We propose a high performance and portable system that incorporates a newly developed technique known as fluctuation enhanced sensing (FES) to enhance commercial off the shelf (COTS) sensors. First, besides the mean (steady state) sensor value, we will use a low noise amplifier to enlarge the small… More

In order to improve the performance of speaker identification and speech recognition, we need an integrated approach. We propose a novel approach that addresses all of the above challenges in a unified framework. First, we propose to apply microphone arrays (1-D, 2-D or 3-D) to acquire speech… More

The ability to accurately predict the early stages of failure and the remaining useful life of critical power plant components (such as bearings, turbines, and rotor disks) is critical for affordable system operation and for enhanced system safety. Usually, failures go through a series of… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project proposes a library of low-cost, flexible, and high performance biometric tools that target the small- and medium-sized business market. These tools, comprising both hardware -- low-cost fingerprint device and microphone, and… More

We propose a high performance, automated, and novel framework to behind-the-wall imaging and target discrimination. Our system has two paths: 1) stationary target detection using SAR images; 2) moving target detection using ISAR images. For the SAR imaging part, we first propose to apply high… More

In order to improve the performance of speaker identification, voiceprint matching, and speech recognition in noisy and clutter (multiple-speaker cocktail party) environment, we need an integrated approach. In this project, we propose a novel approach that addresses this challenging problem in a… More

We propose a high performance system for clutter suppression, target tracking, and identification. First, we propose a novel clutter rejection approach that applies an adaptive subspace projection algorithm. As compared to conventional clutter suppression methods, our adaptive clutter rejection… More

We plan to achieve the following Phase II tasks. First, we will carry out nano-sensor performance analysis for the new nano-tube sensor idea developed in Phase I. Second, we will implement a real-time portable chemical/biological agent detection system "Electronic Dog Nose" (EDN) with… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project focuses on a novel approach that uses multiple microphones to spatially separate speech and hence enhance speaker identification and speech recognition accuracy. The first component of the project will apply feature-driven… More

Improving efficiency, reducing emissions, and reducing costs are key objectives of power plants. The achievement of these objectives will require the development of two mutually dependent functions: distributed data acquisition and real-time data interpretation. This project will combine a… More

Detection, tracking, and identification of dim targets are challenging for the following reasons. First, MDA radars encounter strong clutter due to chaff and decoys. The manmade clutter can be non-Gaussian, non-stationary, and unpredictable. Second, the distance between radar and a target can be… More

We propose a highly innovative system for enhancing speech in helmet. First, we propose to apply a circular array with 8 microphones that are inside the helmet. In our past studies, it was found that circular arrays have better directivity than linear arrays. The use of 8 microphones achieves a… More

Large format data such as hyperspectral images contain a lot of information about various targets. Subpixel detection is now achievable. As a result, these images are becoming popular in military surveillance reconnaissance operations. However, one serious limitation of hyperspectral images is that… More

We propose a novel, high performance, and standalone system for improving close air support (CAS) effectiveness. First, we propose a standalone noise cancellation device (NCD) that can be inserted between the handset and the transceiver. As a result, there is no change to the existing communication… More

The first generation of intelligent control applications was for systems with unknown dynamics, with on-line learning of the neural network weights. The second generation of intelligent control applications has generally provided off-line design methods that first solve the optimal design equations,… More

This SBIR project, by utilizing the principle of Fluctuation-Enhanced Sensing (FES), aims to explore the potential of enhancing the sensitivity and selectivity of electrostatic bacterium spore analyzers, specifically Ion Mobility Spectrometers (IMS) and Mass Spectrometers (MS). We propose a high… More

In the registration part, the goal is to eliminate sensor biases and yield an accurate and integrated picture of the target tracks. In the sensor management part, the goal is to use a limited number of sensors to achieve certain tasks (e.g., accurate fire control) without using computationally… More

We propose a systematic solution to the problem of efficient summarization, visualization, and browsing of large combat video archives. Our approach is event-driven: spatio-temporal saliency is used to define significant visual events, which is in turn used in an event-based video model to partition… More

