Silicon Designs Owner Receives Award From Sba

ISSAQUAH - John Cole, founder and owner of Silicon Designs, has received the Small Business Administration's Tibbetts Award for developing a product used in both military and civilian applications.

Silicon Designs, founded in 1983, received a 1984 SBA Small Business Innovative Research contract to develop a low-cost accelerometer, which was later used by the U.S. Navy for use in safe-and-arm devices for missiles. An accelerometer measures changes in motion.

Cole's accelerometer also is used by Detroit automakers to produce air bags that measure the severity of a crash and that deploy appropriately.

Issaquah-based Silicon Designs reported sales of $1.5 million for the year ended June 30.