Award Data

Contractor will develop innovative concepts and techniques to develop target recognition approaches focused on cognitive synthesis of current and emerging sensor data sources.(Approved for Public Release 15-MDA-8482 (17 November 15))

A multifunctional improved thermal protection system (TPS) is proposed to reduce weight and to incorporate electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and lightning strike protection. TDA has previously done proof-of-concept studies with a heavily modified carbon fiberphenolic TPS. Our material is mechanically robust and exceedingly simple to manufacture. In this project, we will incorporate EMI ...

Current large format focal plane array (FPA) imaging sensors for imaging in low-light conditions in the near infrared / short wavelength infrared (NIR/SWIR) regions are limited by poor signal-to-noise. Electron avalanche photodiodes (e-APDs) using HgCdTe provide internal gain with very little excess noise and allow high signal-to-noise in low-light conditions. Cooling the e-APD SWIR FPA to 77K red ...

Gallium nitride (GaN) has opened the door to solid-state replacements of tube type amplifiers, with commercially-available units starting at low frequencies and continuing to Ku-band.Lower frequencies amplifiers can be constructed using hybrid techniques, where unmatched power field effect transistors (FETs) of large periphery can be made into unit-cell amplifiers using microstrip matching network ...

Luna Innovations will develop technology to nondestructively detect red plague in silver-plated copper wire. The galvanic corrosion between silver and copper which causes red plague is not reliably detectable with conventional cable test equipment and methods and detection instead relies upon destructive techniques, such as stripping off the insulation. Nondestructive red plague detection technolo ...

"Efficient acquisition, tracking, and discrimination of threatening objects by geographically dispersed sensors are dependent on precise tracking and sensing of missile defense systems. These systems require state-of-the-art radar processing, antennas, and RF systems.The objective, simply stated, is to provide a sensor system with the ability to acquire and track fast moving targets at extended ra ...

Graf Research proposes to create the GR-TLogger, a tamper logger that makes use of the key management capabilities of next-generation secure FPGAs to store tamper logs that are information rich, semi-permanent, and irrefutable.

Nutronics, Inc. proposes to develop a modeling and simulation tool, the High Energy Laser Requirements Analysis, and Engineering (HEL-RAE) tool to meet the requirements defined by MDA Topic MDA15-016, General Wave-Optics Based Scaling Laws for Multiple/Obscured Apertures.The HEL-RAE tool is built from the existing foundation of the Barchers Covariance Code (BCC) tool.The BCC tool has been well val ...

IMUs in flight systems (interceptors, airborne platforms, and space assets) are constrained by limits on size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C), and are also exposed to severe shock and vibration during storage, transport, launch, staging, deployment and engagement. This combination of requirements has proven difficult to meet using current inertial sensor technology.Inertial sensors and IMUs based ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer project will develop a mathematical framework and enabling technologies for context-aware target classification and selection for missile defense systems in the presence of counter-measures and clutter in realistic scenarios. Based on statistical relationship learning (SRL) methodology, the proposed framework can reason simultaneously about multiple entries ...