling as liquid N2O is flashed into a vapor is crucial to limiting to acceptable levels the erosion of both the nozzle throat and spike, thereby enabling reusable operation and/or long burn times. The N2O used for cooling the nozzle throat will be reintroduced into the combustion chamber, and the N2O used for cooling the spike will be used to provide base bleed, virtually eliminating any performance penalty associated with using a severely truncated, and therefore significantly lighter, spike. Because of its high vapor pressure, N2O can be self-pumping, thereby making it an ideal choice of oxidizer for simple, low-cost applications. As a simple, practical nozzle, the proposed innovation fits well with N2O-HTPB hybrid rocket designs, which tend toward simpler, less expensive design alternatives. Because of their high efficiency due to altitude compensation, aerospike nozzles could play an important role in bringing to fruition inexpensive access to low Earth orbit. In addition, these altitude compensating nozzles could provide significantly increased performance for a wide array of tactical missiles. Although a few rocket flights powered by liquid propellant rocket engines and two flights powered by solid propellant rocket motors have used aerospike nozzles in the last several years, the lack of a comprehensive flight test database has precluded the use of these nozzles in current as well as next-generation space vehicles. The simple, low-cost, reusable, oxidizer-cooled aerospike nozzle for operation on an N2O-HTPB hybrid rocket motor that is proposed herein is a device that will enable much-needed flight research of aerospike nozzles.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
At present no research other than our own is addressing thrust vectoring and throttling of the annular aerospike nozzle. Having a liquid oxidizer in a hybrid motor provides enhanced flexibility and safety compared to solid fuel propellants. The liquid oxidizer may be throttled back and forth, allowing for controlled thrust. In addition, according to our results, axial translation also can provide a measure of throttling. The two approaches, taken together, provide a means of continuous extreme throttling, allowing the possibility of in-flight shut-downs and restarts, thereby enhancing the flight envelope. In the near term, aerospike nozzles with optimal thrust vector control would provide added safety and improved capability to the NASA Dryden Aerospike Rocket Test project, as well as economic benefit through the reuse of nozzles. Thrust vectoring and throttling capabilities would provide control of flight regimes (speed, angle of incidence, transients, and other flight conditions). In addition, flights with thrust vector control would have less dispersion and therefore could be confined to a smaller test area, which would improve range safety. An aerospike nozzle with thrust vector control would be appropriate for future NASA single-stage-to-orbit programs.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The development of a cooled, truncated aerospike nozzle with an N2O-HTPB hybrid rocket motor will allow cost effective, reusable, and less expensive rocket designs. There are two major non-NASA customer groups for this technology: the U.S. military, and the numerous companies working to develop inexpensive low Earth orbit (LEO) launch vehicles. In addition to launching satellites into LEO, there has been increasing interest in developing space tourism in recent years. Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic have teamed up to develop SpaceShipTwo specifically to pursue the space tourism market. Likewise, Benson Space Company is developing the Dream Chaser<SUP>TM</SUP>, which is a 4-passenger suborbital or 6-passenger orbital vehicle, both of which are based on NASA's HL-20 Personnel Launch System. Both versions of the Dream Chaser<SUP>TM</SUP> vehicle will use a hybrid rocket motor, an internal hybrid for the smaller vehicle or an internal hybrid plus an external hybrid booster for the larger vehicle.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Launch Assist (Electromagnetic, Hot Gas and Pneumatic)
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Cooling
Reuseable
Structural Modeling and Tools
Ceramics
Computational Materials
Metallics

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
ZONA Technology, Inc.
9489 E. Ironwood Square Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85258-4578

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Arizona State University
P.O. Box 873503
Tempe, AZ 85287-3503

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Ping-Chih Chen
pc@zonatech.com

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
ZONA Technology, Inc (ZONA) and Arizona State University (ASU) propose a R&D effort to develop a ground flutter testing system without wind tunnel, called the Dry Wind Tunnel (DWT) system. The DWT system consists of a ground vibration test (GVT) hardware system and a real-time unsteady aerodynamic force generation software developed from an aerodynamic reduced order model (ROM). The ground flutter test using the DWT system operates on the real structural model, thereby no scale-down structural model is involved. Furthermore, the impact of the structural nonlinearities on the aeroelastic stability can be automatically included. Moreover, the aeroservoelastic characteristics of the aircraft can be easily measured by simply including the flight control system in the loop. In addition, the unsteady aerodynamics generated computationally is interference-free from the wind tunnel walls. Finally, the DWT can be conveniently and inexpensively carried out as a post GVT test with the same hardware. In Phase I, we will validate this DWT concept on a rectangular flat plate with a reference flutter solution. Through this validation process, the most significant hardware issues will be resolved to pave the way for a successful Phase II validation on a complex structure, such as a real aircraft.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The Dry Wind Tunnel testing concept would be particularly useful as a pre-flight testing effort to identify any aeroelastic and aeroservoelastic instability that are not predicted by the analysis. For example, inherent structural nonlinearities such as friction and freeplay are notoriously difficult to model properly in linearized analyses but would be naturally present in the DWT testing as it is carried out on the actual structure. DWT testing would also be useful as a post-flight testing procedure to resolve discrepancies between the analysis and flight test results. The DWT test concept is applicable to a broad range of test structures, from components to wing to full aircraft, that are currently being tested by NASA.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The DWT system can be applicable to flutter envelope expansion and flying quality programs of military and civil transport as well as general aviation aircraft. The potential customers for the DWT system include Air Force, Navy, DARPA, and the aerospace industry. It can be readily adapted to the following programs:(a) Flying quality and store clearance for the F-22 and F-35 aircraft, (b) flutter envelope expansion for USAF's UVA/UCAV, Hilda and joined-wing sensorcraft, (c) flutter envelope expansion for USAF's next generation stealth and morphing UAVs designed to deliver directed-energy weapons, and (d) flutter envelope expansion for DARPA's new Switchblade Oblique Flying Wing program.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI)
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Simulation Modeling Environment
Testing Facilities
Testing Requirements and Architectures
Structural Modeling and Tools

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Qualtech Systems, Inc.
100 Great Meadow Road, Suite 603
Wethersfield, CT 06109-2355

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Connecticut
438 Whitney Road Ext., Unit 1133
Storrs, CT 06269-1133

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sudipto Ghoshal
sudipto@teamqsi.com
100 Great Meadow Road, Suite 603
Wethersfield,  CT 06109-2355

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The recent advances in data collection and storage capabilities have led to information overload in many applications, including on-line monitoring of spacecraft operations with time series data. Such datasets present new challenges in data analysis, especially for implementation in memory-constrained DECUs. Also, the traditional statistical methods break down partly because of the increase in the number of observations (measurements), but mostly due to an increase in the number of variables associated with each observation ("dimension of the data"). One of the problems with high-dimensional datasets is that not all the measured variables are "important" for understanding the underlying phenomena of interest. In addition to the computational cost, irrelevant features may also cause a reduction in the accuracy of some algorithms. The first key issue we propose to address is that of data reduction techniques for onboard implementation of data-driven classification techniques in memory-constrained onboard processing units. Some of the classification techniques we intend to use with the above data-reduction techniques include, support vector machine (SVM), probabilistic neural network (PNN), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), principal component Bayesian analysis (PCA). To improve the diagnostic accuracy and efficiency of the above classifiers, we will apply classifier fusion techniques such as AdaBoost, Error correcting output codes, Voting to find which architecture will enhance the accuracy and under what conditions. Finally we will investigate Dynamic Multiple Fault Diagnosis that can work with imperfect fault/anomaly detection tests. As part of this task, we will develop novel factorial hidden Markov model-based inferencing techniques such as Lagrangian relaxation and Viterbi decoding algorithms to solve this difficult combinatorial optimization problem, for on-board vehicle health monitoring and fault diagnosis.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Any well executed on-board health monitoring program that can diagnose system health and can automatically reconfigure to respond to failures has tremendous use and importance in space aviation. The proposed work is in line with NASA's IVHM goals, as well as mission and contingency planning. NASA has a stated requirement for automated solutions for system health management, where prognostics and system recovery are required to support space initiatives. This proposed tasks addresses a small but important issue in achieveing that goal.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The industries interested in the developed technology are expected to include the manufacturers (OEMs) and end users of complex systems and equipment that are used in environments where failure has serious consequences and where high availability and operational reliability are required. The aviation industry, primarily aircraft manufacturers and their customers are industry segments that are of interest and will be targeted as part of the commercialization effort.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Expert Systems
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Impact Technologies, LLC
200 Canal View Blvd.
Rochester, NY 14623-2893

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Georgia Tech Research Corporation
Industry Contracting Office, 505 Tenth Street, NW
Atlanta, GA 30318-5775

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Gregory Kacprzynski
greg.kacprzynski@impact-tek.com

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Impact Technologies, in collaboration with Georgia Institute of Technology, proposes to develop and demonstrate innovative technologies to integrate prognostics into Automated Contingency Management (ACM) for advanced aircraft controls. Without consideration of prognostic information, the traditional reactive fault tolerant control approaches may fail to provide optimal fault mitigation/accommodation strategies over a longer period of time. The project team will create a platform level simulation environment that demonstrates the fault propagation from the component level, using electromechanical flight actuators (EMAs) as a testbench problem, to the high level flight envelope and mission objectives. The proposed ACM system accepts input from discrete diagnostics, grayscale diagnostics and prognostic modules and will be split into a real-time reactive component and a "planning" component that considers temporal parameters and the potential impact of being proactive with mitigating action. Specifically, innovative prognostics enhanced stochastic programming and receding horizon control techniques are proposed for high and low level ACM controllers respectively. A subset of core algorithms will be implemented on embedded systems and used in hardware-in-the-loop demonstrations to justify a Technology Readiness Level of 4.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The real-time Automated Contingency Management technologies will be directly applicable to Propulsion IVHM, Crew Exploration Vehicle, Reusable Launch Vehicles, Unmanned Air Vehicles and future generation general aviation platforms. It will lead to benefits in the form of improved reliability, maintainability, and survivability of safety-critical aerospace systems.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The potential commercial use of the developed technologies is broad. Examples of key customers that could benefit through use of the developed technologies include: unmanned combat air vehicles, JSF, future combat systems, commercial airlines, land and marine propulsion systems, industrial actuation systems, and robotic applications. The aero propulsion domain alone has thousands of potential systems to address with this technology.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Pilot Support Systems
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Software Development Environments
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
CFD Research Corporation
215 Wynn Drive, 5th Floor
Huntsville, AL 35805-1926

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Pittsburgh
219 Parkman Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260-3900

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
JianJun Wei
sxh@cfdrc.com
215 Wynn Drive, 5th Floor
Huntsville,  AL 35805-1926

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Long-term exposure to microgravity and radiation during space exploration can pose a critical threat to the health of a flight crew. Real-time monitoring of urine protein levels is an effective way to follow the onset and progress of many diseases and guide the prompt selection of proper therapy. The success of such diagnostic tasks, which is strongly desired for flight missions, critically depends upon the degree of automation and reliability of such trace level detection. To meet this need, we propose to develop a novel on-chip, nano-plasmonic sensor cartridge to concurrently quantify the presence of different urine proteins. The envisioned device is compact, lightweight, fully integrated and automated, and highly cost- and power-effective. The program objectives will be accomplished via several innovations: (a) a new nano-plasmonics chip technology-based SPR sensor that is compatible with miniaturization, (b) tailored array modifications, allowing for concurrent screening of multiple proteins, (c) microfluidic platform for automated biochemical processes, and (d) simulation-based design for rapid prototype development. In Phase I, we will develop and demonstrate the critical microfluidic components (i.e., filter, mixer and network architecture) guided by physics-based simulations, and experimentally demonstrate the two-type-assay on a single nanoplasmonics chip for protein detection. The simulation-based design will conform to specifications that are amenable to mass-production-friendly lithographic techniques. In Phase II, the nano-plasmonic sensor will be optimized to increase sensitivity, stability, and the response to regular urine samples. Finally, the sensor will be integrated with microfluidic components and control/transmission electronics to form a portable protein assay cartridge.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA will have an on-chip nano-plasmonics based urine protein assay cartridge that can be easily integrated with existing astrobiological instrumentation to keep track of astronaut health during planetary exploration. In addition, the same device can be adapted and used in other applications such as, life discovery on other planets, pharmacotherapy environment monitoring, and space biology experiments.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The platform developed in this effort will provide the technological backbone to develop microfluidic processing systems and nano-biosensors for a variety of applications in healthcare and the life sciences. This platform will enable the creation of analytical tools for the preparation, detection, and analysis of low abundance proteins obtained from physiological fluids and cells. It may find use in drug discovery and the study of human diseases, clinical and preclinical diagnosis, as well as in the areas of proteomics, genomics, and homeland security. Total market estimates exceed several hundred million dollars.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Biomedical and Life Support
Biomolecular Sensors
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools
Biochemical
Optical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Virtual EM, Inc.
2019 Georgetown Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-1532

