Innovative Approaches for Radiation-Hardened Electronics | CRANBAA19 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for CRANBAA19 001

The Department of Defense, through NSWC Crane, released a discretionary research and development grant opportunity titled "Innovative Approaches for Radiation-Hardened Electronics" (Funding Opportunity Number: CRANBAA19 001). The program sits in the Science and Technology / Research and Development category and is associated with CFDA number 12.300, which generally covers Department of Defense research and related support activities. The core focus of the announcement is the pursuit of new or improved methods for creating electronics that can continue to function reliably in radiation-heavy environments, such as space, high-altitude flight, certain nuclear-related settings, or other mission scenarios where ionizing radiation can degrade performance or cause failure.

This opportunity uses a grant as its funding instrument, meaning proposals are expected to be research-oriented and aimed at advancing knowledge, concepts, prototypes, or experimentally validated approaches rather than simply purchasing equipment or providing routine services. The eligible applicant pool is limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, indicating the sponsor is primarily seeking university-based research teams, labs, and faculty-led efforts that can contribute novel technical ideas, exploratory studies, proof-of-concept demonstrations, and other early-to-mid stage R&D outputs aligned with defense needs.

Funding details suggest a relatively focused, competitive effort. The award ceiling is listed as $200,000 per award, with an anticipated three awards, implying modest, targeted funding likely intended to seed multiple parallel approaches rather than fund a single large program. The announcement was created on December 7, 2018, with an original closing date of January 8, 2019, which reflects a short application window typical of certain defense research solicitations and suggests applicants were expected to respond with well-scoped research plans that could be executed within limited budgets and timelines.

While the title and description are brief, "radiation-hardened electronics" commonly encompasses research directions such as: designing circuits and architectures that tolerate single-event effects (like single-event upsets, latchup, or burnout); developing device- and material-level strategies that resist total ionizing dose damage; improving fault tolerance through redundancy, error detection and correction, or resilient computing methods; exploring shielding and packaging innovations; and creating testing, modeling, or qualification techniques that better predict field performance in radiation environments. In practice, a program like this typically values approaches that are innovative (not just incremental), defensible with technical rationale, and feasible to demonstrate through modeling, simulation, lab experiments, or prototype hardware within the stated funding limits.

In summary, CRANBAA19 001 is a DoD NSWC Crane grant solicitation aimed at supporting university-led R&D into new techniques for making electronic systems more resilient to radiation effects, with individual awards up to $200,000 and approximately three awards expected, originally due in early January 2019.

• The Department of Defense, NSWC - CRANE in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Innovative Approaches for Radiation-Hardened Electronics" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.300.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 07, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 08, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for CRANBAA19 001

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