EM PHOTONICS INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: A18-154

EM PHOTONICS INC — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Defense.

Phase I SBIR feasibility signal

  • Phase I awards fund proof-of-concept work. For capture teams, they mark early interest from Department of Defense in a technical approach.
  • Watch for Phase II follow-ons from the same firm/topic family — that conversion path is where budgets and transition pressure rise.
  • Obligated amount $149,924. Cross-check similar awards in the same agency and technology tags for going-rate context.
  • Topic code A18-154 links this award to a solicitation family — search the same topic stem for incumbents and recompete timing.

Informational capture context from public federal data — not legal or bid advice.

Amount
$149,924
Agency
Department of Defense · Army
Program / Phase
SBIR · Phase I
Topic
A18-154
Solicitation
18.3
NAICS
Place of performance
DE
Period
2019-02-07 → 2020-01-07

Description

Cross-wind speed is a key factor in computing a ballistic solution, particularly at long ranges. Reading cross-wind is one of the most difficult jobs of a marksman. Current automated cross-wind sensors are too large and expensive for large scale deployments. This effort focuses on developing a passive-optical-imagery-based software application for computing the cross-wind speed. Being software based, it could use existing cameras, optics, and computing hardware, making it inexpensive and easy to deploy. For scenarios where such existing equipment is unavailable, a minimum-cost kit consisting of a camera, optics, and compute device will also be specified to host our solution; the required camera and computation may potentially be provided by a standard smartphone. This technology will be integrated with fire control systems to provide the wind direction and magnitude to a ballistic solution algorithm to increase accuracy. EM Photonics has been developing image processing algorithms for over a decade. We have developed applications for mitigating and measuring atmospheric turbulence along a path. This application, ATCOM, will be leveraged throughout this effort. We also have the expertise to plan and conduct both the data collection efforts and live-fire tests that will form a key part of this effort.