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Purdue University
1205 West State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2057

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Tayfun Ozdemir
tayfun@virtualem.com
2019 Georgetown Blvd
Ann Arbor,  MI 48105-1532

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Proposed work envisions development of high-rejection filters and smart reconfigurable antennas using MEMS switches. Adaptive feature of the proposed antenna provides higher S/N ratio and extends range for surface-to-surface communications. Tunable high-rejection filters lend themselves easily to software defined radios.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Adaptive feature of the proposed antenna provides higher S/N ratio and extends range for surface-to-surface communications. Tunable high-rejection filters lend themselves easily to software defined radios.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Proposed smart antenna technology is readily applicable to today's wireless consumer devices, which require smart antennas that alter their radiation pattern to maximize channel capacity.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
RF
Microwave/Submillimeter
Highly-Reconfigurable

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Metrica, Inc.
8620 North New Braunfels, Suite 603
San Antonio, TX 78217-4486

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3815

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sanjiv Singh
ssingh@ri.cmu.edu

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Robots will be precursors to human exploration of the lunar surface. They will be expected to prepare the lunar surface for human habitation as well as conduct scientific investigations. As humans arrive, first for short-term stays, the robots should be able to shift to providing direct assistance to human exploration activities. Such tasks require a new generation of robotic vehicles – a generation that has flexible, dexterous manipulation that can be scaled to include teams of machines. Since it will be impossible to tightly script complex operations ahead of time, it will be essential for planetary robots to be effective in unmodeled environments and unanticipated situations. Our proposal addresses four fundamental areas in mobile manipulation: 1) Motion Planning for Cooperative Mechanisms; 2) Task Sequencing & Monitoring; 3) Coordinated Control of Redundant Mechanisms; and 4) Human Robot Interface. Together, these innovations will create robots that can accomplish a wide variety of tasks to support NASA's exploration missions. We will demonstrate our approach using scenarios that involve several mobile robots with dexterous manipulators moving and assembling structures on the lunar surface and being supervised by remote operators.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA's envisioned exploration missions rely heavily on robotic precursors and on robotic assistance to astronauts. Current space robots have very limited manipulation capabilities, especially autonomous manipulation capabilities. The technology developed in this proposal will increase the manipulation abilities of NASA robots to enable greater autonomy and more flexible mission operations. In addition to the long-term benefits to NASA of this technology, there will also be some short-term benefits to NASA's research program – the Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP). Two areas of ETDP will be immediate beneficiaries of this technology. First, the Centaur robot at NASA JSC is already a mobile manipulator and can benefit directly from the technology developed in this proposal. Second, the K10 robot at NASA ARC is being equipped with a manipulator and can also benefit from our technology.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The military is one of the largest customers for robotic technology, especially in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) area. Unmanned vehicles are becoming more and more common in battlefield situations. The Future Combat Systems (FCS) program envisions manned and unmanned vehicles of all sizes working side-by-side. In addition, Congress has mandated that one-third of all military vehicles must be unmanned by 2015. Dexterous manipulation is required for many EOD and soldier assistance tasks. As the technology proves itself, we will move into non-military markets such as civilian EOD, urban search and rescue, hazardous environment clean-up and plant maintenance. We will also target the research robotics market, which is increasingly interested in testbeds for mobile manipulation.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Human-Robotic Interfaces
Integrated Robotic Concepts and Systems
Intelligence
Mobility
Manipulation
Teleoperation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
digitROBOTICS, LLC
19 Crestview Drive
South Deerfield, MA 01373-1202

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
The University of Massachusetts, Amherst
c/o OGCA, Research Admin. Bldg, 70 Butterfield Terrace
Amherst, MA 01003-9242

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Roderic Grupen
grupen@cs.umass.edu

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Robots that can move about in terrestrial environments and manipulate large and small objects serve a critical role in NASA's Moon/Mars initiative. Such systems will need to serve as precursors to human missions, collaborate with humans on-site, and carry on when humans have departed. This proposal concerns a control suite and teleoperator interface for whole-body mobile manipulators (WBMMs). WBMMs are a class of redundant, mobile, multi-limbed platforms able to use their entire bodies for manipulation tasks. Such platforms are extremely versatile and can address NASA's need for platforms that perform useful work on the surface of the Moon or Mars. To exploit WBMM, a control framework capable of exploiting redundancy and new man-machine interfaces are required. digitROBOTICS and the Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics at UMass propose to build a WBMM control suite and teleoperator interface to address these challenges. We propose to use control basis framework developed at UMass over the past two decades and used to advance the state-of-the-art in many robotic task domains including grasping and manipulation. The WBMM control suite will simplify controller design and allows control knowledge to be easily ported between robots and operating contexts. The WBMM teleoperator interface will allow for varying levels of autonomy, and can preserve safety constraints using control mechanisms from the WBMM control suite. The anticipated result of the Phase 1 effort is preliminary software for controlling WBMMs as described above at TRL 4, and a proof of concept teleoperator interface at TRL 3. The anticipated result of a Phase 2 effort would be a commercial-grade version of both the control suite and teleoperator interface, and to have the control suite and teleoperator interface running on one of NASA's WBMMs (ATHLETE or Robonaut, for example). The results of the Phase 2 effort are estimated to be at TRL 5-6.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed software tools can be used to build control software for whole-body mobile manipulators (WBMMs) for planetary exploration, including such tasks as deploying equipment, sample gathering, habitat placement, site construction, deploying cables/conduit, connecting umbilicals, moving regolith, pad construction, and robotic helpers/followers. These software tools can provide existing NASA robotic platforms such as ATHLETE (Ames Research Center) and Robonaut (Johnson Space Center) with: an easy to use environment for programming manipulation tasks, safe and effective teleoperation in the presence of large time delays, the ability to repurpose hardware resources in response to unexpected contingencies, and the ability to transfer control knowledge between robots and operating contexts. These are crucial features for programming robots in the context of space exploration since they will allow a relatively small number of versatile but complex systems to perform a wide variety of tasks without the need for low-level teleoperation. The control schema used by the proposed software is portable across different robotic platforms. digitROBOTICS LLC plans to sell an economical WBMM bundled with the proposed software tools. The availability of this package could significantly reduce the cost and time required for an independent research laboratory to start producing control code that could be ported to NASA robotic hardware.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed software tools can be used to build control software for whole-body mobile manipulators for use in healthcare (as assistive devices for in-home or institutional use), in the military (reconnaissance, surveillance, refueling, carrying ordnance, probing environments, sampling soil), logistics/supply chain (loading/unloading at warehouses), and research on WBMMs. digitROBOTICS LLC plans to develop and sell an economical whole-body mobile manipulator (the uBot-5) bundled with a version of the control suite described in this proposal. We believe this will be a very attractive product for researchers working in the field of mobile manipulation and that the availability of such an economical hardware/software combination could potentially increase the rate of progress in the field of mobile manipulation. The software tools described in this proposal could also be sold as a stand-alone product for use on 3rd party robotic platforms. Additionally, since the control schema created by the proposed software tools are portable across different platforms, this hardware/software product would provide an easy way for independent researchers to develop controllers for extremely expensive and/or commercially unavailable robotic platforms used by NASA, other government agencies, or private companies.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Human-Robotic Interfaces
Intelligence
Mobility
Manipulation
Perception/Sensing
Teleoperation
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interfaces
Software Development Environments
Highly-Reconfigurable

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Accudyne Systems, Inc.
134 Sandy Drive
Newark, DE 19713-1147

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials
201 Composite Manufacturing Science Lab
Newark, DE 19716-3144

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mark Gruber
mgruber@accudyne.com
134 Sandy Drive
Newark,  DE 19713-1147

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Out-of-autoclave thermoplastic tape/tow placement (TP-ATP) is nearing commercialization but suffers a moderate gap in mechanical properties compared with laminates fabricated via thermoset autoclave processing. Out-of-autoclave thermoplastic processing significantly lowers composite aerospace part costs, but the property gap must be closed. This STTR program, endorsed herein by Boeing and Cytec Engineered Materials, will remedy the mechanical property shortfall and enable large composite aerospace structure important to NASA to be manufactured without an autoclave. Accudyne is teaming with University of Delaware – Center for Composite Materials to apply their state-of-the-art TP-ATP process/property models to elucidate the physical mechanisms affecting microstructural quality that cause the property gap. Models will be applied to the NASA LaRC TP-ATP deposition head to optimize the head configuration and machine operating parameters, and the control systems for full mechanical properties. Laminates will be manufactured to demonstrate the property improvements. The process, head, and equipment changes will be upgraded on the NASA-LaRC thermoplastic tape head. In Phase 2, process/head modeling will be extended through laminate fabrication and testing, and a component of interest to NASA will be fabricated demonstrating the improved "autoclave level" mechanical performance.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A proven out-of-autoclave thermoplastic ATP process would yield noteworthy benefits. NASA can commission higher speed/altitude atmospheric research aircraft with wing and fuselage skins manufactured from 350<SUP>o</SUP>F/50,000 hour thermoplastic polyimides. Other NASA vehicles incorporating large composite structure, like the Ares V Heavy Lift and Ares I Crew Launch vehicles, and the Crew Exploration Vehicle could be made at lower cost and weight by virtue of parts consolidation, eliminating the cost and weight of joints, since there is no autoclave. Lower weight translates to higher payloads and lower launch costs. NASA-LaRC Materials Branch could more effectively develop higher use temperature thermoplastic composite materials by demonstrating them using their in-house out-of-autoclave TP-ATP process. Finally, NASA-MSFS could promote thermoplastic composite in situ processing at space-structure fabricators for lighter weight/lower cost solid rocket motors, liquid rocket engines, and space vehicles, and at airframers for lower cost wing and fuselage skins with better thermal performance.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Machine builders like Cincinnati Machine could develop and offer for sale a new class of thermoplastic tape layers and fiber placement machines to US aerospace primes. Material suppliers like Cytec Engineered Materials could develop and offer for sale a new class of placement-grade thermoplastic tape and tow material systems to US aerospace primes. OEMs and the US aerospace industry, generally, can adopt thermoplastic ATP/AFP to 1) eliminate the capital and operating cost of autoclaves and significantly lower the cost to fabricate large composite parts of interest to NASA and, in general, for US competitiveness, 2) lower weight of aerospace structure since larger parts can be fabricated out-of-the-autoclave, 3) enjoy mechanical properties in the composite equal or superior to those generated from today's autoclave process, and 4) benefit from additional thermoplastic resin characteristics, for example, high temperature performance, elevated toughness, superior solvent resistance, and environmental durability.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Nanohmics, Inc.
6201 East Oltorf Street, Suite 400
Austin, TX 78741-1222

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Purdue University
585 Purdue Mall
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2088

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mike Durrett
mdurrett@nanohmics.com
6201 East Oltorf St, Suite 400
Austin,  TX 78741-1222

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Metal matrix composites (MMC's) are of great interest in aerospace applications where their high specific strength provides a weight saving alternative to standard materials. To date however their use has been limited by the difficulty in fabricating complex shapes. Most current methods for manufacturing MMC's are limited to relatively simple shapes that often still require further machining. It is the machining of MMC's that is the biggest drawback to their application. Grinding or single point diamond turning are generally the methods of choice but in each case tool wear is excessive and surface damage is apparent. A very attractive alternative for rapid machining of MMC's is Laser Assisted Machining (LAM). LAM has been successfully applied to ceramics and some recent work has indicated that LAM can successfully machine MMC's with high material removal rates and no surface damage. In this proposal, Nanohmics Inc. and Dr. Y. C. Shin of Purdue University propose to apply the recently developed technique of laser assisted machining coupled with a specially designed dynamic tooling system to develop a means of machining MMC's into complex shapes.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Metal matrix composites like Al/SiC have the potential of achieving significant weight and cost savings on aircraft structures. These materials are also particularly interesting for space structures because of their excellent specific mechanical properties, high thermal and electrical conductivity, low coefficient of thermal expansion and the absence of out-gassing. The unique thermal properties of aluminum composites, in particular, such as metallic conductivity with co-efficient of expansion that can be tailored down to zero, add to their prospects in aerospace and avionics. Key to their application is a cost effective means to machine these compounds.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Some current examples of MMC's in industry include: • Chevrolet Corvette and GM S/T pick-up truck drive shafts • Plymouth Prowler brake rotors and GM EV-1 brake drums • Toyota diesel engine pistons • Bicycle components and golf clubs from a variety of producers

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Mobility
Airframe
Airlocks/Environmental Interfaces
Erectable
Kinematic-Deployable
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Spaceport Infrastructure and Safety
Modular Interconnects
Structural Modeling and Tools
Tankage
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Manned-Manuvering Units
Portable Life Support
Tools
Earth-Supplied Resource Utilization
In-situ Resource Utilization
Radiation Shielding Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Hyper-Therm High-Temperature Composites
18411 Gothard Street, Units B&C
Huntington Beach, CA 92648-1208

