Date: Sep 16, 2015 Source: SBIR.gov (
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The Veterans Administration (VA) estimates that more than 1.5 million veterans receive compensation for hearing loss suffered during their careers.
Everyday, Navy personnel and Marines work on aircraft carriers where noise levels exceed the levels at which current hearing protection devices are effective.
Beyond the long-term hearing loss, heightened noise on the deck renders communication difficult. Jet noise from supersonic aircraft represents the most severe hearing hazard on aircraft carriers.
The Navy is taking a proactive approach by trying to identify the regions within jets that contribute to the noise in order to more efficiently reduce noise. With this end goal in mind, the agency reached out to the small business community via a Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) solicitation. Missouri-based Innovative Technology Applications Co. (ITAC) swiftly responded, and went on to develop a high-demand process that is garnering praise across the U.S. Navy and other federal agencies.
"If you want to design something that reduces noise, you first have to predict the noise that is created," explains Dr. Alan B. Cain, President and Founder of ITAC. "We develop tools that allow engine companies to design highly efficient jet engines by guiding them to quieter designs. The details we generate provide significantly more information than what can be measured on an aircraft carrier deck."
ITAC, in collaboration with Penn State University, developed this particular technology under an STTR award. The end goal is a software and analysis tool for accurate prediction and control of noise emitted from the engines on fighter jets. While high-speed jet engines are the focus of the project, the ultimate objective is to create a broadly capable software system that can accurately predict aerodynamic noise from the aircraft - fans, jets, turbo machinery, engine cores, prop fans, propellers, and airframe components. This technology is available to support government and industry, as well as academic institutions in their efforts to design and develop future generations of efficient, environmentally acceptable air vehicles. The company credits NAVAIR in playing a pivotal role in ensuring success of this collaborative effort between ITAC, Penn State, and the U.S. Navy.
In a different Phase II STTR collaboration with the U.S. Air Force and researchers at the University of Notre Dame, ITAC developed an advanced mathematical model with neural networks to improve control of complex facility systems. The program goal is to significantly improve the control, operation, and efficiency of large wind tunnel facilities. The capabilities that ITAC and Notre Dame developed in this effort can also improve the safety of operating wind tunnel facilities through operator training. ITAC recently completed an initial Phase III effort to advance commercialization, and is currently in discussions with multiple agencies that are looking to acquire the technology. Within the commercial sector, this technology is applicable to large-scale facility control systems, offering a vast potential of possibilities. Personnel at Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) provided important support and guidance to ITAC in advancing this technology.
In another Phase III effort, funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), ITAC advanced an innovative phased array microphone technology to improve the processing of aero-acoustic test measurements. These arrays have been instrumental in developing methods for quieting aircraft and other systems. This technology has been demonstrated to be an improvement in the measurement of supersonic jet noise.
These multiple STTR projects, along with several other SBIR awards from the DOD and NASA, have resulted in Phase III successes for the 6-person team at ITAC. "Our approach is unique and different from our competitors," says Dr. Cain. "Instead of using a large number of processors that generally drive up costs rapidly, we identify the range of scales that are most important and that contribute to the highest amplitudes. By forgoing the lower amplitudes, we obtain a good prediction of the dominant sources of loud noises. Our customers find our approach to be cost effective with sufficiently high fidelity to help designers and engineers make decisions quickly, while conducting parametric studies which otherwise seem cost prohibitive."
Dr. Cain, who worked for Boeing and McDonnell Douglas in the 80s and 90s, started ITAC in 1999. He leveraged the SCORE program within the state of Missouri to help launch his company, as well as the SBIR program just one year later, in 2000, and continues to leverage the program to this day.
"I think the SBIR/STTR program is a great way to test new concepts, and move fundamental technologies into the commercial marketplace," he added. "And we've done just that
