Award Data

ABSTRACT: Optical Physics Company (OPC) in cooperation with Nutronics is proposing to combine two pioneering sets of optical phased array technologies developed independently at these two companies. The two technologies are OPC"s Holographic Beam Control (HBC) and Nutronics"Conformal Laser Weapon System (CLAWS). HBC addresses target illumination, aimpoint selection, aimpoint maintenance, and kil ...

ABSTRACT: Significant opportunities exist for improving the measurement, estimation, and control processes of phased array transceivers. The proposed effort focuses on the Enhanced IPALS phasing concept, but can be adapted to other phasing concepts. A phased array model will be adapted from existing models, and will include many types of disturbances, such as speckle dynamics, platform vibratio ...

ABSTRACT: Laser-based directed energy systems are often identified as being game-changing technologies in advancing the mission of the Air Force. Precision efforts, minimal collateral damage, rapid response, and nearly unlimited ammunition are compelling advantages to laser weapon systems. Among the primary challenges to development and deployment is beam control, identified in the 2007 report ...

ABSTRACT: To address the Air Force need for a method to apply exactly controlled amounts of highly viscous liquid shim material within established manufacturing process specifications of the advanced aircraft assembly process, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Interpolated Liquid Shim Application System (ILSAS). This proposed device is based on a new design that utilizes ...

ABSTRACT: It is proposed to develop an innovative structured class of devices with directive emission and transmission that utilize metamaterial concepts. The proposed structures will be thin films with electromagnetic responses that can be systematically manipulated in the infrared region to enable directionally tailored emissivity and transmissivity. The team has demonstrated nearly perfect abs ...

ABSTRACT: The proposed portable, hand held, laser tool will enable efficient field maintenance of specialty coatings and outer mold line (OML) materials of advanced aircraft. Laser pulses are scanned over the surface with optimal power, energy, and control to remove coatings without substrate damage. In Phase I, the contractor will demonstrate automated closed loop removal. The laser produces 10, ...

ABSTRACT: In this AF Phase I SBIR program, MATECH proposes to demonstrate the ability to perform"on wing"repair of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) components. Due to safety concerns (both for aircraft and personnel), on wing repairs cannot exceed 300F cure temperatures. In addition, the presence of organic solvents is highly undesirable due to both fire safety and toxicity. MATECH proposes to demo ...

ABSTRACT: To address the Air Force need for in-process monitoring of machine tool wear, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop an Innovative optical Monitoring system for Performance Assessment of Cutting Tools (IMPACT). This proposed system is based on a new design that uses POC-developed mature components and commercial off-the-shelf components. The innovative strategy for isolat ...

ABSTRACT: To address the Air Force need for a thermal switching device to provide temperature control of DoD system components for improved thermal management, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Ferrofluidic Thermal Switch (FTS). The proposed device is based on the novel dual use of a ferrofluid as a temperature conductive medium and magnetic actuation to control the posi ...

ABSTRACT: We propose research & development efforts aimed at determining the technical feasibility of novel liquid-droplet-based thermal switches. Specifically, through combined modeling and experimental work, we aim to demonstrate the technical feasibility of achieving (1) On-state thermal conductance>2000 W/m2 K, (2) Switching ratio>10, (3) Switching voltage