Grants and Contributions

Equipment acquisition: The project aims to increase the productivity and production capacity of a company specialized in the manufacture of animal bedding.

Equipment acquisition: The project will allow this key player in the aerospace industry to increase the production capacity of its Plant 4.0 and thus pursue its integration into regional and global supply chains.

Equipment acquisition: The project aims to improve productivity and increase the production capacity of a company specializing in the development, manufacture and marketing of recycled plastic nautical and recreational products.

The proposed project aims to develop and harden light readout technologies required for radiation spectrometers for exploration-class space missions to the Moon and beyond. Bubble Technology Industries (BTI) is currently developing radiation spectrometers for life science and planetary science purposes, using silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) to read out the light from scintillator detectors. In previous work, SiPMs have been demonstrated in the laboratory; however, hardening is required to optimize the technology for long deployments in deep space.

In the proposed work, compact sensor packages will be developed that are miniaturized and hardened for space applications. It is expected that the novel systems developed for space will lead to a number of spin-off technologies to be used in a wide range of terrestrial applications, including: defence and homeland security through nuclear, explosives, and contraband detection; radiation protection of aircrew personnel; applications in proton therapy; and advancement of fundamental science through research contracts.

This project will support the development of CubeSat re-entry technology to increase Canadian industrial capabilities of space technology, democratize the return of materials from space, and support the reusability of the satellite technology. The purpose of this project is to assess the effects of temperature in the re-entry process and determine the required form factor for CubeSats to safely return to earth. The Canadian population will benefit from supporting a Canadian technology company in increasing its product applications in the growing space market and allow for universities and their students to increase the various use cases of CubeSat research.

Almost all space solar modules utilize one source of space glass. Edgehog has previously demonstrated the superior light transmission of its nanotextured anti-reflection process on this industry-standard glass, showing an impressive 1% absolute gain in energy conversion efficiency. This project seeks to recreate such structures on an alternative space glass, 0214-glass, to alleviate the reliance of an entire industry on one glass supplier. Due to the different chemical composition of 0214-glass, the treatment process must be adjusted to account for differences in physical application and chemical reactivity. Successful process transfer enables further adapting the process for other glass alternatives and other applications like camera lenses. The project will also develop a mass-production lamination process, allowing the enhanced 0214-glass to become a viable alternative to the industry standard. This alleviates major risks in supply chain stability and secures this Canadian process as a crucial part of the supply chain.

Electron Multiplication Charge Coupled Device (EMCCD) technology stands out from competing technologies due to its ability to count photons accurately. CMOS technology is its closest competitor and attracting more and more interest.

A camera’s controller serves as its brain, i.e. the electronics supporting the detector. Nüvü Caméras, a Canadian company, makes the world’s most sensitive imaging solutions with its photon-counting controllers. To date, its controllers support Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs), EMCCDs and with the help from this project, will also be able to support CMOS detectors.

There are many complex challenges to properly supporting ultra-sensitive detectors, but Nüvü Caméras stands out for its unique ability to support demanding low-flux applications—both on Earth and in space. With this project, Canada will secure its leadership position for years to come by expanding its capacity to support yet another form of innovative imaging technology in line with its recognized expertise in photon-counting imaging.

Development of new custom ERP software to advance production efficiency in all departments; in order to improve workflow and reduce mould build lead times.

The project will aim to improve the understanding of lithium-ion battery material degradation rate and lifetime performance through existing and novel test methods and data analysis techniques.

Exploit the performance of the 5th generation of cell phone network standards (5G) for the streaming of therapeutic content in VR, in order to dematerialize the content of therapeutic solutions on a server at the edge of the network (Edge computing) and thus eliminate the performance constraints of stand-alone virtual reality headsets.