The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $99,964 - Thursday the 19th of July 2012
  Department Of Army
  W6QK ACC-PICA
  SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATIVE RESEARCH (SBIR) CONTRACT FOR THE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING COMMAND TO DEVELOP ARMAMENT THAT LAUNCHES FROM A BARREL OF A M320.

  ---

• $79,934 - Thursday the 19th of April 2012
  Department Of Navy
  NAVAIR WARFARE CTR AIRCRAFT DIV LKE
  SBIR PI TOPIC N121-017

  ---

• $75,000 - Monday the 14th of April 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  NUMEROUS ADVANCES HAVE BEEN MADE IN RECENT YEARS IN THE AREAS OF FLIGHT DECK DESIGN, AIRCRAFT MODELING, RESILIENT CONTROL, AND VEHICLE HEALTH MANAGEMENT. THE COMBINATION OF THESE COMPLEMENTARY TECHNOLOGIES PROMISES TO REVOLUTIONIZE AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS AND OPERATIONS SAFETY IN THE DECADES AHEAD. HOWEVER, THE TASK OF SAFELY INTEGRATING THESE TECHNOLOGIES IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT AS THEIR LEVEL OF COMPLEXITY, DEGREE OF AUTOMATION, AND DEMANDS FROM THEIR OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT GROW. THE NEXT GENERATION AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEM (NEXTGEN), WHILE PROVIDING SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS IN TERMS OF INCREASED CAPACITY AND SAFETY, WILL EXACERBATE THIS SITUATION DUE TO THE LARGE NUMBERS OF NEW AND EXISTING SYSTEMS THAT WILL BE REQUIRED TO INTEROPERATE. THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF THESE SYSTEMS IS A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR THAT MAKES ANALYZING THEIR SAFETY CHARACTERISTICS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. WHILE MANY DEVELOPMENT TOOLS EXIST TO CONDUCT DEEP ANALYSES WITHIN INDIVIDUAL DISCIPLINES, THERE IS A LACK OF TOOLS AVAILABLE FOR DEEP ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGNS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH SEEKS TO CREATE A NEW CLASS OF DEVELOPMENT TOOL THAT WILL ALLOW DESIGNERS OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS-OF-SYSTEMS TO EXPLORE THE DYNAMIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SYSTEM COMPONENTS TO UNCOVER SYSTEMIC VULNERABILITIES, PRECURSORY CONDITIONS, AND LIKELY OUTCOMES. THE PHASE I PROJECT GENERATED AN INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SOFTWARE PACKAGE IDEA, AN INTEGRATED DESIGN AND ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENT THAT COULD BE USED TO MODEL COMPLEX INTERDEPENDENCIES BETWEEN FLIGHT DECK OPERATIONS, FLIGHT DECK CONTROLS AND DISPLAY, AND THE UNDERLYING PHYSICAL COMPONENTS OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE PROPOSED PHASE II EFFORT WILL MATURE THIS SOFTWARE AND EXPAND ITS CAPABILITIES, RESULTING IN A FLEXIBLE, STANDARDS-COMPLIANT TOOL THAT IS READY FOR BETA TESTING AND SUBSEQUENT COMMERCIALIZATION. IT WILL FOCUS ON ENHANCEMENTS THAT SUPPORT CROSS-DISCIPLINARY MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF SAFETY-CRITICAL HUMAN-AUTOMATION SYSTEMS.

  ---

• $64,996 - Tuesday the 8th of January 2013
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  GLENN RESEARCH CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF RUN TIME ASSURANCE METHODS APPLIED TO ADVANCED PROPULSION ALGORITHMS. TASK 1: ACQUIRE/FAMILIARIZE WITH YEAR 1 ENGINE SIMULATION. TASK 2: DEVELOP RUN TIME ASSURANCE ARCHITECTURE. TASK 3: INVESTIGATE USE CASE IMPLEMENTATIONS. TASK 4: PERFORM EXPERIMENTAL TESTING OF THE RTA SYSTEM. TASK 5: YEAR 1 CONCLUSIONS/RECOMENDATIONS

