Imagine being able to hop on an airplane and fly across the United States in about an hour instead of about five. These are the kinds of life-changing innovations NASA researchers are working toward.
At NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, 103 researchers contributed to 34 patents for technology inventions including new types of aircraft, radiation protection techniques, lidars, composites, and software, as well as new methods and processes for manufacturing and testing materials and hardware.
These inventors were celebrated during the virtual 2021 NASA Langley Research Center Patent and Technology Awards.
“As NASA prepares to send missions to the Moon and Mars, the benefits from our research and technology development are also improving life on Earth,” said NASA Langley Center Director Clayton Turner. “Not only are we helping to advance NASA’s mission but helping open new opportunities with the commercial sector. New ideas drive NASA’s success, boost our economy and open new opportunities for research.”
In 2020 Langley researchers put dozens of new technologies into the research and development pipeline. There were 14 new license agreements bringing the total number managed by Langley to 74 licenses enabling the commercial use of Langley technology. There were also 1,102 software use agreements, allowing the wide application of Langley-developed software solutions.
“You have the technology and expertise that these companies need to be successful – you’re creating jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities,” said guest speaker Tim Ryan, executive director of StartWheel, an organization focused on consolidating and coordinating the entrepreneurial efforts across the Hampton Roads region.
The awards also recognized two Langley teams that received honorable mentions for NASA Government Invention and Software of the Year. The team that developed Convective Heating Improvement for Emergency Fire Shelters (CHIEFS), a spin-off of the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, received honorable mention for Invention of the Year, and the team that developed a new Mission Operations Cost Estimation Tool (MOCET) received honorable mention for Software of the Year.
“These achievements are the result of tremendous dedication from a lot of people including our patent attorneys, technology transfer team, and of course our inventors,” said Michelle Ferebee, acting director of the Office of Strategic Analysis, Communications and Business Development. “And NASA sees a large rate of return on that investment.”
Details on all of the patents can be found in NASA’s patent portfolio and are available to license for entrepreneurial endeavors and technological advancements. For more information visit:
Here are the 2020 patent awards:
Joel Campbell, Bing Lin, and Amin Nehrir for Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) on Orthogonal Carriers for Multi-Channel IM-CW CO2 Absorption For Lidar/Radar/Sonar Mapping Applications, Patent Number 10,527,717
Godfrey Sauti, Jae-Woo Kim, Emilie Siochi, and Kristopher Wise for Sucrose Treated Carbon Nanotube and Graphene Yarns and Sheets, Patent Number 10,533,270
David North, Mark Aull, William Fredericks, Mark Moore, Paul Rothaar, William Hodges, and Zachary Johns for Tri-Rotor Aircraft Capable of Vertical Takeoff and Landing and Transitioning to Forward Flight, Patent Number 10,538,321
William Doggett, John Dorsey, Thomas Jones, and Bruce King for Tension Stiffened and Tendon Actuated Manipulator, Patent Number 10,569,415
Frank Palmieri, John Connell, and Christopher Wohl Jr. for Off-Set Resin Formulations and Blocking/Deblocking Resin Systems for Use as a “Co-Cure-Ply” in the Fabrication of Large-Scale Composite Structure, Patent Number 10,549,516
Donald Thomsen III for Method of Making Thin Atomic (Z) Grade Shields, Patent Number 10,600,522
Stan Woodard, Chuantong Wang, and Bryant Taylor for Wireless Temperature Sensor Having No Electrical Connections, Patent Number 10,605,673
Joseph Zalameda, Eric Burke, Michael Horne, and Eric Madaras for System and Method for Progressive Damage Monitoring and Failure Event Prediction in a Composite Structure, Patent Number 10,605,783
