The U.S. Navy really likes to know when an enemy threat rides the waves or cruises beneath.

The Navy believes Roanoke-based Luna Innovations' "shape-sensing" technology could enhance such surveillance.

Luna announced Wednesday that the Office of Naval Research has awarded the company $1.9 million to enhance and adapt for use underwater a sophisticated sensing technology developed by Luna.

Surveillance ships conduct missions to, among other things, hunt submarines, counter drug missions and support deep water search-and-rescue operations. The ships frequently tow sonar arrays -- long, flexible modules equipped with hydrophones -- to locate the source of underwater noise.

Luna's shape-sensing technology relies on sensors embedded in fiber-optic cable to track the cable's position along its length.

For the Navy, this information about the shape of their surveillance arrays could allow it to detect and assess enemy threats in the ocean with greater accuracy.

Kent Murphy, Luna's chairman and chief executive officer, said the Navy's interest in Luna's fiber-optic sensing cable demonstrates that the shape-sensing technology has a wide range of applications.

Luna described another application in June 2007 when it announced an agreement with Intuitive Surgical to develop and supply the fiber-optic-based shape-sensing and tracking system for use in Intuitive Surgical's products.

As envisioned, the cable, with embedded sensors, would provide real-time information to physicians to help them perform "minimally invasive" surgeries -- techniques in which tiny cameras and instruments are passed through small incisions to accomplish a host of medical procedures. The sensors would help the physician navigate through the body.

Founded in Blacksburg in 1990, Luna announced in June 2005 that it had formed a "strategic partnership" with Carilion Health System, now Carilion Clinic, to establish a biomedical cluster in the Roanoke region.

A year later, the company went public. Its stock trades on the Nasdaq exchange. In September 2006, Luna moved its headquarters into an office building in the Riverside Center for Research and Technology off South Jefferson Street in Roanoke. The Riverside Center is being developed as a joint project of the city of Roanoke, the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority and Carilion.

So far, Luna has spent more money than it has made. For 2008, the company anticipates a net loss in the range of $6.5 million to $7 million.

Revenues have grown, however. For 2007, the company reported that revenues were $33.7 million, up 43 percent from 2006. In 2007, its product and licensing side grew at a faster clip than its technology-development operations.

Luna works to research, develop and commercialize new technologies in two primary areas: testing and measurement, sensing and instrumentation; and health care products.

In March, Luna Innovations announced the discovery of a "nanomedicine prototype" that aids in the growth of new hair follicles in genetically hairless mice. The company said the discovery might someday help treat male-pattern baldness.

Luna has about 224 employees companywide. Of those, 147 have advanced degrees, including 54 doctorates.

Carilion Clinic is Luna's largest institutional investor.