Award Data

A single Fuzzy Logic (FL) design will be able to control an interceptor throughout its entire flight. The robustness of FL controllers will prove to provide adequate control during continuously varying aerodynamic conditions. FL is a completely model-independent linguistic-rule-based control methodology suited for nonlinear, ill-defined, or time variant real world problems. Applications might incl ...

DIGITAL OPTICAL COMPUTING HAS EVOLVED TO THE POINT WHERE VIABLE ARCHITECTURES HAVE BEEN DESCRIBED IN DETAIL. HUNDREDS OF PAPERS ARE PUBLISHED AND SEVERAL TOPICAL CONFERENCES ARE HELD ANNUALLY ON THE SUBJECT. HOWEVER, FEW DEMONSTRATIONS HAVE BEEN REPORTED OF ACTUAL OPERATING SYSTEMS DUE TO THE UNAVAILABILITY OF AN "IDEAL" OPTICAL LOGIC GATE HAVING: OPTICAL GAIN, CASCADABILITY, HIGH ON/OFF CONTRAST, ...

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Sandia Systems, Inc. will apply novel processing techniques to demonstrate an improved fabrication process for SiC optical elements. We will combine the CVD of SiC replication process and ion beam figuring process to demonstrate fabrication of high quality optical elements. The CVD SiC would have no subsurface damage layer, and this would alleviate many of the materials problems associated with pr ...

Previous approaches for assessing spacecraft pointing and rapid retargeting have been considered but have been quite expensive. The proposed approach would investigate whether significant elements of STP can be demonstrated by an experiment composed of a few representative critical "sparse" elements, incorporated in a small satellite to be launched from a Shuttle Hitchhiker bus. Use of sparse elem ...

EFFICIENCY OF HIGH POWER UV-PHOTOIONIZED EXCIMER AND CO2 LASERS HAVE BEEN LIMITED BY THE POWER CONSUMED IN THE PHOTOIONIZED SOURCE. THE USE OF SCREEN CATHODES PRESENTS THE PROBLEM OF MECHANICAL STRENGTH. SCREEN CATHODES MADE OUT OF WIRE MESH ARE EXCELLENT LIGHT TRANSMITTERS BUT LACK MECHANICAL STRENGTH, NOT TO MENTION THAT THEY CAN BE DESTROYED BY ARCING. CATHODES MADE OUT OF PERFORATED ALUMINUM O ...

THE TACITRON IS A HIGH TEMPERATURE (300 - 1500 DEGREES C) SWITCH THAT CAN SWITCH HIGH CURRENTS (>10'S OF AMPERES PER SQUARE CM OF SWITCH ELECTRODE AREA) AND HIGH VOLTAGES (>200 VOLTS) AT SWITCHING SPEEDS IN THE 10'S TO 100'S OF KILOHERTZ. THIS SWITCH IS FULLY CONTROLLABLE SO IT CAN PERFORM THE SAME FUNCTIONS AS MANY OF THE SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES (TRANSISTORS, DIODES, THYRISTORS) EXCEPT THAT THE TAC ...

This program is to develop repetitive opening switches capable of switching average currents of kiloamps at voltages of hundreds of kV to MV's using a new class of liquid dielectrics. This family of liquids has very high drift velocity and low conduction losses for electrons within a particular energy band. The liquid is not subjected to ionization, it simply acts as a conductor of electricity or ...

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High performance graphite/resin composites have not realized their potential because they have poor interface-dependent mechanical properties that degrade by as much as 65% under hot-wet conditions. An RF-plasma/wet-chemistry fiber surface treatment is proposed to establish covalent bonding between the graphite fiber/resin matrix interface. The plasma process will establish reactive moieties on th ...