The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $9,999 - Wednesday the 11th of April 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A SET OF AT LEAST 100 PASSIVE WIRELESS SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE (SAW) RFID SENSOR-TAGS FOR NEAR-SIMULTANEOUS REMOTE MONITORING OF GROUPS OF CONVENTIONAL SENSORS. CODED SAW SENSOR-TAGS HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED BY ASR&D UNDER NNX09CE49P TO BE CAPABLE OF PROVIDING A PASSIVE WIRELESS INTERFACE TO EXTERNAL SENSORS, INCLUDING SWITCHES, THERMISTORS, AND STRAIN GAGES, AS WELL AS EXTERNAL SENSORS THAT GENERATE VOLTAGES. THESE SENSOR-TAGS CONSIST OF A SAW DEVICE WITH AN ANTENNA ATTACHED TO ONE PORT AND SENSOR(S) AND REFERENCE IMPEDANCE(S) CONNECTED TO THE OTHER PORTS. RF SIGNALS OF THE CORRECT FREQUENCY RANGE ARE REFLECTED OFF OF THE SURFACE WAVE DEVICE, AND THEIR REFLECTION CHARACTERISTICS ARE MODIFIED BY CHANGES IN THE IMPEDANCE/VOLTAGE OF THE ATTACHED SENSOR(S). UNDER NNX10RA68P A SET OF 32 INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE CODED SAW TEMPERATURE SENSOR DEVICES THAT AVOIDS THE SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH CODE COLLISION SEEN IN CONVENTIONAL SAW RFID SYSTEMS WAS DEVELOPED USING CDMA AND TDMA. WIRELESS MEASUREMENT CONFIRMED THE ABILITY TO SELECTIVELY DETECT ANY SINGLE SENSOR OUT OF THE COMBINED RESPONSE OF MULTIPLE SENSORS. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WILL INCORPORATE DIRECT SEQUENCE SPREAD SPECTRUM (DSSS) CODES INTO SAW TAG DEVICES ALSO USING TIME DIVERSITY, TO PRODUCE SETS OF MORE THAN 100 INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE CODED SENSOR-TAGS. DSSS CODING HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED BY RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE TO PRODUCE SETS CODES WITH GOOD AUTO- AND CROSS-CORRELATION PROPERTIES. THESE SENSOR-TAGS WILL BE TESTED TO VERIFY THAT THEY CAN BE USED AS AN INTERFACE TO EXTERNAL PRESSURE SENSORS AND STRAIN GAGES. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO EVALUATE THE WIRELESS READER SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE AND CURRENTLY BEING DEVELOPED AT ASR&D AND AT OTHER RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS TO DETERMINE WHAT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE IS MOST BENEFICIAL FOR OPERATION WITH THE CODESETS DEVELOPED. THIS WILL FORM THE BASIS OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT WORK.

  ---

• $50,000 - Monday the 6th of January 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WIRELESS MULTISENSOR SYSTEM FOR NASA APPLICATION TO REMOTE WIRELESS SENSING OF TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTIONS IN COMPOSITE OVERWRAPPED PRESSURE VESSELS (COPVS) AND DEVELOPMENT FLIGHT INSTRUMENTATION (DFI) FOR TEST FACILITIES FOR LARGE AREA COMPOSITE COMPONENT VALIDATION TESTING. PHASE 1 DEMONSTRATED ASR&D'S ABILITY TO PRODUCE TEMPERATURE SENSORS WITH SENSITIVITY CONTROLLED BY DEVICE DESIGN, AND TO SELECTIVELY READ ANY ONE CODED WIRELESS SENSOR OUT OF A SET OF UP TO 32 UNIQUELY IDENTIFIABLE SENSORS. PHASE 2 WILL FURTHER DEVELOP THESE PASSIVE WIRELESS SENSORS FOR TARGET APPLICATIONS, AND WILL DEVELOP A MINIATURIZED WIRELESS ELECTRONIC READER CAPABLE OF AUTONOMOUSLY READING UP TO 32 SENSORS OPERATING SIMULTANEOUSLY WITHIN ITS FIELD OF VIEW. ASR&D HAS TEAMED WITH METIS DESIGN CORPORATION FOR THE PHASE 2 ELECTRONICS INTEGRATION, MINIATURIZATION, AND DAQ HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT. AFTER THE PHASE 1 PROGRAM, THE SENSORS AND SELECTED PORTIONS OF THE WIRELESS READER ARE TRL 2-3. AT THE COMPLETION OF THE PHASE 2 EFFORT ASR&D WILL DELIVER TO NASA A COMPLETE WIRELESS MULTISENSOR TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR FIELD TESTING (TRL 4+), INCLUDING ONE WIRELESS READER AND 32 INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE TEMPERATURE SENSORS.

