Metis is proud to have two NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) programs selected in 2017. The SBIR program funds the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs and have significant potential for successful commercialization. This year Metis has been selected for both Phase I and Phase II technologies.
The Phase I activity proposes to design and manufacture an International Space Station (ISS) rated /Astrobee compatible Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) label applicator payload. NASA missions of the future are becoming more dependent on robotic systems to accomplish work in space. The Astrobee dedicated RFID label applicator would be one of the first task reducing tools to assist with astronaut duties and logistics with a free flying robot on the ISS.
Metis’ Phase II SBIR builds upon the successful completion of the Phase I work on Intelligent Information Processing for Enhanced Safety in the NAS (IIPS). This work focused on how improved information flow between actors in a flight deck environment can improve safety performance. The team developed initial requirements for the fully operational system and developed and successfully demonstrated an operational prototype which illustrated how IIPS could have broken the error chain in an actual accident. The IIPS is intended to be a system and actor monitoring, information processing, and decision support tool that focuses specifically on safe air operations. All aspects of information processing by all flight deck agents are modeled and then compared to root causes for accidents, incidents, near misses, regulatory offenses, or even rogue behavior.