Award Data

Low-cost systems operating at video rates within W-band have remained elusive – especially for stand-off and remote applications. Real time video rate imaging requires parallel detection modalities that traditionally led to high costs and calibration challenges. Substantial advances in low-cost packaging and chip-level integration driven by commercial millimeter-wave applications can now be appl ...

In this work, we propose to develop low-cost, high sensitivity high electron mobility transistor-based W-band millimeter wave focal plane array/camera based on mature ternary III-V epitaxial materials of InAlAs on top of InP substrate. The plasma-wave detector uses well established mature technology of high electron mobility transistors which allows future integration and reduces cost. The detecto ...

Through this DLA STTR program, NanoSonic and Penn State will work with a major US manufacturer of missile systems and hypersonic vehicles. Together we will demonstrate automated filament winding and resin transfer molding manufacturing processes to produce high temperature thermal protection system (TPS) materials and evaluate material properties to develop production statistics and quality contro ...

Pepin Associates, Inc. has developed a unique, aligned discontinuous textile reinforcement for composite structures.  This reinforcement architecture is composed of short, overlapped tow segments.  The architecture allows the textile to stretch in its reinforcement direction.  This ability permits rapid fabrication of complex shaped thermal protection system structures from simple low cost sh ...

Re-Entry Vehicles (RVs) are a critical component of the strategic weapon arsenal. While physics packages themselves have a substantial deterrence value, the ability to deliver those weapons quickly and with high survivability unlocks the ability to maintain a truly global deterrence. However, these thermal protection systems are encountering two developing challenges: Industrial Base Attrition: Th ...

Specialized materials such as Carbon-Carbon (C-C) are required as primary structural and thermal protection elements to sustain the severe temperatures on the surface of Hypersonic Vehicles during high-speed flight. The C-C material currently qualified at Northrop in Hypersonic Glide-Bodies or “Aeroshells” consist of phenolic resin and a low fired, stretch broken polyacrylonitrile fiber (LFSP ...

As Hypersonic weapons enter the US arsenal there is a need for cost control and high rate of production which is currently not being met by the current state of the art material systems, like Carbon-Carbon. What is needed is a Thermal Protection System (TPS) for aero structures that can survive the Hypersonic environments of high heat in oxygenated environments. A means to do this is using Peregr ...

It is well known that gas-turbine powered aircraft operating in brown-out conditions can ingest a significant amount of particles leading to reduced engine performance, a reduction in time between maintenance and increased safety concerns. As such, it is critical to be able to accurately model the impact of ingested particles in engines for both maintenance purposes and in the design of new, more ...

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a modern and increasingly popular manufacturing process for metallic components, but it suffers from well-known problems of inconsistent quality of the finished product. The US Navy is interested in addressing this problem by developing a digital twin-based machine control tool for in-situ AM process monitoring and healing. Therefore, sensor fusion monitoring, machin ...

High temperature jet plumes emanating from aircraft engines and missiles produce effects that are of interest for threat detection, environmental noise, and engine development purposes. Optical and infrared emissions from plumes are sources of light and heat signatures, respectively, that can potentially be used for tracking or targeting vehicles in flight.  Acoustic noise from jet plumes can pot ...