First Deployment!
6/30/2025
We’re very pleased to share that we have our first prototypes deployed on a real Navy platform! Double-sided copper clad PCBs containing an array of copper corrosion sensitive test strips are deployed in 8 locations in the Dolus System Shelter on the USV Ranger. After a determined period, the PCBs will be retrieved and analyzed against control coupons in a variety of environments, and the corrosion rate determined in mills of copper per unit time. This will be a direct indication of the damage expected of shelter circuitry and equipment racks. Data can be extrapolated to estimate the current impact of corrosion and potential opportunities to optimize maintenance costs and decrease risk of equipment failure.
The USV Ranger is an unmanned surface vessel and is part of the DOLUS project for autonomous systems development, test, and evaluation. The scope of work involves the deployment of autonomous unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to demonstrate an enhanced warfighting capability to disrupt adversary activity in a given maritime region. Given that USVs have more limited opportunities for visual systems inspections, the ability to monitor corrosion and optimize maintenance schedules is critical.
This deployment will be a real proof of concept for the sensors – allowing us to see them reliably track a rate of corrosion outside the lab and in real field conditions. This is just a test of the sensor itself – no RFID integration yet – but is a very meaningful step in bringing this product to life.
Thank you so much to Stephen Cox, the inventor of the corrosion sensor technology, for identifying and making this opportunity happen, and to his partners in the USV Ranger team for executing this plan!
Partnered in the Navy Crucible Ignitor, a Technology Transition program for military tech ( Dec24-Apr25), AmbientSense Technologies continues this work through Naval Innovation for Science and Engineering (NISE) and Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) vehicles to develop this technology for full Naval fleet deployment and commercial applications where corrosion monitoring is important.
Invention of the Year!
6/17/2025
We are excited to announce that Stephen Cox, the inventor behind the corrosion sensor technology we are licensing, has received the prestigious Michael A. Kagan Invention of the Year Award from the Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific (NIWC Pacific)!
Stephen’s innovation—U.S. Patent No. 11,875,211, “Smart Stickers: Sensors for Environmental Conditions”—was chosen for this top honor, which recognizes groundbreaking contributions by inventors at NIWC Pacific. He will be officially honored by the Commanding Officer and Executive Director during an award ceremony this October.
This recognition highlights the significance and potential impact of scalable, cost-effective corrosion monitoring solutions for the Navy. With corrosion costing the Navy $7 billion annually and accounting for the loss of 11 million operational hours, it’s clear why this technology stands out.
Huge congratulations to Stephen! We’re incredibly proud and honored to have the opportunity to work alongside you on this mission to transform how the world tackles corrosion.
DoD Licensing
5/14/25
Since we shared the story of the formation of our company, AmbientSense Technologies, we’ve had numerous people ask us about the process of licensing technology from the DoD.It’s really been a fascinating process to learn about. Just like enterprises, the DoD does a lot of research – more than they can actively invest in turning into products. For some of that research, they offer to license it to companies, with the goal of creating dual use products that military and civilian organizations will be able to take advantage of. There are potentially thousands of patented technologies available to license.
While we were connected to the corrosion monitoring technology we’re licensing through FedTech’s Crucible Ignitor, we also leveraged TechLink. TechLink is a non-profit independent organization that hosts a marketplace for available technologies and provides no cost advice to companies going through the licensing process.
We want to give a shout out to TechLink, and especially Troy Carter, who has been indispensable in helping us through the process. Working with the DoD can be slow and opaque, but TechLink and Troy really helped us clarify how the process works, how to write our license application and commercialization plan, and what the patent license terms might look like. It was a breath of fresh air working with him!
If you’re interested in seeing what technologies are available, you can search at TechLink.
#TechLink
#FedTech
#all-ambientsense-technologies
AmbientSense Technologies Wins 3rd Place + $20K at the NavalX Crucible Ignitor Pitch Competition!
4/18/25
I’m proud to share that AmbientSense Technologies just won 3rd place and a $20,000 award in the NavalX Crucible Ignitor program for our RFiD sticker corrosion sensor technology!
