Winners Announcement

The Bureau of Reclamation has selected five projects to each receive $60,000 through phase one of the Imperfection Detection Challenge. The winning submissions, in no particular order, are:

  • Dr. Frederick Jenet, Brent Cole, Keeisi Caballero, Louis Dartez, Alma Guerrero-Miller, Jane Hicks, and Nick Tillman of Team Permittivity for their entry Utilizing Space Tech to Detect FRP Damage on Earth from Brownsville, Texas
  • Amin Aminaei and Dr. Fatemeh Norouzian of Team Prasiolite for their entry Low-Terahertz Imaging Radar ( L-TIR) from the Netherlands
  • Fred Briggs, Bo Wernick, Dr. Alexander Brath, and Alan Caulder for their entry Applied Impact Robotics, Inc. from Sterling, Virginia
  • Weixi Zeng, Dr. Tim Xu, Dr. Sadegh Shams, and Dr. Shibin Lin of Team ilmaging for their entry Ultrasonic SH waves imaging FRP structures from Columbia, Maryland
  • Dr. Aurelian Zapciu for their entry Augmented reality system for low-THz inspection from Romania

We would also like to recognize the following honorable mentions. While these teams will not be advancing to the next stage, we would like to commend them for their excellent submissions:

  • Geoff Clarkson, Rob Groves, Rob Kohli, Chris Groves, and Jo Ann Watton of UltraAnalytix for their entry UAX GO from Ontario, Canada
  • Dr. Nishal Ramadas, Prof. Krishnan Balasubramanian, Dr. Shyamsunder Mandayam, Ranbir Singh, Makesh Janakaraj, Kanishka Kumar for their entry Multi-modal Ultrasonic Device (MUD) from England.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Phase 1 of the Imperfection Detection Challenge. The judging panel was impressed by the caliber of entries submitted.

The Phase 2 development period is approximately 10 months long and Phase 2 winners will be selected based on how well their prototypes detect and characterize engineered defects in supplied composite panels. In addition to development funds won from Phase 1, Phase 2 teams will also have up to 40 hours of access to subject matter experts.  At the end of the Phase 2 period, each team will submit a report and up to 3 of the top-performing teams will advance to Phase 3 and will each receive an additional $10,000 to support travel and associated costs with participation in the Phase 3 final demonstration where winners will be selected based on how their prototypes perform on test pieces that have curvature, complex geometries, and variable thicknesses. 

Congratulations once again to our Phase 1 Winners!