In support of the U.S. Army’s Space & Missile Defense Command, Verus Research has been awarded a 2-year, $1 million Phase II Small Business Innovative Research contract to build efficient, electrically small, broadband antennas to complement newly designed transmitter systems across the Department of Defense.

Leveraging organically developed proprietary technologies, Verus Research can now quickly optimize these small antennas to meet user requirements for size, weight, dispersion, gain, side lobes, power handling, and polarization.

New work under this effort will, according to Dr. J. Mark DelGrande, Verus Research’s Chief Technology Officer, move from single antenna optimization to development of a full antenna array intended for integration with a mobile transmitter system being developed by a large aerospace prime contractor for operational deployment.

The Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation – known as PEO STRI – has awarded Verus Research a 4-year, $7.9M contract to develop test and evaluation (T&E) technologies for directed energy systems.

Working with top-tier subcontractors and key technology vendors, Verus Research will lead the Solutions for Rapid Acquisition and Demonstration (SRAD) program to support the Army with system design, prototype test sources, instrumentation tools, user requirements definition, and employment concept development.

Dr. J. Mark DelGrande, Verus Research’s Chief Technology Officer, commented that this effort “further enhances our already burgeoning work in directed energy instrumentation, system development, and weapon system analysis,” all of which advances the nation’s capabilities in directed energy T&E.

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate has awarded Verus Research a 5-year, 3-phase, $7.2-million contract to advance the state of the art in high-power radio frequency pulse-shaping, triggerable sealed switches for high-power microwave (HPM) applications.

Working with teammate, ASR Corporation, Verus Research will develop triggered sealed switches for sub-microsecond, high-voltage pulsed power applications. The Verus Research team, under the direction of Dr. Matt Domonkos, will solve technical challenges, such as optimizing sealed tube geometry, managing the high voltages and currents involved, and ensuring the switches will be operationally ready even after years of storage. The successful effort will facilitate future fielding of smaller and more portable HPM systems.

According to Dr. J. Mark DelGrande, Verus Research Chief Technology Officer, this key win “leveraged several of the Company’s earlier technology initiatives and represents a significant corporate advancement into the development of pulsed power” and other supporting technologies for future HPM systems.

For 2018, Verus Research ranked 6th among the 25 fastest growing private, for-profit companies based in New Mexico.

To qualify, candidate businesses must have had sales or revenue of at least $500,000 in 2017 and been in business throughout all 12 months of 2015, as well as showing overall revenue growth from 2015 to 2017. Firms posting the highest percentage of growth during that time were honored on 9/27/2018 by Albuquerque Business First (https://lnkd.in/gyQJ7qw).

Please see the coverage and the list of all 25 honorees at https://lnkd.in/gPAcbqh.

Verus Research is proud to highlight a recent publication by Nicholas Myers, Ph.D.  A computational physicist, Dr. Myers played a crucial role on the research team that revealed the important outcomes documented in “Propagation and Detection of RF-Modulated Electron and X-Ray Beams in Air.”

We invite you to review the work at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5029938.

In this, our third consecutive year among New Mexico’s fastest growing tech firms, please enjoy this coverage in the Albuquerque Journal at the link below:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1183305/nms-flying-40-firms-continue-on-growth-track.html

In support of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, Verus Research will collaborate with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711^th Human Performance Wing to assess the safety risks associated with employment of directed energy systems.

The newly awarded effort seeks to enhance optical and radio frequency (RF) bio-effects modeling tools by integrating outputs from propagation simulation tools operating in the same wavelengths. These tools include the Joint RF Effectiveness Model (JREM) and Scaling for High Energy Laser and Relay Engagement (SHaRE) model.

In commenting on this latest initiative, Dr. J. Mark DelGrande, Verus Research’s Chief Technology Officer, highlighted the opportunity to infuse the Company’s “deep domain experience” in propagation modeling into efforts that improve the safety margins on the nation’s latest directed energy technologies.  Dr. DelGrande also praised the Verus Research technical team for providing a compelling path forward in support of a first-time customer, the 711^th Human Performance Wing.

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate has awarded Verus Research a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract to enhance the safety and reliability of autonomous spacecraft.

Working with its university partner, Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Verus Research will improve the safety and reliability of spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control algorithms.  Fundamental to the effort is the development of mathematically rigorous methods to test all possible configurations of guidance algorithms, leading to a formal verification process to ensure autonomous spacecraft operate safely in all regimes.

Dr. J. Mark DelGrande, Verus Research Chief Technology Officer, noted that this effort “represents an important milestone as the Company continues to expand into new technology areas” and is the Company’s first prime contract award with the Space Vehicles Directorate.

The Air Force Research Laboratory, Directed Energy Directorate, has awarded Verus Research an $11,000,000, 5-year, single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to research high-power electromagnetics effects on analog and digital electronic systems.

Also known as the “RDH-1 Call 6 HPM Effects” contract, the scope of work applies to all aspects of assessing the effectiveness of high power microwave (HPM) systems, including empirical effects testing, effectiveness modeling, predictive effects, battle damage assessment, and emerging technologies.

Verus Research Chief Technology Officer, Dr. J. Mark DelGrande, noted the company’s team of experts will creatively employ their advanced capabilities in basic research, design, development, instrumentation, testing, modeling, and simulation to achieve important advancements that bolster the Nation’s security.

Please see the related coverage in Military & Aerospace Electronics at http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/2017/10/electronics-killing-hpem-weapons.html.

Verus Research has been awarded a 3-year, $4.39 million contract to support the Naval Surface Warfare Center (Dahlgren Division) with Frequency Agile High Power Radio Frequency (HPRF) Source Development, also known as “Agile HPRF.”  The contract vehicle is administered via the Department of Defense (DoD) Ordnance Technology Consortium (DOTC).

Under Agile HPRF, Verus Research will upgrade Dahlgren’s Ground Mobile High Power Microwave test bed and provide novel prime power, pulse power, HPRF source, and antenna concepts for future systems.  Efforts will include HPRF modeling and simulation, as well as a significant amount of hardware development, installation, and testing.

Some of these activities are planned to occur at Verus Research’s new Midway Park laboratory facility.

According to Verus Research Chief Technology Officer Dr. J. Mark DelGrande, “this award is the culmination of a significant team effort, expanding Verus Research capabilities into HPRF system design, development, and testing.”