SBIR-STTR Award

Advances over the last decade in sensors, miniature and flexible electronics, wireless protocols, and related technologies now make it feasible to sensecontinuously and accurately - environmental and operational parameters over the entire surface of an aircraft using a wide network of sensors. A specific example, and the subject of this proposal, is the AFRL-developed Artificial Hair Sensors (AHS) for flow velocity measurement. The overall goal of this SBIR is to mature the prototype AHS and associated technologies incubated at AFRL to develop reliable, easy-to-use, easy-to-install, low-cost flow sensors for air vehicles.To transition AHS from the lab to a viable, commercial product (or a family of application specific products) we will need to address cost, volume fabrication, handling, calibration, ease-of-installation and other manufacturing, operational and business issues. To this end, and consistent with the solicitation, NextGen proposes to establish the business case and define needed product and process improvements in Phase I. The study will include inputs from potential users, customers and other stakeholders; improvements will focus on fabrication processes, associated electronics, and ease-of-use for a set of targeted applications. We will segue to implementing both in a potential Phase II program.Artificial Hair Sensors (AHS),data acquisition systems (DAQ),wind tunnel testing,Flight Testing,flow sensors,flexible electronics,calibration.

Artificial Hair Sensors (AHS) can be viewed as smart tufts, similar to tufts used in wind tunnel and flight tests for flow visualization, with the added benefit of providing quantitative flow information. AHS can potentially be a low-cost alternative to current high-end flow velocity sensors, with a distributed array of them providing assessment of the flow field around the vehicle. To transition AHS from the lab to the market, we will address manufacturing, operational and business issues. Building on Phase I work, we will develop volume fabrication processes to manufacture 100s of AHS in a single batch with predictable and reliable performance. We will also develop low-cost, rapid sensor calibration techniques for reliable operational use. The goal of our Phase II program is to increase to TRL 6-7 and MRL 5-6. Additionally, we plan to distribute fully operational sensors, to government test labs and universities for testing and feedback. The focus initially will be on simple applications (e.g., binary sensor to detect flow transition), successively moving to more sophisticated applications (sensor arrays, higher speeds/temperatures). We anticipate commercialization AHS within a year after Phase II and establish a profitable business division within 2 more years thereafter.