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90840-0004

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Shinavski
robert.shinavski@htcomposites.com
18411 Gothard Street, Units B&C
Huntington Beach,  CA 92648-1208

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Advanced liquid rocket propulsion systems must achieve longer burn times without performance degradation to allow the lowest cost per kilogram access to space. Ablative thrust chambers have an extensive heritage and are the low cost approach to fabricating rocket thrust chambers. However, composite ablative chambers suffer from erosion that typically limits performance of the engine in terms of burn time and efficiency/performance of the combustion. In the last decade, there has been significant interest in utilizing fiber-reinforced ceramic composites such as carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composites. Such composites have demonstrated a low erosion rate in bi-propellant liquid rocket thrust chambers at temperatures approaching 4000F. However insertion of these materials have been limited by complexities associated with required system redesign to accommodate a radiatively-cooled chamber, attachment methods, and addressing chamber permeability issues. By incorporating a ceramic composite liner within an ablative thrust chamber in critical areas that are subjected to the highest temperatures, a low erosion, high performance chamber is obtained that eliminates costs and complexities that have limited the insertion of ceramic composite thrust chambers. The Phase I effort will produce a ceramic composite lined ablative thrust chamber, identify the degree of film cooling required and conduct a static hot fire test evaluation of the material to demonstrate the perfromance benefit of a CMC liner within an ablative thrust chamber.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A number of launch systems under consideration for use by NASA can benefit from the improved performance of a low cost ablative thrust chamber obtained by incorporating a CMC liner. Such applications include delivery of cargo to the International Space Station as well as the transporting of crew. The improved performance of these chambers is most suited for upper stage propulsion chambers. Other applications of interest to NASA would include lowering the cost per kilogram launch costs for satellites and space exploration vehicles. Addtionally co-fabrication of a CMC and an ablative could have advantages for heat shield applications

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The liner concept can have broad implications across a range of DoD rocket propulsion systems that currently use ablative thrust chambers due to the combined improvement in performance and decreased weight of the thrust chamber. The concept can also be utilized in the near term as an upgrade to existing ablative thrust chambers for an immediate performance benefit.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Ablatives
Ceramics
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Tetra Research Corporation
420 Park Avenue West
Princeton, IL 61356-1934

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mississippi State University
Engineering Research Center
Mississippi State, MS 39762-9627

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Rex Chamberlain
rex@tetraresearch.com
420 Park Avenue West
Princeton,  IL 61356-1934

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The challenges of designing, developing, and fielding man-rated propulsion systems continue to increase as NASA's Vision for Space Exploration Program moves beyond the Space Shuttle and RSRM. The number and type of different propulsion elements required are significant, and predicting internal solid motor behavior and characteristics and assessing external environments due to plume impingement on vehicle structures is a top priority. Solid motors do not require pre-start thermal conditioning but can be throttled by grain shape and pintle design, and thus the analysis tools must be flexible and prepared to meet the appropriate simulation readiness level. Our proposed innovation will enhance existing engineering software by combining new flow solution methodologies with appropriate boundary conditions to create a novel toolset for complex multi-phase solid rocket analyses. The innovation will be based on the LOCI/CHEM multi-physics analysis package and will utilize new LOCI features, new multi-phase flow models, and theoretical and phenomenological boundary conditions to create a unique software tool for solid propellant burning, particle breakup, surface erosion, and environment characterization for next generation solid motors. Our research products will provide NASA with the important capability to simultaneously analyze solid propellant combustion, heat transfer, and nozzle erosion within a single numerical framework.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This technology will provide NASA with an advanced analysis capability for the prediction of multi-phase flows in solid motors, with and without throttling, that will include models for particle breakup, agglomeration, and surface erosion. Potential enhancements to the these prediction tools include burning particles with smoke in a mixed Eulerian/Lagrangian framework, improved droplet/gas interface modeling for better statistical representations of particle laden flows, and extended model validation. The proposed methodology for multi-phase solid motor flows is also well suited for extensions to additional multi-physics capabilities of commercial interest to NASA, including conjugate heat transfer within the solid propellant.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The growing trend toward complex multi-phase analyses is opening significant new markets as more difficult problems can be addressed using advanced computational techniques. The ability to easily set up and analyze solid motor problems in a timely manner will allow industry to speed development of new products and streamline testing. Further enhancements to the CHEM solid modeling system, will find application in the aerospace, automotive, environmental, and nuclear industries. The basic architecture of the software will remain the same while new plug-in physical models will be developed to address niche markets.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Fundamental Propulsion Physics
Monopropellants
Ablatives

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Barber-Nichols, Inc.
6325 West 55th
Arvada, CO 80002-2777

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Alabama, Huntsville
301 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, AL 35899-0001

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Madhan Bala
madhanb@uah.edu

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A rocket engine turbopump design using a partial emission pump combined with a zero net positive suction pressure inducer design is proposed to achieve a robust, deep throttling capability in 5k to 15k lbf thrust range rocket engines. A partial emission pump can provide better low-flow/thrust stability at a better efficiency than full emission pumps in this throttle range. A zero net positive suction pressure inducer will be able to perform with boiling flow at the inlet and at low flow conditions. This will enable deep throttling as well as restarts with minimal turbopump/engine thermal conditioning.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Commercial applications include pumps that can handle boiling fluids, both cryogenic and light hydrocarbons used in chemical process industries. These applications involve circulating pumps in multiple distillation columns where the NPSH can be one foot or less. The impeller and inducer design can be applied to commercial cryogenic pump applications for liquid helium or liquid hydrogen systems. The turbopump design can be used with cryogenic liquid rocket engines developed for space tourism vehicles. The turbopump design can be used for high speed, low suction head, light-weight scram jet fuel pumping and hydraulic actuation of control surfaces.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Advancement in space exploration necessitates deep throttling of liquid cryogenic rocket engines. Both Lunar and Martian robotic and human exploration require engines that can be deep throttled, can start and restart, have a long life and require minimal maintenance1. An engine capable of low thrust levels, versatile enough to accommodate multiple applications would advance the state-of-the-art and enable NASA to meet space exploration objectives. An advanced turbopump design is an enabling technology for developing the required engine in support of future NASA missions.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Feed System Components

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
CFD Research Corporation
215 Wynn Drive, 5th Floor
Huntsville, AL 35805-1926

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mississippi State University
Simulation and Design Center, 2 Research Blvd.
Starkville, MS 39759-9740

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sarma Rani
sxh@cfdrc.com
215 Wynn Drive, 5th Floor
Huntsville,  AL 35805-1926

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Accurate CFD modeling of fuel/oxidizer injection and combustion is needed to design and analyze liquid rocket engines. Currently, however, there is no mature modeling capability for liquid fuel/oxidizer injectors in LOCI-Chem, used by NASA and its contractors to analyze rocket engines. In this STTR, an innovative, high fidelity injection module will be developed that features the Level Set (LS) interface tracking method coupled with Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR). In addition to tracking liquid atomization for subcritical flows, the module will have the capability to model transcritical and supercritical regimes, as well as transient and steady operating conditions in a cryogenic engine combustion chamber. CFDRC will team with Mississippi State University to develop the proposed unified module in LOCI-Chem. To show feasibility, the Phase I effort will implement the LS method to track liquid-gas interfaces, and resolve the primary atomization of liquid jets in a subcritical environment. Validation will be performed using the shear coaxial LN2/GN2 jet data of AFRL (Edwards AFB). In Phase II, the LS module will be coupled with the Lagrangian spray model in LOCI-Chem in order to completely track the spray. AMR capability will be developed and integrated with the LS module to improve LS's liquid mass conservation accuracy. Models for secondary atomization and drop vaporization will be implemented in Phase II, in addition to thermodynamic models to capture transcritical and supercritical combustion. Final demonstration of the software will include validation against practical liquid propellant injector cases selected in consultation with NASA personnel.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed module in LOCI-Chem will enable NASA and government contractors to better analyze and design liquid rocket engines, such as the CECE engine as part of NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. It will also be beneficial to the J-2X cryogenic engine program as part of Project Constellation to replace the space shuttle in 2010. At the end of Phase II, NASA will have a comprehensive suite of modeling capabilities for studying and designing propulsion devices such as rocket engines and injectors. The models will help predict liner temperatures and combustion-driven instabilities, and improve the overall efficiency of rocket engines.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The injector module will be of direct use to Pratt & Whitney-Rocketdyne, the lead OEM contractor for the deep throttling CECE engine. It will also be beneficial to gas turbine engine and diesel engine manufacturers, and has applications in fuel injector design for power plants and in industrial boilers/burners. With the addition of the proposed modeling capabilities, LOCI-Chem will become a more mature CFD tool that will find broad application in many spray technology areas.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
EIC Laboratories, Inc.
111 Downey Street
Norwood, MA 02062-2612

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona
P.O. Box 3308
Tucson, AZ 85722-3308

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jane Bertone
bertone@eiclabs.com

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
For photovoltaic cells used to power space missions, such as those based on silicon, CuInGaSe2, and III-V materials, optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency is reduced by at least 25% because the energy of solar photons in excess of the band gap of the semiconductor absorber is lost. The excess photon energy is converted to heat. In addition, the quantum efficiencies of solar cells tend to degrade for high energy photons due to surface recombination effects. Optical down-conversion has been suggested as a method to recoup this lost energy, providing an increase in the theoretical single junction photovoltaic conversion efficiency from 30.9% to 39.6%. If substantial gains in PV efficiency could be achieved with a thin film coating of an efficient two photon downconverting layer, it would have a tremendous benefit not only to NASA payload burden, but also the the economics of terrestrial solar cells. However, the absence of materials with suitable time constants for the relevant electronic processes has hindered the realization of this method. Our proposed solution, being developed by the University of Arizona, is to use the unique optical properties of nanocrystals to produce efficient downconverting emitter materials. Phase I will entail synthesis of the new materials at EIC Laboratories and their optical evaluation at Arizona, with a goal of demonstrating the first practical examples of such a thin film material.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The principal product arising from this research is an economical and long-lived thin film overcoating for solar cells that can be retrofitted to boost their efficiency by up to 30%. The product would be used in military/aerospace applications to provide enhanced performance for the solar payload, thus reducing the launch weight for a given power requirement.The technology would be applied to orbiting stations and satellites as well as to lunar and planetary expeditions.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The technology would have extensive applications in the rapidly growing terrestrial solar photovoltaic industry, which has been estimated to approach $100 billion by 2020 due to increased demand for alternative energy sources. It also would be used for enhancing solar cell efficiencies used in powering instrumentation and cell phone/laptop rechargers.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Optical & Photonic Materials
Semi-Conductors/Solid State Device Materials
Photovoltaic Conversion
Renewable Energy

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sigma Space Corporation
4801 Forbes Blvd.
Lanham, MD 20706-4303

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250-0002

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Donald Cornwell
don.cornwell@sigmaspace.com
4801 Forbes Blvd.
Lanham,  MD 20706-4303

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose a key innovation to improve wavelength-sensitive lidar measurements (such as wind velocity) using photon-counting receivers. A novel binning technique to track the wavelength shifts of the outgoing laser pulses on a per-shot basis before accumulation in the receiver electronics is described. This allows creation of a narrow histogram in the backscattered signal accumulation process while using less expensive, less stable lasers than are traditionally required. This technique relaxes the stringent stability requirements on the laser, and therefore its size, weight, complexity, and cost. We propose to demonstrate the technique in existing lidars more compact and suitable for airborne platforms in terms of size, weight and power requirements of the system. We utilize recent solid-state laser and high-speed signal processing technologies in the wavelength tracking system. The direct application of the wavelength corrector is in a direct detection Doppler wind lidar. This innovation will significantly reduce the cost of wind lidar systems permitting their installation at airports to look for dangerous wind shears as well as for weather forecasting. Also, this innovation will significantly reduce the cost of a space-based Doppler wind lidar system because of the relaxed laser stability requirements.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The key cost driver in a wavelength-sensitive lidar measurement such as wind or DIAL is that of a stable, seeded laser source. The wavelength correction system is an enabling technology to reduce lidar system costs significantly by relaxing the laser stability requirements, thereby making a lidar system more amenable for large scale production and field deployment. It also provides a path to space-deployable systems by reducing laser complexity in terms of seeder stabilization systems and algorithms. NASA commercial applications include both spaceborne and airborne wind lidars, such as those being developed to fly on UAVs and manned NASA aircraft in support of NOAA hurricane tracking and research.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
There are numerous research groups developing lidars to meet the needs of federal agencies such as NASA, NOAA, EPA and DoD, for both meteorological and surveillance type applications. Sigma's lidar experience spans almost all types of lidar development to provide solutions such as the wavelength correction system. The most immediate application is the wind lidar. We intend to integrate the wavelength tracking system into a fully engineered wind lidar system. The commercial opportunity lies in metropolitan governments investing in setting up a network of such lidars for atmospheric monitoring, improved weather forecasting, and better understanding of meteorological processes. Providing this type of lidar network for airports to generate wind profiles in real-time for aviation safety is another commercial potential for the proposed system. Wind lidars can also be used to map the best locations for placing wind turbines for generating electricity.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Spaceport Infrastructure and Safety
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Pilot Support Systems
Biomolecular Sensors
Optical
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Photonics
Renewable Energy

