Homestead, FL – November 30, 2010 – City Labs, Inc., the pioneering innovator of long-life (20+ years) NanoTritium™ batteries for microelectronics, has been awarded a contract of nearly one million dollars by the United States Air Force Research Laboratory. With broad potential for applications in sensitive military electronic platforms, City Labs’ batteries may reside in aircraft, computers, sensors, radar systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs /drones).
As tested and confirmed by Lockheed Martin, the City Labs battery is resistant to extreme temperature variance (-50 degrees C to +150 degrees C), as well as extreme vibration and altitude, due to the robust architecture of City Labs’ proprietary technology and the use of Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Tritium is the most benign of radioactive isotopes and is a technology already used as an illumination source for Exit signs commonly found in schools, theatres, commercial buildings, and commercial aircraft.
“We are pleased and proud that the United States Air Force Research Laboratory has selected City Labs and our unique technology to satisfy its highly sophisticated demands and specifications,” said Peter Cabauy, Ph.D, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of City Labs, Inc. “As the Department of Defense continues its mission to stay on the technological edge, we look forward to establishing additional partnerships and customizing our unique technology for the wide range of applications where it is needed.”
Founded in 2005, City Labs was initially housed within Florida International University (FIU) and provided access to its resources. Dr. Kenneth G. Furton, Professor and Dean of FIU’s College of Arts and Sciences, has been a steadfast supporter for bringing high technology opportunities to South Florida. “City Labs, Inc. is the first of what is hoped to eventually be many companies to be incubated at FIU,” said Dean Furton. He also noted that “Dr. Cabauy is a graduate of FIU (BS, FIU; PhD, U Mich), and I expect that his company’s breakthrough will soon employ local talent and will stand as a beacon for upcoming student entrepreneurs who aspire to meld their FIU educations with business opportunities in South Florida.”
The company is currently incubated in the Carrie P. Meek Business Center, a facility originally sponsored by NASA, in Homestead, Florida. The company is backed in part by Alienware co-founder Alex Aguila. City Labs’ Tritium batteries enable applications where battery replacement is difficult or impossible, and a source of continuous nanowatt/microwatt power for twenty years or more is crucial. Applications include intelligence-gathering sensors, medical implants, space satellite and probe power sources, trickle charging lithium batteries, semi-passive and active RFIDs (radio frequency identification), subsea sensors and buoys, wireless dust mote networks and field sensors, smart munitions, memory backup and lower power processors (e.g. ASICs, FPGAs, MicroController Units, etc.).
