Technology Opportunity Showcase highlights some unique technologies that NASA has developed and which we believe have strong potential for commercial application. While the descriptions provided here are brief, they should provide enough information to communicate the potential applications of the technology. For more detailed information, contact the person listed. Please mention that you read about it in Innovation.

Technology Opportunity Showcase

Hybrid Imaging Technology

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is looking for licensees for its Hybrid Imaging Technology (HIT), which merges the best features of the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) and Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS). HIT uniquely couples CMOS circuitry to a CCD-based imaging array. The benefits include the imaging performance surpassing state-of-the-art CCDs, the power consumption of a CMOS imager, the capability to integrate camera electronics at the chip level, full compatibility with JPL's Delta Doping for High Quantum Efficiency and UV Detection, the ability of the imager format to be coupled with a variety of CMOS processor and controller chips, and the CCD and CMOS technologies merged without costly process development or performance degradation. The Parallel Hybrid Ultra-low-noise Detector (PHUD) combines HIT with a novel technique to achieve subelectron (rms) noise readout via simultaneous multiple sampling of many pixels. PHUD draws on the strengths of both the CCD and Active Pixel Sensor (APS) technologies to create a superior detector. A PHUD detector consists of a CCD imaging array hybridized to a multichannel CMOS signal detection and processing chip, resulting in the exceptional quantum efficiency, fill factor and broad spectral response of CCD imagers with the low-power operation and flexibility of integration found in CMOS devices.

For more information, contact Mark Wadsworth at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Call: 818/354-7833, Fax: 818/393-0045, E-mail: Mark.Wadsworth@jpl.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

Novel Polymer Film Technologies

Langley Research Center is looking for companies interested in developing commercial products based on a family of materials and processing technologies for both the emerging conductive polymer market and the existing high-performance polymer market. These robust and easily processed materials offer various combinations of conductivity, reflectivity and dimensional stability, and they may enable advancements in electronics, space films for reflectors, concentrators, antennae and anti-microbial packaging. Characterized by various levels of reflectivity and thermal stability, the materials will support advancements in many applications. Using a one-step chemical process, self-metallizing film technology produces completely metallized, highly reflective and conductive surfaces on a polymer film. The resulting metallized surface, because of its integration with the polymer, provides superior adhesion over commercially available deposited films from which the metal coating can easily be removed. Metal oxide–containing polymers create films and coatings that have an optically clear, semiconductive metal oxide surface. Metal ion–containing polymers enhance the thermal and dimensional stability of the base polymer. Incorporating metal ions lowers the coefficient of thermal expansion of base polyimides by as much as 30 percent; the materials are neither conducting nor light reflecting. Metallized films using supercritical-fluid infusion enable the production of polymer films and coatings with a reflective and conductive metallic surface. The material also has nanosized metallic particles dispersed throughout.

For more information, contact Sherry Sullivan at Langley Research Center. Call: 757/864-2556,
E-mail: s.l.sullivan@larc.nasa.gov Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

Integrated Reaction Wheel Assembly

Goddard Space Flight Center seeks to transfer the Integrated Reaction Wheel Assembly (IRWA) technology to private industry. Developed for science missions, the IRWA offers companies an opportunity to virtually eliminate the technical risk and minimize the financial investment required to introduce a new spacecraft component. The technology was developed for NASA's Small Explorer Lite program—an initiative to provide small, low-cost, high-performance/reliability spacecraft. Designed primarily for small spacecraft launched from a Pegasus-class vehicle, the IRWA provides unique plug-and-play capabilities. The stand-alone assembly contains all the necessary power converter, commutation, control and telemetry electronics. It can be operated with a current (torque) or speed (momentum) controller. Modular interface electronics provide adaptability to any spacecraft computer interface via a standard serial communications interface. Mechanically, the unsealed design reduces the weight and cost associated with complex O-ring seal designs. The flywheel is cantilevered off the motor shaft, enabling the entire rotating assembly to be balanced while fully assembled. Potential commercial uses are spacecraft manufacturers and suppliers of spacecraft components. Other benefits include reduced weight, improved bearing performance, easy mounting, reduced electronics design cost and improved low-speed accuracy.

For more information, contact Adrienne Marble at Goddard Space Flight Center. Call: 301/286-8175, Fax: 301/286-0301, E-mail: amarble@pop700.gsfc.nasa.gov Please mention you read about it in Innovation.