Award Data

Tomographic SAR is a data collection and processing technology that produces true 3-D volumetric imagery. This approach offers significant benefits for enhanced imagery through clutter rejection, enhanced target definition, and better resolution. Tomographic SAR has been demonstrated at UHF frequencies where it has shown benefits in concealed target detection, improved feature extraction and cha ...

There has been an alarming increase in toxic cyanobacteria over the past 2 decades, with numerous poisonings reported from Australia to the United States. The increased toxic risks led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to include cyanotoxins on the 1998 Contaminant Candidate List. Most cyanobacterial blooms, however, are not toxic. Furthermore, bloom toxicity will change o ...

Current methods of rubber/metal bonding lead to significant environmental concerns. The largest single commercial rubber-bonding application is the bonding of steel tire cords to sulfur-vulcanized natural rubber compounds. The current processes require that cobalt be added to the rubber to provide durable bonds. Cyanide also is used in the brass plating of steel tire cords. Tire separa ...

To maximize the utility of spectral imagery sensors it is essential that processing techniques for data from these sensors are highly automated, provide high probability of target detection with low false alarm rates, and offer a reliable confidence assessment capability. The detection and false alarm probabilities required for a hyperspectral sensor to be a useful intelligence asset varies based ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project addresses the need for improved monitoring technologies for continuous particulate mass and chemical speciation of ambient aerosols. Aerodyne Research, Inc. will develop a prototype Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACMS) that measures ambient aerosol mass and chemical composition of non-refractory submicron aerosol particles in real-tim ...

Boston MicroSystems, Inc. (BMS), proposes to develop a MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS) based volatile organic compound (VOC) monitor by integrating analyte-specific polymer films with SiC-AlN microresonators. In this research project, BMS and the Naval Research Laboratory will integrate microresonators and polymer films with functional groups sensitive to aromatic compounds (e.g., benzene an ...

Improved low-flow (50,000 gallons per day) sanitary wastewater treatment systems are needed. CeraMem Corporation¿s proposed approach includes a membrane bioreactor (MBR) using fully proven biological processes for biological oxygen demand oxidation and (optionally) for nutrient removal (i.e., denitrification and phosphorus removal). The technology has as a key inventive element¿a novel, compac ...

The ability to detect and identify trace quantities of hazardous materials has become a significant requirement for protecting the population during the war on terrorism. However, the ability to detect and identify trace concentrations of a wide range of chemicals in the field using a man-portable instrument is severely limited. The ability to quickly and reliably identify toxic industrial chemi ...

Chlorinated hydrocarbons represent the most prevalent contaminants in the subsurface, threatening the quality of groundwater at aquifers. Existing technologies for monitoring these contaminants require expensive, labor-intensive methods of sample collection and analysis. The goal of this Phase I research project is to develop a low-cost, compact, reliable, automated, unattended, and long-term mo ...

This Phase I research project addresses the need for improved monitoring technologies for continuous particulate mass and chemical speciation of ambient aerosols. During the last few years, Aerodyne Research, Inc., has developed an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) instrument that measures ambient aerosol mass, chemical composition, and chemically speciated size distributions of nonre ...