LUNA INNOVATIONS INCORPORATED — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: U.S. military communications and weapons systems are reliant on electronics systems that a

Description

U.S. military communications and weapons systems are reliant on electronics systems that are highly sensitive to external electromagnetic (EM) threats, whether from intentional or environmental sources. In order to protect from these external EM threats, high levels of electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding are required. Significant advances in materials technology and manufacturing, however, are enabling conformal coatings with decreased weight and increased performance. Engineering composites, from layered structures to metamaterials, can offer improved insertion loss, bandwidth, performance over incidence angle, and other capabilities such as selective filtering not provided by simple composites. The Luna team proposes to develop a high performance, wideband shielding, mechanically robust, conformal material that can replace current heavy, bulky, or inadequate shielding approaches. The proposed Phase I would include design, modeling, construction, and evaluation of improved EMI shielding materials. Phase II would fabricate prototypes and begin commercial scale-up and validation.