The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $88,125 - Tuesday the 13th of August 2013
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIES MEASUREMENT ON AIRBORNE ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH CRAFT IS A DEMANDING APPLICATION FOR OPTICAL SENSING TECHNIQUES. YET OPTICAL TECHNIQUES OFFER MANY ADVANTAGES INCLUDING HIGH-PRECISION, FAST RESPONSE, AND HIGH SPECIES SELECTIVITY. BALLOONSONDE, KITE, UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV), OR GLIDER DEPLOYMENT DEMANDS THAT SENSORS MEET STRINGENT SIZE, WEIGHT AND POWER REQUIREMENTS. FEW MEASUREMENTS ARE AS IMPORTANT, AND NONE HAVE ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS, LIKE THE NEED TO QUANTIFY ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE. VISTA PHOTONICS PROPOSES TO DEVELOP RUGGED, COMPACT, POWER EFFICIENT PROTOTYPE OPTICAL SENSORS CAPABLE OF SELECTIVELY MEASURING ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE AND WATER VAPOR WITH PRECISION THAT RIVALS GROUND BASED INSTRUMENTS. THE ENABLING TECHNOLOGY FOR MEETING STRINGENT NASA MISSION REQUIREMENTS IS A NEWLY EMERGENT INFRARED LASER SOURCE THAT DELIVERS THE HIGH-SENSITIVITY OF ESTABLISHED OPTICAL ABSORPTION DETECTION TECHNIQUES WITH EXTREME COMPACTNESS AND LOW POWER DRAW.

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• $50,075 - Tuesday the 18th of December 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  AIRBORNE ISOTOPIC HYDROCARBON ANALYZER FOR TITAN TRACE SPECIES MEASUREMENT ON UNMANNED ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH CRAFT SUITABLE FOR INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL IS A DEMANDING APPLICATION FOR OPTICAL SENSING TECHNIQUES. YET OPTICAL TECHNIQUES OFFER MANY ADVANTAGES INCLUDING HIGH-PRECISION, FAST RESPONSE, AND STRONG SPECIES SELECTIVITY. BALLOONSONDE, KITE, UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (UAV) OR GLIDER DEPLOYMENT DEMANDS THAT OPTICAL SENSORS MEET STRINGENT SIZE, WEIGHT AND POWER REQUIREMENTS. VISTA PHOTONICS PROPOSES TO CONSTRUCT RUGGED, COMPACT, LOW-POWER OPTICAL SENSOR PROTOTYPES CAPABLE OF SELECTIVELY DETERMINING ISOTOPIC-RESOLVED HYDROCARBONS AT TITAN-RELEVANT CONCENTRATIONS. THE SENSOR WILL BE DEMONSTRATED IN PHASE II BY AIRBORNE MEASUREMENT OF CO2 AND WATER VAPOR ON EARTH. THE ENABLING TECHNOLOGY FOR MEETING STRINGENT NASA MISSION REQUIREMENTS IS A NEW RUGGED, COMPACT, AND LIGHTWEIGHT OPTICAL PATH LENGTH ENHANCEMENT CELL THAT RECOVERS THE ESTABLISHED SENSITIVITY OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE OPTICAL ABSORPTION DETECTION TECHNIQUES ON A PLATFORM WITH NO MOVING PARTS. THE PROPOSED SPECTROMETER WILL BE CAPABLE OF DETECTING MULTIPLE SPECIES WITH LITTLE ADDITIONAL WEIGHT OR POWER PENALTIES.

