The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $75,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  STENNIS SPACE CENTER
  PLANETARY AND EARTH IMAGINING REQUIRES RADIOMETRICALLY CALIBRATED AND STABLE IMAGING SENSORS. RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATION CORRECTS SENSOR ARTIFACTS, IS USED TO CONVERT A SENSOR S OUTPUT TO ENGINEERING UNITS AND IS CRITICAL TO VARIOUS NASA RESEARCH AND MONITORING TEST ARTICLES AND MULTIPLE SENSORS AT DIFFERENT TIMES AND GEOMETRIES. AT THE NASA STENNIS SPACE CENTER (SSC) IMAGING CAMERAS HAVE BEEN USED IN SITU TO MONITOR PROPULSION TEST STAND ACTIVITIES AND RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATION CAN HELP ANALYZE THE LIGHT PRODUCED BY A TEST ARTICLE DURING FIRING. THIS DATA CAN BE USED TO INFER TEMPERATURE AND COMPOSITION AND CAN BE USED TO DETECT DEFECTS OR IF PRUDENT STOP A TEST. SIMILARLY THERE ARE ALSO NEEDS TO RADIOMETRICALLY CALIBRATE MANY NON-NASA INSTRUMENTS USED BY INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA. SENSOR RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATION AND STABILITY IS TYPICALLY ACCOMPLISHED BY INITIALLY CALIBRATING AN IMAGING SENSOR IN A LABORATORY BEFORE IT IS FIELDED OR INTEGRATED ONTO A SPACECRAFT AND LAUNCHED. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST) TRACEABLE INTEGRATING SPHERE BASED RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATION SOURCES HAVE BEEN THE LABORATORY WORK HORSE TECHNOLOGY FOR SEVERAL DECADES. AN INTEGRATING SPHERE SOURCE IS A SPHERICAL SHELL COATED WITH HIGHLY REFLECTING DIFFUSE MATERIAL THAT IS ILLUMINATED EITHER INTERNALLY OR EXTERNALLY. THESE SPHERES HAVE PORTS THAT ALLOW LIGHT TO ENTER OR EXIT. SOMETIMES THE INTEGRATING SPHERES SOURCE WILL HAVE A DETECTOR OR SPECTROMETER TO MONITOR ITS OUTPUT. WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS VENDORS SELL DESIGNS AND TECHNOLOGY SIMILAR TO THOSE THAT WERE INTRODUCED INTO THE MARKET A DECADE OR MORE AGO EVEN THOUGH ADVANCES IN DIGITAL IMAGERS AND SPECTROSCOPIC SYSTEMS WOULD BENEFIT FROM SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS THE PUSH FOR HIGHER SPATIAL RESOLUTION IMAGERY IS INCREASING THE REQUIRED PORT DIAMETER AND CONSEQUENTLY THE SIZE NEEDED FOR CALIBRATION SOURCES WHICH IS CAUSING SCALING ISSUES WITH TRADITIONAL DESIGNS. THE TYPES OF CALIBRATION SOURCE IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED INCLUDE: *LARGER EXIT PORT DIAMETERS TO FACILITATE THE CALIBRATION OF LARGE IMAGING SYSTEMS*PROGRAMMABLE OPERATION TO ALLOW INTEGRATED SENSOR-SPHERE CONTROL TO IMPROVE WORK FLOW*BETTER SHORT TERM STABILITY TO IMPROVE THE SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO (SNR) OF MEASUREMENTS TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF MEASUREMENTS REQUIRED AND ENABLE SENSOR TEMPORAL SNR MEASUREMENTS TO BE ACQUIRED.* IMPROVED LONG-TERM STABILITY TO MEASURE SENSOR DRIFT AND REDUCE CALIBRATION SOURCE MAINTENANCE*BETTER SPATIAL UNIFORMITY TO IMPROVE FLAT FIELDING AND REDUCE NUMBER OF MEASUREMENTS REQUIRED* INCREASED UV-VISIBLE OUTPUT THAT IS MORE CHARACTERISTIC OF NATURAL ILLUMINATION*VARIABLE ILLUMINATION OVER SEVERAL DECADES OF RADIANCE TO CALIBRATE SENSORS OVER THE LARGE DYNAMIC RANGE NOW AVAILABLE WITH MODERN SENSORS* REDUCED POWER DISSIPATION TO.

