Award Data

Chronically implanted neural electrodes are used to treat various neurological and neuropsychological disorders and for brain-machine interfaces used to control advanced prosthetics. Powering these systems with batteries is risky due to loss of power and energy over time, necessitating additional surgery, creating a lapse in treatment and additional risks from potential exposure to toxic material. ...

The midwave infrared (MWIR) and longwave infrared (LWIR) spectral regions provide important operational capabilities including the chemical fingerprint region, visibility through fog and obscurants, thermal imaging, and detecting directed energy weapons and projectiles.State-of-the art detectors that operate in the MWIR/LWIR (e.g. HgCdTe or strained-layer InSb) require expensive epitaxial wafer ma ...

High-performance, high-speed analog-to-digital converters (ADC) are becoming essential building blocks in many applications including wireless modems, optical communications, test equipment such as real-time oscilloscopes, and high-energy particle physics (e.g., CERN), to name a few. While several ADC architectures have been proposed, time-interleaved (TI) SAR (Successive Approximation Register) A ...

Fumed silica is an important additive in many products including paints, plastics and tires, but it is produced by an energy-intensive costly, toxic and hazardous process. SioTex has developed a superior triple green replacement for fumed silica that produces no toxic waste, uses little energy, and is inexpensive.  Our patent pending technology uses rice hulls, a bio-waste, as the feedstock.  Us ...

The objective of this proposal is to fully evolve a plug cluster aerospike design, moving from state-of-the-art computational analysis to manufacturing, ground testing, and then a full stage integration ground test. If the phase II option is exercised, the aerospike would be flight tested as well. The computational analysis is already well underway, with numerous studies producing results that hav ...

Lynntech is developing an energy efficient desalination technology for small scale applications.The energy requirements for traditional desalination processes such as reverse osmosis can be as high as 30 Wh/L when producing potable water from seawater at small scale production rates.During the Phase I project, Lynntech developed a novel desalination technology and demonstrated an energy efficiency ...

Optimization of the prescription of antimicrobials is required to improve clinical outcome from infections and to reduce the development of antimicrobial resistance. Maximizing the effectiveness whilst simultaneously minimizing the toxicity of antimicrobial agents is the most important step in any effective treatment regimen, however, escalating antibiotic resistance, lack of novel antibiotics and ...

We will demonstrate penetrating peripheral recording and stimulating devices using engineered low cure stress softening polymer substrates. Polymers can be implanted at moduli of more than 1 GPa and soften toward the modulus of tissue. Neural interfaces allow for delivery of a large amount of information, but current microstimulators or microrecorders fail chronically or are poorly suited for inte ...