NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses. THE TECHNOLOGY: NASA Langley Research Center has developed a portfolio of technologies for distributed fiber-optic strain sensing, distributed Rayleigh scatter sensing, and related characterization technologies. The primary application for these technologies is for down-hole sensing in the petrochemical industry. Other applications include structural, aerospace, and medical sensing. The characterization technologies, in addition to supporting the sensing technologies, have applications in the telecommunications market. NASA is seeking to license this technology commercially in the United States. US Patents 5,798,521; 6,566,648; 6,545,760; 6,376,830; 6,426,496. This portfolio of technologies includes fiber-optic sensor and fiber-optic device characterization technologies. The sensors include the Distributed Fiber-Optic Strain Sensor (DFOSS) (US 5,798,521) technology and the supporting technology, Edge Triggered Apparatus for Measuring Strain in Bragg Gratings (US 6,566,648), which go together as a system. The DFOSS system allows precise strain sensing at hundreds of positions along a sensing fiber. In addition, NASA has patented the Distributed Rayleigh Scatter Sensor (DRFOSS) technology (US 6,545,760), which also provides strain sensing at many points along a sensing fiber. DRFOSS determines strain from scattering within the fiber itself as opposed to DFOSS, which relies on low reflectance fiber Bragg gratings. Both DFOSS and DRFOSS offer new approaches to distributed strain sensing with much higher sensor counts than state-of-the-art systems. DRFOSS, however, offers an alternate approach to prior art for oil field down-hole sensing. These NASA fiber-optic technologies also have utility for distributed strain sensing in petrochemical, civil structure, and aerospace applications. The characterization portion of this technology portfolio includes the High Precision Wavelength Monitor (US 6,426,496), which enables very precise triggering and laser tracking of the tunable lasers employed in the DFOSS and DRFOSS systems. NASA also has a patent for a Single Laser Sweep Full S Parameter Characterization of Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG) technology (US 6,376,830), which is a dispersion measurement technique that also provides the complete spectral response of a FBG. These two characterization technologies have applicability in support of the sensor applications as well as in systems that employ tunable lasers or Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs). Commercial uses for these technologies exist in fiber-optic test and measurement applications. To express interest in this opportunity, please respond to
[email protected] with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this FBO notice and your preferred contact information. Please also provide how you foresee using the technology along with a brief background of your company. Additionally, please identify any non-US interests/subsidiaries in your company as well. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at http://technology.nasa.gov/ . These responses are provided to members of NASA Langley’s Office of Strategic Analysis and Business Development (OSACB) for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. If direct licensing interest results from this posting, OSACB will follow the required formal licensing process of posting in the Federal Register. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.