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• $45,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
  BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE HIGHLY REACTIVE ACID GAS SPECIES ARE CRITICAL EARLY INDICATORS OF FIRE ONBOARD SPACECRAFT. INDEED, ALONG WITH HYDROGEN CYANIDE AND CARBON MONOXIDE, THEY CONSTITUTE THE PRESENT SUITE OF DETERMINATIVE COMBUSTION PRODUCTS FOR RELIABLE, ACCURATE, EVENT DETECTION. YET THESE SPECIES ARE NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT TO DETECT WHEN APPLYING TRADITIONAL OPTICAL SENSING TECHNIQUES TO THESE UNIQUE MONITORING APPLICATIONS. DUE TO THEIR REACTIVITY, TECHNIQUES EMPLOYING EVEN MODEST AMOUNTS OF TUBING FOR GAS SAMPLING ARE PRONE TO FAILURE BECAUSE IT TAKES MINUTES OR EVEN HOURS TO REGISTER AN ACID GAS EVENT WHILE RESPONSE IN SECONDS IS REQUIRED. IN RESPONSE OF THIS DIFFICULTY, VISTA PHOTONICS PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AND TEST AN OPTICAL ABSORPTION SPECTROMETER FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE, REAL-TIME MONITORING OF COMBUSTION EVOLVED ACID GASES. EARLIER MEASUREMENTS BY VISTA PHOTONICS TOGETHER WITH JSC TOXICOLOGY STAFF HAVE SHOWN THAT OPTICAL APPROACHES SUFFERING LONG SAMPLE INTERACTION TIMES ARE NOT EFFECTIVE WHEN APPLIED TO THESE HIGHLY REACTIVE TRANSIENT EVOLVED COMBUSTIONEVOLVED COMBUSTION SPECIES. IN CONTRAST, THE PRESENT PROPOSED TECHNIQUE UTILIZES RAPID SAMPLING AND SHORT SAMPLE INTERACTION PATHS IN AN SBIR-DEVELOPED PROPRIETARY INTEGRATING SPHERE ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY (ISAS) APPROACH COMBINED WITH WAVELENGTH MODULATION SPECTROSCOPY (WMS) AND TUNABLE INFRARED SEMICONDUCTOR LASER DIODES. SEVERAL PROTOTYPES HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DEMONSTRATED BY VISTA PHOTONICS FOR MONITORING HYDROGEN FLUORIDE (HF) IN TESTING AT NASA WHITE SANDS TEST FACILITY (WSTF) AS SHOWN IN FIGURE 1. A COMPANION EFFORT AT VISTA PHOTONICS RECENTLY DEMONSTRATED THAT LIKE PERFORMANCE FOR HYDROGEN CHLORIDE (HCL) CAN BE PROVIDED BY ISAS USING A SIMILAR LASER DEVICE. THE PRESENT STATE-OF-THE-ART HF COMBUSTIONSENSOR IS SHOWN ON THE RIGHT IN FIGURE 1 NEXT TO THE PHASE II PROTOTYPE. THE PORTABLE, TURNKEY, PHASE III DEVICE IS ENABLED BY AUTONOMOUS ELECTRONIC OPERATION PROVIDED BY FIELD PROGRAMMABLE GATE ARRAY (FPGA) AND MICROCONTROLLER TECHNOLOGY. THE SENSOR DRAWS ABOUT 4 WATTS AND CAN RUN ON BATTERIES OR LINE POWER. REALISTIC COMBUSTION TESTING AT WSTF OF ELECTROCHEMICAL-BASED SPECIES MONITORS, ALONGSIDE VISTA PHOTONICS HIGHLY SELECTIVE OPTICAL DEVICES, HAS REVEALED CONFOUNDING ISSUES IN ACID GAS DETECTION WITH THE PRESENT CSA-CP MONITOR IN USE ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS).

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• $43,747 - Tuesday the 7th of May 2013
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
  VISTA PHOTONICS GAS SENSOR FOR ADVANCED PORTABLE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM

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• $150,000 - Wednesday the 18th of December 2013
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  STUDYING THE ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION OF MATERIALS IS AN ESTABLISHED METHOD TO OBTAIN DETAILED INSIGHT INTO FORMATION AND EVOLUTION PROCESSES IN OUR UNIVERSE. WATER MAY PLAY A DOMINANT ROLE IN UNRAVELING THESE PROCESSES. ISOTOPE HYDROLOGY APPLIED IN SITU ON THE MOON AND OTHER PLANETS MIGHT DEVELOP INTO THE KEY METHOD TO UNDERSTAND THE HISTORY OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. THE MOON PROVIDES UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES TO STUDY TRAPPED VOLATILE COMPOUNDS, LIKE WATER, DUE TO THE SPECIAL CONDITIONS AT ITS POLES. THESE CONDITIONS ENABLE THE LONG TERM STORAGE OF VOLATILES AND PRESERVATION OF THEIR ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION. A COMPACT, PRECISE ISOTOPE HYGROMETER OPERATED ON THE MOON WILL BE AN INVALUABLE TOOL IF ABUNDANT WATER SOURCES ARE FOUND ON THE MOON IN THE LCROSS MISSION. THIS PROJECT SEEKS TO DEVELOP A HIGHLY SENSITIVE, PORTABLE WATER ISOTOPE RATIOMETER FOR PRECISELY MEASURING WATER SAMPLES IN SITU ON THE MOON. THE OPTICAL SENSORS DEVELOPED ON THIS PROJECT WILL HAVE UNIQUE FEATURES INCLUDING FAST RESPONSE, HIGH PRECISION AND STRONG SPECIES SELECTIVITY. DESIGN CRITERIA SUCH AS A SMALL FOOTPRINT, LOW WEIGHT, LOW POWER CONSUMPTION AND CONTINUOUS SENSOR HEALTH MONITORING WILL BE IMPLEMENTED TO OPTIMIZE THE SENSORS FOR APPLICATION TO THE MOON. AN ABSORPTION APPROACH USING MODULATION TECHNIQUES WILL BE IMPLEMENTED ON A LUNAR MISSION SUITABLE PLATFORM.

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