Volume 5, Number 5 September/October 1997
Small Business/SBIR
OME PAST AWARDEES FROM NASA'S SMALL Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs
showcased their developed technologies at the 45th Annual Experimental Aircraft
Association International Fly-In in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
NASA began providing funding for high-risk, high-payoff innovative technical research in 1983. Since then, nearly $900 million has been given to more than 1,600 U.S. firms to successfully commercialize their winning research to create jobs and new industries, as well as to generate revenue for the nation's economic benefit. Small businesses compete for awards based on projects that lead to commercial products and that are within the scope and support of NASA's mission. Since 1993, NASA has invested more than $23 million in general aviation SBIR and STTR awards.
One of the showcased SBIR/STTR awardees was Mod Works. These retrofit experts developed technology for integrating emerging cockpit systems into existing airplanes, resulting in an easy installation that was safer, more advanced, more ergonomic and less expensive and that achieved FAA certification. Mod Works collaborated with the Florida Institute of Technology in combining nine separate engine gauges into one integrated system.
Aurora Flight Sciences developed the single-lever power control technology, which offers pilots reduced workload, improved safety and optimal engine control, based on the specific flight condition. The technology can be used in conjunction with advanced health monitoring and fault-tolerant control systems. The system has been extensively tested in Aurora's Manassas, Virginia, facilities, and evaluation for general aviation applications has commenced.
Global Aircraft Company designed the quasi-constant speed composite propellers to provide advantages over fixed-pitch propellers without incurring the complexity of constant speed propeller governors and controls. These propellers increase static and takeoff thrust for shorter takeoff distances, increase rate of climb and/or maximum useful load, increase propeller efficiency at cruise speed and reduce cabin and community noise.
Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., is seeking to develop new technologies to reduce the weight and bulk of parachute canopies, using new materials and design, for recovering the whole airplane in an emergency situation. The safety provided will increase the utility of general aviation aircraft.
Seagull Technology, in partnership with Stanford University, developed a low-cost, solid-state attitude and heading reference system to provide pilots with an affordable and expandable situational awareness solution in the cockpit. This is a multifunction display system that combines navigation, traffic, weather and scene management information in one integrated display.
For more information, contact Thayer Sheets at Langley Research Center.
Call 757/864-2487
E-mail: r.t.sheets@larc.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.
