Vol. 52, No. 3        February 11, 2000

Technology partnerships and commercialization

Contraband Detection Technologies Dept. 5848 staff concluded a licensing agreement with Barringer Instruments, Inc., a leader in explosives detection equipment, for the commercialization of a personnel explosives detection portal. The portal uses air-shower technology to collect minute quantities of explosives contamination for concentration and detection. Licensing of the technology is expected to result in commercial portals being available in 2000 to improve explosives protection in a number of applications. (5800, 4300, 11500) (NP/MCSBU)

Sandia extended its successful track record of industry collaboration with the delivery of the Lynx synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to General Atomics. General Atomics contracted Sandia to design a lightweight, high-performance SAR that could be manufactured by the California company for installation in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The first UAV flights of the radar were in the I-GNAT vehicle developed by Aeronautical Systems, Inc. Sandia personnel participated in flight tests at the company's Mojave Desert flight facility. (2300, 15400, 5900, 2600, 2900) (Partnerships SMU)

In October 1999 Sandia signed a deal with PHASERTM Advanced Metering Services (division of Avistar, Inc.) for commercial distribution and servicing of Sandia's WinRTM reliability analysis and predictive maintenance software. WinRTM software has been popular among government and commercial users. Through this license, Sandia's R&D investment in WinRTM software is leveraged by our partner's business investment in building a company formed for the purpose of providing this technology to a wider customer base. (6400, 4300, 11500) (Partnerships SMU)

Significant patent protection was obtained for Sandia's VxInsight technology, strengthening the commercial value of Sandia's research in knowledge management. We obtained significant patent protection for Sandia's R&D 100 Award-winning seismic processing technology, leading to several successful commercial licenses. (4000, 9200, 11500) (Partnerships SMU)

Sandia received a key patent to cover the fabrication of photonic lattices using silicon micromachining technology. Sandia's new process for fabricating photonic lattices has received numerous awards to date including an R&D 100 Award, and an award by Industry Week magazine as one of the 1998 Technologies of the Year. A patent was issued for Sandia's Polychromator, which received an award from Industry Week magazine as one of the Top 25 Technologies of 1999. Eight patents were also issued in FY99 for Sandia's microelectromechnical systems (MEMS) program. Altogether 110 Sandia patents were issued in FY99. (1700, 1800, 11500) (S&TSMU)

Uncooled infrared detector arrays that use silica aerogel thin films as thermal isolation layers have been successfully fabricated and tested for the first time. The aerogel interlayers effectively isolate the thermal imaging elements from the underlying integrated circuitry, increasing the thermal sensitivity by a factor of more than 1,000. This technology has been patented and licensed under a funds-in CRADA with IR2, Inc., to manufacture and commercialize products such as night-vision optics, fire rescue equipment, security systems, and all-weather vehicle imaging systems. (1800, 5700) (Partnerships SMU)

Current and next-generation processes for manufacturing steel require significant improvements in sensors and process models for creating advanced systems for optimization and control. In FY99, staff and management in 8300, 8700, and 2600 completed a 5-year collaborative project with the US steel industry to develop a suite of optical sensors for use in dynamically controlling the operation of primary steelmaking operations, including basic-oxygen and electric-arc furnaces. Two patents have stemmed directly from the collaboration. The technology is now being commercialized through the American Iron & Steel Institute. (8300, 8700, 2600) (E/CISBU)

Sandia-developed micromirrors may one day be part of the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), the successor to the Hubble. In September Sandia demonstrated to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center an array of working mirrors, each 100 microns by 100 microns with one- micron gaps between adjacent mirrors, lined up in rows of three. Each row tilted 10 degrees in unison -- a large angle for this design. The goal is to have four million of these independently moving mirrors in the NGST. Each mirror could be tilted in different directions to redirect optical signals to an infrared detector. (2600, 1700) (S&TSMU)

