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: Scientists at NASA Langley Research Center have NASA Langley researchers have developed a wireless, connection-free inductor capacitor sensor system that can be placed on or embedded in materials and structures to monitor for and detect damage. The sensors can also be used to detect package tampering and pilfering. This innovationSansEC [sans (without) Electrical Connections]makes sensors more damage resilient and more environmentally friendly to manufacture and use. The sensors use a NASA award-winning magnetic field response measurement acquisition device to provide power to the sensors and to acquire physical property measurements from them. The sensors can be continuously or occasionally monitored to detect cracks, material strain, or impact damage. Damage location can also be readily identified with this system. The SansEC sensor system consists of multiple pairs of inductor-capacitor sensors with no electrical connections, which are placed throughout the material being monitored for damage. The sensors are embedded in or placed directly onto the surface of the material. Strains and breaks are detected by changes in resonant frequency read by the accompanying magnetic field data acquisition system. When pulsed by a sequence of magnetic field harmonics from the acquisition system, the sensors become electrically active and emit a wireless response. The magnetic field response attributes of frequency, amplitude, and bandwidth of the inductor correspond to the physical property states measured by the sensor. The received response is correlated to calibration data to determine the physical property measurement. Because each sensor pair has its own frequency response, when damage occurs to that circuit the frequency response changes. This change identifies the damage location within the material. A unique feature achieved by eliminating electrical connections is that damage to a single point will not prevent the sensor from being powered or interrogated. If a sensor is broken, two concentric inductively coupled sensors are created, thus identifying tamper or damage location. U.S. patents 8,042,739/7,814,786/8,164,328/8,673,649. 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 the nature of your interest in the technology along with a brief background of your company. 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 Langleys 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.