SBIR/STTR Research Award
A SOIL MOISTURE SENSOR FOR USE IN POLAR REGIONS
Award amount
$40,000Program and phase
SBIR · Phase IAward year
1987Award details
- Awarding agency
- National Science Foundation
- Branch
- Not reported
- Recipient company
- Ophir Corporation
- Proposal award date
- Not reported
- Contract end date
- Not reported
- UEI
- KBW8KJC952H4
- Solicitation number
- Not reported
- Topic code
- Not reported
Research abstract
A NEW AND POTENTIALLY VERY ACCURATE AND INEXPENSIVE CONCEPT OF SOIL MOISTURE MEASUREMENT IS PROPOSED. IT CAN DISCRIMINATE PERMAFROST FROM LIQUID MOISTURE IN SOIL. THE PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY CAN QUANTIFY TOTAL SOIL MOISTURE CONTENT IN VOLUMETRIC UNITS OF GRAMS PER CUBIC CENTIMETER. UNLIKE OTHER LOW COST TECHNOLOGIES, THE PROPOSED DEVICE IS THEORETICALLY INDEPENDENT OF SOIL TYPE, SOIL BINDING ENERGY, AND DISSOLVED MATTER CONDUCTIVITY ERRORS. IN PHASE I LABORATORY TESTS WILL BE CONDUCTED DEMONSTRATE THAT THE PROPOSED THEORY IS CORRECT AND THAT HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROPOSED SOIL AND PERMAFROST MOISTURE MEASURING DEVICE IS POSSIBLE. PHASE II WILL BE DEVOTED TO DURABLE HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATIONS AND FIELD TESTS IN ARCTIC AND POLAR CLIMATES.
Technology keywords
Not reported
Other awards by this recipient
Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.
- A LIDAR for Mapping Dense Aerosols
- Multifunction Lidar for Air Data and Kinetic Air Hazard Measurement
- Multifunction Lidar for Air Data and Kinetic Air Hazard Measurement
- Low Cost, Compact, Direct Detection Wind and Temperature Lidar for Measurements in the Boundary Layer
- Low-Cost, Compact, Multi Directional Low Airspeed Indicator for Rotary Wing Aircraft
Research funding history
66 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (1983–2014). Reported award amounts total $11,986,589. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.
Phases: Phase I, Phase II
Agencies: Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Commerce