About

\per’ quire\ v. (Obs. rare) To search through or make diligent search into.
Source: Oxford English Dictionary

Perquire Research is defined by its founder, Dr. Kenneth Hintz. With insight and ingenuity, he has tackled and resolved seemingly unsolvable problems. Through Perquire, Dr. Hintz seeks challenges for research projects and new applications for his patents.

A former Naval aviator, Dr. Hintz combines the discipline of an academic with the mindset of an inventor. He holds 22 issued patents and has nine patents pending. He is a Fellow of SPIE and a Senior Life Member of IEEE.

In 2010, Dr. Hintz co-founded FirstGuard Technologies, Inc. which is currently funded under a three-year, $2.1 million contract from the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, FL. The purpose of the contract is to build a field demonstration prototype of Dr. Hintz’s patented pre-shot sniper detection system under a sublicense from George Mason University Research Foundation Inc.

Dr. Hintz’s current research into pre-shot detection of barreled weapons is based on his recent discovery of cavity-induced modulation (CIM). This research was underwritten by a grant from the Office of Naval Research. An extension of his method of information-based real-time sensor management is presently funded at George Mason University under a three-year grant from the US Navy Postgraduate School. This grant is specifically directed toward studying implicit collaboration of allied sensor platforms using his patented goal-lattice invention.

Other areas of ongoing research include x-ray, thermal, radar and visual image processing. Dr. Hintz’s interest in marine systems and instrumentation resulted in the invention of buoyant force pumps that produce surge in aquaria – as well as move fluids in hazardous or biological systems. He continues his Spring 2009 sabbatical work, “Analysis of Trace Metals and Nutrients in Coral Reef Water Samples,” with further analyses of marine specimens.

Kenneth J. Hintz received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and an MSEE from the University of Virginia. Since 1987, he has served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at George Mason University. Dr. Hintz designed and established the Bachelor and Masters Programs in Computer Engineering at GMU. The undergraduate degree program was the first in the Commonwealth of Virginia to fully integrate hardware description languages (HDL) into the curriculum.

Before joining GMU, Dr. Hintz worked in electronic warfare and radar signal processing at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, VA. There he designed and built the AN/ULQ-16. He had previously served in the US Navy as a designated Naval Aviator. He was stationed in Rota, Spain for three years and flew Electronic Warfare Reconnaissance with Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Two (VQ-2). During that time, he was designated Electronic Warfare Aircraft Commander (EWAC) in both the EC-121 and EP-3E aircraft.