Source£ºthznetwork.org£»

    Advanced Photonix, Inc.® announced today that it has received two Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts totaling $200,000 to determine the feasibility of utilizing terahertz (THz) technology and their T-Ray(TM) 4000 product platform for defense applications. Both contracts are with the United States Air Force (USAF). Each contract is a Phase I feasibility project in the maximum amount of $100,000, with an expected duration of nine months from the start of the project. If either project is deemed successful, the Company can elect to apply for Phase II awards to further develop the technology. If awarded, the contracted amounts could range up to a maximum of $750,000 per project, with a maximum funding duration of two years. The Company will own the rights to any developed technology and is free to commercialize it in both private and/or military markets.

    The first contract is for non-destructive testing (NDT) application development and proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of using the Company¡¯s current THz products to measure aircraft specialty coatings during the curing process. The measurements will be taken real time in order to determine the dielectric constant and thickness of each layer of coating. The proposed solution will also be suitable to monitor many different coating and painting applications for the USAF and other Department of Defense groups. The Company also believes this application could be of utility in monitoring and inspecting coatings and paints applied in industrial settings, such as in automotive manufacturing.

    The second contract is to determine the feasibility of utilizing THz for imaging high temperature polymer matrix composites (HTPMCs) to detect and map aging characteristics. These composites are used in advanced aerospace structural systems. The aging issues are porosity, cracking, densification and layer delamination. The goal of this initial program is to develop the technology such that equipment could be utilized to inspect a variety of composite structures used in aviation and elsewhere for the Department of Defense and in commercial industry.

    Richard (Rick) Kurtz, Chairman and CEO of API, stated, ¡°These SBIR contracts help us build on the success that we have started with NASA and the TSA in developing our standard THz systems for a variety of applications. Our success in moving THz out of the laboratory and into the field and factory floor is dependent upon our application development.¡±