Commercialization History

PSI SBIR Commercialization History

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) develops advanced technologies for the aerospace, chemical, defense, industrial, energy, telecommunications, environmental, manufacturing and medical markets. Our corporate headquarters is located in Andover, MA, with a branch office in Pleasanton, CA. PSI is a high technology company with over thirty-five years of experience in contract research and development, having expertise encompassing optics, electronics, materials, mechanics and chemistry, together with the interdisciplinary fields of photonics and optoelectronics, electro mechanics, electrochemistry, and materials. Our broad R&D capabilities regularly lead to new technological developments, which we bring to the commercial marketplace via technology transfer to product firms. PSI has co-developed many proprietary products and services in collaboration with corporate partners.

The SBIR program has played a pivotal role in helping PSI develop significant technological advances. These advances have resulted in families of products based on proprietary photonic, electromechanical and materials technologies that we have introduced to the world marketplace.

PSI Commercialization Strategy

PSI employs several strategies to commercialize our developed technologies, depending on the nature of the market for those products:
  • The U.S. Government is the primary user of many of our defense and aerospace technologies. PSI provides services and products to the appropriate Government agencies, either directly or teamed with larger military equipment providers. We frequently address DoD needs in markets too small to interest commercial product companies.
  • PSI manufactures and sells low volume specialized products directly to niche markets.
  • PSI teams with established industrial partners having manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution channels to bring products rapidly to significant commercial markets under licensing agreements.

For revolutionary technologies that offer the opportunity to establish large markets based on totally new product families, PSI works with venture investors to spin out the technology into focused development stage companies.

U.S. Government Applications

PSI is committed to successful transition of SBIR-developed technologies to meet important needs of defense, aerospace or other sponsoring agencies. Phase III funding for engineering development, technology demonstrations and initial procurement represents a considerable source of revenues to PSI. Significant examples include:
  • PSI's Advanced Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AIRIS) is undergoing extensive field trials for standoff detection of chemical agents, with the potential for a significant military deployment.
  • Our Individual Chemical Alarm System (ICAS) employing conductive polymer sensors for detection of warfare agents and toxic industrial compounds underwent an Active Technology Demonstration program with $2.7 million of Phase III joint funding from the military services.
  • We have an excellent record for development of novel sensors for orbital environment that fully meet specifications and perform for entire mission life, including high energy protons, electrons and heavier particles, atomic oxygen monitors, contamination sensors, materials agent degradation monitors on the space station, shuttles, and satellites in orbit and in deep space.
  • Our FAST oxygen atom technology, developed under SBIR funding to meet a need for testing materials for low Earth orbit applications enabled a testing service used to evaluate literally thousands of materials. Three FAST atom facilities are now operational with government agencies in Europe and Japan with a fourth under development in the U.S. The technology has also been used by DoD in evaluating re-entry/exo-atmospheric plume signatures.

PSI's Aviation Fuel Monitor detection of water and sediment contamination in aviation fuel was developed through funding from the US NAVY SBIR program and a Navy Phase III ID/IQ program.  It is now being manufactured by PSI to equip all future U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and destroyers. PSI is also exploring additional applications with the US Navy and the Coast Guard for this technology. In addition, PSI has partnered with Velcon Filters to bring this technology to the commercial market as the Velcon Contaminant Analyze.

Sales of PSI Products and Services

The company sells a variety of specialty instrumentation to industrial and research laboratory customers. PSI has sold units of our Water Scanª tunable diode laser absorption spectrometers (TDLAS) for non-intrusive measurement of specific gaseous compounds in challenging environments. Product and service combinations resulting from SBIR projects include the FAST Atom Testing Services and Aerospace Measurement Services, which have contributed over $ 7.4 million to company sales. A bourgeoning business providing diagnostic instrumentation for industrial customers has evolved from previous success in SBIR-funded aerospace research.

Corporate Partnerships

PSI has established strategic partnerships with a wide range of commercial companies, typically involving licensing agreements wherein our partner develops and markets products based on PSI's SBIR-developed technologies. IMA Edwards, for example, is working with PSI to incorporate PSI's LyoFlux tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy instrumentation into pharmaceutical lyophilizers to provide continuous monitoring of the water removal from freeze dried pharmaceutical formulations.  Numerous LyoFlux systems are being teted in laboratory and manufacturing scale freeze dryers at pharmaceutical customer sites. PSI developed an advanced retinal tracking system in conjunction with Optical Coherence Tomography instruments offered by Zeiss Humphrey Instruments. PSI's microwave-driven plasma source has several applications within the semiconductor manufacturing industry. We have jointly developed a laser based methane leak detector in collaboration with Heath Consultants Inc. This technology is now commercially available worldwide and has found widespread use with natural gas utilities. Over 600 units have been sold.

Spin-out Subsidiaries

 PSI has created focused spin-out companies and secured significant outside investment in cases where a new SBIR technology offers the potential of generating substantial revenues in emerging markets. Based upon technologies that include the SpectraTemp¨ continuous temperature monitor, used primarily by the power industry, and the EmiLith¨ lithotripsy instrument, for treating kidney stones. We raised over $8 million venture investment to create, respectively, Spectrum Diagnostix (SDX) and PSI Medical Products. SDX developed and manufactured continuous on-line instrumentation for environmental compliance and chemical process control using SpectraTemp¨ temperature monitor and SpectrScanª trace gas analyzers. A major commercial success for PSI was the sale of SDx to Bovar Western Research in 1996 (in 1998 Bovar sold Western Research to Ametek Inc.).  In 2001, PSI raised $11 million in venture capital to fund Confluent Photonics Corp., a PSI spin-out that is developing key optical switching products for the telecommunication industry.
 
In the spring of 2008, PSI formed Laser Light Engiens, Inc. (LLE).    In May 2008, LLE raised a Series A round of venture capital to fund start-up and advanced engineering prototype development.  Located in Salem, NH, LLE is using technology contributed by PSI's subsidiary Q-Peak, to develop an innovative line of ultra-high brightness, energy-efficient, laser-driven light sources for a variety of projection display applications including 3D/2D digital cinema and digital signage.