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Mechanical Technology, Inc.
176 Waltham Street
Watertown, MA 02472-4800

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4301

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Charles Hannon
chuckh@amtimail.com
176 Waltham Street
Watertown,  MA 02472-4800

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Future lunar and planetary explorations will require the storage of cryogenic propellants, particularly liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2), in low earth orbit (LEO) for periods of time ranging from days to months, and possibly longer. LEO is a relatively warm thermal environment and without careful thermal management, significant quantities of stored liquid cryogens can be lost due to boil-off. This requires that larger volumes of cryogenic fuels must be launched into orbit so that sufficient quantities are available to satisfy the mission propulsion requirements. It has been shown that active cooling using space cryocoolers has the potential to result in Zero Boil-Off (ZBO) of stored cryogens. The launch-mass savings using active cooling exceeds that of passive cooling of LOX for mission durations in LEO of less than 1 week. The savings advantage of active cooling for LH2 begins after about 2 months in LEO. The proposer is developing a Modified Collins Cryocooler that offers the potential for higher efficiency cooling with better system integration for ZBO storage than can be provided by Stirling or pulse-tube type cryocoolers.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
In addition to application for ZBO of stored cryogenic propellants, sub-cooling to densify LOX and LH2 has the potential to reduce the gross launch weight of a vehicle by up to 20%. Additional applications exist to cool instruments to temperatures as low as 4K. Currently this is accomplished primarily by launching a dewar of liquid helium with the instrument payload.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA applications exist primarily for cooling superconducting magnets used in medical MRI and scientific NMR imaging systems. Closed-cycle cryocoolers are beginning to be used to recondense helium used to cool magnets, or to replace helium altogether. Significant efficiency improvements (order of magnitude improvement) are possible if a Modified Collins Cryocooler can be used in this application rather than the Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers currently used. Other applications exist for cooling low temperature superconducting electronics.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Propellant Storage
Cooling
Tankage
Fluid Storage and Handling
Production
In-situ Resource Utilization
Superconductors and Magnetic

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Innosense, LLC
2531 West 237th Street, Suite 127
Torrance, CA 90505-5245

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Case Western Reserve University
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106-7015

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Uma Sampathkumaran
uma.sampathkumaran-1@innosense.us

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This Phase I STTR project will develop a highly reflecting, broadband, radiation resistant, low-stress and lightweight, membrane integrated into an electrostatically actuated microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device for wavefront control applications in space telescopes. The underlying technology builds on nanomaterial coatings and electro-optical modeling competency of the company. InnoSense LLC (ISL) will collaborate with Dr. Harold Kahn, Research Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, to integrate the low-cost, flexible nanocomposite membrane mirror into a MEMS device. The Phase I project would demonstrate: (a) a membrane mirror capable of high broadband reflectivity; (b) deflections > 20-30 micron; and (c) large temporal bandwidth at frequency > 1 KHz. The focus of Phase II will be optimization of the reflecting membrane, refinements to the design of the deformable membrane mirror (DMM) device, accompanied by extensive evaluation of prototype DMMs for their ability to correct for large wavefront aberrations at high frequencies to mitigate the effects of atmospheric turbulence, and enable high fidelity imaging capability. To ensure success of this project, ISL has assembled a technical team with a cumulative 70 person-years of experience in nanomaterials coatings, MEMS, mechanical and electro-optical modeling.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) is one of NASA's planet-finding missions, whose primary goal is the direct imaging of an Earth-like planet orbiting near a star. Planets that that orbit stars other than our Sun are also known as "exoplanets" or "extra solar planets". The challenge to the direct detection of exoplanets lies in the huge contrast between the planet and the star it orbits. It is comparable to looking for a firefly next to a searchlight. To detect light from a faint source that is scattered and diffracted by atmospheric turbulence requires an extremely high resolution imaging system, with excellent performance in terms of both contrast and detector's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The issues associated with wavefront control sensing for space imaging are addressed by ISL's highly reflecting, flexible, nanocomposite membrane mirror integrated into a MEMS device.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The market sector for optical systems, components, information processing equipment such as telescopes, optical communication systems and displays is comparable to the high-end military and scientific sectors. According to a soon-to-be-released and updated technical market research report, the global market for MEMS devices was worth an estimated $5 billion in 2005, and will increase to $12.5 billion through 2010, an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of more than 20%. Collectively, they account for over 78% of that segment of the market, of which, optical MEMS accounted for nearly 20% of the market in 2004 and MEMS pressure sensors over 18%. According to a technical market report issued by BCC Research (Wellesley, MA), the U.S. market for optical systems of ceramics and glass is expected to reach $500 million by 2011 at an average annual growth rate of 8.7%. The global market for its products in 2006 was $1 billion; this is forecast to increase to $1.4 billion by 2011 with an AAGR of 6.3%. ISL projects its market share in five years after market launch at .001% or $1.4 million.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Composites
Optical & Photonic Materials
Organics/Bio-Materials
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
MEMtronics Corporation
3000 Custer Road, Suite 270-400
Plano, TX 75075-4427

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Lehigh University
5 East Packer Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18015-3181

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Chuck Goldsmith
cgoldsmith@memtronics.com
3000 Custer Road Suite 270-400
Plano,  TX 75075-4427

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose a novel MEMS-based digital phase shifter targeted for Ka-band operation, but scalable down to X-band and up to W-band. This novel phase shifter will incorporate MEMtronics' state-of-the-art microencapsulated, capacitive MEMS switches to control phase. The envisioned phase shifter behaves much like a switched-line phase shifter with broadband matched impedance, but without sacrificing size normally needed to accommodate multiple signal paths. Many MEMS-based phase shifters have been created with good results utilizing a loaded line approach. While this technique works well for smaller bits, larger bits suffer from narrow bandwidths and a poor impedance match in one or both states. Additionally, cascading multiple bits results in a relatively long multi-bit phase shifter. As insertion loss is dominated by conductor loss, these long multi-bit phase shifters become rather lossy reducing advantages that MEMS-based phase shifters may offer. This proposed project seeks to overcome these limitations by maximize phase shift per unit length, while increasing bandwidth, to arrive at a low-loss Ka-band phase shifter with significant performance and size improvements over currently available technologies.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Low-loss, low-power microwave and millimeter-wave switching devices are very important in the development of small, lightweight, low-power-consumption electronically steerable antennas. Utilization of these MEMS-based phase shifters enable ultra-small, lightweight, and low-power deep-space transceivers, transponders, and sensors. This technology is applicable over a wide range of frequencies, from 2 GHz up to 100 GHz. Typical applications for these phase shifters are in phased array antennas for multi-platform data relays, micropower sensor pod communications, and high-rate satellite-satellite communications in support of sensor webs. Use in large aperture electronically steerable antennas benefits the development of deep-space communications and multi-spacecraft/ground data links. This technology may also prove advantageous for small-aperture, lightweight, low-power Ka-band antennas for near-earth orbit communications such as in lunar communications between fixed and mobile/roaming vehicles.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This MEMS technology supports upcoming requirements for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (such as the Multi Function RF System being developed by Raytheon) as well as the Navy's Horizon Extension Surveillance Radar program. This technology is a key development which will impact upcoming low-cost, phased antenna array programs expected to be deployed in the 2009-2010 time-frame. Large defense contractors such as Raytheon have interest in MEMS insertion opportunities in their upcoming systems. Other applications for MEMS phase shifters within the commercial sector include mobile TV/Internet receiving antennas for SUVs, vans, boats, and automobiles, and automotive radar antennas at 77 GHz for long-range radar sensing used in adaptive cruise control (ACC) and collision avoidance systems.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Large Antennas and Telescopes
RF
Microwave/Submillimeter
Highly-Reconfigurable

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Applied Sensor Research & Development Corporation
1195 Baltimore-Annapolis Blvd., Unit #2
Arnold, MD 21012-1815

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Temple University
1601 N. Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122-6099

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Leland Solie
leesolie@asrdcorp.com
1195 Baltimore-Annapolis Blvd., Unit #2
Arnold,  MD 21012-1815

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This proposal describes the preliminary development of passive wireless surface acoustic wave (SAW) based humidity sensors for NASA application to distributed humidity monitoring systems. SAW devices are a platform technology for passive wireless sensing of numerous possible measurands. SAW devices have been demonstrated as passive wireless temperature sensors in NASA contracts NNK04OA28C and NNK05OB31C, and as hydrogen sensors and cryogenic liquid level sensors under contracts NNK06OM24C and NNK06OM23C. ASR&D is currently developing these sensors and systems further under NASA Phase II STTR contracts NNK07EA38C and NNK07EA39C. The proposed humidity sensors will use individually coded SAW device structures combined with hygroscopic film elements to produce rapid, sensitive humidity sensors capable of wireless operation over the full range of relative humidity (0% to 100%). The Phase I research will utilize the results obtained in ASR&D's coded SAW sensor and wireless interrogation system research, and external research on SAW-based and nanofilm based humidity sensing techniques. The team will evaluate hygroscopic films previously investigated and novel nanostructured films, along with sensor device simulation, to determine which films are most likely to produce devices with desirable characteristics. Issues including formation of chemically selective films on piezoelectric substrates, optimization of this film, and the effects of environmental factors on device performance will be investigated. Successful completion of the proposed Phase I activities will establish the technical feasibility of producing the proposed humidity sensors, evaluate their potential performance capabilities in a range of operational environments, and define the additional work necessary to effect device implementation. Assuming the results of Phase I are positive, Phase II could result in the development of multiple uniquely identifiable, wirelessly interrogable, humidity sensors.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The primary NASA application for the proposed sensors would be in a wireless multisensor system for humidity detection. With uniquely identifiable passive wireless sensors, a system could use low cost sensors mounted at numerous locations to remotely detect humidity leaks in real time. This system could be useful, for example, when used with NASA's "Sensor Web" to monitor humidity in air and soil in remote locations such as Antartica. The demonstrated ability of SAW sensor devices to survive extreme temperatures (including cryogenic cold), combined with the anticipated ability of the proposed sensing films to withstand wider temperature ranges than traditional polymer sensing films, make the applicability of these sensors to extreme environment sensing likely. The completely passive (i.e. no batteries) nature of the proposed sensors, combined with wireless operation, make them ideally suited to applications in space exploration and aircraft, where battery replacement is difficult or impossible. The rad-hard nature of SAW devices, combined with their ability to survive thermal extremes, makes space a natural application environment. Of course, the effects of such an environment on the chemicals sensitive films will need to be characterized further in order to gain a clear understanding of the limits of applicability for this technology.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential commercial and non-NASA applications for the proposed humidity sensors abound. Numerous humidity sensing applications currently exist, and generate sales of over 8 million humidity sensors per year worldwide, with annual revenues exceeding $600 Million. The proposed sensor s will have a competitive advantage for any applications where the use of wireless, completely passive sensors is advantageous. For example, commercial building product manufacturers may find it desirable to incorporate passive humidity sensors with essentially unlimited lifetimes into construction elements to be used in "smart" buildings, to monitor water vapor intrusion into walls, around doors and windows, and even into concrete structures. Such monitoring could allow building owners to recognize leaks early, preventing harmful growth of mold and further damage due to water. Humidity detection is important within concrete, both during curing (to ensure the concrete reaches intended design strength) and after cure to monitor water intrusion that might lead to structural failure (due to freezing) or corrosion of support structures. ASR&D is currently developing a wireless concrete maturity monitoring system using passive wireless SAW temperature sensors, that would benefit from humidity sensors. Given the antiquated state of much of the infrastructure in the U.S., such sensors may find wide application for structural monitoring of both aging and newly rebuilt bridges, roads, and tunnels.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Spaceport Infrastructure and Safety
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mnemonics, Inc.
3900 Dow Road, Suite J
Melbourne, FL 32934-9255

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Central Florida
12201 Research Parkway, Suite 501
Orlando, FL 32826-3246

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
TJ Mears
tjm2nd@mnemonics-esd.com
3900 Dow Road, Suite J
Melbourne,  FL 32934-9255

