The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) has awarded 10 contracts worth almost $1.5 million to 8 small businesses for initial research and development (R&D) work in a number of areas related to improving nuclear detection and response.
The 10 contracts are under the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program and are for Phase 1, which last six months. Phase 1 awards are used to establish technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of proposed R&D efforts and to determine the quality of performance of the awarded before supporting Phase II contracts.
The awardees, their amounts and a description of their Phase I work follows:
· Spectral Labs, Inc., $149,272, to develop a smart phone application to support law enforcement and first responder adjudication of gamma ray spectra obtained by handheld or personal radiological isotope identification devices;
· Radiation Monitoring Devices, $149,999, to investigate advanced techniques supporting the development of a room-temperature and stable operation of a thallium bromide crystal for gamma ray spectroscopy;
· Radiation Monitoring Devices, $149,999, to develop a cooled, compact thallium bromide-based detector module for stable, near-room temperature operation supporting gamma ray detection;
· CapeSym, Inc., $150,000, to investigate purification methods for the development and supply of precursor materials supporting large growth single crystals of compounds of interest to DNDO, to include europium-doped strontium iodide: EU and cerium-doped cesium lithium yttrium chloride;
· CapeSym, Inc., $150,000, to investigate defect engineering techniques to develop thallium bromide-based detector for stable, room temperature operation;
· Physical Sciences, Inc., $149,998, to develop a set of novel algorithms enabling enhanced pedestrian search capability against radioactive sources when using handheld, belt, or backpack mounted detector systems;
· Passport Systems, Inc., $149,323, to study, develop, and implement efficient gradient detection methods and algorithms for localizing radiation sources in pedestrian-based searches;
· ArchSmart, LLC, $150,000, to develop a test and evaluation archival repository that will serve as a central repository to support large-scale evaluation and analysis of radiological and nuclear detection procedures and instruments;
· Intelligent Optical Systems, $149,942, to develop and automated system to enhance the ability to detect, locate and track radiation sources supporting pedestrian search techniques;
· Creative Electron, Inc., $150,000, to develop a smart phone app for radiological threat adjudication to support law enforcement and first responder adjudication of gamma ray spectra obtained by handheld or personal radio isotope identification devices.