Innovative Cost-Effective and High-Temperature Portable Helipad

The objective of this SBIR Phase I proposal is to develop a lightweight, cost-effective, and high-temperature resistant portable helipad for future helicopters and vertical landing aircrafts. Portable helipads are critical for forward operating bases, and enable aircrafts to land in any area safely and quickly without causing the brownout. The current technology is very effective for rotary crafts, but not for other vertical take-off and landing and thrust vectored aircrafts due to thermal limitations. Frontier will propose a novel material system to allow increased temperature sustainability and provide the Navy and Marine with the advanced material technology they need to facilitate future vehicles safely where brownout conditions may arise. Feasibility of the design to meet thermal, air permeability, and mechanical requirements as well as effectively suppress dust kick up will be outlined and systematically studied. Cost, required manpower, installation, manufacturability, reliability, and maintainability will also be analyzed for various design solutions.