Award Data

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 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 ...

The objective of this project is to develop a novel expander that can increase the efficiency of cryocoolers for IR sensors at very low temperatures and in remote cooling and across gimbal applications. Miniature Thermoacoustic Expanders (MTAE) that employ high energy acoustic waves generated with no moving parts at the cold expander to produce efficient cooling over a wide range of temperatures a ...

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, ...

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 ...

The mitigation of mainlobe jamming is essential to missile defense radar performance. Applied Radar is currently investigating distributed aperture and adaptive processing architectures that promise a new generation of advanced radar performance. Our proposed program will research the application of these distributed aperture radar techniques to determine the mainlobe jammer suppression possible w ...

The design and development of phased-array radars requires the integration of solid-state components and adequate thermal mitigation within the array lattice constraints. The current trend is towards increasingly planar designs and a reduction in the array depth. The MDA SPEAR program is one example in which a planar T/R “tile” architecture is utilized. System-on-a-chip technologies such as Si ...

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 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 ...

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE II PROJECT IS TO EXPERIMENTALLY DEMONSTRATE THE PERFORMANCE OF SMALL STIRLING CYCLE CRYOCOOLER WITH INNOVATIVE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION FEATURES. THE EFFORT ENTAILS DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF COMPONENTS, INTEGRATION INTO AN ENGINEERING MODEL CRYOCOOLER, AND TESTING OF THE CRYOCOOLER FOR PERFORMANCE AND ENDURANCE. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS OF THE INNOVATIVE DESIGN INCLUDE FIVE ...