Award Data

The overarching challenge of tele-presence is to provide an environment to the human operator that is sufficiently familiar that the interface itself does not become burdensome and distract from the goals of the mission. The ultimate achievement would be to embed the operator into a scene in such a way as to convince him or her that they are actually on site. We propose a technology that can pot ...

There is a continuing need within NASA for solar cells and arrays with very high specific power densities (1000-5000 kW/kg) for generating power in a new generation of ultralight space payloads. An emerging technology with promise to meet these ambitious goals are solar cells based on very thin films of discrete layers or interpenetrating networks (IPNs) of organic donors and acceptors. It is also ...

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)/ gas turbine hybrid power systems (HPSs) have been recognized by federal agencies and other entities as having the potential to operate at unprecedented levels of performance for terrestrial applications (e.g., 70% power generation efficiencies with significantly mitigated criteria pollutant and noise emissions). An innovative approach is proposed for leveraging compet ...

As space missions become increasingly complex, they demand increased reliance on spacecraft to adjust to unexpected or unfamiliar events without the assistance of real-time human-in-the-loop control. Such conditions as a thruster failure moments before an automated docking, or imprecise or unknown inertial properties due to fuel slosh, partially deployed appendages, etc., can cause controllers to ...

In this STTR project Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI) and Brigham Young University (BYU) propose to design, implement, and test an Autonomous Coordinated Control And Management System (ACCAMS) for multiple Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) engaged in cooperative missions under rapidly changing environment. Over the past few years, BYU has developed an effective approach for complex cooperativ ...