The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"Black Swift Technologies proposes the continued development, testing, validation, and delivery of the SuperSwift small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS), with a highly capable passive microwave radiometer to provide full coverage soil moisture measurements over an area of 400 acres per flight. Tight integration of the sensor with the sUAS avionics and airframe will enable precise flight control for low altitude missions in the range of 15m-30m above ground level (AGL) required for the sensor to accurately map soil moisture down to ~5cm in depth at up to a 15m resolution. The teams strong working knowledge of the regulatory environment surrounding sUAS will be used to inform the development of the system and associated concept of operations. This will facilitate safe and legal operation in the national airspace following FAA approval. The continued SuperSwift system development will address the design issues identified in Phase I. The stock airframe utilized in the Phase I study, the Tempest, while well qualified for use in preliminary flight testing, created additional challenges for integration of the soil moisture measurement payload. Due to the requirements of the radiometer antenna the Tempest was modified during Phase I to accomplish initial flight testing, but had several challenges including external placement of the antenna, more complex manufacturing of the control linkages for the rudder and elevator, and a soil moisture electronics payload that is deeply integrated into the airframe and difficult to remove for testing and replacement. These requirements drove the team to design a modified fuselage to be built in Phase II that involves a modified removable nose cone to house the entire sensor payload and converts the propulsion to a twin engine design on the wings.
","benefits":"In terms of addressable NASA markets, the SuperSwift sUAS has several unique benefits and fulfils multiple needs of the agency. The Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) Mission is in development by NASA for an October 2014 launch based on the recommendation of the National Research Council's Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space. The benefits of measuring the global hydrosphere are extensive and well documented by NASA. For SMAP specifically, the expected resolution of measurements from the passive radiometer is approximately 40 km. The SuperSwift sUAS in development is able to obtain comparable measurements to a resolution of 15 meters. This refined resolution enables two important uses of the data in support of the broader SMAP mission: validation, and resolution. In support of the prime science objectives of SMAP an extensive calibration and validation plan has been developed which articulates the need for many different data sources both before and after the spacecraft is launched. In addition to assisting with this extensive validation process, the SuperSwift sUAS will be able to augment SMAP science data products with finer resolution data near watersheds and in drought areas where local soil moisture data can provide unique information. The SuperSwift sUAS will also provide data products for regions where enhanced measurement frequency or resolution would advance research utilizing radiometer data.
The proposed system will have the ability to support FEMA in better understanding flash flood vulnerability. This utility was demonstrated in 2007 when Prof. Gasiewski led a NASA funded research effort to map soil moisture in a region of North Texas and Oklahoma that suffered from severe flooding. This data was used to provide alerts and warnings to areas susceptible to flash flooding. A SuperSwift sUAS could provide this data at a fraction of the cost and thus improve predictions for flooding events in vulnerable watersheds around the country. Providing information on vegetation density and soil moisture has a potentially powerful application in support of state and federal agencies seeking to understand, monitor, and fight wildland fires in certain circumstances. This work has been evaluated broadly by Black Swift Technologies and a proprietary white paper has been submitted to several state organizations using other sensor and system configurations. The progress made to date on developing the SuperSwift sUAS in Phase I of this project has already elicited specific interest from researchers looking at transitioning technologies to support precision agriculture applications. The Black Swift Team is work with researchers from Colorado State University to support a program with an initial SuperSwift system with the expectation of future growth as research results validate applications beyond those studied for this project.
The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"Black Swift Technologies proposes the continued development, testing, validation, and delivery of the SuperSwift small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS), with a highly capable passive microwave radiometer to provide full coverage soil moisture measurements over an area of 400 acres per flight. Tight integration of the sensor with the sUAS avionics and airframe will enable precise flight control for low altitude missions in the range of 15m-30m above ground level (AGL) required for the sensor to accurately map soil moisture down to ~5cm in depth at up to a 15m resolution. The teams strong working knowledge of the regulatory environment surrounding sUAS will be used to inform the development of the system and associated concept of operations. This will facilitate safe and legal operation in the national airspace following FAA approval. The continued SuperSwift system development will address the design issues identified in Phase I. The stock airframe utilized in the Phase I study, the Tempest, while well qualified for use in preliminary flight testing, created additional challenges for integration of the soil moisture measurement payload. Due to the requirements of the radiometer antenna the Tempest was modified during Phase I to accomplish initial flight testing, but had several challenges including external placement of the antenna, more complex manufacturing of the control linkages for the rudder and elevator, and a soil moisture electronics payload that is deeply integrated into the airframe and difficult to remove for testing and replacement. These requirements drove the team to design a modified fuselage to be built in Phase II that involves a modified removable nose cone to house the entire sensor payload and converts the propulsion to a twin engine design on the wings.
