Award Data

Laser projectors provide brilliant and reproducible colors and large depth of infinite focus on flat or curved screens without compromising color saturation and brightness. However, lasers bring the speckle problem that manifests as random variation in image intensity resulting from interference of many scattered coherent laser light waves. Phase II technical objectives are to demonstrate speckle ...

Vista Engineering Technologies will develop, validate, and deliver a fully automated, real-time, computer-based, portable IR system for making a pass-fail decision about the location and extent of damage to composite aerospace structures that improves upon existing methods in terms of speed, accuracy, and cost. An engineering prototype of the system will be demonstrated on both test articles prov ...

CW mid-IR sources, capable of delivering 5 Watts of average power, are required in the 2-5 micron range for IR counter measures. To date, solid state laser approaches have been limited to less than 1-2 Watts of average power due to absorption and adverse thermal effects in the nonlinear materials. Our approach to solving this problem is to use a relatively new nonlinear material, bulk ...

Contamination of groundwater and soil with fuel hydrocarbons is a wide-spread environmental problem. Cleanup of fuel hydrocarbon contamination using intrinsic bioremediation has the potential for substantial cost savings. Anaerobic biodegradation of organic chemicals, including benzene and toluene, has been observed in the lab and the field. Anaerobic microorganisms, particularly ir ...

This project involves a feasibility study for a rapid scanning near-infrared/infrared spectrometer for transient, simultaneous measurements of CO2 and H20 concentrations, soot volume fractions and temperatures. Such measurements can lead to improved understanding of the structure of turbulent and laminar flames. A commercial instrument that can reliably provide simultaneous gas concentrtaion, so ...

A method is proposed to detect, locate, and measure fatigue cracks as small 0.0004 in. (10 um) in advanced materials undergoing thermomechanical fatigue testing. The proposed technique would provide wide area coverage at fatigue rates up to 2000 Hz and specimen temperatures up to and exceeding 2000 degrees F (1100 degrees C). The measurement system would consist of an advanced therma ...

In 1995, we started field trials of miniature autonomous aircraft, an aerosonde, for long-range weather reconnaissance. With a maximum weight of only 12 kg, and a wingspan of 3 m, it has about 1500 km range and 24 hours endurance. This early version leaves much room for improvement, and we expect to double range and endurance by mid-1997. Still another doubling ultimately should be feasible, to ...