Award Data

In recent years, Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is increasingly being evaluated by the industry as a possible method to improve the safety and reliability of structures and thereby reduce their operational cost. However, the scalability and applicability of SHM systems for the monitoring of large structures is still a challenge. Sensors and actuators of a structural health monitoring system ca ...

We propose to create a prototype of a shape and structure capture system which can construct accurate, realistic three dimensional models of typical commercial and residential building interiors from video imagery taken with a freely moving handheld camera. A precision inertial motion measurement unit will be developed and mounted on the camera and its measurements recorded with the video. We will ...

The current situation in Iraq is making it extremely clear that the urban environment is a chaotic and dangerous battlespace. Currently available technology cannot provide the level of real-time situational awareness needed by each individual soldier. DARPA has determined that Sparse Conformal Acoustic Network (SCAN) technology, or soldier-worn acoustic-array "vests," is a potential solution to th ...

High-performance and high-power electronic semiconductor devices, such as solid state lasers, solid state motor drivers, RF power amplifiers, radar T/R modules among others, are used extensively in military and commercial applications. As the devices get more powerful while their volumes and weights are reduced continuously, there is an urgent need to develop advanced high heat flux cooling techno ...

This proposal offers a program of research that will lead to the design and demonstration of a method for improved rapid decision making. Our method makes use of judgmental inputs from diverse experts who might be widely separated geographically and attitudinally. It accepts the judgmental inputs in structure form and in natural language, synthesizes the judgments, generates and ranks alternative ...

Each year over sixteen million containers arrive in our country by truck and in container ships. Current inspection regimes rely on manual inspection procedures and on x-raying, on gamma ray inspection technology, and on use of radiation detectors on containers of interest. Rarely can more than a small percentage of the total number of containers in a container ship be adequately inspected, and a ...

There is an increasing demand for polymer based nano-composites with unmatched properties for high-technology applications in defense, aerospace and electronic industries. Carbon nanotubes are ideal fibers, which can reinforce and enhance the properties of polymers. However, the problem with carbon nanotube reinforced polymer matrix composites is to obtain uniform distribution and strong bonding b ...

The purpose of the proposed research is to identify and develop cognitive information processing systems and algorithms that can be implemented with novel architectures and devices with the goal of achieving high-speed decision making and cognitive responses to sensory inputs, based on current and prior experience. The research will focus on memory, i.e. the development of a "human-like" cognitiv ...

The objective of the proposed research is to develop wearable acoustic array technology to enable a wirelessly connected squad of soldiers in an urban battlefield to detect, localize, track, and categorize acoustic target signals. The goal is to give foot soldiers real-time situation awareness, thereby assisting them in attacking enemy targets while avoiding ambush, unintentional civilian casualt ...

Traditional refrigeration systems based on the compression and expansion of refrigerant gases are complicated and limited to large dimensions. The pumps and compressors required makes it difficult if no impossible to scale down the system to miniature sizes that would be portable. Thermoacoustic based refrigeration systems promises to provide solid state refrigeration with no moving components, ...