Low SWAP-C Imaging Radar for Small Air Vehicle Sense and Avoid

This Phase II-E will build on the work that was performed during Phase I and Phase II of this project. Phase I was a feasibility study to determine whether it was possible to design a low size weight, power, and cost (SWAP-C) detect-and avoid (DAA) radar for small unmanned system (sUAS) applications using our software-defined radar technology. The study concluded that the approach was feasible. Next, Phase II consisted of designing and building a prototype unit. Validation and verification (V&V) was performed on the bench, outdoors, and in an operational environment. Phase II resulted in the following achievements: (i) a working prototype, (ii) a list of fixes and improvements to improve the prototype, and (iii) conversations with several potential customers who told us they were interested in purchasing evaluation units of this radar. The Phase II-E effort will continue the commercialization process with the following objectives: Objective 1: Produce an improved prototype that can be provided to customers as an evaluation unit. Objective 2: Undertake a pilot program with a customer. Provide them radar evaluation units, as well as the documentation and software they need to integrate the radar into their platform. Provide customer support during the integration process and as needed during the trial period.

This sensor would allow the Integrated Aviation System Program to use smaller, cheaper UAS to perform research like the development of detect and avoid algorithms, sensor fusion, pattern recognition, and decision-making algorithms. This sensor could be used to continue NASA's UAS Traffic Management (UTM) work to enable small UAS operation beyond visual line of sight. Additionally, this sensor could be used as a high-resolution ground -mapping radar for Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) applications.

This sensor would enable commercial UAS operators to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), enabling expanded deployments of commercial drone applications such as package delivery, agriculture, and inspection of power lines, and other infrastructure. In addition the sensor could be used for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) and manned aircraft collision and terrain avoidance.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.