Award Data

During the proposed Phase I research and development effort, the project team will use analysis and hot-fire testing to establish the feasibility of an approach to solid propellant formulation that greatly reduces the exhaust Infrared (IR) signature of the rocket motor while maintaining the thrust-to-mass-ratio of the existing, baseline solid propellant. The project team will formulate an array of ...

Biological vision systems capture and process extremely complex environments with high accuracy. Whereas conventional imaging systems require large amounts of memory and power to run, bio-inspired systems can maintain performance while reducing the size, weight, and power requirements. In this project, Areté proposes the development of a fully bio-inspired vision system for missile detection and ...

We are proposing to develop Neuro-IR Tracker, a system design for a bio-inspired sensor optimized to detect hypersonic missile targets. In Phase 1, we will design and assess the feasibility of a novel bio-inspired sensing system which includes Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) microbolometer imager (MMI), brain-inspired image processor and realtime software detection tools. We will estimate ...

Attollo is proposing a read-out integrated circuit (ROIC), detector, and camera that will leverage a bio-inspired approach to seeing and processing a threat detection image. Processing only change detection within the Field of View (FOV) will save in transmission and processing of the sensor data reducing latency while also improving threat detection. Attollo will hybridize our Strained Layer Supe ...

There is a growing need to study the effects of radiation in space and during high-altitude flights on electronic systems. The ever increasing need for ground based testing has outstripped the supply of available accelerator facilities at which to perform this testing. In response to this problem, RadiaBeam, along with collaborators at Michigan State University and Particle Accelerator Corporation ...

The team of Signature Research, Inc. and Michigan Technological University will develop and demonstrate methods and metrics to evaluate the performance of machine learning-based computer vision algorithms with low numbers of samples of labeled EO imagery. We will use the existing xView panchromatic dataset to demonstrate a proof-of-concept set of tools. If successful, in Phase II, we will extend t ...

The Department of Defense uses large-scale high-resolution federated simulations to propagate rocket vehicle trajectories. Runge-Kutta methods have served as a de-facto standard while conducting such simulations. However, there are several challenges while using Runge-Kutta methods for this task. Firstly, there should be exact time-step matching between federates, otherwise the states have to be i ...

West Coast Solutions (WCS), in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology and Creare LLC, proposes an adaptation of our SmallSat Stirling Cryocooler (SSC) technology in response to STTR Topic MDA17-T003: High-Efficiency, Low-Volume, Space-Qualified Cryogenic-Coolers. In Phase 1 we will scale up a design currently in development for NASA to meet the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) topic re ...

The Iris Technology team which also include Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems (NGAS) and the University of Wisconsin, is attacking the problem of high-efficiency, low-volume, space-qualified cryocooler systems.The team has a firm starting point by leveraging the Northrop Grumman Microcryocooler and the Iris Technology mLCCE (Miniature Low Cost Control Electronics).TMU enhancement will start with ...

The Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missile is the weapon component of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system that consists of a rocket booster and kinetic kill vehicle. Recently, MDA has sought technologies to improve the performance of the booster vehicle (BV). To date, studies have shown that reductions in weight have a direct impact on overall effectiveness. The current proposal aims t ...