SMALL FIRMS PICKED FOR NASA PROGRAM HIGH-TECH RESEARCH CONTRACTS HANDED OUT.

Byline: Daily News

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - NASA Dryden Flight Research Center selected five small high-technology firms for research and development contracts under the second phase of a small-business innovation program.

The five firms' proposals were among 140 selected for funding by NASA overall and are valued at up to $600,000 each over a two-year performance period.

Rodney Bogue, NASA Dryden's Small Business Innovation Research program manager, said the selections were based in part on each firm's performance under an earlier contact.

``Phase I awards support evaluation of the scientific or technical merit of a proposed concept and are funded up to a maximum of $70,000 for a six-month period,'' Bogue said. ``Phase II selections are made from high-performing Phase I projects and are oriented to development of a marketable product. Between 40 and 50 percent of Phase I contracts are selected for the Phase II follow-on.''

Firms that succeed in the second phase can apply for a third phase to commercialize their product or service. Phase III requires the firms to obtain private financing or non-SBIR federal funding.

Overall, 124 small, high-technology firms in 34 states will share about $84 million in Phase II contracts awarded by NASA this year, with several receiving more than one contract. The 140 projects funded were selected from 273 proposals submitted by firms completing SBIR Phase I projects.

The firms and their winning proposals include:

--Kalscott Engineering Inc., Topeka, Kan. Kalscott will develop a miniaturized transponder - a device that identifies planes to air traffic controllers - for unmanned aircraft, giving their operators improved situational awareness and helping unmanned aircraft fly safely in American skies.

--Rolling Hills Research Corp., El Segundo. The firm will refine an approach to control the transition from smooth to turbulent airflow during low-speed flight at high altitude. The idea is intended to reduce drag and is promising for use on tiny unmanned aircraft, high-altitude long-endurance aircraft, Mars exploratory fliers and propeller systems.

--Continuum Dynamics Inc., Ewing, N.J. The firm will continue developing a flight control actuator based on ``shaped memory alloy'' wires, requiring less weight, power and space than existing techniques for unmanned aircraft. The wires will replace hinge joints on flaps, reducing drag.

--Zona Technology Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz. The firm will refine a nonlinear model methodology used in flutter prediction applications to improve flight test safety.

--Research South Inc., Huntsville, Ala. The firm will develop a technique for generating an optimized grid to be used with computational fluid dynamics analysis, incorporating it into a software package for government and commercial use.