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• $500,000 - Wednesday the 3rd of April 2013
  Office Of Procurement Operations
  SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION DIVISION
  IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTION. THIS CONTRACT IS AN AWARD UNDER LONG RANGE BROAD AGENCY ANNOUCEMENT 12-07. IT PROVIDES FUNDING TO DEVELOP SMART PHONE BASEDBLOW COST UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE MONITORING.

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• $35,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  STENNIS SPACE CENTER
  OTHER PARTNERS (DISNEY, PURETI AND NANOCEPTS) RELEVANT NASA PERSONNEL AND FACILITIES: RON MAGEE NASA SSC CENTER OPERATIONS AND INFINITY CENTER PROPOSAL ABSTRACT: IN RECENT YEARS PHOTOCATALYTIC MATERIALS HAVE BEEN USED TO KEEP SURFACES CLEAN. THESE MATERIALS, PROPERLY ILLUMINATED, USE ACCELERATED PHOTODECOMPOSITION TO BREAK THE CHEMICAL BONDS FOUND WITHIN OTHER MATERIALS THAT COME INTO CONTACT WITH THEM. A PHOTOCATALYST IS A CATALYST THAT ACCELERATES A PHOTOREACTION. TIO2 PHOTOCATALYSIS IS INITIATED BY THE ABSORPTION OF ULTRA VIOLET (UV) LIGHT PRODUCING FREE RADICALS FROM THE INTERACTION OF OXYGEN AND WATER. PHOTOCATALYSIS HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED AS HAVING GREAT POTENTIAL IN APPLICATIONS FOR CONTAMINANT CONTROL IN INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS RESIDENCES, OFFICE BUILDINGS, FACTORIES, AIRCRAFTS, AND SPACECRAFTS (TOMPKINS ET AL. 2005, OLLIS 2000). POOR AIR QUALITY ISSUES IN SPACECRAFT CAN POSE HEALTH ISSUES TO ASTRONAUTS. AIR QUALITY IN ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS CAN ALSO POSE A MAJOR HEALTH RISK TO ITS OCCUPANTS DUE TO LONG TERM EXPOSURE TO VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (VOCS). THE EPA HAS INDICATED THAT IN MANY CASES INDOOR AIR POLLUTION IS FAR WORSE THAN OUTDOOR AIR POLLUTION. IT HAS BEEN ESTIMATED THAT WORLDWIDE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS PER YEAR ARE LOST DUE TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF INDOOR AIR POLLUTION (FISK AND ROSENFELD 1997). EFFICIENT RELIABLE APPROACHES TO PURIFYING AIR ARE NEEDED FOR BOTH SPACE MISSIONS AND TERRESTRIAL APPLICATIONS. NASA SSC HAS DEMONSTRATED SUCCESSFUL PHOTOCATALYTIC PROPERTIES IN EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTS IN PREVIOUSLY FUNDED PROJECTS (DAVIS ET AL. 2009, RYAN ET AL. 2009A, RYAN ET AL. 2009B, RYAN ET AL. 2008, RYAN ET AL. 2007) AND TODAY MANY OF THESE MATERIALS HAVE BEEN AND ARE CURRENTLY BEING RETROFIT ONTO EXISTING STRUCTURES IN THE US. CURRENTLY, NO MARKET EXISTS FOR PHOTOCATALYTIC COATINGS IN THE US, DUE IN PART TO MINIMAL COMMERCIAL PRODUCT VALIDATION. SUSTAINABILITY DEMANDS HOWEVER, HAVE GROWN TO SUCH A POINT SO AS TO AFFECT THE COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF THESE MATERIALS. AS BUILDING SEALING IMPROVES TO LOWER AIR-CONDITIONING AND HEATING COSTS, A SMALLER PERCENTAGE OF THE AIR CIRCULATING WITHIN A BUILDING IS FRESH. RE-CIRCULATED AIR CONTAINS GREATER NUMBERS OF