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
There are several objectives of this Phase I proposal. One major objective is to investigate SAW sensor embodiments for pressure and acceleration. Two approaches will be studied, one using the SAW substrate as both the sensor and the communication link, and a second approach using the SAW device as a communication link for an external sensor. The approach will use wireless, passive SAW coded devices, building on previous orthogonal frequency coding, and also investigating different approaches, such as phononic structure coding and combinations of coding techniques. A second major objective is to investigate and propose a complete device-transceiver sensor system, such that a complete sensor system will be realized. This is crucial to the success of the fielding and commercializing the SAW sensor technology, since it enables the interrogation of the tags and will ultimately lead to a commercial, manufacturable sensor product. A third major objective is to study important ancillary technology issues: the antenna, the packaging, and the coding used for the sensor identification. The results of this Phase I proposal will yield a vision towards the building of a complete SAW sensor system for pressure and acceleration measurements.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A wireless, passive, coded sensor that is rugged, cheap and can be remotely interrogated has multiple aplications at NASA. Pressure and accelaration sensors can be installed on the leading edges of wings to monitor pressure loss and also provide a profile of the forces on the structure. Further the ability of the SAW device to act as a transportation mechanism to move data from existing sensors means these sensors can be wirelessly networked inexpensively. Additional NASA applications include acceleration sensing for monitoring vehicular acceleration and vehicular vibration, vehicular docking, rotation and directional sensing, tilt control, and fall detection. Pressure sensing include monitoring the pressure distributions around and inside space suits.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Non-NASA commercial applications of acceleration sensors would be in the areas of Crash sensors, Air-bag deployment, and Weapons systems arming, and earthquake detection. Other applications for pressure sensing are in the areas of weather instrumentation, cars, trucks, boats, aircraft, and any other machinery that has pressure functionality requirements. Another application of SAW based pressure sensors is in the area of altitude sensing since one can benefit from the use of the relationship between changes in pressure relative to the altitude, as is seen in the governing equation of the altimeter. This application is very important rockets, aircraft, rockets, weather balloons, and space satellites.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Perception/Sensing
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Spaceport Infrastructure and Safety
Tankage
Airport Infrastructure and Safety
Biomedical and Life Support
Architectures and Networks
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
RF
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Data Input/Output Devices
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools
Biochemical
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Manned-Manuvering Units
Portable Life Support
Suits
Highly-Reconfigurable
Radiation-Hard/Resistant Electronics
Semi-Conductors/Solid State Device Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Techno-Sciences, Inc.
11750 Beltsville Drive, Suite 300
Beltsville, MD 20705-4044

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Maryland
ORAA/3112 Lee Building
College Park, MD 20742-5141

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Gregory Hiemenz
hiemenzg@technosci.com

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The minimization of vibration-induced damage has become a critical issue for rocket launch ground support electronics (GSE). GSE located near a major rocket launch can be exposed to damaging environments including heat, rocket plume impingement, vibration, and acoustics. This extreme vibratory environment results in the need for extensive check out and frequent repairs of GSE systems after each launch. Another consequence is the need for extensive design and qualification testing to ensure equipment survivability. Passive GSE vibration isolation systems often have natural resonances within the broad excitation spectrum, resulting in poor equipment protection. Additionally, passive isolation systems can only be tuned for one excitation type (amplitude / frequency) and one GSE rack arrangement. If the expected vibration spectrum changes, the passive isolation system is no longer optimized and requires redesign. Furthermore, if the inertial properties of the GSE rack itself changes (rack or drawer is replaced or rearranged), the passive isolation system will no longer function properly which may lead to catastrophic failure. To overcome these deficiencies, Techno-Sciences Inc, in collaboration with the University of Maryland, proposes to develop an innovative Adaptive Magnetorheological Isolator (AMI) system that will automatically adjust its energy absorbing capabilities to real-time environmental measurements as well as GSE rack properties. Such a system will utilize internal motion sensors coupled with an on-board microcontroller to provide automatic adaptation to the excitation as well as the inertial properties of the supported rack. In doing so, the system will eliminate damaging natural resonances and provide optimal vibration isolation at all times. Because of its adaptability and optimal vibration isolation capabilities, the AMI system will significantly reduce design and life-cycle costs and enhance equipment reliability.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Besides the protection of GSE during launch, the low-cost, retrofit capable AMI system is particularly attractive for a number of other NASA applications. These include vibration isolation of avionics, airborne laser systems, spacecraft, adaptive optics. Additional NASA applications include the protection of NASA equipment during transportations and under seismic loading. The adaptability and scalability of this system allows for enhanced protection over a broad range of supported equipment/payloads and excitations.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Outside of NASA, there are a myriad of applications to which the AMI system would be highly beneficial. These include shipboard electronics, transportation environments for shipping of delicate items, earthquake protection, precision manufacturing, and other applications where precision, high authority vibration and shock control are required in an energy efficient and compact package.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI)
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Spaceport Infrastructure and Safety

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Innosense, LLC
2531 West 237th Street, Suite 127
Torrance, CA 90505-5245

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Tennessee
1534 White Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37996-1529

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Shelly Mechery
shelly.mechery-1@innosense.us
2531 West 237th Street, Suite 127
Torrance,  CA 90505-5245

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This STTR project aims to develop a process-hardened, simple and low cost multi-analyte sensor for detecting components of rocket engine plumes. The sensor will be constructed with materials for operating continuously at 550 OK. It will also withstand temperatures as high as 2100 OK for at least five seconds. NASA roadmaps point towards new hydrocarbon fueled engines. A non-intrusive instrument suitable for monitoring plume signature with high degree of reliability will facilitate this future development. Tasks are designed to establish the device feasibility by detecting carbon dioxide and kerosene in air over 0-1% (v/v) range in the presence of 100% moisture. The sensor array chip is capable of holding indicators for tens of analytes. A major aerospace company has expressed strong interest in the proposed technology for integrating in their test facilities. InnoSense LLC (ISL) will develop, characterize and field-test the prototype in Phase II. For assuring success of this project, ISL has assembled a technical team with a cumulative 90 person-years of experience in developing commercially viable sensor systems.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This technology will help NASA programs with advanced test platforms with enhanced ability to provide supporting information for real time decision making. This sensor system will be capable of determining gas species, temperature, and plume velocity for rocket engines using hydrogen, oxygen, RP1, and hybrid fuels. The proposed system can also be configured to detect, locate, and quantify leakage of rocket fuels for applications in ground testing of rocket engines, space shuttle, and next generation space vehicles. Since, there is a significant safety need to monitor the concentration of rocket fuels near launch vehicle main engines and propellant tanks, this system could be applied to various areas of concern including the engines and other subsystems during checkout and ground operations.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The miniaturization and multi-analyte capabilities of the device makes it very attractive for applications ranging from environmental monitoring to process control. The study by Frost & Sullivan on World Gas Sensors, Detectors and Analyzers Market reveals that these markets earned revenues of over $1 billion in 2005 and estimates this to exceed $1.4 billion in 2012 (Source: Frost and Sullivan Report MC1377591, August 31, 2006). This multi-analyte device will find immediate use in industries including: (a) petroleum refining, (b) paper and pulp industries, (c) optimization of metal processing, (d) production of bulk acids, (e) chemical waste treatment process, and (f) recycling of acids. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, fermentation monitoring, cell culturing, and tissue culturing are other important applications.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Propellant Storage
Testing Facilities
Spaceport Infrastructure and Safety
Biomolecular Sensors
Fluid Storage and Handling
Instrumentation
Optical
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Optical & Photonic Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
MetroLaser, Inc.
2572 White Road
Irvine, CA 92614-6236

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Vanderbilt University
110 21st Avenue South, Baker Bldg. #937
Nashville, TN 37203-2641

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Thomas Jenkins
tjenkins@metrolaserinc.com
2572 White Road
Irvine,  CA 92614-6236

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
To address the need for non-intrusive sensors for rocket plume properties, we propose a laser-based velocity diagnostic that does not require seeding, works in high or low temperature flows, and can be used over a broad range of velocities. Hydroxyl tagging velocimetry (HTV) "writes" a line of OH molecules into the flow and interrogates them after a short delay to determine the velocity. Since the markers are molecules, the method measures the gas velocity directly, avoiding errors due to particle drag associated with seeded techniques. The only requirement is that H2O molecules must be present in the flow, which is easily met by most rocket plume applications. Because OH molecules survive at high temperatures for appreciable lifetimes, it is anticipated that the HTV technique will work in even the highest temperature rocket plumes. The proposed diagnostic will provide measurements not obtainable by current methods, and will enable experimental data that can be used for validating computer models for rocket engine performance predictions.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA's goals of returning humans to the Moon and sending humans to Mars and beyond present a formidable challenge that will require significant improvements in the efficiency of hardware development programs to stay within the available budget. Current methods for developing hydrogen- and hydrocarbon-fueled engines rely largely on expensive trial-and-error testing. Accurate computer models can significantly reduce the cost of hardware development. However, current models are limited by a lack of experimental data needed for validation. The proposed velocity diagnostic would provide crucial data that is needed for the development, qualification, and acceptance process of present and future computer models.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A successful velocity diagnostic for high-temperature, high-velocity exhaust flows would have broad application across the worldwide aerospace propulsion industry. Military applications include rockets, missiles, scramjets, and turbine engines, as well as new concepts in propulsion such as pulse detonation engines. Commercial applications include the development of new turbofan designs that will require improved diagnostics for achieving increased efficiency. MetroLaser will pursue these military and commercial markets with a commercial version of the Phase II prototype.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Fundamental Propulsion Physics
Testing Facilities
Optical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mississippi Ethanol, LLC
P.O. Box 186
Winona, MS 38967-9513

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mississippi State University
205 Research Blvd.
Starkville , MS 39759-7704

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jagdish Singh
singh@icet.msstate.edu

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The purity of hydrogen fuel is important in engine testing at SSC. The hydrogen may become contaminated with nitrogen, argon, or oxygen. The hydrogen from the fuel tanks or feed lines is analyzed beforehand. Therefore, there is a need for a non-intrusive, on-line, near real-time monitor for H2. The analytical technique should measure various impurities (molecular and atomic) simultaneously and be easy to implement in the field. The objective of this proposed research is to develop an analytical technique based on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to measure simultaneously the concentrations of nitrogen (N2), argon (Ar) and oxygen (O2) contaminants in hydrogen (H2) gas storage tanks and supply lines. Advanced sensors for monitoring multiple species in H2 feed-lines and storage tanks will be useful before engine testing and will increase understanding of engine performance. Phase I will provide necessary information to build an improved prototype in Phase II, with better sensitivity and ease of implementation at NASA/SSC. In Phase II, a prototype LIBS system will be developed to measure impurities in H2 fuel at different places in the H2 feed line. This system will be delivered to NASA/SSC at the end of Phase II.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A LIBS-based sensor can provide on-line, real-time and simultaneous measurement of the concentrations of several species in H2 tanks and feed lines at many locations in the testing facilities at NASA/SSC. This sensor can be used for non– intrusive and near real-time monitoring of the quality of H2 before and during engine tests. This sensor will be useful to test H2 impurity levels and will be less expensive than current analysis methods. The impurity level data can be used with other measurements for evaluating the engine performance.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed LIBS sensor can also be used to monitor gas compositions in manufacturing plants to provide data for control and optimization. For example, when the concentration of an impurity, (which will vary depending on the application), reaches a threshold value, the sensor could warn the plant operator. The LIBS sensor can be used for quality control in pharmaceutical, chemical, and food processing industries. The technology can also be modified for other applications, such as a Continuous Emission Monitor (CEM) for hazardous emissions and in other pharmaceutical and chemical processes.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Feed System Components
Optical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Qualtech Systems, Inc.
100 Great Meadow Road, Suite 603
Wethersfield, CT 06109-2355
(860) 257-8014

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Connecticut
438 Whitney Road Ext., Unit 1133
Storrs, CT 06269-1133
(860) 486-3994

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sudipto Ghoshal
sudipto@teamqsi.com
100 Great Meadow Rd., Suite 603
Wethersfield,  CT 06109-2355
(860) 257-8014