","benefits":"In terms of addressable NASA markets, the SuperSwift sUAS has several unique benefits and fulfils multiple needs of the agency. The Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) Mission is in development by NASA for an October 2014 launch based on the recommendation of the National Research Council's Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space. The benefits of measuring the global hydrosphere are extensive and well documented by NASA. For SMAP specifically, the expected resolution of measurements from the passive radiometer is approximately 40 km. The SuperSwift sUAS in development is able to obtain comparable measurements to a resolution of 15 meters. This refined resolution enables two important uses of the data in support of the broader SMAP mission: validation, and resolution. In support of the prime science objectives of SMAP an extensive calibration and validation plan has been developed which articulates the need for many different data sources both before and after the spacecraft is launched. In addition to assisting with this extensive validation process, the SuperSwift sUAS will be able to augment SMAP science data products with finer resolution data near watersheds and in drought areas where local soil moisture data can provide unique information. The SuperSwift sUAS will also provide data products for regions where enhanced measurement frequency or resolution would advance research utilizing radiometer data.
The proposed system will have the ability to support FEMA in better understanding flash flood vulnerability. This utility was demonstrated in 2007 when Prof. Gasiewski led a NASA funded research effort to map soil moisture in a region of North Texas and Oklahoma that suffered from severe flooding. This data was used to provide alerts and warnings to areas susceptible to flash flooding. A SuperSwift sUAS could provide this data at a fraction of the cost and thus improve predictions for flooding events in vulnerable watersheds around the country. Providing information on vegetation density and soil moisture has a potentially powerful application in support of state and federal agencies seeking to understand, monitor, and fight wildland fires in certain circumstances. This work has been evaluated broadly by Black Swift Technologies and a proprietary white paper has been submitted to several state organizations using other sensor and system configurations. The progress made to date on developing the SuperSwift sUAS in Phase I of this project has already elicited specific interest from researchers looking at transitioning technologies to support precision agriculture applications. The Black Swift Team is work with researchers from Colorado State University to support a program with an initial SuperSwift system with the expectation of future growth as research results validate applications beyond those studied for this project.
The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"The overall technical goal of this SBIR is the development of a commercially viable, small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) with a passive microwave sensor to enable high resolution mapping of soil moisture content. Current remote-sensing methods for sampling soil moisture often fail to provide measurements with adequate spatial and temporal resolution, or any indication of moisture content at typical root depths. This work involves the integration of existing sensor, airframe, and autopilot technologies to construct a novel sensing platform. The scientific payload will be a passive microwave sensor in the L-band to map soil moisture content. The airframe utilized is the Tempest, originally designed for sampling tornadic thunderstorms and is a robust, easy to operate design that can takeoff and land on unimproved surfaces. The avionics will be based on the SwiftPilot system which consists of an autopilot board, wireless link for communication, command and control, ground station, and tablet based user interface. The SwiftPilot system provides a simple, intuitive interface for conducting sUAS missions making it ideal for scientific applications. Tight integration of the sensor with the sUAS avionics and airframe will enable precise flight control for low altitude missions in the range of 15m-30m above ground level (AGL) enabling the sensor to accurately map soil moisture with a resolution approaching 15m. The PI's working knowledge of the regulatory environment surrounding sUAS will be used to inform the development of the system and associated concept of operations. This will facilitate operation in the national airspace following FAA approval. The technical goal of this Phase I proposal is to design the interfaces; mechanical, electrical, and software required for integration of the sUAS. This will include the design of experiments for testing and validating this unique sensing platform in Phase II to assess the the performance in the desired scientific missions.","benefits":"Two applications have been identified that build upon the results from prior NASA projects where small UAS were not used as a delivery platform. The use of remote-sensing techniques to measure soil moisture is well established in a number of scientific disciplines such as hydrology and environmental studies among others. The NASA systems typically used in the past for this purpose focus on satellite based systems such as the AMSR-E radiometers mounted on the EOS Aqua satellite, and the C and X band radiometers specified for the HYDROS mission. A sUAS system carrying similar radiometers will be able to improve on both the spatial and temporal resolution achievable through satellite based measurements. Furthermore, sensing at low altitudes enables the use of lower frequency radiometers (e.g. L band) that can penetrate deeper. This has the advantage of providing soil moisture measurements less likely to be confounded by canopy moisture. sUAS based systems can also complement data obtained from manned aircraft missions. Dr. Gasiewksi previously led a NASA funded research effort at the University of Colorado Center for Environmental Technology (CET) to map soil moisture in a region of North Texas and Oklahoma that suffered from severe flooding. A P-3B aircraft operating a Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR) was used for this purpose. The proposed technology will be able to replicate the capabilities and validate the results of the CET mission at a fraction of the cost.The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"Black Swift Technologies proposes the continued development, testing, validation, and delivery of the SuperSwift small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS), with a highly capable passive microwave radiometer to provide full coverage soil moisture measurements over an area of 400 acres per flight. Tight integration of the sensor with the sUAS avionics and airframe will enable precise flight control for low altitude missions in the range of 15m-30m above ground level (AGL) required for the sensor to accurately map soil moisture down to ~5cm in depth at up to a 15m resolution. The teams strong working knowledge of the regulatory environment surrounding sUAS will be used to inform the development of the system and associated concept of operations. This will facilitate safe and legal operation in the national airspace following FAA approval. The continued SuperSwift system development will address the design issues identified in Phase I. The stock airframe utilized in the Phase I study, the Tempest, while well qualified for use in preliminary flight testing, created additional challenges for integration of the soil moisture measurement payload. Due to the requirements of the radiometer antenna the Tempest was modified during Phase I to accomplish initial flight testing, but had several challenges including external placement of the antenna, more complex manufacturing of the control linkages for the rudder and elevator, and a soil moisture electronics payload that is deeply integrated into the airframe and difficult to remove for testing and replacement. These requirements drove the team to design a modified fuselage to be built in Phase II that involves a modified removable nose cone to house the entire sensor payload and converts the propulsion to a twin engine design on the wings.
