Award Data

Future MDA space missions will utilize small spacecraft with correspondingly small, advanced sensor systems. Cooling of these sensors is required to decrease detector noise and increase detector sensitivity by maintaining the detector at a reduced operating temperature. The cooling system comprises a mechanical cryocooler and its control electronics, both of which are critical technologies to enab ...

Recently, there has been at least one significant cyber security event in the world daily. Cyber threats, hackers, and criminals continue to develop advanced capabilities. A key finding of the 2014 DHS CyberSkills Task Force was a clear need for provide more training for cyber security employees. The US Federal Government needs to put a greater emphasis on ensuring its employees have the cyber und ...

Diode-Pumped Alkali Lasers (DPALs) have great potential for high-energy lasers. Proper design of these systems is challenging because many interrelated processes impact their performance, and critical kinetic rate coefficients are not well known. In response, our team is developing a comprehensive physics-based analysis/design tool, and experimentally determining key kinetic rate coefficients. The ...

Future missile detection systems will require improved thermal management for cooling gimbal-mounted sensors and optics. Current systems utilize cryocoolers placed on the gimbal, which necessitates the cryocooler heat to be rejected directly from the gimbal. A far superior approach in terms of payload mass would locate the warm elements of the cryocooler on the stationary platform near the space ...

Missile seekers would benefit from a focal plane array (FPA) that allowed high-speed single or multiple-windowing acquisition of the target or targets while maintaining situational awareness of the rest of the field of view. Such data reduction helps where bandwidth is limited, e.g. arrays with formats larger than 1Kx1K, allowing tracking of high-speed missiles at high frame rates. Readout multi ...

We propose to develop a high-performance longwave infrared focal plane array (FPA) based on Type-II InAs/(In)GaSb strained-layer-superlattice (SLS) technology and deliver it packaged in a portable handheld CAMERA. In Phase 1, a matrix of recipes was designed and grown, several wafers were processed, arrays were fabricated and characterized, and material and process issues identified. In Phase 2, ...

We propose to develop a 2Kx2K 2-Color focal plane array (FPA) that provides pixel-registered and simultaneous imaging in two MIDWAVE infrared spectral bands. We will use a novel bandgap-engineered sensor that minimizes spectral crosstalk between the two midwave bands better than current sensor technologies. The FPA also uses a readout multiplexer that provides massive on-chip data compression by ...

MISSILE SEEKERS MUST DETECT TARGETS IN DUAL BANDS (3-5 UM AND 8-12 UM). THEY NOW USE HYBRID ASSEMBLY OF TWO SEPARATE ARRAYS, WHICH INCREASES THE POWER, CONSUMPTION, THE WEIGHT, AND THE COST. WE WILL DEVELOP MONOLITIHIC DUAL BAND 128X128 STARING ARRAYS ON HGCDTE MATERIAL. THE INNOVATION IS THE DETECTION OF BOTH LONG AND SHORT WAVE SIGNALS IN THE SAME PIXEL SIMULTANEOUSLY. FABRICATION METHODS ARE DE ...

The project objective is to fabricate high-strength shapes from composite materials without the use of dies, molds, or any type of dedicated tooling. In the process, a "forming master" is created from deformable sheet material on a first pass through the molding apparatus. In successive passes, plies of composite materials are overlaid on the master and consolidated by the apparatus. These sequent ...

WE HAVE DEVELOPED A HOLOGRAPHIC DEVICE THAT GREATLY IMPROVES THE EFFICIENCY OF SOLAR ENERGY GENERATION. THE SINGLE-ELEMENT HOLOGRAM FOCUSES LIGHT TO THE SIDE AND ALSO SPECTRALLY SPLITS IT. THE OUTPUT APPEARS AS A THIN, CONCENTRATED LINE FOCUS PERPENDICULAR TO THE HOLOGRAM AND DISPLACED TO THE SIDE. DIFFERENT WAVELENGTHS ARE DIFFRACTED, CONCENTRATED, AND DISPERSED TO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS ON THE LINE ...