2011 Annual Report - MIT Lincoln Laboratory

technology transfer
Economic Impact and Technology Transfer
Lincoln Laboratory’s research and development
activities strengthen both the nation’s technology
base and its economy. The continuing development
of new capabilities and emerging enabling technologies
that are transitioned rapidly to the military
services, government agencies, and industry
helps ensure not only that advanced technology
is available to the U.S. military services and
government agencies, but also that U.S. industry is
at the forefront of technical innovation.
Technology transfer is accomplished through deliv-
eries of hardware, software, algorithms, or advanced
architecture concepts; Small Business Technology
Transfer joint research partnerships with local
businesses; Cooperative Research and Development
Agreements that are privately funded by businesses;
and the licensing of MIT patents to companies.
Economic Impact
During fiscal year 2011, the Laboratory issued
subcontracts with a value that exceeded $434
million. In 2011, the Laboratory purchased more
than $242 million in goods and services from New
England companies, with approximately $209
million placed locally in Massachusetts. Small
businesses—which supply construction, maintenance,
fabrication, and professional technical
services in addition to commercial equipment
and material—are primary beneficiaries of the
Laboratory’s outside procurement program. In
2011, 53.4% of subcontracts were awarded to small
businesses of all types. The Laboratory’s Small
Business Office is committed to an aggressive
program designed to afford small business
concerns the maximum opportunity to compete for
purchase orders.
Technology Transfer Activities
Air and Missile Defense Technology
■ The U.S. Navy is acquiring the Air and Missile
Defense Radar (AMDR) to provide nextgeneration,
integrated air and missile defense
capability for future surface combatants. To
establish a baseline for the ballistic missile
defense mission, the Laboratory developed a
prototype architecture for tracking and discriminating
targets in all phases of ballistic flight. The
16 2011 Annual Report
AMDR discrimination architecture was delivered to
the government, and its component algorithms will
be transferred to industry.
■ The Laboratory developed the prototype autonomous
processing and sensor control computer for the
Missile Defense Agency’s airborne infrared optical
sensing capability for tracking ballistic missile threats.
The hardware design and prototype software implementation
was then transferred to Raytheon for further
development and production.
■ The Laboratory has transferred open system architecture
technical concepts, algorithms, and standards
for use in the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation radar
systems.
■ Iterative Clutter Calibration, an antenna calibration
technique for airborne radars, is being transferred to
Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and the Commonwealth
of Australia (through the U.S. Air Force). The technique
uses ground clutter to improve the calibration of an
airborne radar antenna to compensate for effects such
as airframe interaction and failed antenna elements.
Two patents have been filed.
Communication Systems
■ The VOCALINC forensic-style speaker comparison
tool, which employs state-of-the-art session and
channel compensation and speech enhancement, was
transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S.
Secret Service, and the intelligence community.
■ A Laboratory-developed government reference
implementation of a high-data-rate waveform for
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)
applications was released to 15 industry participants.
The release included VHDL (a hardware description
language), software, models, test vectors, and
documentation.
■ The Large Aperture Ka-band Test Terminal was
upgraded to characterize the on-orbit performance of
the wideband bypass mode on the Wideband Global
Satellite (WGS) Flights 4 and above. The terminal was
transferred to the WGS program office and deployed
to Camp Parks, California, in preparation for postlaunch
testing.