Scott Spuler, Kevin Repasky, and Amin Nehrir for Micropulse Differential Absorption LIDAR, Patent Number 10,605,900
Sheila Thibeault, Catherine Fay, Godfrey Sauti, Jin Ho Kang, and Cheol Park for Radiation Shielding Materials Containing Hydrogen, Boron and Nitrogen, Patent Number 10,607,742
Thomas Ivanco for Self-Tuning Compact Vibration Damper, Patent Number 10,619,699
Edward Generazio for Electric Field Imaging Eye, Patent Number 10,620,252
Christopher Wohl Jr., John Connell, Emilie Siochi, and Joseph Smith Jr. for Anisotropic Copoly(imide Oxetane) Coatings and Articles of Manufacture, Copoly(imide Oxetane)s Containing Pendant Fluorocarbon Moieties, Oligomers and Processes Therefor, Patent Number 10,626,098
Sang Choi and Adam Duzik for Thermal Absorption Coating on Sapphire for Epitaxial Process, Patent Number 10,651,034
Christopher Wohl Jr., Pacita Tiemsin, Paul Danehy, and Jason Danley for Dyed Doped Polymer Microparticles, Patent Number 10,669,360
John Connell, Frank Palmieri, William Yost, John Hopkins, and Rodolfo Ledesma for Laser Surface Treatment and Spectroscopic Analysis System, Patent Number 10,677,741
Jennifer Inman, Paul Danehy, Brian Perkins, and Christopher Peters for Optical Head-Mounted Displays for Laser Safety Eyewear, Patent Number 10,690,918
Andrew Cannon, March Maguire, and Jacob Hochhalther for Method and Stamp for Repeatable Image Correlation Micro Patterning and Resulting Specimen Produced Therefrom, Patent Number 10,696,080
Edward Generazio for Dynamic Multidimensional Electric Potential and Electric Field Quantitative Measurement System and Method, Patent Number 10,712,378
Jereme Doss, John Connell, and Christopher Wohl Jr. for Synthesis and Development of Polyurethane Coatings Containing Fluorine Groups for Adhesive Applications, Patent Number 10,723,912
Mahyar Malekpour for System and Method to Synchronize Clocks Across a Distributed Network of Nodes, Patent Number 10,736,062
Pedro Paredes Gonzalez, Meelan Choudhari, and Fei Li for Method and System for Delaying Laminar-ToTurbulent Transition in High-Speed Boundary Layer Flow, Patent Number 10,745,112
Keith Gordon and Emilie Siochi for Methods of Making Mechanoresponsive Healing Polymers, Patent Number 10,745,509
David MacDonnell, Wenbo Sun, and Yongxiang Hu for System and Method for Remote Sensing for a Target, Patent Number 10,775,537
Eric Greenwood for Device for Providing Real-Time Rotocraft Noise Abatement Information, Patent Number 10,796,585
Qamar Shams, John Stoughton, and Allan Zuckerwar for Adaptive Algorithm and Software for
Recognition of Ground-based, Airborne, Underground, and Underwater Low Frequency Events, Patent Number 10,802,107
John Connell, Christopher Wohl Jr., Jereme Doss, Allison Crow, William Kim, and Yi Lin for Synthesis of Copolyimides Containing Fluorine and Silicon Surface Modifying Agents, Patent Number 10,808,079
Craig Brice for Gas Phase Allowing for Wire Fed Joining and Deposition Processes, Patent Number 10,829,857
Yi Lin, John Connell, John Hopkins, and Brandon Moitoso for Holey Graphene Mesh and Solvent-Free Manufacturing and Composites Thereof, Patent Number 10,836,137
William Doggett, Timothy Roach, Jerry Warren, Judith Watson, Thomas Jones, Richard Bird, Vincenzo Le Boffe, William Langford, Lana Hicks-Olson, Samuel James, Clarence Stanfield, Alberto Makino, Bryan Yount, Khadijah Shariff, Molly Selig, Douglas Litteken, Winfred Kenner, David Moore, Danny Lovaglio, Laura Leybold, Earl Hall, James Phelps, Arlon Sullivan, and Fred Whitehead for Pressure Assisted Linear Seal, Patent Number 10,836,515
Craig Brice for Functionally Graded Metal-Metal Composite Structures, Patent Number 10,857,597
William Doggett, Timothy Roach, Gerard Valle, Molly Selig, Winfred Kenner, Thomas Jones, Judith Watson, Lynn Bowman, Mary Jane ORourke, Bryan Yount, Alberto Makino, John Dorsey,
Russell Smith, Clarence Stanfield, and Jasen Raboin for Deformable Closure Mechanism, Patent Number 10,858,126
Hyun Jung Kim and Sang Choi for Rhombohedron Epitaxial Growth with Molten Target Sputtering, Patent Number 10,858,754
Peter Juarez, Elizabeth Gregory, and K. Elliott Cramer for Method and Means to Analyze Thermographic Data Acquired During Automated Fiber Placement, Patent Number 10,872,391