We propose a high performance approach to enhancing communications between astronauts. In the new generation of NASA audio systems for astronauts, inbound signals may interfere with outbound signals and create an annoying positive feedback during communications. Our objective is to eliminate the… More

Short-circuit and arcing faults commonly occur in underground power networks. Short-circuit normally occur at distribution feeders. Consolidated Edison of New York (Con Edison) experiences more than 1600 failures on its distribution feeders each year. Arcing faults also occur frequently in power… More

We propose a high performance library of signal processing tools that incorporate a newly developed technique known as fluctuation enhanced sensing (FES) to enhance the novel microsensor developed at NIST. Our goal is to improve the performance of the NIST sensor from two angles. One is to apply our… More

We propose novel and real-time smart software tools to process spectroscopy data. Material abundance or compositional maps will be generated for rover guidance, sample selection, and other scientific missions. First, we propose a novel anomaly detector called clustered kernel Reed-Xiaoli (CKRX)… More

Some commercial auscultation devices pick up all sounds without filtering out the background noise. Although the electronic stethoscopes made by 3M and Thinklab have some simple built-in filters, those filters cannot differentiate important internal body sounds from interfering background noise.… More

ABSTRACT: The test and evaluation (T & E) mission in complex test facilities results in large amounts of data. Moreover, the data may have different characteristics, including images from particle image velocimetry data, air flow data, etc. Finally, some of the data may come from a network of… More

Matrix completion has many applications such as link recovery, data mining, image reconstruction, etc. We propose a novel algorithm to solve the above mentioned matrix completion problem. In particular, we have derived a novel framework to approximate the rank by another function. This novel… More

Advanced Mission Management (AMM) requires Automated Mission Planning (AMP) capability that, in turn, dictates the need to have tools for intelligent fusion of multi-source data for situational awareness, human-like reasoning for optimal mission plans (course-of-action (COA)) determination, and… More

We propose a novel, high performance, and standalone system for improving close air support (CAS) effectiveness. We have several important elements. First, we propose a standalone noise cancellation device (NCD) that can be inserted between the handset and the transceiver. That is, the handset… More

Since Mars rovers have limited life span, NASA wants to maximize the exploration activities during this period. Rock sample analysis is one of the main tasks of rover missions. Traditionally, rock selection is decided by human operators. Due to long communication delay, manual selection process is… More

We propose novel and high performance change detection algorithms to process HyspIRI data, which have been used for monitoring changes in vegetation, climate, coastal and ocean ecosystems, urban areas, etc. First, we propose a novel hybrid in-scene atmospheric correction (H-ISAC) algorithm, which… More

Damage detection based on ultrasonic waves is one of the most popular inspection schemes employed by many structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. We propose a novel unpowered wireless ultrasound generation and sensing system for SHM. Since ultrasonic signals generally have a frequency of a few… More

Correlating multiple IR sensors is challenging because IR images may have different sizes, different poses, different illuminations, and different translations. Moreover, the IR images may not be perfectly aligned even after image registration. We propose a novel and high performance system for… More

ABSTRACT: In this proposal, we first extend the notion of speech reception threshold (SRT) to aircraft sound reception threshold (ASRT). In speech recognition, SRT refers to the mixture signal to noise ratio (SNR) required to achieve a certain intelligibility score, typically 50%. SRT is used to… More

Detection of conversations in a noisy environment is challenging. We propose the following novel framework for audio clustering. First, we propose to apply computational auditory scene analysis (CASA) as a front-end to separate speech signals from non-speech background noise. Inspired by auditory… More

In Phase I, we developed a novel matrix completion framework for recovering randomly missing pixels in images. Extensive simulations were performed using actual images from LADAR (18 images) and electro-optical images (23 images). We achieved high performance reconstruction even for missing rates as… More

In Phase 2, our Phase 1 version of the Automated Mission Planning System (AMPS) will be modified and expanded to generate contingency plans to handle unexpected problems such as popup threats or electrical and mechanical failures in UAV/UCAVs. The new software system must be adaptive and can react… More