Award Data

This Phase II SBIR project will continue the development of an optical sorter that will be used to estimate drop sizes in sprays. The optical sorter will determine the size of drops in the 0.1 to 10 microns range. Drops in this size range are prevalent in the automobile industry, where the fuel injection pressures have increased tremendously over the past two decades. These newer injectors provide ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Recent advances in gas chromatographic (GC) and mass spectrometric (MS) techniques for atmospheric measurements have led to highly complex data sets that have overwhelmed the capabilities of current data analysis software. We propose a new method for the automated reduction of chromatographic data using peak-fitting algorithms. By relying upon constrained peak-fit parameterizat ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: We propose to continue the development of a generalized 3DVAR data assimilation module, in an open-source and non-proprietary programming language, which is compatible with FVCOM and incorporated into the Lake Erie Operational Forecast System (LEOFS). We will leverage our experience and expertise in using 3DVAR for a ROMS-based real-time forecast system for the California coast ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Tropospheric oxidation capacity is dominated by HOx photochemistry, however halogen atoms and oxides significantly affect these chemical cycles. A sensitive and robust measurement of gaseous HCl is critically important to improve our understanding of halogen chemistry and its impacts on the spatial and temporal oxidation capacity of the atmosphere. In Phase I, we met all of our ...

In Phase 1, TIAX developed and demonstrated a residential energy monitoring system (R-EMS) with potential national energy savings of $20 billion annually. Based on user requirements and well-established systems engineering methodology, TIAX’s R-EMS solution is inexpensive, easy to install and operate, and is supportive of intuitive decision making about energy usage. In Phase 2, TIAX will extend ...

A back-illuminated planar InGaAs photodiode tested to have 95% quantum effiiency (QE) at 1550 nm, area greater than 1 mm2, low capacitance (125 MHz) will be improved. Although the existing Phase I device exhibited bulk material dark current generation better than commercially available devices, the sidewall-generated dark current was found to dominate the noise equiva ...

NOAA supports over 25,000 underwater dive programs per year. To increase the duration and depth of these dives, the use of closed circuit mixed gas rebreathers (CCRs) is being considered. As there currently are no sensors to detect CO2 levels in the breathing gas, Giner, Inc. proposes to continue development of an electrochemical CO2 sensor for CCR use. The technical innovation is the use of a ...

This SBIR project aims to develop a new class of low-field magnetic sensors based on magnetic tunnel junctions with magnesium oxide (MgO) tunnel barriers. The Phase II effort will continue the optimization of sensor performance, based on three major research thrusts. First of all, we will continue the magnetic engineering effort, turning the properties of the two key magnetic electrodes, in order ...

Even today as a highly technical and advanced world civilization, the physiology of deep sea fish and invertebrates continues to remain mysterious and poorly known. Past specimen containers fail to either have the size or volume needed or lack the robustness for high pressure containment of in many cases, lack the repeatability necessary to ensure a reasonable lifetime of continuous use. The Tec ...

Voxtel has demonstrated efficient high-speed photon counting with thresholded linear-mode avalanche photodiode (APD) receivers using multi-gain-stage InGaAs/InAIAs APDs. In contrast to Geiger APDs, thresholded photon-counting linear APD receivers are thought not to suffer afterpulsing, and can support maximum count rates (MCR) up to 2 or 3 orders of magnitude faster than Geiger APDs. However, the ...