Advanced NDA Technology for Remotely Handled Transuranic and Mixed Waste

65616 Many types of ground-based atmospheric radiation instruments, both broadband and spectral, need to be mounted on sun-tracking platforms. However, commercially available solar trackers are: (1) either very large, expensive, heavy-duty platforms made to hold multiple instruments, or simple drive mechanisms that require precise alignment and user input; (2) can only operate in ¿predictive¿ mode (i.e. without a feedback-based ¿active¿ tracking mechanism); and (3) fail to meet some of the requirements of the international sunphotometry community. This project will develop a highly accurate, low-cost solar tracker that sets up easily and can operate in both active and predictive modes. The tracker will utilize modern drive and control technologies, incorporate embedded GPS capability, and implement all required tracking modes and positioning techniques into the software. A scalable and/or modular design philosophy will be adopted so that users would not have to buy a large expensive tracker to obtain required performance for small payloads. Phase I will select an optimum system architecture, drive mechanism, and controller. Interface, control, and communication circuitry will be developed, along with solar tracking and positioning routines and other supporting software. A functioning prototype will be built and tested to meet the design requirements. Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by awardee: At a target price of $5k per unit, it appears that the replacement market for solar trackers would be about $1M per year. In addition, this technology could be adapted to the consumer market in the areas of amateur astronomy and satellite television, applications which could represent $5-20M per year.