Award Data

WE INTEND TO APPLY NEURAL NETWORK TECHNOLOGY TO TELEROBOTICS. THIS WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SOME OF THE ADVANCES THAT ARE BEING DONE FOR AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS. THESE CONCEPTS WILL EXTEND THE CAPABILITIES OF THE HUMAN OPERATOR. THE TELEROBOTIC CONTROLLER WILL BE TAUGHT USING BACKWARD SHAPING TO IMPROVE ITS SPEED OF LEARNING. IT IS PROPOSED TO ADD A CAPABILITY FOR ASSOCIATION BASED SENSOR DATA FUSION. THE ...

N/A

TO INTERPRET, EVALUATE, AND ANALYZE DATA FROM REMOTE-SENSING, MULTISPECTRAL INSTRUMENTATION IN REAL OR NEAR-REAL TIME IS THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT. THIS SYSTEM WILL BE ADAPTIVE BY LEARNING TO INTERPRET APPLICATION-SPECIFIC FEATURES. BASED ON NEURAL-NETWORK TECHNOLOGY, IT WILL FOCUS ON PATTERNS FOUND IN THE DATA REGARDLESS OF THE IRRELEVANT VARIATIONS OF INTENSITY, MAGNIFICATION, CLUTTER, OR NOISE. ...

N/A

THIS PROJECT IS DEVELOPING METHODS TO USE ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR MODELING AND CONTROL OF ARC-WELDING PROCESSES. ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS WILL BE COMPARED WITH MORE TRADITIONAL MODELS, SUCH AS THOSE DERIVED FROM THE PHYSICS OF HEAT CONDUCTION, AND TECHNIQUES FOR COMBINING THE USE OF BOTH IN MODELING AND CONTROL WILL BE EXPLORED. ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS ARE ADVANTAGEOUS IN THAT ESSENTIA ...

N/A

IMPROVED METHODS FOR MEASURING SPECIES CONCENTRATIONS AND TEMPERATURE ARE NEEDED FOR MICROGRAVITY COMBUSTION RESEARCH AS WELL AS OTHER APPLICATIONS IN COMBUSTION RESEARCH OR CONTROL. THE PROPOSED INNOVATION WILL UTILIZE INEXPENSIVE ROOM TEMPERATURE LASER DIODES TO MEASURE ABSORPTION BY IMPORTANT COMBUSTION FUEL, OXIDIZER, AND PRODUCT SPECIES AT NEAR-INFRARED WAVELENGTHS. THESE LASERS WILL BE USED ...

THE AVIAN EGG HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED BY SPACE BIOLOGISTS AS AN EXCELLENT, SELF-CONTAINED MODEL FOR LIFE-SCIENCE RESEARCH FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. MORE RECENTLY, BIRDS HAVE GAINED ATTENTION AS A POSSIBLE BIOREGENERATIVE LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR SPACE STATIONS AND LUNAR/MARS MISSIONS. BEFORE THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THESE AVIAN MODELS CAN BE REALIZED, AN ADVANCED, EXPERIMENTAL TESTING APPARATUS, AN INNOVATI ...

THIS PROJECT STUDIES THE FEASIBILITY OF USING A SUPERCONDUCTIVE SURFACE AS THE SOURCE OF ELECTRONS FOR ELECTRON-BEAM DIODE APPLICATIONS. CERAMIC-BASED MATERIALS SUCH AS YBA2CU3O6+X WILL BE TESTED. THE MATERIAL WILL BE DEPOSITED AS A COATING ON A METAL ELECTRODE, AND TESTED IN SOLID FORM. THIS WORK WILL CORRELATE THE FIELD-EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SUPERCONDUCTIVE SURFACE WITH THE FIELD-EMISS ...

BIOREGENERATIVE PROCESSES STRESS MEMBRANE PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS, INCREASING THE NEED FOR A VIABLE CERAMIC MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY. SOL-GEL DERIVED MEMBRANES THAT ARE PROCESSED BY SUPERCRITICAL FLUID EXTRACTION (AEROGEL) TECHNIQUES OFFER THE POTENTIAL OF NET-SHAPED, LOW-COST FABRICATION, WITH PRECISE CONTROL OF MEMBRANE PORE STRUCTURES. COMBINED WITH CERAMIC FIBER REINFORCEMENT, THE AEROGEL CERAMIC ...