The Sandia Science and Technology Park (SS&TP) is managed by the Science and Technology Development Corporation (STPDC), a nonprofit organization chartered by Technology Ventures Corporation. The STPDC applied for a $1 million Economic Development Administration grant for fiber optic installation. The SS&TP Program Office was responsible for managing the Southwest as a Region of Innovation Conference held in Albuquerque in June, which brought together representatives from five Southwestern states to discuss the formation of regional technology clusters. (Partnerships SMU)

Sandia played a significant role in crafting DOE's and Secretary Richardson's new portfolio approach to managing research and development to ensure continuing funding for the Labs R&D efforts. Sandia organized and convened a "vital issues process" that analyzed the existing energy research portfolio and identified gaps. The resulting portfolio includes all the DOE mission areas and provides a basis for evaluating current R&D and planning future technology investments to align with DOE strategic goals. (4300, 6200, 16000) (Partnerships SMU, E/CISBU)

In partnership with the Strategic Business Units and Strategic Management Units, the Science and Technology SMU and the defense/aerospace industry liaisons, Center 4300 has established three multimillion-dollar umbrella cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) with strategic industry partners: Raytheon, Rockwell Collins, and Lockheed Martin. These umbrella contracting mechanisms may be used by Sandians for any collaborative agreement within the CRADAs' broad scope. In addition to bringing significant funds into Sandia, these CRADAs set the stage for collaboration on, and shared funding for, technologies important to our industry partners' and Sandia's missions. (4300, 1700, 2300) (Partnerships SMU)

Working with the line organizations we executed 450 new partnership agreements with industry -- an increase of 24 percent over the previous fiscal year. This accounts for more than $47 million of new funds-in "orders" to the Labs. Fifty-one new CRADAs and 45 amendments were executed totaling $15.5 million of funds-in orders; 45 new commercial licenses and 10 amendments were executed totaling $7.7 million of funds-in orders; and 145 new Work-for-Others, non-federal entity agreements and 89 amendments were executed totaling $24.1 million. One hundred seventy three technical assistance agreements with small business were also executed. (4300) (Partnerships SMU)

Sandia is assuming a major role in the FAA's new Aging Nonstructural Systems Program. Sandia's Airworthiness Assurance Dept. 6252 acquired a 1970s-vintage Boeing 747 aircraft to serve as a program test bed for investigating aging electrical and mechanical systems. Sandia's immediate goal will be to establish the condition of aging system wiring components and validate existing inspection methods. Organic Materials Aging and Reliability Dept. 1811 will provide testing and analysis of aged aircraft wiring. (6200) (E/CISBU)

Center 9200 developed Salvo, a seismic imaging code, which helps oil companies find hydrocarbons in regions of complex geologies. This copyrighted software uses parallel computing and new algorithms to produce high-quality images that were previously too expensive to compute. Sandia should soon obtain a patent for one of these new algorithms, phase encoding. Salvo was selected as one of the top 100 technologies of 1999 by R&D Magazine. Sandia partnered with NuTec Services to market and sell the Salvo software. (NWSBU)

A full-scale Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) illumination system for performing EUV lithography has been developed and operated for the first time. The system produces high-power EUV illumination to be used in an alpha-class EUV Lithography tool being developed by Sandia, Lawrence Livermore, and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories as part of the industry-funded EUV Lithography program. The illumination system includes a laser-produced plasma EUV source and 19 reflective condenser mirrors that collect, shape, and focus the EUV light onto a patterned mask and into a projection optical system to print microelectronic circuits with features smaller than 0.1 micron. (8400, 1700, 2200, EUV-LLC) (Partnerships SBU)

US and Russian weapons researchers teamed to develop a prosthetic foot. During FY99 the prosthetic foot was made commercially available. Additional projects on the development of an advanced electronic knee, a stumble-avoidance prosthetic knee, and a variable geometry socket were selected for funding. The combination of the three projects has provided support for 77 Russian full-time-equivalents at the weapons lab Chelyabinsk-70 for work on lower limb prosthetics, rather than nuclear weapons. (15400) (NP/MCSBU)

Last modified: February 28, 2000

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