Award Data

Advances in materials and automation are rapidly reshaping the American manufacturing economy, and must be embraced to sustain a strong manufacturing sector in the United States. Additive manufacturing is possibly the fastest growing example of this trend, growing at an astonishing compound annual growth rate of 25.7%. The plastic materials market for additive manufacturing, valued at $700M in 202 ...

Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are used in food packaging, as coatings for cloth (e.g. Scotchgard), firefighting foams, electronics, and industrial and automotive components. Being perfluorinated species, they are engineered to breakdown slowly (half-life >92 years in water), and thus persist for very long times. Their high water-solubility makes them especially dangerous, and much like perchlo ...

Current petroleum-derived-plastics contain additives such as phthalates or bisphenolA that are harmful to human health and the environment. Thus, it’s critical to replace such toxic non-biodegradable plastics with biodegradable bioplastics. To meet bioplastics production need, Altex, and Texas A&M University (TAMU) have teamed up to utilize renewable biomass, such as forest residue, agricultural ...

With the advent of the Navy’s newest classes of all-electric vessels, the interdependence and functional correlation of the power plant with other mission-critical ship systems such as integrated cooling, weapons, navigation, air surveillance, and IT control network systems, maintaining optimal oversight and control of power distribution aboard ship becomes increasingly challenging. As the opera ...

In 1969 George Cooper and Robert Harper published their seminal report on the use of pilot ratings in aircraft handling qualities evaluations that produced the pilot rating scale that remains in use today. The scale features key innovations that revolutionized handling qualities testing including the decision tree that guides pilots to the handling qualities level and the individual ratings that a ...

To address the Navy’s need for a rapid, cost effective inspection system for microstructures in alloys, Hedgefog Research Inc. (HFR) proposes to develop a new Microtexture Identification and Characterization for Alloys (MICA) system. The proposed MICA is based on a novel combination of an optical measurement system and advanced image processing algorithms for microstructure inspection. The optic ...

Addressing the Navy’s need for high-speed, broadband, secure communications in RF-denied environments between manned platforms and Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), Intellisense Systems, Inc. (ISI) proposes to develop new Robotic Optically Based Autonomous Communications (ROBACOMS). Incorporating laser communication, which is not susceptible to jamming, interception, or detection, ROBACOMS ...

To address the Navy need for a holographic optical element (HOE) that enables enhanced functionality of free space optical (FSO) communication among mobile platforms, Intellisense Systems, Inc. (ISI) proposes to develop a new Holographic Lens Optical-Element for Laser Inter-Node Communication (HoloLINC) technology based on the integration of three key technological components developed by ISI: (1) ...

To address the Navy’s need for a mobile phased array antenna for robotic autonomous systems (RAS), Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop Multiple Antennas Extending Phased Optical Communication (MAEPOC). It is based on a new design that utilizes POC-developed mature components and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. Specifically, the innovation in MAEPOC enables a group o ...

Freedom Photonics proposes to develop a revolutionary miniature Free Space Optical (FSO) Transceiver to operate in a network of airborne terminals. The focus of the proposed effort will be to develop and implement FSO communication links serving airborne terminals forming highly directional RF Phased Array Antennas to be employed in RF-sensitive environments.