  ---

• $50,000 - Saturday the 29th of March 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE UNITED STATES AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM IS NOT PERFORMING ADEQUATELY EVEN AS AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS INCREASE. TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM, THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION AND THE JOINT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE ARE DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM (NEXTGEN). NEXTGEN WILL ENABLE CRITICAL ADVANCES TO THE CURRENT MANAGEMENT OF THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE (NAS). THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT COMPRISE NEXTGEN OFFER THE POSSIBILITY OF COMPELLING NEW SYSTEMS OF SYSTEMS THAT, IF PROPERLY DESIGNED, WILL NOT ONLY ENHANCE THE CAPABILITIES OF THE NAS BUT ALSO IMPROVE ITS SAFETY. AT THE SAME TIME, THESE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES BRING WITH THEM IMPLICATIONS FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY. IN ORDER TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS, NEW TECHNIQUES FOR THE CERTIFICATION OF SOFTWARE SYSTEMS WILL BE REQUIRED TO ENSURE THAT CERTIFICATION COST WILL NOT LIMIT THE SAFETY INNOVATIONS OFFERED BY NEXTGEN ADVANCES. IN PHASE I, BARRON ASSOCIATES INVESTIGATED THE INTEGRATION OF ADS-B AND TCAS AS A REPRESENTATIVE NEXTGEN SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS AND INVESTIGATED THE APPLICATION OF THE SYSTEM SAFETY CASE TO THE SYSTEM. IN THE PROPOSED PHASE II RESEARCH, BARRON ASSOCIATES WILL DEVELOP A NEW COLLISION-AVOIDANCE SYSTEM AND CONDUCT AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE SYSTEM SAFETY CASE COMPARED TO DO-178B COMPLIANCE AS A CERTIFICATION APPROACH. THROUGHOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW COLLISION-AVOIDANCE SYSTEM, EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF DO-178B COMPLIANCE AS WELL AS IN SUPPORT OF THE SAFETY CASE WILL BE GATHERED. USING THE DATA FROM THIS EVIDENCE COLLECTION TOGETHER WITH THE DATA COLLECTED DURING DEVELOPMENT, THE TEAM WILL ANSWER KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS THAT CENTER ON THE USE OF THE SYSTEM SAFETY CASE AS AN ALTERNATIVE MEANS FOR AIRWORTHINESS CERTIFICATION.

  ---

• $50,000 - Friday the 23rd of August 2013
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  LOSS OF CONTROL IS A SIGNIFICANT CAUSE OF AVIATION ACCIDENTS ATTRIBUTED TO A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF FATALITIES IN THE COMMERCIAL AVIATION SECTOR. RECENTLY, BARRON ASSOCIATES, INC. (BAI) HAS DEVELOPED A SYSTEM FOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES THAT AUTONOMOUSLY EXECUTES RECOVERY STRATEGIES TO RAPIDLY RESTORE NOMINAL FLIGHT. DURING PHASE I, BAI SOUGHT TO EXTEND THIS SYSTEM TO MANNED VEHICLES BY DEVELOPING A JOINT HUMAN-AUTOMATED (H/A) SYSTEM. THE GOAL OF THIS SYSTEM IS TO ASSIST THE CREW DURING THE RECOVERY PROCESS BY CONVEYING INFORMATION ABOUT RECOVERY PROCEDURES IN AN INTUITIVE AND UNOBTRUSIVE MANNER. BAI DEVELOPED CREW-SPECIFIC EXTENSIONS TO THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM BOTH AT THE ARCHITECTURE AND INTERFACE LEVEL. THE ARCHITECTURE DEFINES WHAT INFORMATION IS DELIVERED TO THE CREW. THE INTERFACE DEFINES HOW THIS INFORMATION IS PRESENTED TO THE CREW. METRICS WERE DEFINED TO MEASURE THE QUALITY OF THE RECOVERY AND CREW EXPERIENCE. PHASE I PILOT-IN-THE-LOOP EXPERIMENTS HAVE SHOWN THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT PERFORMANCE GAINS AND WORKLOAD REDUCTION IF THE JOINT H/A RECOVERY SYSTEM IS USED TO GUIDE THE PILOT THROUGH THE RECOVERY PROCESS. PHASE I EXPERIMENTS WERE LIMITED IN SCOPE. DURING PHASE II, BAI WOULD LIKE TO BUILD UPON THESE RESULTS BY DEMONSTRATING THAT GAINS BECOME EVEN MORE PRONOUNCED IN A REALISTIC COCKPIT ENVIRONMENT. THIS WILL REQUIRE MIGRATING TO A HIGHER-QUALITY SIMULATOR AND MORE ACCURATELY SIMULATING THE DUTIES OF THE CREW. THE TEAM WILL TARGET ATPS (AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOTS) DURING PHASE II AND EXPAND THE SUBJECT POPULATION SO THAT THE BENEFIT OF THE SYSTEM CAN BE EXPLICITLY QUANTIFIED. WHILE INTEGRATION INTO THE COCKPIT IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL FOR THIS SYSTEM, BAI BELIEVES THAT THE JOINT H/A RECOVERY SYSTEM CAN BE OF IMMEDIATE USE AS A TRAINING AID. AS PART OF THE EXPERIMENTAL BUILD-UP, BAI WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SHOW THAT THE USE OF THE JOINT H/A RECOVERY SYSTEM DURING TRAINING TRANSLATES INTO IMPROVED PILOT RECOVERIES WHEN THE SYSTEM IS NOT ACTIVE.

