Austin, Texas (2/28/2011) – Nanohmics, Inc. was awarded the prestigious Chief of Naval Research (CNR) Challenge grant to design a visual guidance system to allow vehicles to autonomously navigate unknown terrain, whether an urban environment or off-road.  The CNR Challenge is hosted by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).  “ONR program officers reviewed the entries and selected 10 very promising ideas from nearly 100 white papers,” said Rear Adm. Nevin Carr, chief of naval research. “As always, final selection was tough, but the winners were ultimately chosen based on potential and how well the idea supports the needs of the Navy.”

Tim Raines, Nanohmics’ VP of Commercialization said, “We have had a long and successful relationship with several organizations within the Navy including ONR but to win the CNR Challenge is an honor that places Nanohmics among an elite group of researchers who are creating ideas that will meet the long term vision of the US Navy.”

The winners and their research initiatives are:

• Babak Fahimi, University of Texas at Dallas – “Double Stator Switched Reluctance Machines: A Transformative Technology”
• Moeness Amin, Villanova University – ” Effective Urban Radar Imaging Based on Compressive Sensing”
• Juliet Gopinath, University of Colorado at Boulder – “Individually Addressable Pptofluidic Lens Arrays for Boundary Layer Distortion Compensation”
• Mark Rosenblum, Lockheed Martin – “A High-Function, Low-Cost Autonomy Kit”
• Byron Zollars, Nanohmics – “Passive 3D Mapping Plenoptic Sensor for Autonomous Vehicle Guidance and Obstacle Avoidance“
• Ming Han, University of Nebraska-Lincoln – “Miniature and Durable Fiber-Optic Microphone for Accurate Measurement of High-Level Noise”
• Michael Thomas, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory – “HEL Absorption Around 1 um in the Maritime Environment”
• James McGrath, Virginia Tech – “Chlorine Resistant Membranes for RO, FO, Nanofiltration and Waste Water Purification”
• Dave Trivett, Georgia Institute of Technology – “Mitigation of Flow Noise Effects by Fish”
• Xin Wang, Stony Brook University – “Concurrent Exploration of Compressive Sensing and Networked MIMO Radars for High Quality and Robust Detection and Tracking”

Nanohmics, Inc. is a dynamic company founded in July 2002 by entrepreneur-minded scientists and engineers. Nanohmics specialty is working aggressively with companies and government agencies to help them bring their ideas to fruition with innovative science and engineering along with novel technical and integration methodologies.  We perform full custom engineering and development with the goal of capturing the essence of the scientific problem in the solution.  The combination of cutting-edge scientific and engineering viewpoints for next generation product development enables a unique perspective on total system solutions.  A wide range of services are available, from assistance with small technical hurdles to full-custom prototype instrumentation development and low-volume production.

Nanohmics employees have backgrounds in engineering and the pure sciences, along with decades of experience in materials science, electro-optics, optical physics and electromagnetics, electronics, embedded systems, biotechnology/fluidics, and thermal management.  Nanohmics’ mission is to provide our customers with the hardware and software tools to enable creative ideas to flourish in commercial ventures.

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