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Foster-Miller's work in research & development of deployable structures focuses on the design and development of novel structures and components for earth and aerospace. We also have facilities for conducting aging aircraft research and are working on design and development of rapidly deployable earth and space structures.
Foster-Miller has been working on large deployable structures and ultra-lightweight deployable structures since the mid-1990s. The basic building block of large deployable structures is a patent-pending composite folding hinge that is integral to the truss tube. This hinge can be made of any modern composite fiber, from high modulus carbon to low-cost glass. The hinge can be folded over and over again for repeated use in the field or for ground testing prior to spaceflight. The basic folding hinge design can be scaled to meet a wide range of stiffness and strength requirements.
We are also designing and constructing novel ultra-lightweight deployable structures for applications requiring high packaging density, very low mass and accurate post-deployment shape.
Foster-Miller develops precision mechanisms for a variety of applications where positional stability and accuracy are the driving parameters. The development of high-precision mechanism technology has immediate applications in space optics, but can also be readily applied to such terrestrial applications as microchip and wafer board manufacturing. As electronics get smaller and smaller, manufacturing methods are subjected to smaller and smaller operating environments and tolerances, and are approaching the accuracies currently required for optical systems. Foster-Miller also designs and develops self-deploying structures that do not need actuators or latches. These new structures are one-piece truss designs that can be tailored to individual applications and applied to many aerospace and terrestrial applications.
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