  ---

• $50,000 - Friday the 21st of March 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  BUILDING ON OUR SUCCESSFUL PHASE I TACTILE DATA ENTRY PROGRAM, BARRON ASSOCIATES PROPOSES DEVELOPMENT OF A GLOVE-ENABLED COMPUTER OPERATIONS (GECO) SYSTEM TO PERMIT SUITED CREWMEMBERS TO PERFORM VIRTUAL KEYBOARD/MOUSE INTERACTIONS USING AN INSTRUMENTED EVA GLOVE. THE PHASE II SYSTEM WILL USE TWO-HAND MOTION TRACKING, MULTI-FINGER GESTURE RECOGNITION, AND VIBROTACTILE FEEDBACK TO CREATE AN INTUITIVE HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACE THAT MIRRORS FAMILIAR DESKTOP DATA ENTRY MODALITIES. THE PROGRAM WILL DELIVER DEMONSTRATION HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE WITH LABORATORY, FIELD, AND ON-ORBIT TESTING OF CREWMEMBER PERFORMANCE IN RELEVANT DATA ENTRY TASKS. THE PROTOTYPE WILL INCLUDE FUNCTIONAL EVA GLOVES WITH INTEGRATED MOTION SENSING AND VIBROTACTILE TRANSDUCERS THAT COUPLE TO EXISTING NASA SUITS VIA A QUICK-CONNECT FITTING. WE WILL PRODUCE RIGHT AND LEFT HAND GLOVES, LOWER ARM SUIT SECTIONS, AND A SPECIALIZED TWO-PORT ACRYLIC GLOVE BOX TO ENABLE HUMAN SUBJECT EVALUATIONS IN A REALISTIC PRESSURIZED ENVIRONMENT. INITIAL TRIALS AT BARRON ASSOCIATES WILL PERMIT REFINEMENT OF DESIGN CONCEPTS, FOLLOWED BY MORE EXTENSIVE USABILITY, COMFORT, AND DURABILITY TESTING AT NASA.

  ---

• $50,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  HOT CORROSION OF TURBINE ENGINE COMPONENTS HAS BEEN STUDIED FOR MANY YEARS. THE UNDERLYING MECHAN-ISMS OF TYPE I HOT CORROSION AND TYPE II HOT CORROSION ARE INCREASINGLY WELL-UNDERSTOOD. MODERN TURBINE ENGINE DESIGNS THAT SEEK TO ACHIEVE BETTER FUEL EFFICIENCY IN PART BY INCREASING TURBINE INLET TEMPERATURES ARE STRONG CANDIDATES FOR NICKEL-BASED SUPERALLOY TURBINE DISK MATERIALS. AS DISK TEMPERATURES APPROACH 700C, DESIGNERS MUST CONSIDER THE LIKELIHOOD AND EFFECTS OF TYPE II CORROSION. TYPE II CORROSION IS TYPICALLY CHARACTERIZED BY LOCALIZED CORROSION PITTING CAUSED BY MELTING OF SULFUR-CONTAINING SALTS. TYPE II HOT CORROSION PITS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO DECREASE THE FATIGUE RESISTANCE OF SUPERALLOYS DUE TO INITIATION OF FATIGUE CRACKS AT HOT CORROSION PITS. HOWEVER, THE RIGOROUS ANALYTICAL MODELS AND TOOLS NEEDED BY TURBINE ENGINE DESIGNERS TO PREDICT TYPE II CORROSION EFFECTS ARE NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH PROGRAM WILL BE TO DEVELOP DARWIN-HC A PROBABILISTIC TYPE II HOT CORROSION, FATIGUE CRACKING, AND FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION SOFTWARE TOOL FOR NICKEL-BASED SUPERALLOY TURBINE DISKS. THE PHASE I RESEARCH WAS BASED ON DATA PROVIDED BY BOTH NASA AND THE RESEARCH TEAM. THE KEY PHASE I INNOVATIONS INCLUDED ENHANCED PROBABILISTIC MODELS THAT ARE EXPLICITLY PARAMETERIZED BY THE RELEVANT ENVIRONMENTAL AND MATERIAL VARIABLES. THE MODELS ARE A SIGNIFICANT STEP TOWARDS MODELING THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL EVOLUTIONS OF CORROSION PITS SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION CAPABILITY. WHEREAS THE EXISTING DARWIN SOFTWARE CONTAINS PROBABILISTIC MODELS OF HARD ALPHA ANOMALIES IN TITANIUM DISK MATERIALS, DARWIN-HC WILL FEATURE THE PROBABILISTIC MODELS OF DEFECT DISTRIBUTIONS DUE TO TYPE II HOT CORROSION, WHICH CAN LEAD TO FATIGUE CRACK INITIATION. IN PHASE II, THE TEAM WILL CREATE A FUNCTIONAL DARWIN-HC PROTOTYPE SOFTWARE APPLICATION FOR EVALUATION BY NASA AND INDUSTRY.

  ---

• $375,000 - Thursday the 29th of March 2012
  Department Of Navy
  NAVAIR WARFARE CTR AIRCRAFT DIV LKE
  SBIR PHASE II TOPIC N102-117

  ---

• $370,728 - Wednesday the 18th of April 2012
  Department Of Air Force
  FA9453 DET 8 AFRL PKV8
  FULLY FUND

  ---