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 4 to 5

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Limited downlink data rate constrains the amount of data that can be sent to earth from a spacecraft. Data from the onboard health monitoring sensors needs to be accommodated within a small fraction of this downlink bandwidth. The problem is more acute for interplanetary missions, where the downlink data rate is significantly lower than the low earth orbit missions. Such constraint prohibits transmission of the complete set of health monitoring data. This proposed Phase-II effort is geared towards providing enhanced remote diagnostics using limited telemetry bandwidth. Diagnostic accuracy of health management system depends more on the information content of the monitored data, than on its sheer volume. We propose accommodating more information within the allocated downlink bandwidth for health monitoring by performing intelligent data reduction. The onboard data reduction process employs sensor fusion, dimensionality reduction and temporal fusion techniques.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
An on-board health monitoring program that can diagnose system health and can automatically reconfigure to respond to failures has tremendous use and importance in space aviation. The proposed work is in line with NASA's goals in Project Constellation, as well as mission and contingency planning. The proposed work is very well aligned with ISS or Constellation mission controllers goal of monitoring systems in real time, and being able request additional PUIs on-demand via telemetry (satisfying bandwidth constraints) to enable drill down diagnosis. The ability to dynamically request/receive different PUIs as needed will be very important in cases where isolation of root cause requires additional data, and the data has to be transferred over a slow telemetry stream – obviously the ability to request the right data, and not having to transmit all the data all the time, would reduce the communication time, which will improvement of mean time to diagnose.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The industries interested in the developed technology are expected to include the manufacturers (OEMs) and end users of complex systems and equipment that are used in environments where failure has serious consequences and where high availability and operational reliability are required. The aviation industry, primarily aircraft manufacturers and their customers as well as capital intensive equipment with minimal down-time requirements, such as semiconductor fab equipment manufacturers are industry segments that are of interest and will be targeted as part of the commercialization effort. Among the DoD, several large military systems of systems such as other Space Command ground segments, the Navy shipboard platforms, the Joint Strike Fighter fleet, and ballistic missile defense systems, as well as commercial industries such as transportation, power generation and distribution, are potential target segments.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Architectures and Networks
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Computer System Architectures
Data Acquisition and End-to-End-Management
Expert Systems
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Impact Technologies, LLC
200 Canal View Blvd, Suite 300
Rochester, NY 14623-2893
(585) 424-1990

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Georgia Tech Research Coroporation
505 Tenth Street, NW
Atlanta, GA 30318-5775
(404) 894-6929

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Gregory Kacprzynski
Greg.Kacprzynski@impact-tek.com

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

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Automated Contingency Management (ACM) is an emerging and game-changing area of engineering and scientific research that integrates prognostics and health management concept and intelligent control. As leaders in this field, Impact Technologies and Georgia Institute of Technology, propose to build off a strong foundation of ACM research performed with NASA and DARPA in the past few years to both mature the applicability of ACM technology for real aerospace components and push the envelop on the capability and breadth of the technology itself. A prognostics-enhanced, three-tiered ACM architecture for critical aerospace systems has been conceptualized and demonstrated in Phase I. The proposed Phase II effort is focusing on utilizing prognostics at the higher levels of the control hierarchy and is introducing novel concepts to address the fault-tolerant control design at the middle level from the areas of model predictive control, system dynamic inversion, intelligent search techniques, and optimization / system identification algorithms for mission adaptation at the high level. Game theoretic notions are exploited to distribute optimally the available control authority between the components. An electromechanical flight actuator and a UAV platform will be utilized as testbeds for performance evaluation. Significant benefits are anticipated to NASA, DoD, and industry.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The development of the proposed proactive Automated Contingency Management system will directly contribute to NASA's IVHM and IRAC efforts. The proposed technologies are generic in nature and are also applicable to Crew Exploration Vehicle, Reusable Launch Vehicles, Unmanned Air Vehicles and future generation general aviation platforms, leading to benefits in the form of improved reliability, maintainability, and survivability of safety-critical aerospace systems. The long-term implications of a successful completion of this program are significant: We will provide a bridge between PHM/IVHM technologies and advanced controls for aircraft systems. A lot of NASA's NextGen and current activities can take immediate advantage of these technologies. In short term, the Electro-mechanical Actuator (EMA) modeling and adaptive control algorithms to be developed in this program can be directly transitioned to some ongoing research work at the Prognostics Center of Excellence of NASA Ames. The adaptable nature of the ACM modules will allow it to act as a design and development tool for a wide variety of NASA applications including complementing Stennis Space Center's ISHM system.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The potential benefits from the successful completion of this program are enormous and will significantly impact the way critical aerospace and other systems are designed and operated. The potential commercial use of the developed automated contingency management technologies is broad. Examples of key customers that could benefit through use of the developed technologies include: unmanned air vehicles, JSF, future combat systems, commercial airlines, land and marine propulsion systems, industrial actuation systems, and robotic applications. Particularly, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Rolls-Royce have specific requirements on health management performance for which the ACM technologies can provide value. The OEMs of Unmanned Air Vehicles including Northrop Grumman and Boeing are highly motivated to develop advanced Automated Contingency Management for these vehicles to improve survivability. The prognostics-enhanced EMA control will be of great interest to EMA manufactures. Impact has existing contracts with all these potential customers and has an excellent commercialization record.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Simulation Modeling Environment
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
On-Board Computing and Data Management
Architectures and Networks
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence
Aircraft Engines

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Engineering Solutions
67 Deep Woods Way
Ormond Beach, FL 32174-1848
(310) 704-7490

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Oklahoma State University
218 Engineering North
Stillwater, OK 74078-5016
(405) 744-5900

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Andy Arena
andy.arena@okstate.edu
67 Deep Woods Way
Ormond Beach,  FL 32174-1848
(310) 310-7490

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

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
In Phase I the team completed all scheduled initial efforts, 1) evaluation of relevant current simulation capabilities, 2) development of aero-thermo-elastic-propulsion simulation of air-breathing hypersonic flight vehicles (AHFVs) and other flight vehicles, and 3) generation of a set of recommendations for multidisciplinary simulation capability, as planned. Numerical examples of this capability are also presented herein. In Phase II we propose to complete our ongoing effort in the developmental area and further extend the tasks that will include acoustics. This team will complete development of an independent, Multidisciplinary Design and Analysis (MDA) tool, primarily employing their respective numerical, finite element based, computer codes in disciplines as Aerodynamics, Thermal, Structures, Propulsion, Acoustics, and Controls, among others. The resulting MDA code, designed in modular form, could be effortlessly interfaced with existing commercial or user-provided codes, if desired. Once completed, the code is expected to have extensive applications in the design and analysis of flight vehicles with a TRL level of 6 or so. The NASA SBIR/STTR solicitation emphasizes the area of MDA as a current topic of primary importance for ARMD Fundamental Aeronautics Program, and this proposal is highly relevant to such a solicitation.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA Aeronautics is focused on research aimed at enabling advanced future flight vehicle design and analysis capabilities. One thrust of this research is hypersonics, including airbreathing vehicles that will make possible safe, affordable, routine travel to low earth orbit in support of space science, exploration and commerce; and planetary entry bodies to enable manned and unmanned explorations. The Highly Reliable Reusable Launch Systems, must be conceived, designed, and developed to fulfill the nation's space exploration aspirations, NASA's mission, and maintain the country's aerospace superiority. Airbreathing hypersonic flight vehicles present one of the most promising alternatives for affordable and highly reliable access to space. Therefore, research into developing predictive capabilities and simulation tools for design of future advanced class of flight vehicles is highly relevant to the interest of NASA. Also additional capabilities in the area of aero-acoustics will have imminent applications in some ongoing NASA projects in this area.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Outside of NASA, the Phase II product will enable industrial companies and academia to use the AES/MDA code for analysis in individual disciplines and more importantly in the design of complete aerospace vehicles as well as other class of vehicles in a coupled mode. Thus, aeroelastic, aero-thermo-elastic, aero-propulsion, and aero-acoustic analyses can be performed routinely for accurate and reliable design of complex, advanced flight vehicles, among others, using standard personal computers. The optimization capability will help in achieving an economical configuration. Other applications are expected in fields of mechanical, marine, and civil engineering, among others.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Simulation Modeling Environment
Structural Modeling and Tools
Computational Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Zona Technology, Inc.
9489 E. Ironwood Square Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85258-4578
(480) 945-9988

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Arizona State University
P.O. Box 873503
Tempe , AZ 85287-3503
(480) 965-1158

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jennifer Scherr
jennifer@zonatech.com
9489 E. Ironwood Square Dr. Ste 100
Scottsdale,  AZ 85258-3540
(480) 480-9988

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

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
ZONA Technology, Inc (ZONA) and Arizona State University (ASU) propose a R&D effort to further develop the ground flutter testing system in place of a wind tunnel (WT), called the Dry Wind Tunnel (DWT) system. The DWT system consists of a ground vibration test (GVT) hardware system and a real-time unsteady aerodynamic force generation software system developed from an aerodynamic reduced order model (ROM). The DWT system can serve as a replacement or complimentary means for flutter/ASE instability testing to a WT. Our Phase I effort has successfully demonstrated the validity of the DWT concept. That is, DWT testing can truly simulate in real time the unsteady aerodynamics through a GVT hardware system, namely the shakers and sensors. Merits of a DWT are many: It can use real full-size aircraft/wing structure including inherent structural nonlinearity and flight controller in-the loop, instead of a flutter model for WT, hence a cost/time effective test system. It can be carried out with a GVT setup, and because of the simulated aerodynamics the DWT measured data is wall-interference free. The DWT system can be applicable to flutter envelope expansion and flying quality programs of military and civil transport as well as general aviation aircraft.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The Dry Wind Tunnel testing concept would be particularly useful as a pre-flight testing effort to identify any aeroelastic and aeroservoelastic instability that are not predicted by the analysis. For example, inherent structural nonlinearities such as friction and freeplay are notoriously difficult to model properly in linearized analyses but would be naturally present in the DWT testing as it is carried out on the actual structure. DWT testing would also be useful as a post-flight testing procedure to resolve discrepancies between the analysis and flight test results. The DWT test concept is applicable to a broad range of test structures, from components to wing to full aircraft, that are currently being tested by NASA.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The DWT system can be applicable to flutter envelope expansion and flying quality programs of military and civil transport as well as general aviation aircraft. The potential customers for the DWT system include Air Force, Navy, DARPA, and the aerospace industry. It can be readily adapted to the following programs:(a) Flying quality and store clearance for the F-22 and F-35 aircraft, (b) flutter envelope expansion for USAF's UVA/UCAV, Hilda and joined-wing sensorcraft, (c) flutter envelope expansion for USAF's next generation stealth and morphing UAVs designed to deliver directed-energy weapons, and (d) flutter envelope expansion for DARPA's new innovative design concepts.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI)
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Simulation Modeling Environment
Testing Facilities
Testing Requirements and Architectures
Structural Modeling and Tools

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
CFD Research Corporation
215 Wynn Drive, 5th Floor
Huntsville, AL 35805-1926
(256) 726-4800

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Pittsburgh
219 Parkman Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260-3900
(412) 624-8430

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Silvia Harvey
sxh@cfdrc.com
215 Wynn Dr.
Huntsville,  AL 35805-1944
(256) 256-4858

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 4 to 5

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Long-term exposure to microgravity and radiation during space exploration can pose a critical threat to the health of a flight crew. Real-time monitoring of urine protein levels is an effective way to follow the onset and progress of many diseases and guide the prompt selection of proper therapy. The success of such diagnostic tasks, which are vital for future space missions, critically depends upon the degree of automation, reusability and long-term lifetime of such trace level detection devices. To meet this need, this program will develop a novel on-chip, reagent-free, nano-plasmonic sensor cartridge to concurrently quantify the presence of different urine proteins. The envisioned device is compact, lightweight, fully integrated and automated, and highly cost- and power-effective. In Phase I, a new nano-plasmonics chip technology-based SPR sensor has been developed and successfully demonstrated for protein detection with excellent sensitivity. Critical microfluidic components, used in sample preparation, and adaptable to the sensor chip have been developed and validated by multi-physics-based simulations and modeling. In Phase II, the nano-plasmonic sensor will be optimized to increase sensitivity, stability, and the response to regular urine samples. The sensor chip will be integrated with the system-engineered microfluidics network to form a seamless urine protein assay cartridge (PAC) that enables automated surface modification, sample pretreatment, analyte detection and sensor regeneration for reuse. We will use modular design of the PAC that is compatible with existing NASA astrobiological instruments and will enable high-throughput proteome profiling analysis.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA will have a reusable on-chip nano-plasmonics based urine protein assay cartridge (PAC) that can be easily integrated with existing astrobiological instrumentation to keep track of astronaut health during planetary exploration. In addition, the same device can be adapted and used in other applications such as, life discovery on other planets, pharmacotherapy environment monitoring, and space biology experiments.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The platform developed in this effort will provide the technological backbone to develop microfluidic processing systems and nano-biosensors for a variety of applications in healthcare and the life sciences. This platform will enable the creation of analytical tools for the preparation, detection, and analysis of low abundance proteins obtained from physiological fluids and cells. It may find use in drug discovery and the study of human diseases, clinical and preclinical diagnosis, as well as in the areas of proteomics, genomics, and homeland security. Total market estimates exceed several hundred million dollars.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Biomedical and Life Support
Biomolecular Sensors
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools
Biochemical
Optical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Sigma Research and Engineering Corp.
4801 Forbes Blvd.
Lanham, MD 20706-4303
(301) 552-6300

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Maryland Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250-0002
(410) 455-3140

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Jeffrey 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 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 APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 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 APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 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.

