Michigan Aerospace Corporation, an advanced engineering and products company, today announced that it was awarded a $1.5 million grant under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grants Program, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Michigan Aerospace will develop and deploy a multi-wavelength Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system that will measure properties of aerosols critical for understanding climate change, atmospheric chemistry, and air quality. This system will also measure aerosol optical depth, backscatter, depolarization, molecular temperature, molecular density, and wind velocity along the laser propagation direction. The NIST system will take advantage of Michigan Aerospace’s technological advancements that permit the separation of molecular and aerosol scattering, allowing better measurements of atmospheric aerosols and transmittance.

Congressman John D. Dingell of Michigan commented on the award: “I am pleased to see that Michigan Aerospace’s outstanding work has been recognized. The company is on the forefront of LIDAR development and clearly others see just how good that work is. This is the kind of federal investment that will help Michigan retain and attract highly skilled workers and great minds in the 21st century. I applaud the decision by NIST.”

Also commenting on the award, CEO Peter Tchoryk said that “the new LIDAR capabilities provided by this program will advance air quality and climate-change related measurements and also accelerate commercialization of our atmospheric measurement systems for wind energy, aircraft, airports, weather forecasting, and defense applications. Our technology is important to a number of critical applications and we want to be ready to supply them in production level quantities.”

Out of over 1,300 proposals received by NIST, only 27 received grants under this competitive program.

MAC is the premier company in the United States for the development of Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and related optical systems for atmospheric measurement and holds patents that increase the performance and efficiency of these instruments to unprecedented levels. These capabilities have resulted in hardened systems with the size, weight, and power characteristics that enable operation on demanding aircraft, spacecraft, ground and marine platforms. The company is organized along core business areas that are managed as Business Units. These include Atmospheric LIDAR Systems to measure atmospheric parameters and constituents from the ground, aircraft, and space, enhancing the accuracy of weather forecasts, aiding weather-dependent military operations, and improving the performance of aircraft (military and civilian) and weapon systems; Optical Remote/In-Situ Automated Detection (Opti-READ) for both remote sensing and in-situ applications, aerodynamic testing, micro-fluidics, and measurement of spectral signatures and cross-sections of biological simulants and agents; Data Exploitation to solve complex problems in data mining, 2-D and 3-D image processing, pattern recognition, and machine learning; and Mechanical Systems for autonomous vehicles operating in space, terrestrial, and marine environments. The company also provides flight qualification services and rapid prototyping in its Engineering Services division. The Products Division offers optical and mechanical systems and components. Michigan Aerospace’s spinoff company OptoAtmospherics LLC (www.OptoAtmospherics.com) is commercializing MAC’s atmospheric LIDAR technology for the wind energy industry.

Michigan Aerospace Corporation (MAC), an advanced engineering and products company, today announced that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to demonstrate its atmospheric Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology for Marine Corps artillery. MAC’s exclusive Direct Detection Doppler Wind LIDAR (D3WL) senses wind speed and direction along with air temperature and density in any atmospheric volume of interest, such as along the ballistic arc of an artillery shell. This approach will increase the accuracy of artillery by compensating for prevailing atmospheric conditions. The accuracy of MAC's LIDAR measurements will far exceed current methods (balloons and ground-based) while minimizing observability. MAC will demonstrate this technology to the military in 2012.

Michigan Aerospace Corporation (MAC), an advanced engineering and products company, today announced that it has been awarded a Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant to apply its unique approach to predictive analytics to condition monitoring for wind turbines. Turbines typically have numerous sensors collecting information from subsystems such as the gearbox, drivetrain, and blade-pitch system, with the overall control system raising an alarm if any sensor goes out of its acceptable range. Failures, however, can occur without warning if sensors do not exceed their limits prior to breakdown. MAC’s predictive analytics software will simultaneously analyze the many sensor outputs and automatically identify trends that may lead to premature failure and does not require supervised training. MAC’s past experience with applying similar software to complex data analysis problems, such as NASA and Department of Defense (DoD) platforms, will be key to this effort.

Michigan Aerospace Corporation (MAC), an advanced engineering and products company, today announced that it has been awarded a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 contract to develop its Molecular Air Data Clear Air Turbulence Sensor (MADCAT). MADCAT will look kilometers ahead of the aircraft to detect and warn of clear-air turbulence, a significant hazard to airliners and other aircraft, using MAC’s exclusive Direct Detection Doppler Wind LIDAR (D3WL) technology. MAC was founded in 1996 to commercialize ultraviolet-based LIDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, technology for a variety of markets. Using ultraviolet light allows MAC’s LIDARs to operate in clear air, critical to the clear-air turbulence application where suspended dust and water vapor may not be present and which other sensors require. MADCAT operates from behind a flush-mounted window and will also sense airspeed along with air pressure and temperature. The MADCAT Phase 2 program will run for two years starting in early 2011.

Michigan Aerospace Corporation (MAC), an advanced engineering and products company, today announced that it has been awarded a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 contract to begin work on MAC’s Short-Range Clear Air Turbulence Sensor (SR-CATS) system. SR-CATS will use MAC’s exclusive Direct Detection Doppler Wind LIDAR (D3WL) technology to detect clear-air turbulence a few hundred feet ahead of aircraft, including airliners. This information can then be fed into the aircraft’s flight control system, which can automatically adjust the control surfaces to lessen the impact of gusts and turbulence on the aircraft and its passengers. MAC was founded in 1996 to commercialize ultraviolet-based LIDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, technology for a variety of markets. Using ultraviolet light allows MAC’s LIDARs to operate in clear air, without the presence of aerosols. SR-CATS will also sense airspeed, air pressure and temperature, allowing it to supplement or replace traditional air-data sensors. This effort complements the Phase 2 SBIR award MAC won earlier this year for MADCAT, the Molecular Air Data Clear Air Turbulence Sensor, which measures turbulence kilometers ahead of an aircraft.