[SatNews] COM DEV International Ltd. (TSX:CDV) has been awarded $3.2 million of government funding to contribute to the cost of seven early-stage research and development projects that are expected to play a role in the Company's next generation of space equipment products.

The funding has been granted under the Canadian Space Agency's Space Technology Development Program (STDP) following a detailed selection process. The seven R&D projects funded under the STDP program are targeted at the following outcomes:

• Develop the next generation of remote sensing and image processing technologies needed to protect space assets from the ever increasing amount of orbital space debris
• Demonstrate the suitability of additive manufacturing, including "3D printing", for space applications
• Develop a wide field-of-view space-based hyperspectral imaging system to enable monitoring of coastal and inland water ecosystems as well as agricultural and forested areas
• Combine two of our ancillary microwave products into a single unit with less than 50% of the mass
• Develop new tools to improve our capabilities and project lead times in designing multiplexers
• Make our switches compatible with "CAN bus" technology commonly used in the automotive industry, to meet our customers' needs for standardization on their spacecraft
• Develop a highly compact spectrometer that uses integrated optics on a waveguide chip and is capable of performing precision remote sensing of greenhouse gases or other gas species

COM DEV spent more than $9 million on research and development activities in fiscal 2014, and recovered $6 million of these costs in the form of investment tax credits and other government funding. R&D activities help support the ongoing employment of approximately 900 people at COM DEV's three facilities in Canada.

"Ongoing investment in research and development is absolutely essential for us to remain leaders in the rapidly evolving global space industry," said Michael Pley, CEO of COM DEV.  "We appreciate the Canadian Government's support, which increases our capacity to invest in innovation."