It was exciting to share our pitch with judges from across the DoD innovation ecosystem and to see all the other pitches from both the Crucible Ignitor and Crucible Accelerator cohorts. We’d also like to congratulate our fellow Crucible Ignitor winning teams – http://solidhydrogen.io/ took second place for improved energy storage and SHIELD took first place for their drone detection technology. If you’re interested in seeing all of the pitches, you can watch the recording here.
Huge thank you to FedTech, NavalX, the Inland Empire, our coach Kimberly Penn, all of judges and the inventor of our corrosion sensor technology, Steve Cox! We wouldn’t be were we are today without you.
The judges gave us super helpful feedback including “Simple, elegant solution”, “Service vs. hardware model is a smart move” and “This monitoring technology could have positive impacts on how the Navy manages corrosion in the Fleet.” They also encouraged us to keep maturing the technology and to deeply understand how corrosive marine environments will impact the sensors.
Our next step is prototyping the first version of the sensors and starting to test. Because we will use a contract RFID manufacturer, we should be able to get a solid start on this with the Crucible Pitch prize money. It’s really exciting to see this starting to come to life!
Follow us at https://lnkd.in/gddrRjdq to hear the latest on our progress. We deeply believe that changing the game on the availability of large amounts of corrosion measurement data will lead us to breakthrough AI-based predictive models for corrosion and revolutionize the way the world manages corrosion.
Come cheer on AmbientSense Technologies in our first Pitch Competition!
4/11/2025
This week, we will take part in the final Pitch Competition that culminates the FedTech Crucible Ignitor Program! AmbientSense Technologies is one of the 5 finalist teams who will be competing for 3 cash prizes of $50k, $30k and $20k.
The Crucible Pitch Competition is open to everyone, so if you are interested in seeing us pitch as well as the rest of the teams from both the Ignitor and Accelerator cohorts, we’d love to see you there!
April 16th, 2025 from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM PST
You’ll meet innovative startups and entrepreneurs from the 2025 Crucible Ignitor and Accelerator cohorts as they pitch their concepts for commercializing defense technologies or solutions to one of our seven challenge statements/technology focus areas.
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-navalx-crucible-pitch-competition-tickets-1293016119019?aff=FTemailFor more information about the Crucible Pitch Competition’s cornerstone program, Crucible, visit us here or contact us at crucible@fedtech.io.
Hope we see you there!
fedtech.io
Startup Studios | Crucible Ignitor
Drawing inspiration from the U.S. Marines’ 54-hour boot camp challenge, and developed in partnership with NavalX’s Inland Empire Tech Bridge, Crucible Ignitor is a startup studio that fosters grit, critical thinking, and perseverance in entrepreneurial growth across California and the Pacific Northwest. Ignitor bolsters NavalX and the Tech Bridge Network’s mission by uniting technology with the region’s diverse innovators and promoting critical technology commercialization.
Launch of AmbientSense Technologies, Inc
4/7/2025
We are pleased to announce the launch of AmbientSense Technologies, Inc!
AmbientSense Technologies was conceived from the Crucible Ignitor program from FedTech, in collaboration with the NavalX Tech Bridge Network.
Our Mission: We monitor corrosion in order to provide actionable insights & limit operational downtime.
We are developing passive RFID stickers that monitor atmospheric corrosion, thereby providing the ability to easily and inexpensively monitor corrosion trends in a particular environment or for a particular piece of equipment. Broadly deploying this capability will lead to increased data collection, leading to the development of AI-based predictive models and transforming how the world manages corrosion.
Our Vision: Revolutionize the way the world manages corrosion by enabling broad data collection and predictive modeling.
Our technology is still in development, so we are looking for people to partner with in defining requirements, field testing prototypes and developing modeling capabilities.
We’d like to express our appreciation for the incredible team at FedTech for their unwavering support and dedication. A special note of appreciation goes to Stephen Cox, our brilliant technical advisor and the visionary inventor behind this groundbreaking technology. Your expertise and passion have been truly instrumental in bringing this innovation to life.
We are interested in building collaborative relationships – please reach out if you are interested in collaborating on corrosion monitoring and modeling!