KESTREL CORP — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF211-CSO1

Description

Kestrel Corporation (Kestrel) proposes to address needed improvements in the ability to locate hazardous chemical and material contamination of aircraft surfaces, and then surety that such surfaces have been thoroughly decontaminated. The problem is complicated by not only the large surface area and various coatings that aircraft possess but the complicated and changing geometry of their surfaces, combining to make conventional sensing methods ineffective and inefficient at the speed needed by the Air Force, other Services and Partner Nations. The proposed solution is a new non-contact, real-time sensing modality that has been successfully demonstrated against solid and liquids and the differential aspect of Kestrel’s technique negates the effect of both interferents and backgrounds that commonly thwart existing techniques. Though a new approach, engineering estimates indicate that once specified, a small device can be constructed principally from existing subcomponent technologies, making possible a rapid transition to the field. The technique does not require traditional consumables, thereby foregoing logistics, enabling continuous 24/7 worldwide operations, a key military capability. While traditional technologies only detect a few species, the broad-range detection ability of the approach provides needed threat detection agility against new emerging threats, “future proofing” the capability, essential against great power competition.