Grants and Contributions

The firm is advancing a lightweight, scalable high-altitude aerial platform designed for fleet-based operations to deliver distributed sensing and persistent situational awareness. The project will complete technical readiness analysis and develop a compliance and procurement roadmap to support defence and dual-use applications in Canada and allied markets.

This project will assess the technical requirements for integrating solar power into a balloon-borne high-altitude platforms. The work includes evaluating suitable solar cell technologies, reviewing encapsulation and mechanical constraints, and quantifying and addressing performance uncertainties driven by environmental factors. The results will guide technology selection and reduce risks ahead of a future full-scale development phase.

This project focuses on optimizing the performance of an optical payload used on a high-altitude platform through advancements in its gimbals' stabilization and scanning mechanism, which significantly increases area coverage per flight. The candidate will apply their expertise in control systems to transition the gimbals from an open-loop to a closed-loop control design, resulting in greatly enhanced precision and stability. Furthermore, the project includes replacing off-the-shelf geared servos with custom direct-drive brushless DC motors, further improving control accuracy, reducing mechanical complexity, and boosting overall system performance.

This project develops an innovative electric propulsion system consisting of a coaxial propeller design, efficient motor controllers, and an advanced control algorithm to minimize reliance on consumables for altitude control. It aims to develop hardware and algorithms for automatic altitude control using renewable energy, with the prototype helping to measure power needs for extended operations.

The project aims at updating and improving the existing mission control software.

The requirements for a propulsion system optimized for use aboard balloon-borne high altitude platforms (HAPs) will be determined through simulation. Based on these requirements, conceptual design and first order configuration design of the thrust generating subsystem will be conducted.

The purpose of this CanExport Innovation agreement is to support Canadian organizations to carry out activities related to pursuing opportunities that would lead to establishing new collaborative Research and Development (R&D) partnerships between the Recipient and foreign organizations in order to support R&D on the Recipient’s technology and advance its commercialization.

The project is to develop a testbed to demonstrate a link to an optical ground station with a high-altitude platform (HAP). The ground-to-balloon optical links will create C-band (1550 nm) and novel mid-wave infrared (MWIR) transmitter/receiver pairs between a HAP and an optical ground station. The testbed will allow field testing of optical components to be used in optical SatCom for both C-band and MWIR links. This data will be invaluable to partners within the Consortium, as well as the broader scientific community at large. There is also strong potential in the future to use the ground station to collect data on atmospheric scintillation and weather effects on NIR/MWIR optical links in Canada.

The purpose of this CanExport Innovation agreement is to support Canadian organizations to carry out activities related to pursuing opportunities that would lead to establishing new collaborative Research and Development (R&D) partnerships between the Recipient and foreign organizations in order to support R&D on the Recipient’s technology and advance its commercialization.