It wasn't the most scientific method,
but it produced the results Sporian Microsystems was looking
for.
Engineers at the Boulder-based micro electronics firm
breathed on a microchip hoping that it would respond to
changes in humidity levels. The chip responded. Breakthrough.
Sporian Microsystems' lab victory gave the firm a solid
blueprint to move forward in the field of sensor technology.
Sporian recently received a Department of Defense contract to
develop a prototype micro system smaller than an insect that
will be able to read varying conditions of humidity,
temperature and mechanical shock that potentially will keep
tabs on military weapons, ships and planes.
"We went from idea, to concept, to working design, to
proposal, to now being in full development. It's been a
jump-up-and-down kind of ride," said Bill Garrett, Sporian
Microsystems vice president of operations. "The opportunity
that we have been given should open the door on other sensing
parameters. We feel there's a lot that can be done, and it's
up to us to discover the potential that's out there."
The contract is part of the U.S. Army's small business
innovative research program. The two-year contract awarded
this February is estimated to be worth $1 million. Lockheed
Martin has signed on as a sub contractor.
Jim Fedewitz, project management engineer for an army
research and development center in Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.,
who is overseeing the Sporian project, said it will create a
cutting edge way to track ammunition.
"They're developing environmental sensing circuitry that
will be able to track ammunition from the day it's made to the
day it's used," said Fedewitz. "In Desert Storm, some of our
missiles sat out in shipping containers in 190-degree weather.
Over time that may degrade some of the performance levels.
This technology allows us to see exactly what kind conditions
ammunition has been under."
President Brian Schaible formed Sporian Microsystems in
2000 after he received a grant from the National Science
Foundation. Garrett and Wenge Zhang signed, on followed by
Kevin Harsh. All four employees graduated from the University
of Colorado.
"By having our own company, it expands the scope of what
we're able to do," Schaible said. "It's a great process to
come up with an idea—no matter how crazy—trying it out and
having it work. We've made some big advances so far and only
look to keep doing that."
With early projects nearing completion, Sporian acted on a
solicitation by the defense department to create the sensor
device. Sporian employees feel they were given the contract
because of their strong packaging design.
"We know what it takes to protect the circuitry," said
Harsh, Sporian's director of engineering. "Our design allows
the sensors to still do their thing while not exposing the
circuitry."
Sporian has two years to complete the development of the
sensor. The company will produce a prototype at the end of the
first year and a well-defined prototype after the second year.
Lockheed Martin representatives, who work closely with
Sporian, are pleased with the progress.
"So far it's going smooth," said Nagarajan Rao, staff
engineer at Lockheed Martin's St. Paul division. "They are
very much on schedule to where they need to be."
The completed unit could be used in many ways, Rao said.
"The applications are very wide-spanning," Rao said. "We're
looking at the bigger picture, a multitude of platforms. That
means all aspects of the military."
Commercially, Sporian foresees the technology being used to
track transported or stored items such as food and sensitive
electronic devices.
"This is really a learning process right now," Schaible
said. "When we complete this project, we feel we can take it
in a lot of different directions."
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