Award Data

There is an increasing demand for systems with more autonomous operations interacting with other autonomous and human-based systems. What is needed is an architecture bundled with developer tools for the creation of intelligent real-time control systems that marry the talents of modern control theory, software technology, sensory processing, and semantic knowledge representations. It would be a st ...

Fresh water cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (HAB), have potentially many adverse environmental impacts. For instance, bloom mats of filamentous algae are believed to reduce ambient light levels below those required for submerged aquatic vegetation to survive. Blue-green algae, form blooms that make a surface scum and have been associated with low levels of dissolved oxygen that can be lethal ...

Gasification provides a potential means of deriving clean energy from biomass waste materials. One of the greatest obstacles to the effective gasification of animal and farm waste is the slagging behavior of the residual ash at temperatures that yield the most efficient gasification performance. Many wastes are particularly problematic for dry ash gasification processes, especially waste from co ...

We propose to demonstrate near infrared (NIR) InGaAs sensor arrays with 55% lower noise than arrays presently available to improve the sensitivity of current spectroscopy systems. The low noise performance will be enabled by the use of low-noise source follower per detector ROICs, which are also used in astronomy with HgCdTe for low noise measurements. With design improvements to current available ...

Acrolein (CH2=CHCHO) has been identified by the U.S. Clean Air Act as a hazardous air pollutant because of its adverse health effect, particularly on respiratory systems. There are both anthropogenic and natural sources of acrolein in the environment. Acrolein is produced by combustion sources (e.g. vehicle exhaust, prescribed agricultural burning, cigarette smoke) and industrial sources, includi ...

Polymer composites are widely used for automotive body panels to save weight, increase fuel efficiency, and eliminate corrosion. However, unlike metals, structural polymers are not electrically conductive; thus, they are not amenable to the industry standard technique of electrostatic spray painting (ESP). Current methods for adapting polymers to ESP pose serious environmental and economic chall ...

A high sensitivity laser-induced incandescence system is proposed for the detailed characterization of environmental soot. The Phase 1 effort has clearly demonstrated the feasibility of (1) reducing the lower detection limit of soot volume fraction and increasing the overall measurement range by at least 2 orders of magnitude from what is currently achievable, and (2) providing PM particle size me ...

Baldwin Environmental Inc. (BEI) successfully completed an SBIR Phase I project that demonstrated the feasibility of designing and producing a Fine and Coarse Particulate Monitoring System (FCPMCEMS). This system simultaneously measures and reports mass concentrations of fine and coarse particulate material using Atmospheric Dispersion Simulation and Beta Attenuation Monitoring (BAM). A design a ...

We propose to develop an innovative biosensor system for near real time, on-line monitoring of water for the presence of pathogens and biotoxins. The proposed optical biosensing approach possesses a unique combination of features that make it ideal for meeting the requirements of a water analysis system. Notably. 1) it does not require the use of labels for detection (such as fluorescent, enzym ...

New engine diesel pollution is addressed in the EPA Clean Diesel Truck/Bus and low sulfur diesel rule and non-road diesel rule. Unfortunately, slow fleet turnover with extend full implementation. EPA is interested in both retrofit technologies that reduce emissions (particulate matter, volatile organic pollutants, NOx) from diesel sources and also interested in new bio-diesel implementation tech ...