Stolar Research Corporation , an advanced radio geophysics company, develops   a family of proprietary technologies that use electromagnetic radio waves in various applications. 

Raton, New Mexico, Stolar’s home, is located in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  The nearby Raton Coal Basin has been mined continually since the late 1880s.  Coal mining, one of the most dangerous industries in the world, has fostered a hard-working community here and has inspired Stolar’s mission to invent products to improve both the safety and productivity of mining.

In addition to coal mining, Stolar’s primary technology focuses on other types of mining and energy industries and the American military. Seeing what cannot be seen,  might be a water-filled abandoned mine shaft or the boundary of a coal seam.   It might even be a coal miner trapped by a mine explosion.

Our proprietary core technologies are electromagnetic wave detection and imaging transceivers (EDIT), which enable superior detection and/or measurement performance than competitive technologies such as ground penetrating radar (GPR) and gamma detectors, and radio imaging method (RIM) , a lower frequency electromagnetic wave system that identifies geological anomalies and underground structures. 

 

Prototype Manufacturing

Stolar is in compliance with IPC standards, and is in the process of qualifying for ISO 9001 and ISO 9002 certifications.  At our 18,000-square-foot prototype manufacturing facility in Raton, we design the primary electronic components for our technology from the drafting of technical drawings and modeling to the actual prototype fabrication of the components.  Our programmers also write the software that runs our electronics. We currently outsource the manufacture of mechanical parts and related subassemblies.  Our work force has special skills for  testing our electronics , so we assemble and test the finished prototypes in house, ensuring that everything  has a consistent high level of quality and reliability.  We also design, and assemble most of our instrumentation in house.

Stolar operates an 18,000-square-foot engineering  facility in Raton, New Mexico.  This facility will be  used to develop  the proposed technology for field testing. 

     

Laboratory Testing Capabilities

Stolar has a comprehensive testing laboratory consisting of multiple pieces of equipment in each category, functional in frequency ranges of 0 to 4 GHz and capable of accurate measurements down to 160 dB.  All equipment is set up on an annual calibration cycle in which Agilent is contracted to come into the laboratory to recalibrate each piece of equipment.  No equipment is currently being used which is not within approved calibration limits.  Available equipment includes oscilloscopes, function/arbitrary waveform generators, dual output dc power supplies, signal generators, spectrum analyzers, network/spectrum analyzers, S-parameter test sets, two-channel digitizing oscilloscopes, LF impedance analyzers, S-parameter network analyzers, digital storage oscilloscopes, RF impedance analyzers, and mainframe oscilloscopes. Environmental and shock testing equipment is also available.

 

Technology Testing Procedures

Stolar’s standard testing procedures will be employed during the proposed development work.  All Stolar hardware designs are initially evaluated and tested using various simulation techniques throughout the development process.  Laboratory testing is incorporated at specific increments to confirm design findings and issues.  All data and findings are recorded in logbooks.  As designs mature, board level, module level, and system level bill of materials, assembly instructions, and testing procedures including parameters of acceptance are written.  Design reviews are held throughout any development effort.  The testing procedures are streamlined, are improved as a design reaches its final stages, and are implemented in prototype manufacturing.

Quality Control Protocols

Stolar has established quality control procedures, has existing  readiness review processes in place, and qualified for ISO 9000 certification in 2004.  Specifically, all Stolar critical prototype manufacturing processes are identified and trials are established.  Hardware audits using drawing trees are undertaken to confirm accurate drawings, schematics, and procedures.  Process order and necessary inspection points are set up.  Testing is required at the board level, module level, and system level to ensure adequate overall functionality to specifications as well as prevention of system sensitivity issues.

Quantitative data are collected on yields and labor content.  Monitoring of environmental conditions has been instituted to report out-of-tolerance conditions (e.g., temperature and humidity).  Make-buy decisions are reviewed as data on labor content and yields become available. The continuing review of these decisions offer substantial opportunity for cost reduction and process streamlining.  Failure trapping is required to be in place before rate requirements are substantially increased.  A formal process of failure analysis with real-time feedback is implemented as well to support on-going quality operations.  Serialization and configuration control is employed to maintain differentiation where necessary to meet control requirements.  Machining operations are separate from the assembly area to ensure that quality is not adversely affected in the electronics assembly operations.  Environmental screening (e.g., vibration and/or shock with temperature soak) is used on 100% of prototype production until learning can establish tailored and/or reduced requirements.  Ongoing studies establish the space requirements against production quantities.  This practice is required and is refined as results on spans and yields are evaluated.

Controls have been established in the  assembly area to ensure proper process and quality control.  Stolar has established a safe and effective working environment, which facilitates standardized execution of process requirements.  Efficiencies of scale are realized as experience permits.  High reliability through miniaturization and science-based assembly results from these processes.  Additionally, Stolar’s highly qualified engineering team is on site to interact in all phases  prototype development.