Email from Irl Duling Director of Terahertz Business Development- F-35 and other news

(My note: Out of the blue I just got this email from Dr. Irl Duling Director of Terahertz Business Development at Picometrix, which he gave me permission to share with readers here. Thank you Dr. Duling for the update!).

Hi Randy,

Steve asked me to contact you.

As you have probably heard there are big tidal shifts here as:

1. API was purchased by Luna

2. Rick Kurtz left the company

3. Rob Risser took over and then passed away

4. Luna sold the HSOR business (and the Picometrix name) to MACOM

We are currently working on settling the THz portion of the company within Luna without the rest of what was Picometrix.

In spite of all that turmoil we have been making good progress on the THz product line.

All sales volumes are on an upward trajectory.

I hope that as things settle you will start seeing a steady flow of information, since some of the impediments to that have now been removed.

Concerning our work with the F-35, we have continued working with Lockheed Martin (LM) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NGC).

With NGC we have been measuring the external coating as it is applied in the paint booth.  That required a CID1 certification, which we have obtained (for the measurement head).

At LM, our SPG (Single Point Gauge), which is a handheld THz measurement tool is being used on the production floor to verify the coating thickness as the plane is being assembled, and before it goes into final test.

The SPG is also being tested on other airframes.

The third application that is being developed is our LSG (Line Scan Gauge) which runs a Step-Chek software package to measure the step and gap between panels as the plane is assembled.  We have delivered the first items to LM and they are going through the testing process.  The LSG is also being used by NASA on the Orion spacecraft.

As with any government program, the pace is slow, but steady, and we expect to see increased traction in the coming years.

Best regards,

Irl

Irl Duling, PhD
Director of Terahertz Business Development
Picometrix, a division of Luna Innovations
2925 Boardwalk
Ann Arbor, MI 48104