Keith Rhodes, Partner
Since their discovery, fossil fuels provided a great impetus to the industrial revolution and have played a pivotal role in meeting the world’s energy demands. However, the inefficient consumption and constantly burgeoning demands led to the depletion of many energy reservoirs. Although rigorous efforts have been made by governments to reduce carbon emissions with renewable energy sources, fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy consumption market globally with the US being one of the major producers and consumers. According to EIA, the total fossil fuels production in the United States will average almost 73 quadrillion British thermal units (BTUs) in 2018 and will reach 75 quadrillion BTUs by next year. Owing to the rising demands, the US economy is slowly shifting its focus on production efficiency rather than production volume. The question now changes from the amount of electricity that can be produced by hydroelectric resources to how efficient a power production plant can be. The condition of commercial energy is essentially the sameasthe solar, nuclear, or other energy units related to space programs. Keith A. Rhodes, Managing Partner at Innovative Space Technologies (IST), enunciates the same and mentions that theirfirm IST was started to address the efficiency challenges of the space industry.
“Anyone associated with space programs has to work within specific power budgets. Thus, if the efficiency demands of limited power supply scenarios can increase, the lifespan of standard power cell scan be increased and can result in unprecedented BTUefficiency.” To this end, Orlando-based firm IST assigns adequate resources for technology development and adopts cutting-edge methods to bolster the efficiency of power generation. The firm designs, models, builds, tests, and brings unique acumen for productizing enhancements to increase efficiency and effectiveness. The applied research and development (R&D) company consolidates efforts bygovernment, academics, and other industry partners to assist its clients in commercializing products in the aerospace, defense, energy, and emerging technology markets. The firm embeds industrial design, systems architecture and software design into one cohesive product to optimize decision-making and reduce cognitive load.
To give a comprehensive view of the firm’s dogged commitments to bolster efficiency of space programs, James Stanley, Managing Partner of IST, highlights the lagging points during power generation and mentions how theirfirm addresses the efficiency challenges. To start with, the firm examines the different factors to identify, validate, and verify the problems during energy production. Next, the firm works on cutting-edge ways to access the unrecognized efficiency corridors and subsequently navigatesto the optimization processes. “Whenever any prospects approach us, we provide them a 360-degree solution that can adhere to all their energy needs,” mentions Michael A. Judith, Managing Partner of IST. Currently, the firm’s specialization areas include Electromagnetic Interference, Digital Signal Processing, Radiation Hardening, Materials Development, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Augmented/Mixed/Virtual Reality.
Over the years, the firm has assisted several of its customers in reaching their business objectives with its customer-centric approach and state-of-the-art solutions. With a passionate team that possesses decades of market experience in solving some of the world’s toughest problems, the firm brings a unique ability to turn an innovative idea into a product and subsequently commercialize it. In one such project, a customer was facing issues in productizing one of its prototypes. Initially, IST analyzed the scenario andidentified the business objectives of the client. “We worked on all the touch points and provided the appropriate resources to turn their innovative idea into a product and then helped them to commercialize it,” mentions Judith.
Going forward, the firm intends to work more on AR/VR for training employees and improving the existing systems of its clients. Using AR/VR as a designtool can assist enterprises to work in collaborative andmulti-dimensional environments. “This will enable our clients to navigate problems in disparate locations in real time,” says Rhodes, about the future of the firm.