Air Force Small Business Technology Transition Research
Academic Partnership and Engagement Experiment (APEX)
From Dave Nestic, APEX STTR Program Director:
We have been working the Agility Prime STTR opportunity for the Air Force. The solicitation window is very short with proposals due on August 10th so we are getting the following information out to our contact list.
STTRs require a team made up of a small, for-profit business and a non-profit research institute. We have several interested parties that are either one of those seeking the other as potential partners. The list below is divided into “Company Seeking Research Institute” and “Research Institute Seeking Company”. If you have an interest in partnering, please review the list below to see if there is a match. If you find a match and would like an introduction, we will review with the seeker and connect you up as appropriate.
Please contact Dave Nestic, indicate which entries (for which you qualify) match your interest and we will work expeditiously to help get teams formed:
234-348-APEX
234-348-2739
In the future we will be working to automate this, but for the sake of time in this short window of opportunity we are taking this manual approach. Thanks. Lengthy table follows:
| Company Seeking Research Institute | Research Institute Seeking Company | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technology Brought | Technology Sought | Technology Brought | Technology Sought | |
| 3D-printing, additive manufacturing, forming, joining, die casting, injection molding, friction stir welding, machining, laser welding, arc welding, cladding, robotics, tensile, fatigue and compression testing, metrology, materials characterization, PCB, and electronics. | Looking to partner with small businesses who are seeking partners or suppliers with diverse capabilities and extensive manufacturing and materials knowledge. We aim to use our resources to help partners mature through the prototyping and low-rate production stages. | |||
| Software integration technology company. Focus on assured integration of software components and interfaces within embedded software systems. | Looking for software and hardware technologies and researchers to explore ways to incorporate software components secured into planned Orb, VTOL, eVTOL efforts. | |||
| This service is a program through which any member pilot can rent (part 91) or charter (part 135) a small aircraft from any member owner/operator (flight schools etc) in the country without having to take a new “check out” flight each time (as is done today); delivering on-demand air mobility with today’s fleet of ~200,000 privately owned aircraft and 600k+ pilots. That platform creates an operational field-demonstration of market demands and induced customer behaviors that can better inform investments in next-generation aviation technologies like VTOLs and autonomous solutions. | Looking for a partner that can bring the data-analytics for either the business information (customer demand behavior, price flexibility etc) or the technical flight information (telemetry, deviations against planned flight route, etc); or ideally both (but not required). Right now we are a young company so we do not have (nor depend on) a technology but for a phase 2 we will have (or co-develop) an app and other methods to collect the data that will be used for this study; nothing very sophisticated needs to be built to acquire either data set. | |||
| A unique technology based upon verifying and characterizing digital data transfers over data link telemetry systems. Capital equipment includes: Video Data Link systems (based on COFDM waveforms) that can be employed to baseline the EVTOL platform command control and sensor characterization. Also experienced in collecting and providing software tools for data analysis by the platform prime vendor. | Require platform specifics such as interface specifications and adaptors to physically connect to the platform and command-control enclave. Technology specific to EVTOLs, such as servos, power distribution, sensors would be key to our role as data link suppliers for system characterization activities under AGILE. | A unique technology based upon verifying and characterizing digital data transfers over data link telemetry systems. Capital equipment includes: Video Data Link systems (based on COFDM waveforms) that can be employed to baseline the EVTOL platform command control and sensor characterization. Also experienced in collecting and providing software tools for data analysis by the platform prime vendor. | Require platform specifics such as interface specifications and adaptors to physically connect to the platform and command-control enclave. Technology specific to EVTOLs, such as servos, power distribution, sensors would be key to our role as data link suppliers for system characterization activities under AGILE. | |
