Process and Tool Innovation for CAD Integration with OLTARIS

NASA uses computer aided design (CAD) capabilities to produce space vehicle designs. One aspect of the vehicle design is utilizing enough shielding to minimize dose on personnel. Currently, there is no set process for using NASA CAD models in NASA�s transport code, HZETRN. XL Scientific will develop a ray tracing tool that converts STEP files to an XML input for OLTARIS, which contains HZETRN. This tool will carry geometric, material and density information and automate the process. By doing so, less human intervention will be necessary to run radiation transport problems and NASA personnel can produce results at a much faster rate. This effort will analyze the properties of a poorly defined and well defined CAD model to create the foundations of a process for automating the entire CAD to transport process. Success in this task will mitigate months of human effort per spacecraft design. XL Scientific has produced CAD/radiation transport capabilities in the past and have identified additional uses for CAD integration in radiation transport codes. This innovation is not limited to calculating dose on personnel; one major additional function is to calculate dose on electronics for other potential NASA applications.

NASA has several CAD models that are considered poorly defined and require months of human intervention to deal with. Radiation transport on these models is required to calculate dose on personnel in space. The ray tracing tool and process provided by XL Scientific will reduce the amount of time and human intervention necessary to deal with these problematic CAD models. The SBIR topic is specifically interested in calculating dose on personnel in the space radiation environment for shielding calculations. An additional NASA application would be radiation effects on electronics in the space environment.

CAD integration into radiation transport codes is not unique to the space environment. XL Scientific has been and is currently contracted to develop scripts to work towards CAD/radiation transport integration for the Department of Defense (DoD). The DoD has several radiation test capabilities and there is a need for predictive models to calculate dose on target. This capability would also be used to determine if new, potential capabilities can meet requirements. Finally, the Department of Energy has several radiation test capabilities. Once successful at producing our transport suite, it is likely that the DOE will be interested in our innovation.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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.