SBIR-STTR Award

Remaining Useful Life
Award last edited on: 9/12/22

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOD : AF
Total Award Amount
$799,343
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
AF211-CSO1
Principal Investigator
Walter J Keller

Company Information

Nokomis Inc

310 Fifth Street
Charleroi, PA 15022
   (724) 483-3946
   info@nokomisinc.com
   www.nokomisinc.com
Location: Multiple
Congr. District: 14
County: Washington

Phase I

Contract Number: FA8649-21-P-1052
Start Date: 4/15/21    Completed: 7/19/21
Phase I year
2021
Phase I Amount
$49,934
United States Air Force (USAF) platforms continue to evolve and high-performance electronics become more crucial to achieve mission objectives. As the technological complexity of electronic components becomes more complex the reliability of all electronic components becomes essential. Mission-critical electronic components require exceptional operational reliability to ensure high confidence in mission completion. Air Force Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) initiatives are revamping maintenance processes and capabilities to be based on measurement-based assessment of weapon system condition to get better maintenance outcomes. This SBIR will develop a prognostic Remaining Useful Life Assessment Suite (RULAS) by measuring and analyzing the natural Radio Frequency (RF) emissions that all electronics give off. This effort will leverage those emissions to develop a unique and critical capability advancement for Department of Defense (DOD) electronic components in support of Air Force maintenance activities.

Phase II

Contract Number: FA8649-22-P-0621
Start Date: 3/11/22    Completed: 6/12/23
Phase II year
2022
Phase II Amount
$749,409
As the technological complexity of United States Air Force (USAF) platforms continue to evolve and high-performance electronics become increasingly more crucial to achieve mission objectives, the reliability of all electronic components becomes essential. Mission-critical electronic components require exceptional operational reliability to ensure high confidence mission completion. Components, such as microprocessors, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs) including Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), munitions fuzes, memory and a myriad of other components are vulnerable to environmental and operational stresses which contribute to natural part degradation over time. Electronics degrade over their lifetime becoming more susceptible to reduced performance, increased faults, and eventual failure. Rapid progress in the microelectronics field often outpaces the development of new defense systems. This is exacerbated by increasingly long weapon system lifecycles, that increases component exposure to environmental and operational risk factors, thereby increasing failure rates and maintenance costs. These failures can be mitigated with device measurement technology that can quickly determine the device’s health state. However, there is currently no robust solution which assesses component health and Remaining Useful Life (RUL). The ability to determine the health of electronic components and accurately report their health is a known critical gap for maintenance and operational assurance. Nokomis’ Remaining Useful Life Assessment Suite (RULAS) addresses that capability gap. Electronics degrade over their lifetime becoming more susceptible to reduced performance, increased faults, and eventual failure. Rapid progress in the microelectronics field often outpaces the development of new defense systems. This is exacerbated by increasingly long weapon system lifecycles, that increases component exposure to environmental and operational risk factors, thereby increasing failure rates and maintenance costs. These failures can be mitigated with device measurement technology that can quickly determine the device’s health state. However, there is currently no robust solution which assesses component health and Remaining Useful Life (RUL). The ability to determine the health of electronic components and accurately report their health is a known critical gap for maintenance and operational assurance. Nokomis’ Remaining Useful Life Assessment Suite (RULAS) addresses that capabili