| Technology enables high strength joining of shape memory alloys to structural metals for applications including: (a) Lightweight, Compact, Energy Efficient Actuators and (b) Active Flight Surface Modification | Partnered with the startup company Applied Impulse that is working to commercialize sister technologies in other market verticals. For the Airforce applications, looking to partner with an industry member who is actively working with air vehicles and has a pain point that our technology can solve. Ideally they would have experience with shape memory alloy actuators, but we and our partners can fill the expertise role if required. | |||
| RF Noise Radar and Optical sensor fusion for Detect and Avoid Algorithm Development. Focusing on UAV applications to expand to “flying cars” | Algorithm Development, no need for a focus on hardware/sensor improvements. | |||
| Technology associated with a portable respirator worn on the face that includes a frontal mask portion that is continually replenished with HEPA filtered air through ducts leading to the back of the head where a miniature fan pulls in ambient air through a pleated HEPA filter. The entire unit is powered by small on board rechargeable batteries. The pressure in the mask remains above atmospheric through the breathing cycle, effectively creating a clean room environment inside the mask cavity. | The small business is capable of hardware design and prototype fabrication. It is also capable of quantifying air flows, pressures, and life cycles of materials. It does need someone to verify the support of such data collection. In addition, the small business is not capable of accurate measurements of mask cavity air quality, ingested particularates, and virus contamination exposure to the user. | |||
| Autonomous Navigation of UAS/UGV Teams, Fast Traversing Autonomous Rovers, robotic technologies | Positioning/Navigation area in support of Autonomy with emphasis in denied/degraded environments. | |||
| a) A high-speed, high efficiency generator with integrated power electronics, and b) Novel VTOL aircraft architecture. | Looking for deep turbomachinery expertise to support analysis of a high efficiency recuperated cycle gas turbine to complete our high performance genset. b) Looking for aerodynamics expertise to model certain unique and difficult aspects of our aircraft architecture. | |||
| AI technology to leverage ‘self-awareness’ in control autonomous systems of Air Force and commercial. | Has partners Naval Warfare Center center in Seattle, Keyport as well as Boeing defense that have test facilities. Open to make new connections if the technology is found to be essential. | |||
| Seeks collaboration with Agility Prime members that might benefit from our multidisciplinary computational methods to optimize designs and ensure mission readiness for the new generation of vehicles entering the emerging eVTOL/UAM defense marketplace | ||||
| Provides flight test instrumentation and telemetry equipment to the DoD and commercial aviation entities. | ||||
| We’re here to assist in solving an interconnect challenge, to design a power supply, to consult on whether a cable assembly or a flexible circuit assembly is best, to reduce weight and costs associated with the interconnects, to improve signal integrity performance of your system, and more. Also, not only can we assist with designing and qualifying the products, we can also integrate and build most anything for you as well. | ||||
| Companies to partner with for aeromechanics analysis and design; especially including power generation, autonomy, rotors and propellers and aeroacoustics. | ||||
| looking for: partners, funding, talent | ||||
| Focused on human-machine interfaces and autonomy behaviors for UAS and AAM platforms. We are a 2014 spin-off from certified avionics supplier Avidyne and have extensive experience in this space. | Looking for: We would love to make more connections with organizations who are building airframes for the Agility Prime mission set or otherwise need the types of services we view as our core competencies. | |||
| We build complete avionics and autonomy stacks for UAS, both software and hardware. We also build ground control hardware and software. | We are looking for an opportunity to collaborate with academic institutions and the Air Force in bringing advanced flight control and autonomy to Orb. | |||
| On our aerostructures capacity we build everything from composite tooling, to carbon fiber parts, to honeycomb core machining, to large integrated structures sub-assemblies like wings and fuselages, to entire airframes. We are flexible to each customer’s needs and do one-off design/build prototypes all the way to high-rate, 40 shipsets+ per month, built-to-print commercial engine part fabrications. | Actively looking for OEMs that need to rapidly build flight vehicles for experimentation, development, or production opportunities. We have an unparalleled ability to build airworthy structure quickly. We are also seeking R&D opportunities to further our materials, processing, and manufacturing development on our low-cost, high-rate, automated, certifiable carbon fiber aero-structures that will be needed to achieve AAM/UAM long-term goals. This includes advancing our work on process, automation, and factory simulation/layout for rapidly scalable air vehicle manufacturing. | |||
