Wireless Instrumentation for Sensing of Parachute Systems (WISPS) (WISPS)

The Interdisciplinary Consulting Corporation (IC2) proposes to develop a battery-operated, low-power, compact wireless data-acquisition (DAQ) system specifically designed for instrumenting parachute systems during entry, descent, and landing (EDL). This system will enable model validation and identification of potential failure modes, while ensuring minimal impact on the parachute system being instrumented. The proposed system leverages a distributed wireless sensor network to address challenges associated with sensor installation, including technological, logistical, weight, and cost barriers. By utilizing wireless communication, the system simplifies installation and eliminates the risk of wires tangling with parachute suspension lines. Additionally, it allows for the deployment of more sensors by easing cable routing and weight constraints. Reducing cable routing requirements not only minimizes installation effort compared to current systems but also offers greater flexibility in sensor placement. While the primary target application is parachute system instrumentation, the system’s capabilities also support other applications requiring environmentally hardened, low-power, battery-operated, time-synchronized wireless instrumentation. Funding will be used to establish target specifications and requirements based on NASA input and design constraints, develop the concept and proposal for a system level deployment, develop the conceptual design for a prototype system, build a functional prototype, and characterize the results.

This proposal addresses providing smaller, lighter, more flexible parachute instrumentation systems for NASA through replacing cabling and associated hardware with wireless technologies. The challenges associated with traditional wired parachute instrumentation systems has been highlighted in the NASA SBIR 2025 Phase I Solicitation: "Wiring a sensor from the parachute canopy, down suspension lines, and into a payload poses many challenges such as tangled wires with parachute lines, the chaotic and impulsive shock of parachute deployment, and added mass that could impact parachute deployment." Additionally, NASA’s 2024 Civil Space Shortfall Ranking calls out the importance of validated performance models for planetary parachutes, something this proposal addresses by greatly reducing difficulties associated with instrumenting parachute systems. Finally, the NASA 2017 Engineering Directorate Overview refers to the importance of wireless sensors systems due to their possibility of providing significant system mass reductions. NASA is seeking a data acquisition system that can wirelessly transfer data from the sensors on the parachute canopy to the payload to which the parachute is attached. That is exactly what IC2's proposed system seeks to accomplish for NASA. The proposed ultra-low power wireless instrumentation technology has the potential to be implemented across a wide array of sectors. In addition to advancing instrumentation capabilities for parachute systems, the proposed technology is also applicable to the types of technological solutions sought for industrial, agricultural, nuclear monitoring, and other sectors.

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.

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