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

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Mechanical Technology, Inc.
176 Waltham Street
Watertown, MA 02472-4800
(617) 926-6700

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
(617) 258-8015

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Charles Hannon
chuckh@amtimail.com
176 Waltham Street
Watertown,  MA 02472-4809
(617) 617-6700

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 3 to 4

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Future lunar and planetary explorations will require the storage of cryogenic propellants, particularly liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2), in low earth orbit (LEO) for periods of time ranging from days to months, and possibly longer. LEO is a relatively warm thermal environment and without careful thermal management, significant quantities of stored liquid cryogens can be lost due to boil-off. This requires that larger volumes of cryogenic fuels must be launched into orbit so that sufficient quantities are available to satisfy the mission propulsion requirements. It has been shown that active cooling using space cryocoolers has the potential to result in Zero Boil-Off (ZBO) of stored cryogens. The launch-mass savings using active cooling exceeds that of passive cooling of LOX for mission durations in LEO of less than 1 week. The savings advantage of active cooling for LH2 begins after about 2 months in LEO. The proposer is developing a Modified Collins Cryocooler that offers the potential for higher efficiency cooling with better system integration for ZBO storage than can be provided by Stirling or pulse-tube type cryocoolers.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
In addition to application for ZBO of stored cryogenic propellants, sub-cooling to densify LOX and LH2 has the potential to reduce the gross launch weight of a vehicle by up to 20%. Additional applications exist to cool instruments to temperatures as low as 4K. Currently this is accomplished primarily by launching a dewar of liquid helium with the instrument payload.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The modified Colling cycle cryocooler technology is particularly well suited to cooling applications in a temperature range from 4K to about 60K. At temperatures above 60K the efficiency advantages of the modified Collins cycle become less significant with respect to that of Stirling and pulse-tube cryocoolers. However, significant technology applications exist in the sub-60K temperature range. These include cooling HTS-transmission cables (60K and lower), the NASA ZBO application (20K), cooling space optical systems (10K), and terrestrial applications such as cooling MRI & NMR magnets (4K) and cooling LTS superconductors and devices (4K).

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Propellant Storage
Cooling
Tankage
Fluid Storage and Handling
In-situ Resource Utilization
Superconductors and Magnetic

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Virtual EM, Inc.
2019 Georgetown Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105-1532
(734) 222-4558

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Purdue University
302 Wood Street, 7th Floor
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2040
(765) 494-1066

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Tayfun Ozdemir
online@virtualem.com
2019 Georgetown Blvd.
Ann Arbor,  MI 48105-1532
(734) 734-4558

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 6 to 7

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A prototype wearable smart reconfigurable antenna for the Suit will be built to be used during NASA's EVA operations on lunar surface. The design is based on the Self-Structuring Antenna (SSA) technology utilizing MEMS switches for configuration of the aperture. Electrothermally and electrostatically actuated MEMS were studied via modeling and experiments and electrostatically actuated switches were recommended for use in Phase II due to their low actuation power requirements. The proposed smart antenna offers both adaptive beam steering and MIMO options for increasing the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and extending range. The antenna provides enhanced RF link for surface-to-surface voice, data, and video communication while also supporting contingency voice communication with the Lunar Relay Satellites (LRS). The technology is expected to reach TRL of 6 at the end of Phase II.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed program envisions smart reconfigurable antennas based on Self-Structuring Antenna (SSA) enabled by RF MEMS switches. The SSA technology is compatible with MIMO and the Software Defined Radio (SDR), which NASA has already adopted for future missions. The SSA technology has immediate benefits for the communication with the Suit, which has to be mobile and light. SSA can be made wearable via its self-adapting capability and is a logical choice for the Suit. The technology can also be adopted for the rest of the EVA operations beginning with the rover and later extending to Lander and the Habitat.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Smart antennas are used in Defense communications and radar systems worldwide. However, the cost of these systems is high since the underlying technologies require large, power-hungry systems. The proposed SSA technology, along with its enabling MEMS switch technology, offers high performance-to-cost ratio and promises to reduce the cost of mobile communication antennas. SSA's low profile and self-healing features make it ideal for battlefield deployments where low-observability and survivability of the communication system is critical.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Operations Concepts and Requirements
Simulation Modeling Environment
Telemetry, Tracking and Control
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
RF
Software Tools for Distributed Analysis and Simulation
Microwave/Submillimeter
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Manned-Manuvering Units
Suits
Highly-Reconfigurable

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Metrica, Inc.
100 N.E. Loop 410, Suite 520
San Antonio, TX 78216-4727
(210) 822-2310

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3815
(412) 268-8746

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
David Kortenkamp
korten@traclabs.com
100 N.E. Loop 410, Suite 520
San Antonio,  TX 78216-4727
(281) 461-7884

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

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Robots will play an important role in NASA's exploration activities over the next several decades. They will land on the Lunar surface ahead of humans and help prepare for human exploration. They will explore the Lunar surface, build structures and move regolith. As humans arrive these robots will shift to assisting humans in exploration activities. All of these activities require a new generation of robotic vehicles -- ones capable of flexible, dexterous manipulation -- that can work in closely coordinated teams. This work focuses on coordinating the use of mobility and manipulator degrees of freedom to achieve a common manipulation purpose. We coordinate multiple mobile manipulators so as to achieve a common goal, such as grasping or manipulating an object so that it can be transported or mated. The coordinated control architecture has four components: 1) motion planning for cooperative mechanisms; 2) task sequencing and monitoring; 3) coordinated control; and 4) operator interfaces for robot teams. The architecture will be evaluated with respect to an assembly scenario implemented both in simulation and using several mobile manipulation robots.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA is working towards establishing a Lunar outpost where astronauts will permanently reside. Before humans arrive back on the Lunar surface significant preparation can be done by robots greatly decreasing the amount of time astronauts will need to set up the outpost. While astronauts are resident robots can relieve them of the mundane maintenance and surveying tasks. NASA mission operations will need to operate these robots and will need sophisticated technology such as that offered in this proposal to reduce human labor and ensure successful operations. Specific NASA robots that could benefit from this technology include Robonaut, Centaur, K10, ATHLETE and Chariot.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The Department of Defense uses many more robots in the field than does NASA. They have many of the same needs, including operating robots from a distance (although not quite as far as NASA). They also have a need for manipulation robots that can open doors, carry objects, move debris, etc. This work will be equally as applicable to them, and both Metrica and Carnegie Mellon University have existing relationships with many DOD customers. Commercial industry is beginning to find that robots can make their factories and warehouses more efficient. Construction sites have yet to employ robots because of the less structured workspace, but that can change with the appropriate technology. The PI has experience with agricultural robots as well.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Human-Robotic Interfaces
Integrated Robotic Concepts and Systems
Intelligence
Mobility
Manipulation
Perception/Sensing
Autonomous Reasoning/Artificial Intelligence

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mnemonics, Inc.
3900 Dow Road, Suite J
Melbourne, FL 32934-9255
(321) 254-7300

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Central Florida
12201 Research Pkwy., Suite 501
Orlando, FL 32826-3246
(407) 823-3031

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
TJ Mears
tjm2nd@mnemonics-esd.com
3900 Dow Road, Suite J
Melbourne,  FL 32934-9255
(321) 321-7300

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

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The innovation proposed here is a complete, wireless remote sensing solution using passive SAW Orthogonal Frequency Coded (OFC) sensors and a wireless interrogation system. Prior to the Phase I activity, wireless, passive sensors which could operate in a multi-sensor environment had not been successfully demonstrated. This is no longer the case. An experimental transceiver test bed has been built in Phase I and wireless temperature sensing has been demonstrated. Using OFC sensors developed by the University of Central Florida (UCF), remote temperature sensing at distances of up to several feet at 250 MHz has been accomplished. Further, work on electrically small antennas (ESA) has demonstrated that antennas more commensurate with the sensor size can be achieved. A smaller sensor/antenna package yields a more flexible sensor solution. Using the results form Phase I, it is proposed that a prototype interrogator be built and operation demonstrated at 915 MHz in a multi-sensor environment.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A wireless, passive, coded sensor that is rugged, cheap and can be remotely interrogated has multiple applications at NASA. Temperature, pressure and accelaration sensors can be installed on the leading edges of wings to monitor temperature, pressure loss and also provide a profile of the forces on the structure. Additional NASA applications include acceleration sensing for monitoring vehicular acceleration and vehicular vibration, vehicular docking, rotation and directional sensing, tilt control, and fall detection. By exploring the future use of SAW devices for monitoring structural integrity, extreme temperature, extreme pressure, toxic or lethal environments, it is highly probable that the wireless SAW can change the future of Airframe safety and the required/planned maintenance process. This technology can allow the feasible embedment of sensors in key structural components of an airframe for persistent monitoring both during flight and as a post flight analysis. Not only could the structural integrity of the airframe be monitored but other critical states of air flight could be instrumented without the increased cost of weight associated with fiber optic or wired communication.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Potential Non-NASA commercial include the Automotive Industry (state of health), Civil Engineering (stress management), Chemical and Biological development (toxic safety monitoring) and Refinery process (safety monitoring). The utilization of a wireless SAW device for remote monitoring of hostile environments will become not only technically feasible but also economically feasible based on the extremely low cost associated with the device. By establishing the WSAW as a passive device and the wireless interrogator as the active portion of the link you have enabled an architecture which can support the monitoring of possibly hundreds of SOH sensors per interrogator. As an example in an automobile the wireless SAW can be deployed as pressure sensors in each tire, liquid contaminant sensors in the fuel and oil supplies, temperature and pressure sensors within the engine, and carbon monoxide sensors within the vehicle. Additionally, highway safety information could be deployed with each informational sign or within construction areas to alert the driver of a status change of speed or other conditions which could be interrogated by the onboard system.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Biomolecular Sensors
Autonomous Control and Monitoring
Fluid Storage and Handling
Instrumentation
Portable Data Acquisition or Analysis Tools
Biochemical
Sensor Webs/Distributed Sensors
Suits

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Techno-Sciences, Inc.
11750 Beltsville Drive, Suite 300
Beltsville, MD 20705-4044
(240) 790-0600

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Maryland
Dept. of Aerospace Engineering
College Park, MD 20742-0001
(301) 405-1927

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Gregory Hiemenz
hiemenzg@technosci.com

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 4 to 5

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The minimization of vibration-induced damage has become a critical issue for rocket launch ground support electronics (GSE). In particular, the effect of high acoustic and exhaust blast loading during launch results in large amplitude motions of the support structures, which can transmit damaging loads to the GSE. This results in the need for extensive check out and frequent repairs of GSE systems after each launch, as well as extensive design and qualification testing to ensure the survivability of this equipment. To this end, Techno-Sciences Inc. (TSi), in collaboration with the University of Maryland (UMD) and LORD Corporation, has developed an innovative Adaptive Magnetorheological Isolator (AMI) system for GSE. The AMI system utilizes the continuously adjustable energy absorption capabilities of magnetorheological (MR) fluid dampers to automatically adjust to real-time environmental measurements as well as GSE rack properties. Because of its adaptability and optimal vibration isolation capabilities, the AMI system significantly reduces design and life-cycle costs as well as enhances equipment reliability.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Besides the protection of GSE during launch, the low-cost, retrofit capable AMI system is particularly attractive for a number of other NASA applications. These include vibration isolation of avionics, airborne laser systems, spacecraft, and adaptive optics. Additional NASA applications include the protection of NASA equipment during transportation and under seismic loading. The adaptability and scalability of this system allows for enhanced protection over a broad range of supported equipment/payloads and excitations.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Outside of NASA, there are a myriad of applications to which the AMI system would be highly beneficial. These include shipboard electronics, transportation environments for shipping of delicate items, earthquake protection, precision manufacturing, and other applications where precision, high authority vibration and shock control are required in an energy efficient and compact package.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Spaceport Infrastructure and Safety
Multifunctional/Smart Materials

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Accudyne Systems, Inc.
134 Sandy Drive
Newark, DE 19713-1147
(302) 369-5390

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
University of Delaware
201 Composite Manufacturing Science Lab
Newark, DE 19716-3144
(302) 831-8149

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mark Gruber
mgruber@accudyne.com
134 B Sandy Drive
Newark,  DE 19713-1147
(302) 369-5390