| We develop hazard warning systems. | We are looking for collaborators interested in developing and testing weather avoidance systems for flying orbs. | |||
| We provide simulation, analysis and testing services in the Electromagnetic Effects and antenna RFI area. | Orb or component suppliers/designers that need help with Electromagnetic Effects simulation and certification. | |||
| We have our designs and our team that is looking forward to partnering with an accredited institution to help us accelerate our ideas into a flying orb. We want to help build the frame sections and Orb parts by 3d printing the structures and that making them much stronger than traditional methods by adding Graphene for lightness. | We are new to the building phase and want to learn all we can and figure out where we can help in this industry. First time we will be looking for a grant from anyone and want to go step by step and take in all the fantastic information along the way to help bring our ideas to life. Our goals are to find the right propulsion component and electric energy source to our designs. We would like to speak to institutions about larger scale 3d printing machines as well that work well with our plans. We want to network and keep pushing the limits of what we think is possible. | |||
| Offers a solution to study many aspects of VTOL design from the overall vehicle system to battery pack electrical and thermal performance over flight missions. Engineers can even study down to the battery cell level and use GT’s electrochemistry modeling capabilities to predict cycle life, which is crucial in understanding the economic feasibility of VTOLs. Since safety is paramount for aircraft, thermal runaway of battery cells and packs can also be predicted using GT-SUITE. | Looking for Industry, Academic, and Government organizations to work with on using GT-SUITE For VTOL development. We have seen much success and provided much value to our existing customers in Aerospace and Automotive industries. | |||
| We are here to work with small businesses and OEMs alike to help you transition your concepts to reality, including helping with vehicle certification. We can assist you advance your R&D or novel technology. | We provide subject matter experts across the realm of Vertical Lift technologies, including state-of-the-art modeling and simulation , testing, and design. We also have experts in autonomy, cyber-physical systems, machine learning and other advanced technologies. We happily will work with you to protect your IP! Looking to grow your team? Talk to us about our VL BS, MS, and PhD graduates from one of the top ranked engineering universities in the World! | |||
| Provides turnkey support for UAS operations with a focus on capability for larger UAS. Grand Sky is part of the broader Team North Dakota UAS ecosystem and can help arrange access to National Guard restricted airspace, a BVLOS system based on the Grand Forks AFB DASR-11 radar and other amenities as needed. Don’t wait on a government test range, come demonstrate your capabilities in the national airspace now. | Looking for companies that want to test or operate their UAS systems. We’re looking for companies that want to demonstrate capabilities of aircraft, systems, or other technologies in real world, national airspace environment. Our current goals are simple, Grand Sky is fully operational and the first of a network of droneports currently in development. We want companies that want to apply their technologies to current commercial end-user needs. | |||
| It manufactures the full spectrum of advanced material solutions including everything from fiber to fabrics and resin formulation to thermosetting prepregs, new solutions for out of autoclave processing, molding materials, composite tooling, 3D printed parts made with additive manufacturing, honeycomb and machined core. | We are looking to connect with AAM manufacturers who are looking for lightweight composite material solutions to make their vehicles more efficient, safe, comfortable and cost-effective. | |||
| We connect regional, state, and national partners through a variety of means. This includes convening research and business teams to solve emerging technical challenges for the Department of Defense. | Small business and University Partners interested in collaboration. | |||
| ABSAA/DAA radar technology and solution | industry partners | |||
| Our system can take the design of a sheet metal part and return a fully formed component without any manual intervention. In the context of ORBs, our die-less sheet metal forming system can be used to cost-effectively iterate and change the design of composite layup molds in a short time frame. This reduces costs for developing tools and increases agility with developing new parts. Our flexible working envelope allows for the fabrication of different size molds from large aerospace components to smaller automotive parts. | We are looking to partner with ORB builders to enable them with fast and cost-effective process to manufacture composite and sheet metal parts. | |||
