PICOMETRIX, OBTAINS PHASE TWO CONTRACT WITH NASA FOR ONE-SIDED 3D IMAGING OF NON-UNIFORMITIES IN NON-METALLIC SPACE FLIGHT MATERIALS

MY NOTE: THIS CONTRACT AWARD WAS ALSO BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION BY MESSAGE BOARD POSTER bucktailjig05

IN THIS PHASE II PROJECT WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP CONSTRUCT AND DELIVER TO NASA A PROTOTYPE SINGLE-SIDED COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY TIME-DOMAIN TERAHERTZ (SINGLE-SIDED CT TD-THZ) SCANNER ACCESSORY. THIS ACCESSORY WILL BE SUITABLE TO BE MOUNTED ONTO A NON-DESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION (NDE) IMAGING GANTRY FOR THE SINGLE-SIDED INSPECTION OF SPACECRAFT AND LAUNCH VEHICLE COMPOSITE STRUCTURES. THE SINGLE-SIDED CT TD-THZ SCANNER WILL BE AN ACCESSORY WHICH WORKS WITH EXISTING T-RAY 4000REG TD-THZ NDE IMAGING INSTRUMENTS OWNED BY NASA (AND OTHER AEROSPACE FIRMS). WE WILL ALSO DEVELOP AND DELIVER A SOFTWARE PACKAGE WHICH EMPLOYS THE MODEL-BASED IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION (MBIR) METHODS. THE MBIR METHOD ALLOWS THE RECONSTRUCTION OF 2D SLICES IN DEPTH FROM THE DATA ACQUIRED BY THE SINGLE-SIDED CT TD-THZ SCANNER. THESE 2D SLICES CAN THEN BE STACKED LATERALLY TO GENERATE 3D IMAGES OF SUB-SURFACE STRUCTURES FEATURES AND DEFECTS. TIME-DOMAIN TERAHERTZ IMAGING IN THE 0.1 TO 3 THZ SPECTRAL RANGE IS CURRENTLY BEING USED TO CHARACTERIZE DEFECTS IN SPACE SHUTTLE INSULATION AND RELATED MATERIALS. THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL LARGELY BE CONFIGURED FROM STANDARD PICOMETRIX THZ SUB-COMPONENTS BUT INCORPORATE MEASUREMENTS OF THE SCATTERED THZ FIELDS ENABLING FULL 3D REFLECTION-MODE RECONSTRUCTION OF NON-METALLIC MATERIALS WHERE ONLY ONE SIDE IS ACCESSIBLE.

Procurement Details

Procurement ID: NNX11CC67C

Mod Number: 0

Fiscal Year: 2011

Award Type: D: Definitive Contract

Type of Contract: J: Firm Fixed Price

Product/Service Code:

AR11: Aeronautics and Space Technology -- Basic Research (R&D)

NAICS:

541712: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHYSICAL ENGINEERING AND LIFE SCIENCES (EXCEPT BIOTECHNOLOGY)

Signed Date

09/15/2011

Effective Date

09/15/2011

Current Completion Date

09/14/2013

Ultimate Completion Date

09/30/2013

Contracting Office:

NASA Shared Services Center

Funding Office:

Langley Research Center

Account Title:

Cross Agency Support (0122)

DUNs Number:

788133387

Vendor:

PICOMETRIX LLC

2925 BOARDWALK ST
ANN ARBOR MI 481046765 USA

Obligated Amount

$225,000.00

Base and Exercised Options Amount

$600,000.00

Base and All Options Amount

$600,000.00

Major Program: ONE-SIDED 3D IMAGING OF NON-UNIFORMITIES IN NON-METALLIC SPACE FLIGHT MATERIALS