","benefits":"In terms of addressable NASA markets, the SuperSwift sUAS has several unique benefits and fulfils multiple needs of the agency. The Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) Mission is in development by NASA for an October 2014 launch based on the recommendation of the National Research Council's Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space. The benefits of measuring the global hydrosphere are extensive and well documented by NASA. For SMAP specifically, the expected resolution of measurements from the passive radiometer is approximately 40 km. The SuperSwift sUAS in development is able to obtain comparable measurements to a resolution of 15 meters. This refined resolution enables two important uses of the data in support of the broader SMAP mission: validation, and resolution. In support of the prime science objectives of SMAP an extensive calibration and validation plan has been developed which articulates the need for many different data sources both before and after the spacecraft is launched. In addition to assisting with this extensive validation process, the SuperSwift sUAS will be able to augment SMAP science data products with finer resolution data near watersheds and in drought areas where local soil moisture data can provide unique information. The SuperSwift sUAS will also provide data products for regions where enhanced measurement frequency or resolution would advance research utilizing radiometer data.
The proposed system will have the ability to support FEMA in better understanding flash flood vulnerability. This utility was demonstrated in 2007 when Prof. Gasiewski led a NASA funded research effort to map soil moisture in a region of North Texas and Oklahoma that suffered from severe flooding. This data was used to provide alerts and warnings to areas susceptible to flash flooding. A SuperSwift sUAS could provide this data at a fraction of the cost and thus improve predictions for flooding events in vulnerable watersheds around the country. Providing information on vegetation density and soil moisture has a potentially powerful application in support of state and federal agencies seeking to understand, monitor, and fight wildland fires in certain circumstances. This work has been evaluated broadly by Black Swift Technologies and a proprietary white paper has been submitted to several state organizations using other sensor and system configurations. The progress made to date on developing the SuperSwift sUAS in Phase I of this project has already elicited specific interest from researchers looking at transitioning technologies to support precision agriculture applications. The Black Swift Team is work with researchers from Colorado State University to support a program with an initial SuperSwift system with the expectation of future growth as research results validate applications beyond those studied for this project.
The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"Black Swift Technologies proposes the continued development, testing, validation, and delivery of the SuperSwift small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS), with a highly capable passive microwave radiometer to provide full coverage soil moisture measurements over an area of 400 acres per flight. Tight integration of the sensor with the sUAS avionics and airframe will enable precise flight control for low altitude missions in the range of 15m-30m above ground level (AGL) required for the sensor to accurately map soil moisture down to ~5cm in depth at up to a 15m resolution. The teams strong working knowledge of the regulatory environment surrounding sUAS will be used to inform the development of the system and associated concept of operations. This will facilitate safe and legal operation in the national airspace following FAA approval. The continued SuperSwift system development will address the design issues identified in Phase I. The stock airframe utilized in the Phase I study, the Tempest, while well qualified for use in preliminary flight testing, created additional challenges for integration of the soil moisture measurement payload. Due to the requirements of the radiometer antenna the Tempest was modified during Phase I to accomplish initial flight testing, but had several challenges including external placement of the antenna, more complex manufacturing of the control linkages for the rudder and elevator, and a soil moisture electronics payload that is deeply integrated into the airframe and difficult to remove for testing and replacement. These requirements drove the team to design a modified fuselage to be built in Phase II that involves a modified removable nose cone to house the entire sensor payload and converts the propulsion to a twin engine design on the wings.
