TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Ground/Sea Vehicles

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA 251 - Advanced Arresting Gear Program

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: Develop an innovative sensor and display technology that indirectly measures if the JBD panels are fouled and displays aircraft weight (configuration) information to the pilot and the Catapult Officer and Central Charging Panel (CCP) operator.

DESCRIPTION: The JBD panels are raised when launching aircraft to prevent the exhaust from damaging aircraft on deck as well as potentially harming individuals. The JBD Operator (Safety for Waist Catapults) and the Weight Board Operator both perform their duties on deck near the JBD panels. The JBD Operator�s function is to determine if aircraft or personnel are fouling the panels� range of motion, which prevents the panels from being raised or lowered. The Weight Board Operator typically negotiates the weight of the aircraft with the pilot behind the JBD while an aircraft is being launched. The Weight Board Operator shows the weight board to the Catapult Officer and relays the negotiated weight and configuration to the JBD Operator so the information can be passed to the CCP Operator. Noise levels associated with the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) can cause permanent damage to personnel in the area. In order to mitigate the potential harm to the JBD Operator and Weight Board Operator, they must be removed from the area where they presently perform their functions. The goal of this SBIR is to devise a technology to replace these positions. The minimum is to remove the operators from the hazardous area created by the JSF.

PHASE I: Determine the feasibility of replacing personnel or reducing the risk/hazard to personnel taking into consideration such factors as accuracy and safety and develop a conceptual design based upon the lowest technical risk and highest confidence of completion. Develop a concept of operation and provide defendable estimates for cost and reliability and maintainability (if applicable).

PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate a prototype. During a final demonstration, the system should provide system health monitoring, fault detection/isolation, and a fail-safe mode.

PHASE III: Further develop a prototype for robustness and shock, vibration, environmental and electromagnetic interference (EMI) testing (as applicable). Produce units for delivery to carrier Fleet and shore sites.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The technology used to develop the sensors and display techniques will have potential industrial commercialization in applications that require high precision detection and innovative display techniques (complying with flight deck lighting limitations) in harsh environments.

REFERENCES:
1. Aircraft Weight Confirmation Unit (To be posted on SITIS)

2. Jet Blast Deflector (To be posted on SITIS)

KEYWORDS: Non-Contact; Health Monitoring; Fault Isolation; Catapult; Jet Blast Deflector; Environmentally Robust

TPOC: (732)323-2825
2nd TPOC: (732)323-7918

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between November 13 and December 9, 2007, you may talk directly with the Topic Author(s) to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting December 10, 2007, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the DoD's SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (08.1 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 08.1 topic under which they are proposing.

If you have general questions about DoD SBIR program, please contact the DoD SBIR Help Desk at (866) 724-7457 or email weblink.