| We empower space exploration robots and robotic satellites for servicing with curiosity & autonomy, and we make new strides in the field of astronaut-robot collaboration. | Funding Partnership | |||
| The Mobodyne team is tactically and strategically teaming with kindred developers of enabling technologies and subsystems — propulsion, automation, cryogenics, controls, etc. — as well as collaborating on ecosystem and infrastructure innovations by fellow OEMs, associations, research labs and government entities. | ||||
| We provide advanced aviation data services, enables by electronic conspicuity, to allow the safe separation of (manned) aircraft. | Looking for contacts to develop our business network in the USA. | |||
| We accelerate innovation by working with R&D engineers to identify, understand and apply biologically-inspired designs to hard design problems. As we uncover potential solutions, each biological pattern is identified and its potential is assessed against the detailed requirements, limitations and trade-offs of the stated problem, giving partners deeper insight into the biology, accelerating the speed and precision of innovation. | We partner with R&D organizations with deep mastery of a problem domain, who are looking for competitive advantage or innovation acceleration by leveraging 3.8 billion years of biological R&D. | |||
| We build small hybrid powertrains that can be used as range extenders on UAS. Our system is lightweight, self-starts, plug-n-play, and fuel injected. | We would love to meet partners to collaborate with on research involving novel power generation systems. | |||
| The laboratory provides advanced technologies in multifunctional materials and intelligent structures for designing next generation light-weight autonomous and mobile vehicles mimicking bio-logical systems. | We are looking for funding and industry partners to develop and implement the technologies for various applications. | |||
| With nearly 3000 employees across an array of technical divisions, we are highly multidisciplinary and have expertise in a number of technology areas relevant to the Agility Prime objectives. Examples include aerospace engineering, AI, traffic management, automation, material characterization, ICME, advanced manufacturing, uncertainty quantification, RF, acoustics, propulsion, and more. Our main campus is 1500 acres and we’ve got even more space on a remote site for flight testing as needed. | We are looking for opportunities to match our R&D skills with innovative small businesses to develop, refine, advance, and prove their ideas. | |||
| Software for enterprise applications of artificial intelligence and robotics. | Applications in DoD and commercial sector for procedure automation systems | |||
| Research related to advanced materials, especially composites, and advanced manufacturing, especially 3D additive manufacturing | We are looking to meet Orb manufacturers to understand anticipated requirements for composites in production and to begin testing programs to qualify the materials. | |||
| The UAV Lab has extensive experience developing sub-scale flight systems in order to prove advanced flight concepts. We develop end-to-end solutions involving custom vehicle design, advanced sensor fusion, advanced flight control development, and novel flight testing. | Looking for commercial partners that can leverage our unique capabilities and experience. | |||
| Deals with Dynamics, acoustics, aeroelasticity, Theory, Experiments, Computations and Controls of mobility systems found in engineering and medical cross-disciplinary fields that can behave rigidly or flexibly under natural and forced environments. Student researchers work on their Ph.D. dissertations or Master’s thesis research directed by Professor Nesrin Sarigul-Klijn, and are from one of the following graduate programs: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering; or Biomedical Engineering. | Opportunity to Team up for STTR | |||
| University wind tunnel testing and computational modeling of internal and external aerodynamic devices for thermal management, flow control systems, and advanced aircraft materials | New partnerships seeking experimental and computational aerodynamics support | |||
| Biochemistry, molecular biology | ||||
| Brings experience in robotic perception, computer vision, artificial intelligence, cyber-physical systems, and controls. We also have a variety of equipment necessary for carry out research in these areas such as sensors, robot platforms, and high performance computing facilities. | Interested in working with a partner that has complementary capabilities in the areas of vision, control, perception, and intelligence. | |||
| the AI technology to leverage ‘self-awareness’ in control autonomous systems of Air Force and commercial. | ||||