Through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last week awarded research contracts amounting to $3.15 million to 20 small businesses, to advance proof of concept research in seven areas.
This will advance in phases, with the first phase stretching a five month period. The companies will each receive up to $150,000 from SBIR during that phase, for work on: accurate and real-time hardware-assisted cyber attack detection, air cargo manifest analysis for screeners, first responder credentialing, machine learning based integration of alarm resolution sensors, mission critical services communications and 3GPP-standards, reduced order modeling of critical infrastructure protect surfaces and theoretical classification methods to allow detection with predicted signatures.
“Investing in new concepts is crucial to the DHS mission that relies heavily on identifying and advancing innovative technologies,” Dr. Dimitri Kusnezov, DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology, said. “The DHS SBIR program plays a vital role in fostering innovation by providing funding and support to small businesses developing cutting edge solutions that address the evolving challenges in homeland security.”
When the first phase concludes, awardees will be able to submit proposals for a Phase II award to aid development and demonstration of a working prototype of their concepts.