","benefits":"In terms of addressable NASA markets, the SuperSwift sUAS has several unique benefits and fulfils multiple needs of the agency. The Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) Mission is in development by NASA for an October 2014 launch based on the recommendation of the National Research Council's Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space. The benefits of measuring the global hydrosphere are extensive and well documented by NASA. For SMAP specifically, the expected resolution of measurements from the passive radiometer is approximately 40 km. The SuperSwift sUAS in development is able to obtain comparable measurements to a resolution of 15 meters. This refined resolution enables two important uses of the data in support of the broader SMAP mission: validation, and resolution. In support of the prime science objectives of SMAP an extensive calibration and validation plan has been developed which articulates the need for many different data sources both before and after the spacecraft is launched. In addition to assisting with this extensive validation process, the SuperSwift sUAS will be able to augment SMAP science data products with finer resolution data near watersheds and in drought areas where local soil moisture data can provide unique information. The SuperSwift sUAS will also provide data products for regions where enhanced measurement frequency or resolution would advance research utilizing radiometer data.
The proposed system will have the ability to support FEMA in better understanding flash flood vulnerability. This utility was demonstrated in 2007 when Prof. Gasiewski led a NASA funded research effort to map soil moisture in a region of North Texas and Oklahoma that suffered from severe flooding. This data was used to provide alerts and warnings to areas susceptible to flash flooding. A SuperSwift sUAS could provide this data at a fraction of the cost and thus improve predictions for flooding events in vulnerable watersheds around the country. Providing information on vegetation density and soil moisture has a potentially powerful application in support of state and federal agencies seeking to understand, monitor, and fight wildland fires in certain circumstances. This work has been evaluated broadly by Black Swift Technologies and a proprietary white paper has been submitted to several state organizations using other sensor and system configurations. The progress made to date on developing the SuperSwift sUAS in Phase I of this project has already elicited specific interest from researchers looking at transitioning technologies to support precision agriculture applications. The Black Swift Team is work with researchers from Colorado State University to support a program with an initial SuperSwift system with the expectation of future growth as research results validate applications beyond those studied for this project.
The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"The overall technical goal of this SBIR is the development of a commercially viable, small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) with a passive microwave sensor to enable high resolution mapping of soil moisture content. Current remote-sensing methods for sampling soil moisture often fail to provide measurements with adequate spatial and temporal resolution, or any indication of moisture content at typical root depths. This work involves the integration of existing sensor, airframe, and autopilot technologies to construct a novel sensing platform. The scientific payload will be a passive microwave sensor in the L-band to map soil moisture content. The airframe utilized is the Tempest, originally designed for sampling tornadic thunderstorms and is a robust, easy to operate design that can takeoff and land on unimproved surfaces. The avionics will be based on the SwiftPilot system which consists of an autopilot board, wireless link for communication, command and control, ground station, and tablet based user interface. The SwiftPilot system provides a simple, intuitive interface for conducting sUAS missions making it ideal for scientific applications. Tight integration of the sensor with the sUAS avionics and airframe will enable precise flight control for low altitude missions in the range of 15m-30m above ground level (AGL) enabling the sensor to accurately map soil moisture with a resolution approaching 15m. The PI's working knowledge of the regulatory environment surrounding sUAS will be used to inform the development of the system and associated concept of operations. This will facilitate operation in the national airspace following FAA approval. The technical goal of this Phase I proposal is to design the interfaces; mechanical, electrical, and software required for integration of the sUAS. This will include the design of experiments for testing and validating this unique sensing platform in Phase II to assess the the performance in the desired scientific missions.","benefits":"Two applications have been identified that build upon the results from prior NASA projects where small UAS were not used as a delivery platform. The use of remote-sensing techniques to measure soil moisture is well established in a number of scientific disciplines such as hydrology and environmental studies among others. The NASA systems typically used in the past for this purpose focus on satellite based systems such as the AMSR-E radiometers mounted on the EOS Aqua satellite, and the C and X band radiometers specified for the HYDROS mission. A sUAS system carrying similar radiometers will be able to improve on both the spatial and temporal resolution achievable through satellite based measurements. Furthermore, sensing at low altitudes enables the use of lower frequency radiometers (e.g. L band) that can penetrate deeper. This has the advantage of providing soil moisture measurements less likely to be confounded by canopy moisture. sUAS based systems can also complement data obtained from manned aircraft missions. Dr. Gasiewksi previously led a NASA funded research effort at the University of Colorado Center for Environmental Technology (CET) to map soil moisture in a region of North Texas and Oklahoma that suffered from severe flooding. A P-3B aircraft operating a Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR) was used for this purpose. The proposed technology will be able to replicate the capabilities and validate the results of the CET mission at a fraction of the cost.