  ---

• $10,000 - Tuesday the 19th of June 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES THE PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT OF SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE (SAW) BASED HYPERGOLIC FUEL SENSORS FOR NASA APPLICATION TO DISTRIBUTED WIRELESS LEAK DETECTION SYSTEMS. SAW DEVICES ARE A PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY FOR PASSIVE WIRELESS SENSING OF NUMEROUS POSSIBLE MEASURANDS. ASR&D AND ITS COLLABORATORS HAVE DEMONSTRATED PASSIVE WIRELESS SENSORS USING SAW DEVICES, FOR APPLICATIONS INCLUDING TEMPERATURE SENSING, CRYOGENIC LIQUID LEVEL SENSING, HYDROGEN SENSORS, AND HUMIDITY SENSORS UNDER NASA SBIR AND STTR FUNDING. THE PROPOSED HYPERGOLIC FUEL SENSORS WILL USE SAW DEVICES COMBINED WITH CHEMICALLY SELECTIVE FILM ELEMENTS TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF PRODUCING SENSITIVE HYDRAZINE (HZ, MMH, AND DMH), AND NITROGEN TETROXIDE SENSORS CAPABLE OF DETECTING LOW PPB CONCENTRATIONS OVER A RANGE OF AMBIENT CONDITIONS. THIS RESEARCH WILL UTILIZE THE RESULTS OBTAINED IN ASR&D'S NANOCLUSTER PALLADIUM (PD) FILM AND CODED SAW SENSOR AND WIRELESS INTERROGATION SYSTEM RESEARCH, AND EXISTING HYPERGOL SENSING TECHNOLOGIES. THE PROPOSED FILMS SHOULD EXPERIENCE LARGE CONDUCTIVITY CHANGES DUE TO INTERACTIONS WITH THE HYPERGOLIC CHEMICALS BEING DETECTED, PRODUCING MEASURABLE CHANGES IN SAW DEVICE PERFORMANCE, AS SEEN IN ASR&D'S HYDROGEN SENSORS. DURING THE PHASE I PROJECT, ISSUES INCLUDING FORMATION OF THE CHEMICALLY SELECTIVE FILMS ON PIEZOELECTRIC SUBSTRATES, OPTIMIZATION OF THESE FILMS, AND SENSOR PERFORMANCE FOR DIFFERENT DEVICE TYPES WILL BE INVESTIGATED. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE PROPOSED PHASE I ACTIVITIES WILL ESTABLISH THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF PRODUCING THE PROPOSED SENSORS, EVALUATE THE POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE CAPABILITIES OF OPTIMIZED SENSORS, AND DEFINE THE ADDITIONAL WORK NECESSARY TO EFFECT DEVICE IMPLEMENTATION. ASSUMING THE RESULTS OF PHASE I ARE POSITIVE, PHASE II COULD RESULT IN DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIPLE UNIQUELY IDENTIFIABLE, WIRELESSLY INTERROGABLE HYDRAZINE AND NITROGEN TETROXIDE SENSORS.

  ---