Nov 8 2007
Irvine Sensors Corporation announced today that it has received four Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research ("SBIR") awards over the past 5 months aggregating $3.2 million in contract value. These contracts were won in competition with other Phase 1 SBIR contractors for innovations in electronics cooling, power storage to replace batteries, ultra-miniature night vision viewers, and electronics anti-tamper devices.
All of the awards are funded by various government units with identified defense applications for the respective technologies. However, one of the selection criteria for Phase 2 SBIR awards is the ability to also find commercial markets for the developed technology, and consistent with that aim, Irvine Sensors has identified and plans to pursue near-term commercialization opportunities.
Two of the recent SBIR Phase 2 awards involve development of Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems {"MEMS") devices. The most recent of these SBIR MEMS awards, received in October, addresses the key issue of heat dissipation, which has become an increasingly severe problem for both commercial and defense electronics as electronics chips have become faster and more powerful. Irvine Sensors has conceived and plans to develop a proprietary MEMS-based micro pump to drive cooling fluid through micro channels in the electronic devices at low pressure as opposed to high pressures associated with present solutions, which require correspondingly higher power.
A second MEMS SBIR Phase 2 award involves the development of a proprietary Irvine Sensors' answer to double A battery replacement, involving a novel, miniature combustion engine that uses butane or other easily available combustible liquids expected to provide higher energy for longer periods of time than lithium-ion technology. This technology is anticipated to have far- reaching applications if successfully developed and produced in volume.
A third recent SBIR Phase 2 award involves an extension of Irvine Sensors' proprietary infrared camera technology to further levels of miniaturization. The specific developmental goal for that contract is to exploit Irvine Sensors' high density 3D electronics technology and expertise to provide a several-fold size and weight reduction for night vision goggles and other viewers, which should make them much more comfortable to wear for both defense applications and such potential commercial applications as industrial security and fire fighting.
The fourth recent SBIR Phase 2 award was the one announced in August 2007 involving the development of a system to protect high value and sensitive electronics and software from piracy and reverse engineering. Keeping adversaries and competitors from reverse engineering information from electronics devices is rapidly becoming an industry-wide hot button for both military and commercial users.