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Issued under the
auspices of the Army, the Phase I Small
Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program touched
directly on the Company’s earlier area of expertise. As
WTC had already devoted many years to the study of this
approach and had focused entirely during the previous
decade on the commercialization of its products and
wanted to avoid Federal contracts, an early decision was
made not to bid. It was felt that the execution of such
this relatively small Phase I contract (<$100,000) would
encumber the Company’s progress in completing its
earlier spin-off offering and might jeopardize its key
patent programs should there be some inventions
developed during the contract. Nevertheless, here was an
opportunity to get a good reading of the Government’s
judgment of the MALS technology. Thus an unusual
proposal was submitted that described how the MALS
system would be developed with a final delivery to the
Government of a complete detector. The Government did
not fund the proposal because it lacked the required
development stage descriptions as well as plans for the
future commercialization of the devices.
Nevertheless, the debriefings associated with
the review process
presented an unprejudiced and unprecedented review of
the technology and its planned implementation
by Wyatt-Lorenz. Department of Defense reviewers
included the following comments, among others, on the
technology proposed:
Criterion 1. Soundness, technical
merit, and innovation of the proposed approach and its
incremental progress toward topic or subtopic solution.
“…The company and PI have an outstanding
understanding of the problem of identification of
aerosols using multiple scattering. Wyatt is one
of the pioneers of this type of research. …”
“…This is an excellent hardware proposal. Wyatt
Technology will develop a breadboard scattering system
that will measure angle-dependent and
polarization-dependent scattered light at 24 discrete
angles. …”
“…Use of 80 angular polarization scattering
measurements enhances the possibility of successfully
detecting and identifying Biological Aerosols (BA).
The argument for rejecting the use of CCD arrays and
using discrete detectors is well made. The
scattering measurements are not confined to a single
plane, thus adding additional angular scattering
information. WTC has an aggressive program in
place to develop their technology for detection of BA.
The use of a central processing facility that can also
control the operation of the detectors is a solid
approach for managing the overall system.…”
“…An excellent hardware proposal that shows
outstanding understanding of the problem of
identification of aerosols using multiple scattering.
Wyatt Technology will develop a breadboard scattering
system that will measure angle-dependent and
polarization-dependent scattered light at multiple
discrete angles. The use of the resulting 80
angular polarization scattering measurements enhances
the possibility of successfully detecting and
identifying Biological Aerosols (BA). The argument
for rejecting the use of CCD arrays and using discrete
detectors is well made. The scattering
measurements are not confined to a single plane, thus
adding additional angular scattering information. The
use of a central processing facility that can also
control the operation of the detectors is a solid
approach for managing the overall system.…”
Criterion 2. Qualifications of the
proposed/key investigators, supporting staff, and
consultants. Qualifications include not only the
ability to perform the research and development, but
also the ability to commercialize the results.
“…Outstanding. The company is a pioneer in the
discipline.…”
“…The key investigators and facilities are excellent.
Dr Wyatt (the lead investigator) is clearly an expert in
this field. Wyatt Technology has a long history of
optically-based aerosol detection instrumentation
design.…”
“…Very strong qualifications in the area of light
scattering and instrument development from BA. …”
“…Outstanding. Wyatt is a pioneer in the discipline
and is clearly an expert in this field. Wyatt
Technology has a long history of optically-based aerosol
detection instrumentation design. The group has
very strong qualifications in the area of light
scattering and instrument development from BA
detection.…”
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