Luna Innovations Recognized with Achievement Award from U.S. Army
Small Business Innovation Research Achievement Award given for successful development of high-performance antennas for military vehicles
ROANOKE, Va., Apr 26, 2012 --Luna Innovations Incorporated (NASDAQ: LUNA), which develops and manufactures new-generation products for the healthcare, telecommunications, energy and defense markets, today announced it received the U.S. Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Achievement Award for its development of high-performance antennas for military vehicles.
Luna is one of 10 national achievement award winners and received the recognition for its accomplishments in developing antennas to be used in ground and airborne platforms. Luna, with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), is combining specially engineered materials, unique antenna designs and inkjet printing for rapid antenna prototyping to meet the needs of the U.S. Army.
The company received the award after being evaluated on four criteria: originality and innovation of research; relevance to the Army mission; immediate commercialization potential; and overall quality performance of the project.
"Luna Innovations is already a trusted partner for the U.S. armed forces," said My Chung, CEO of Luna Innovations. "This award further validates the value and quality we bring to the technology and products that support our men and women in uniform. We thank the U.S. Army for this prestigious award, and we look forward to continuing to develop and implement technologies that safeguard our nation."
Luna was recognized for developing a new tool to solve a common problem in Humvees, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - how to reduce the visibility of wideband communications antennas and improve vehicle aerodynamic performance without sacrificing performance.
Using advanced materials and computing algorithms, Luna and GTRI dramatically enhanced the antenna design, modeling, and prototyping process. These advances enabled fabrication of efficient brassboard prototypes on a very short time scale, leading to dramatic reductions in design-to-fielding time for new wideband antennas.
The modularity and cost-effectiveness of each step in the prototyping process will lead to rapid technology transfer to end-users in a wide variety of platforms. Now, brassboard prototypes of new antenna designs can be rapidly manufactured within hours or days, giving the Army the capability to fabricate and test new antenna concepts without expensive and lengthy operations. The technologies can be applied to other Department of Defense and commercial applications.
About Luna Innovations
Luna Innovations Incorporated (www.lunainnovations.com) focuses on sensing and instrumentation. Luna develops and manufactures new-generation products for the healthcare, telecommunications, energy and defense markets. The company's products are used to measure, monitor, protect and improve critical processes in the markets it serves. Through its disciplined commercialization business model, Luna has become a recognized leader in transitioning science to solutions.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes information that constitutes "forward-looking statements" made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding, but not limited to: product capabilities, technological attributes, advantages and applications, and customer use. Statements that describe the company's business strategy, goals, prospects, opportunities, outlook, plans or intentions are also forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including technological challenges in specific applications and risks and uncertainties set forth in the company's periodic reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such filings are available at the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov, and at the company's website at http://www.lunainnovations.com. The statements made in this release are based on information available to the company as of the date of this release and Luna Innovations undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
Luna Innovations Incorporated
Dale Messick, 1-540-769-8400
[email protected]