February 2009 |
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This issue home | Past issues | MTBC home Company Seeking Innovative Technologies for Defense The MTBC is pleased to announce its first TechQuest of 2009, this edition featuring Raytheon, a $23 billion (revenues) world leader in defense and electronics. As America’s 4th largest defense contractor with 73,000 employees worldwide, Raytheon is also one of DFW’s largest employers, totaling over 7,000 workers in North Texas. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing, effects, and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. And now, though MTBC’s TechQuest, Raytheon will be soliciting innovative research, technologies and innovations in areas such as the following: UAV (Unmanned Airborne Vehicle) Threat Mitigation -- Develop an enabling technology that could be used to build systems to detect, track, and/or intercept a UAV that might weigh between one and one hundred pounds, have a wingspan between one foot and ten feet, and cruise at up to 100 mph at an altitude of up to 500 ft. Vehicle Tag & Track -- The challenge is to develop enabling technology to support covert tagging and tracking of a vehicle. The tag must be undetectable to casual observers, and resistant to detection by search. Discover of the tag must not lead to discovery of the total system. The system must be able to track the vehicle for hundreds of miles and be viable for several days. Should the tracked vehicle be “lost”, the system must be able to reacquire the vehicle and resume tracking. Chemical / Biological Detection -- The challenge is to develop a sensor with a high probability of detection, low false-alarm rate for chemical, biological, and toxic industrial chemical agents, such as anthrax bacteria, smallpox virus, sarin toxin and chlorine gas. Such sensors would be part of a system to protect fixed facilities such as buildings and water systems, and might also be used to detect airborne plumes. The sensor shall detect the presence of these agents and/or their potential breakdown products without operator involvement. The system will need to detect and identify toxic agent vapors during the day, night and all weather conditions, and track parameters such as composition, shape, and mass of the vapor cloud in real time. Stand-Off Explosive Detection -- The challenge is to develop a method and enabling technology for a high probability of detection, low false-alarm sensor system to detect explosives and /or explosive residues at any stage of bomb production, deployment, or pre-initiation from a range outside the damage radius, typically greater than 10 meters, even if the explosive agent is inside a container. The system must be able to detect explosives with concentrations as low as 0.2µg/cm2 which represents a finger print within 2 seconds. Also important is the ability to distinguish between everyday uses and dangerous concentrations of component materials. Semi-Submersible Detection -- The challenge is to develop a method and enabling technology for detecting and tracking a semi-submersible vessel. Skimming just below the surface with only "snorkel" systems above, semi-submersibles are extremely difficult to detect from surveillance aircraft or patrol boats. Their sleek design, up to 80 feet in length, can secretly carry several tons of cargo thousands of miles. These semi-submersibles mark a significant advancement in the ability of drug smugglers to slip past coastal defenses. The company is interested in both the comprehensive architecture for a solution as well in technologies for component parts of an overall solution. Descriptions of Raytheon technology areas of interest are posted on the MTBC web site. Applicants, which may be a company, university or an individual, will then be able to submit a brief application form. There is no cost to make an application, and Applicants need not be an MTBC member or geographically located in North Texas. The deadline for applications is set for April 3, 2009. Download the application here. Then, a working group comprised of volunteers from the MTBC’s Innovation Team along with key Raytheon executives will select the top 10 to 15 Applicants for private, face-to-face meetings with Raytheon research and business development executives. The purpose of the meetings, scheduled for mid to late April, is to assess the feasibility of a business relationship between Raytheon and the Applicant. That relationship could take many forms including, but not limited to, the funding by Raytheon of further research, an equity investment by Raytheon, a customer/supplier relationship or some other type of joint venture or strategic partnership. If after the private meeting, both parties decide to pursue a business relationship, then NDA’s are signed and discussions continue, but the TechQuest program ends upon completion of the initial meeting. MTBC initiated the TechQuest program last year, and featured Texas Instruments along with Tektronix/Fluke. Innovative ideas may still be submitted to those companies via their respective portals on the MTBC web site. For any applicant questions for the Raytheon TechQuest or if you, as an MTBC Member, are interested in becoming part of the MTBC Innovation Team, contact John Jacobs.Tech Link is a monthly publication of the Metroplex Technology Business Council Communications Department. |
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