A Xenia company, Persistent Surveillance Systems, is supporting the funding proposal. The company is working with UD and IDCAST on developing an improved wide-area surveillance system.
In layered sensing, radar or other electronic monitoring equipment is set up to monitor sectors from the ground up to potentially thousands of feet above, to watch for aircraft and other objects of interest.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is exploring military uses of layered sensing and would watch any civilian demonstration with interest, said Joe Sciabica, the AFRL’s executive director. Sensors that can help quickly identify a potential adversary as a threat and pinpoint its location for destruction are essential to the “information age” war against terrorists, Sciabica said.
IDCAST’s funding request is pending before the state’s Wright Center for Sensor System Engineering in Cleveland, along with 12 other proposals, said William VerDuin, that center’s executive director. A consultant for the state is screening the proposals to determine whether they have potential to succeed in commercial markets and create jobs.
The consultant is to present recommendations to the Wright center’s board July 21 in Cleveland about which proposals should receive Third Frontier funding, VerDuin said Tuesday, June 15, during a sensors technology conference in Dayton.
If the proposal from IDCAST and the University of Dayton Research Institute receives state support, the university would be required to match it with $6 million, or $2 for every $1 from the state, VerDuin said.
A similar proposal by UD researchers two years ago to demonstrate the commercial uses for layered sensing at Dayton International Airport failed to attract state funding, officials said.
Sensors technology is a key part of AFRL’s work at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It is an area of emphasis, along with advanced materials technology, in Dayton’s plan to develop itself as Ohio’s designated hub for aerospace innovation.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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