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

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
While in the 1970's and 1980's, composites were adopted for aerospace structure for increased performance and weight savings, the 1990's and 2000's witnessed the attention towards cost-effective fabrication. All thermoset processes that utilize such machines rely on autoclaves to consolidate the laminates, at significant acquisition and operational expense. Autoclaves to consolidate wings are hugely expensive. Autoclaves for fuselages are nearly cost-prohibitive (only one exists). Autoclaves for the Ares V do not exist. The marketplace would welcome a proven out-of-autoclave fabrication technology. The tasks in the ASI/UD-CCM STTR phase 1 was to assess the performance of the current TP-ATP heads, do a model based parametric study to determine possible head and process parameter changes and demonstrate an improved understanding of the head, with a goal of autoclave level properties. A set of models for the in situ Automated Tow/Tape Placement (ATP) processes that capture the important process phenomena were developed by UD-CCM. Accudyne then measured the laminate roughness, fabricated samples using a variety of conditions and tested the samples. Testing of the laminates indicate: placing with flat tape and using improved head chilling increases mechanical properties. Compacting with only a ¼ load reduces properties. Using a vacuum bag oven reconsolidation is ineffective, and even reduces mechanical properties. The phase 2 program innovation is to develop and deploy University of Delaware process models to Accudyne's thermoplastic tow and tape placement head to remedy the mechanical property shortfall between the two fabrication processes used to manufacture large composite aerospace structure important to NASA. An additional advantage that would accrue by adopting TP-ATP would be the use of novel thermoplastic materials with thermal stability and toughness far in excess of what thermosetting materials can achieve.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The successful demonstration of out-of-autoclave thermoplastic ATP processing yielding full mechanical properties would yield noteworthy performance-in-use or acquisition cost benefits for NASA generally: • NASA can apply the out-of-autoclave fabrication technology to a variety of structures important to the space program, especially large composite structure for space vehicle skins and tanks, solid rocket motors, and liquid rocket engines. Candidate applications are the Cargo Launch Vehicle (CLV-Ares V) and the Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV- Ares 1) skins and tanks, and the International Space Station (ISS). • NASA can commission higher speed/altitude aircraft for atmospheric research. Aircraft skins would be made from 350<SUP>o</SUP>F/ 50,000 hour thermoplastic polyimides by the process demonstrated in this STTR. • NASA can foster composite developments through its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in support of the US airframe industry. Aeronautics applications supported with non-autoclave fabrication are wing and fuselage skins for commercial and military subsonic and supersonic aircraft, and military and commercial rotorcraft. • NASA-LaRC Materials Branch could more effectively develop higher use temperature thermoplastic composite materials by demonstrating them using their in-house out-of-autoclave TP-ATP process. This would introduce the high performance materials to the aerospace industry via low cost processing.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The successful demonstration of out-of-autoclave thermoplastic ATP processing yielding full mechanical properties would yield noteworthy performance-in-use or acquisition cost benefits for NASA OEMs, suppliers, and the US aerospace industry generally: • Automated Fiber and Tape Placement Machine builders like MAG Cincinnati Machine could develop and offer for sale a new class of thermoplastic tape layers and fiber placement machines to US aerospace primes, or deposition heads to fit under current thermoset tape layers and fiber placement machines. • Composite Material suppliers like Cytec Engineered Materials could develop and offer for sale a new class of placement-grade thermoplastic tape and tow material systems to US aerospace primes. • OEMs and the US aerospace industry, generally, can adopt thermoplastic ATP/AFP to: o Eliminate the capital and operating cost of autoclaves and significantly lower the cost to fabricate large composite parts of interest to NASA and, in general, for US competitiveness, o Lower weight of aerospace structure since larger parts can be fabricated out-of-the-autoclave. Consolidating multiple small parts into large components eliminates the weight and cost of joining, and thus, allows lower launch costs or increased payloads. o Enjoy mechanical properties in the composite equal or superior to those generated from today's autoclave process,

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Airframe
Launch and Flight Vehicle
Tankage
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Hyper-Therm High-Temperature Composites
18411 Gothard Street, Units B&C
Huntington Beach, CA 92648-1208
(714) 375-4085

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
California St University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90840-0004
(562) 985-5314

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Robert Shinavski
robert.shinavski@htcomposites.com
18411 Gothard Street, Units B & C
Huntington Beach,  CA 92648-1208
(714) 375-4085

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 6 to 7

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Advanced liquid rocket propulsion systems must achieve longer burn times without performance degradation to allow the lowest cost per kilogram access to space. Ablative thrust chambers have an extensive heritage and are the low cost approach to fabricating rocket thrust chambers. However, composite ablative chambers are heavy and suffer from erosion that typically limits performance of the engine in terms of burn time and efficiency/performance of the combustion. In the last decade, there has been significant interest in utilizing fiber-reinforced ceramic composites such as carbon fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (C/SiC) composites. Such composites have demonstrated a low erosion rate in bi-propellant liquid rocket thrust chambers at temperatures approaching 4000F. However insertion of these materials have been limited by complexities associated with required system redesign to accommodate a radiatively-cooled chamber and unproven attachment methods. By incorporating a ceramic composite liner within an ablative thrust chamber in critical areas that are subjected to the highest temperatures, a low erosion, high performance chamber is obtained that eliminates costs and complexities that have limited the insertion of ceramic composite thrust chambers. The Phase II will build on the successful static hot fire test of such a thrust chamber that demonstrated minimal erosion to demonstrate weight savings and a reduction in film cooling with respect to a comparable ablative engine.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A number of launch systems under consideration for use by NASA can benefit from the improved performance of a low cost ablative thrust chamber obtained by incorporating a CMC liner. Such applications include the Lunar Ascent Main Engine (AME) The improved performance of these chambers is most suited for upper stage propulsion chambers. Other applications of interest to NASA would include lowering the cost per kilogram launch costs for satellites and space exploration vehicles. Addtionally co-fabrication of a CMC and an ablative could have advantages for heat shield applications

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed liner concept can have broad implications across a range of DoD rocket propulsion systems that currently use ablative thrust chambers due to the combined improvement in performance and decreased weight of the thrust chamber. The concept can also be utilized in the near term as an upgrade to existing ablative thrust chambers for an immediate performance benefit.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Ablatives
Cooling
Reuseable
Ceramics
Composites

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Tetra Research Corporation
420 Park Avenue West
Princeton, IL 61356-1934
(815) 872-0702

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mississippi State University
Engineering Research Center
Mississippi State, MS 39762-9627
(662) 325-4586

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Rex Chamberlain
rex@tetraresearch.com
420 Park Avenue West
Princeton,  IL 61356-1934
(815) 815-0702

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 3 to 4

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The challenges of designing, developing, and fielding man-rated propulsion systems continue to increase as NASA's Vision for Space Exploration Program moves beyond the Space Shuttle and RSRM. The number and type of different propulsion elements required are significant, and predicting internal solid motor behavior and characteristics and assessing external environments (e.g., plume impingement on vehicle structures and launch acoustic loading) is a priority. Our proposed innovation will enhance existing engineering software by combining new physical modeling capabilities with appropriate boundary conditions to create a novel toolset for complex multi-phase solid rocket analyses. The innovation will be based on the Loci/Chem multi-physics analysis package and will utilize new Loci features, new multi-phase flow models, theoretical and phenomenological boundary conditions, and modified real gas equations of state to create a unique software tool for particle breakup, surface heat transfer with particle deposition, launch environment characterization, and nozzle erosion for next generation solid motors. Our research products will provide NASA with the important capability to simultaneously analyze solid propellant combustion, heat transfer, launch acoustics, and nozzle erosion within a single unified numerical framework. We will validate the approach using appropriate two phase flow problems to achieve a TRL range of 3-4.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
This technology will provide NASA with an advanced analysis capability for the prediction of multi-phase flow environments in solid motors that will include models for particle breakup, surface heat transfer, launch acoustic loads, and surface erosion. Potential enhancements to the these prediction tools include burning particles with smoke in a mixed Eulerian/Lagrangian framework, improved droplet/gas interface modeling for better statistical representations of particle laden flows, and extended model validation. The proposed methodology for multi-phase solid motor flows is also well suited for extensions to additional multi-physics capabilities of commercial interest to NASA, including conjugate heat transfer within the solid propellant.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The growing trend toward complex multi-phase analyses is opening significant new markets as more difficult problems can be addressed using advanced computational techniques. The ability to easily set up and analyze solid motor problems in a timely manner will allow industry to speed development of new products and streamline testing. Further enhancements to the Chem solid modeling system, will find application in the aerospace, automotive, environmental, and nuclear industries. The basic architecture of the software will remain the same while new plug-in physical models will be developed to address niche markets.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Launch and Flight Vehicle

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
MetroLaser, Inc.
8 Chrysler
Irvine, CA 92618-2008
(949) 553-0688

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Vanderbilt University
2301 Vanderbilt Place
Nashville, TN 37235-7749
(615) 322-3979

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Thomas Jenkins
tjenkins@metrolaserinc.com
8 Chrysler
Irvine,  CA 92618-2008
(949) 949-0688

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

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
A non-intrusive method for measuring velocities in a rocket exhaust is proposed in a joint effort by MetroLaser and Vanderbilt University. Hydroxyl Tagging Velocimetry (HTV) uses an ultraviolet laser to tag a region of the flow with OH molecules, and interrogates them after a short delay with a second laser to obtain velocity from time-of-flight data. The method relies on the dissociation of H2O molecules naturally present in the flow, and thus requires no seeding. Being an all-optical technique, it is not adversely affected by high temperatures or high dynamic pressures. Analyses and experiments conducted during the Phase I effort demonstrated feasibility by showing that OH tag lifetimes in a simulated rocket exhaust environment were sufficiently long to enable accurate determination of tag displacements corresponding to typical rocket exhaust velocities. The method was demonstrated by measuring velocities in the exhaust gases of a laboratory scale burner at temperatures and chemical compositions representative of a H2/O2 rocket exhaust. Design tradeoff studies predicted that at measurement ranges of 20 to 50 feet the accuracies would be from two to five percent. This proposal outlines a plan to develop a prototype HTV instrument and demonstrate it in a rocket engine exhaust.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
NASA's goals of returning humans to the Moon and sending humans to Mars and beyond present a formidable challenge that will require significant improvements in the efficiency of hardware development programs to stay within the available budget. Current methods for developing hydrogen- and hydrocarbon-fueled engines rely largely on expensive trial-and-error testing. Accurate computer models can significantly reduce the cost of hardware development. However, current models are limited by a lack of experimental data needed for validation. The proposed velocity diagnostic would provide crucial data that is needed for the development, qualification, and acceptance process of present and future computer models.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A successful velocity diagnostic for high-temperature, high-velocity exhaust flows would have broad application across the worldwide aerospace propulsion industry. Military applications include rockets, missiles, scramjets, and turbine engines, as well as new concepts in propulsion such as pulse detonation engines. Commercial applications include the development of new turbofan designs that will require improved diagnostics for achieving increased efficiency. MetroLaser will pursue these military and commercial markets with a commercial version of the Phase II prototype.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Chemical
Optical

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mississippi Ethanol, LLC
P.O. Box 186
Winona, MS 38967-9513
(662) 283-4722

RESEARCH INSTITUTION: (RI Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Mississippi State University
PO Box 6156
Mississippi State, MS 39759-6156
(662) 325-2490

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Perry Norton
norton@icet.msstate.edu

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The purity of hydrogen fuel is important in engine testing at SSC. The hydrogen may become contaminated with nitrogen, argon, helium or oxygen. The hydrogen from the fuel tank s or feed lines is analyzed beforehand. Therefore, there is a need for a non-intrusive, on-line, near real-time monitor for H2. The analytical technique should measure various impurities (molecular and atomic) simultaneously and be easy to implement in the field. The objective of this proposed research is to develop an analytical technique based on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to measure simultaneously the concentrations of nitrogen (N2), argon (Ar), Helium (He) and oxygen (O2) contaminants in hydrogen (H2) gas storage tanks and supply lines. Advanced sensors for monitoring multiple species in H2 feed-lines and storage tanks will be useful before engine testing and will increase understanding of engine performance. Phase I has provided necessary information to build a sensitive, compact, sturdy, user-friendly and fieldable prototype in Phase II, with ease of implementation at NASA/SSC. In Phase II, a prototype LIBS system will be designed and fabricated to measure impurities in H2 fuel at different places in the H2 feed line. This integrated system will be delivered to NASA/SSC at the end of Phase II.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A LIBS-based sensor can provide near real-time and simultaneous measurement of the concentrations of several impurity species in H2 tanks and feed lines at many locations in the testing facilities at NASA/SSC. This sensor can be used for non– intrusive and near real-time monitoring of the quality of H2 before and during engine tests. This sensor will be useful to measure impurity levels in H2 in few minutes and will be less expensive than current analysis methods. The impurity level data can be used with other measurements for evaluating the engine performance.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The proposed LIBS sensor can also be used to monitor gas compositions in manufacturing plants to provide data for control and optimization and also gas suppliers. For example, when the concentration of an impurity, (which will vary depending on the application), reaches a threshold value, the sensor could warn the plant operator. The LIBS sensor can be used for quality control in pharmaceutical, chemical, and food processing industries. The technology can also be modified for other applications, such as a Continuous Emission Monitor (CEM) for hazardous emissions and in other pharmaceutical and chemical processes.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING
Particle and Fields
Optical