MAXION TECHNOLOGIES AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES INC. (PSI) PROPOSE TO JOINTLY DEVELOP A COMPACT, RUGGED, HIGHLY R…

Public award description

MAXION TECHNOLOGIES AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES INC. (PSI) PROPOSE TO JOINTLY DEVELOP A COMPACT, RUGGED, HIGHLY RELIABLE, AND AUTONOMOUS SENSOR FOR IN-SITU MONITORING OF CO IN SPACECRAFT CREW AREAS FOR FIRE WARNING. OUR INNOVATION IS TO COMBINE A CUSTOM FABRICATED QUANTUM CASCADE LASER (QCL) WITH PSI'S PROPRIETARY SINGLE BOARD ELECTRONICS PACKAGE THAT INCORPORATES BOTH A HIGH SENSITIVITY OPTICAL DETECTION TECHNIQUE AND ALL SYSTEM CONTROL FUNCTIONS, TO CREATE A LASER SPECTROMETER FOR CO. THE ADVENT OF QCLS ENABLES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A VERY COMPACT AND HIGHLY SENSITIVE MONITOR. THIS TECHNICAL APPROACH WILL RESULT IN A SENSOR THAT HAS THE REQUISITE DYNAMIC RANGE OF 1 TO 500 PPMV WITH A PRECISION OF 1 PPMV CO, IN A PHYSICALLY ROBUST AND COMPACT PACKAGE. THE PHASE I PROGRAM WILL DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A BREADBOARD SENSOR AND CREATE A DETAILED CONCEPTUAL DESIGN FOR AN ADVANCED PROTOTYPE. THE TRL AT THE BEGINNING OF PHASE I IS LEVEL 2 AND THE TRL AT THE END OF PHASE I WILL BE LEVEL 4. THE PHASE II PROGRAM WILL FABRICATE A PROTOTYPE THAT CAN BE DEMONSTRATED AT A RELEVANT SIMULATOR. THE TRL AT THE END OF PHASE II WILL BE LEVEL 6. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF PHASES I AND II WILL RESULT IN A RIGOROUSLY VALIDATED PROTOTYPE SENSOR THAT CAN MONITOR AMBIENT CO WITH HIGH SPEED AND PRECISION. THE SENSOR ARCHITECTURE CAN BE EASILY MODIFIED TO MEASURE OTHER SPECIES.