VOCS AND OTHER POTENTIALLY HARMFUL INDOOR POLLUTANTS. THEREFORE, FROM BOTH A BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY AND SPACECRAFT HEALTH PERSPECTIVE, PHOTOCATALYTIC MATERIALS OFFER A POTENTIAL TO HELP IMPROVE AIR QUALITY. VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION OF AIR QUALITY RESULTS HOWEVER, IS STILL NEEDED. TO IMPROVE THIS SITUATION, I2R, CSC AND THE INFINITY SCIENCE CENTER WILL WORK COLLABORATIVELY WITH OTHER EXTERNAL PARTNERS SUCH AS DISNEY S GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN DIVISION TO VALIDATE THIS TECHNOLOGY IN A REAL-WORLD SITUATION. WE HAVE SELECTED THE INFINITY SCIENCE CENTER TO DEMONSTRATE TIO2 MATERIAL CAPABILITY TO SELF-CLEAN AND PURIFY AIR. THE NASA INFINITY CENTER IS A $35 MILLION STATE-OF-THE-ART SCIENCE CENTER AND VISITOR ATTRACTION THAT IS LOCATED AT NASA'S JOHN C. STENNIS SPACE CENTER IN

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• $124,992 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  INNOVATIVE IMAGING AND RESEARCH HAS TEAMED WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI TO DEVELOP A NOVEL ENERGY EFFICIENT SMART LIGHT SYSTEM. SMART LIGHTING ADDS AN OCCUPANCY SENSOR, PHOTOSENSOR, CONTROLLER, AND DIMMING UNIT TO A LIGHT SOURCE AND HAS BEEN SHOWN TO SAVE UP TO 50% OF THE ENERGY REQUIRED TO POWER TRADITIONAL LIGHTING IN EXISTING BUILDINGS AND UP TO 35% IN NEW CONSTRUCTION. OUR NOVEL SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO FURTHER INCREASE ENERGY SAVINGS AND ENABLE NEW FUNCTIONALITY NEVER BEFORE INCORPORATED INTO A LIGHT FIXTURE. OUR CONCEPT TURNS A COMMONLY AVAILABLE LOW COST DIGITAL CAMERA INTO AN IMAGING PHOTOSENSOR USING CALIBRATION TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED FOR NASA AND THE REMOTE SENSING INDUSTRY. OUR CONCEPT ALSO TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE CURRENT MOBILE DEVICE TECHNOLOGY BOOM BY USING MOBILE DEVICES TO BOTH MONITOR AND PROCESS CONTROL SOFTWARE WITHIN THE SMART LIGHT. MONITORING NATURAL LIGHT THAT MAY BE PRESENT, DUE TO A WINDOW OR SKYLIGHT IS KEY TO OUR SMART LIGHT, AS OUR SYSTEM SPATIALLY AND TEMPORALLY ADJUSTS THE LIGHT IT PRODUCES WHEN NATURAL LIGHT CONDITIONS CHANGE A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY CONCEPT KNOWN AS DAYLIGHT HARVESTING. WHILE WE WILL INITIALLY WORK WITH WHITE LIGHT LEDS, OUR CONCEPT ACCOMMODATES MULTI-COLOR LEDS THAT MIX TO GENERATE WHITE LIGHT. OUR SMART LIGHT WILL THEREFORE BE ABLE TO SPECTRALLY MATCH THE NATURAL LIGHT FOUND WITHIN A ROOM BY CONTROLLING EACH COLOR LED SEPARATELY. TAILORING LIGHT SPECTRUMS AFFECTS BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES AND HAS BEEN SHOWN TO IMPROVE SLEEP PATTERNS AND ACADEMIC ATTENTION. BY WORKING WITH MOBILE DEVICES WE CAN REDUCE PRIVACY CONCERNS AND PROCESS IMAGERY WITHIN THE LIGHT SENSOR WITHOUT RECORDING OR TRANSMITTING INFORMATION. IT MAY BE DESIRABLE HOWEVER TO ADD THAT CAPABILITY AS IT WOULD ENABLE A HOST OF OTHER SAFETY FUNCTIONS SUCH AS GENERAL SECURITY, AND FIRE DETECTION.

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