Environmental Sensors for High Speed Airframes

ABSTRACT:In response to the Air Force topic AF151-190, Environmental Sensors for High Speed Airframes, the Innoveering team has devised an innovative and compact sensor/energy harvesting system that will meet DoD requirements, our MEMS Environmental Sensor and Harvesting (MESH) system. Our MESH system will: (i) be able harvest power from the environment being sensed in order to provide power to a portion of the safety critical subsystem; (ii) sense and report the transition from subsonic to hypersonic flight by measuring unique characteristics that are associated with the different high speed airframes of interest; (iii) not impact the high speed airframes performance; (iv) have dedicated circuitry that will support the safety critical subsystem; (iv) have its own dedicated electrical wiring that will not be shared with any other subsystem on the airframe; (v) use discrete components and discrete logic elements to facilitate RAMS requirements and all DoD system requirements (eg Joint Ordnance Test Procedure (JOTP) 052, 053).BENEFIT:Anticipated benefits of the current effort are: (i) providing the DoD with a unique combination sensor/power harvesting system that increases reliability for providing mission critical data to safety critical subsystems and (ii) pushing the limit of harsh environment sensors that could potentially provide spin-off benefits to power harvesting systems and high temperature thermoelectric materials. Our approach to commercialization for the proposed safety critical sensor system is to form a Strategic Alliance with ATK Missile Products Division. They have agreed to be a subcontractor to our Phase I effort, supporting our initial Phase I by providing expertise and reviewing our design. ATK is already supporting DARPAs Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) and Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) programs, and their Fuzing and Warheads division is very interested in addressing the need for a second environment sensor in regards to these programs. We intent to maintain our working relationship with ATK during the Phase II effort, and will open dialogue with them on how to transition the technology developed under the SBIR effort to a Phase III development and qualification program. As a safety critical system, the market for the solution we are proposing is limited to the DoD. Of what is known at this time, DARPAs HAWC and TBG programs will provide opportunities for testing prototypes that will be developed in the later Phases, perhaps during Phase II, but more importantly, either HAWC or TBG will lead to an AF acquisition program.