Businessweek

Luna Innovations Incorporated develops, manufactures, and markets fiber optic test and measurement, sensing, and instrumentation products. The company focuses on technology solutions to measure, monitor, protect and improve critical processes in the telecommunications, medical, composite and defense industries. Segments The company operates in two main segments, Products and Licensing and Technology Development. The Products and Licensing segment develops, manufactures and markets fiber optic test and measurement, sensing, and instrumentation products and also conducts applied research in the fiber optic sensing area for both corporate and government customers. The company is in the process of developing and commercializing fiber optic shape sensing technology in the medical industry with the goal of supplying fiber optic shape sensing components for use in robotic and minimally invasive surgical systems. It also focuses on developing and commercializing fiber optic technology for strain and temperature sensing applications for the composite materials industry. The Technology Development segment performs applied research for government funded projects and includes secure computing and communications group (SCC). SCC provides solutions designed to secure critical technologies within the U.S. government. SCC conducts applied research and provides services to the government in this area. The Technology Development segment also performs applied research in the areas of sensing and materials. Most of the government funding in the part of Technology Development segment outside of SCC is derived from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program coordinated by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Test and Measurement, Sensing, and Instrumentation Products Test and Measurement Equipment for Fiber Optic Components and Sub-Assemblies The company’s product lines in the test and measurement domain include Optical Vector Analyzer (OVA), Optical Backscatter Reflectometer (OBR), and the Phoenix family of tunable lasers. Its test and measurement products monitor the integrity of fiber optic network components and sub-assemblies. These products are designed for manufacturers and suppliers of optical components and sub-assemblies and allow them to reduce development, test and production costs and improve the quality of their products. Most manufacturers and suppliers of optical components and modules use a combination of different types of optical test equipment to identify and measure failures in optical networks, such as bad splices, bends, crimps and other reflective and non-reflective events that can cause defects and negatively impact product performance. The company’s optical test equipment products replace the need to employ multiple test products because they address all stages of the end user’s product development lifecycle, including design verification, component qualification, assembly process verification and failure analysis. The company’s OVA platform allows manufacturers and suppliers of optical components and sub-assemblies to reduce development, test and production costs and time-to-market by replacing multiple, time consuming and expensive measurement platforms with a single, integrated and easy-to-use instrument. The company’s OBR allows data and telecommunications companies and the service providers who maintain their own fiber optic networks to reduce test time and improve product quality. Its OBR provides the ability to inspect fiber networks with higher resolution than is possible with other existing test products. Its graphical user interface also makes the OBR product suitable for both research and manufacturing applications. The OBR also has a feature that allows users to turn standard optical fiber into multiple sensors that could be used in a variety of temperature measurement and monitoring applications, including power generation; civil structure monitoring; industrial process control; component-level heating in optical amplifiers; strain and load distribution measurements of aircraft harnesses; and temperature monitoring inside telecommunications cabinets and encl