Volume 9, Number 3 • May/June 2001

NASA Seeks Partnership with Sensors Industry

NASA is searching for partners in the sensors industry to introduce promising new sensor technology to potential industry partners at an early stage in the development process. The agency is working to create high-impact partnerships that benefit NASA missions and sensors companies in the United States that are pursuing similar research goals.

The Sensors Initiative began in 1999, when the NASA Commercial Technology Program’s Marketing Team developed and wrote the agency’s marketing plan. One of the team’s recommendations was the formation of a sensors industry-focused initiative, designed to increase NASA partnerships with companies in the sensors industry.

NASA’s goal is to match its sensors technology needs for aerospace missions to those of sensors-sector companies, gauging where those needs overlap. These areas of overlap ultimately mean potential opportunities for companies to work with NASA to develop mutually beneficial, cutting-edge, profit-boosting technologies. With more than $1 billion spent each year on research and development, NASA has resources like no other company, laboratory or research facility.

Overall trends in the sensors industry point to an expanding market and growing needs. A market assessment performed by NASA found that 75 percent of sensors are made in the U.S., while the U.S. employs 80,000 people in the industry. Growth in the instrumentation industry is reportedly 13.5 percent per year, with sales of approximately $49 billion in 2000. The sensors industry is a vital part of the nation’s economy, and NASA wants to work with industry to increase its contribution.

The Sensors Initiative has already helped two organizations become more productive, a partnership with Resistance Temperature Detector Company, Inc. (RTD) and the Glennan Microsystems Initiative (GMI). NASA technology helped RTD produce thin film sensors to compile data without affecting the processes that are being monitored. Product improvement reduced production costs by 60 percent, and RTD expects to double its current annual sales of $2 million within two years.

NASA is seeking to develop commercial partnerships to develop sensors technologies. Below, a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to investigate the chemical composition, the origin and the evolution of the atmosphere of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. Photo provided by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

GMI, at NASA Glenn Research Center, is an endeavor involving Case Western Reserve University and NASA Glenn Research Center to develop microsystem applications. The Battelle Memorial Institute, a non-profit organization that promotes new technology developments, manages the initiative for Glenn. Microsystems are miniaturized, electrical and mechanical devices as small as a human hair that will not only help ensure NASA’s future missions are faster, better and cheaper, but also give Ohio’s companies cutting-edge technology to compete in the international marketplace. “This is an extremely important collaboration,” said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin in praise of the effort. “Microsystems is an area of increasing international competition, and joint activities such as these are essential to ensure U.S. leadership. I believe this will greatly benefit NASA and Ohio industry.”

GMI recently received a $1.15 million Technology Action Fund Grant from the state of Ohio for the development of three product platforms, including high-temperature pressure sensors, multi-species chemical sensors and in vivo catheter-based drug delivery systems. The work to be performed will also develop silicon carbide-based micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) capability.

As a result of GMI, 13 companies have signed Joint Sponsored Research Agreements, three companies have agreed to do so and 14 companies are strong prospects to become joint sponsored research partners.

These successes are examples of the benefits that are available to other companies within the sensors industry. NASA is constantly searching for company partners to jointly develop or license some of the most cutting-edge sensors technologies ever developed—technologies that can help create new products or reduce costs to positively impact the bottom line.

NASA scientists and engineers will provide a number of technical briefings and overview sessions on June 5-7 at the Sensors Expo in Chicago about the state of sensor research at the various NASA field centers.

• Dr. Walt Merrill, executive director of GMI, will discuss the status and future direction of GMI.
  
  
• Dr. Gary Hunter, senior research engineer at the Sensors and Electronics Technology Branch, will conduct a presentation about the activities of the Sensors and Electronics Technology Branch at NASA Glenn Research Center. This work includes the research, development and application of a wide range of microsystem sensor technology for harsh environments and safety applications.
  
  
• Bill Helms, chief of the Sensors and Instrumentation Branch at NASA Kennedy Space Center, will address technology development directions in sensors, data acquisition and hazardous gas detection.
  
  
• Dr. Sanghamitra B. Dutta, senior aerospace engineer in the detector systems branch, will discuss different ideas involving MEMS device development for instrumentation and spacecraft applications currently being pursued at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
  
  
• K. Elliot Cramer, senior scientist in the Nondestructive Evaluative Sciences Branch at NASA Langley Research Center will review research and technology development for advanced nondestructive evaluation and health monitoring of aerospace structures. The work includes a variety of optical and physical sensors integrated into intelligent systems to ensure structural integrity, configuration control, reliability and safety.
  
  
• Michael A. Marcolini, head of the Advanced Measurement and Diagnostics Branch at NASA Langley Research Center will discuss advances in aerospace technology, which increasingly require the use of global and/or non-intrusive quantitative measurement techniques. Quantitative flow measurements of interest include pressure, density, density changes, temperature and the velocity vector field. Surface measurements of interest include pressure, temperature, strains and shear stresses (skin friction), deformations, flow direction, transition detection, model attitude, and forces and moments on aircraft models. This talk will review recent research efforts to develop new sensing systems to provide such information, with emphasis on chemical and optical diagnostic micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and nano-device sensors and actuators, and related hardware and software.

In addition to the overviews, a number of NASA technologies will be discussed at Sensors Expo 2001. They include:

• UV/IR Hydrogen Flame Detector—this NASA Kennedy Space Center detector was specifically designed to detect hydrogen fires, while rejecting flare stack reflections resulting in false alarms;
  
  
• Compact Analytical Instruments for Planetary Surface Exploration—these technologies will include sub-optical imaging, chemical and elemental analysis and chemical sensing; and
  
  
• Rotary Sensor Technologies for Demanding Applications—these technologies include a 360-degree resolver signal-conditioner and an absolute rotary position sensor.

Other topic areas include silicon carbide in high temperature applications, as well as other information on instrumentation and controls.

A fiber optics sensing system developed by NASA Langley Research Center.

The keynote speaker for Sensors Expo 2001 is Dr. Harley Thronson, technology director for NASA’s Space Science Enterprise. Thronson will speak about the latest Space Science Enterprise strategic plan, which is built around several goals that cannot be achieved without new generations of advanced sensors. Thronson will also discuss how sensor-systems technology will help NASA achieve its goals and how individual sensors-sector companies can partner with NASA to jointly develop these technologies.

NASA is searching for sensors industry partners to share the risks and rewards of new technology development efforts. Both parties will benefit from the partnerships—NASA from reduced mission costs and industry from reduced product development costs. The partnership approach will enable NASA to meet technology-driven program goals while providing industry with technologies for new products that will benefit the nation’s economy.

For more information about the technical briefings and overview sessions, consult the Web site at www.nasatechnology.com or call NASA at 800/678-6882. For more information about the NASA Sensors Initiative, contact Bill Saettel at NASA Glenn Research Center, 216/433-2485, William.J.Saettel@grc.nasa.gov. Please mention you read about it in Innovation.