Award Data

At present, trains use various dissipative braking systems to slow and stop, and this significant braking energy is ultimately converted to heat and wasted. APEI, Inc. has proposed a hybrid tender which can capture and reuse a significant fraction of this braking energy (at least 50%). The hybrid tender draws power from the rails using a regenerative braking technique rather than by being electr ...

The Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Automated Track Inspection Program uses optical systems such as cameras or laser-based systems to monitor rail performance throughout the country. These systems are hindered by adverse weather conditions that allow water, dirt and mud to coat their optical components resulting in unwanted maintenance costs. Thus FRA is seeking a low-cost, practical s ...

Low or narrow bridges are often hit by legal-sized commercial vehicles and oversize vehicles often strike regulation bridges. In both cases the accidents result in extensive property damage, possible personal injuries and even death, and increased traffic congestion. Past attempts to warn drivers of risks for bridge hits have failed due to inaccurate measurement, high rates of false alarms, or s ...

Job related injuries cost the railroads over $1 billion annually and from 2005 through 2008 30.3% of those injuries occurred in the rail yard. A majority of the accidents were attributed to slips, trips and falls from the worker slipping on ballast or tripping on other trackside objects. IEM is developing a Transportation Autonomous Device that may be configured to work autonomously, with a remote ...

There are a number of critical telemetry measurements to be monitored under continuous field operation, including temperature data across the reactor chamber and the nozzle, pressure data, neutron flux density and flow rate of the propellant. Real-time monitoring of this data in nuclear thermal engines would greatly improve operational safety and performance, reduce operational costs, and signific ...

Future NASA Space Science Missions will incorporate detectors, sensors, shields, and telescopes that must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures. An enabling technology for these missions is advanced cryocoolers that can provide continuous and distributed cooling with minimal input power. On this program, Creare proposes to develop and demonstrate an innovative cryocooler that produces refrigeratio ...

This proposal is responsive to NASA SBIR Topic X10.01, specifically, the need for efficient small- to medium-scale hydrogen liquefaction technologies, including domestically produced wet cryogenic turboexpanders. Future NASA missions will require hydrogen liquefaction systems for spaceport, planetary, and lunar surface operations. A critical part of these systems is the cryogenic expansion turbi ...

The protocols needed to coordinate the activities of distributed components, such as consensus algorithms, are notoriously difficult to design, implement, and verify. Abstraction is the only way to gain intellectual control over this complex problem; so ATC-NY and Cornell University have developed Event Logic, a high-level model for describing and reasoning about distributed systems, and EventML, ...

International Electronic Machines (IEM), a leader in the development of innovative sensor solutions for transportation systems, will develop the Adaptive Rotorcraft Condition and Usage Tracking System (ARCUTS), building upon and integrating wireless instrumentation systems developed for the U.S. Navy, CBM systems developed for the U.S. Army, and condition and diagnostic sensing systems developed f ...

Earth orbiting spacecraft, deep space science missions, and unmanned aerial vehicles are facing increasing data volumes to be transmitted to ground stations. Laser Communication (Laser Com) terminals are necessary to handle the demand. Additionally, nano class satellites have emerged as desirable platforms due to their low cost, shorter build, and multitude of available launch configurations.Hone ...