Award Data

In the proposed effort, we will leverage this extensive experience and capabilities to realize a frequency agile mmW radiometer that can cover the range of DC-110 GHz and can be scaled to DC-200 GHz under Phase II. Ours is a photonic system that multiplies and up-coverts a low-frequency reference signal onto an optical carrier (laser) using EO modulation, then uses the modulation sidebands to inj ...

Training in the symptoms of Spatial Disorientation (SD) has shown to be valuable in aiding pilots to recognize its onset and provide a means for mitigating its effects, but such demonstrations have traditionally been associated with specialized equipment and devices. Since the vast majority of pilots for the commercial aviation jet fleet are trained (or recertified) on 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) h ...

Conceptual design tools for rotorcraft are used to size vehicles for intended flight operations, as well as reveal trends on the relative benefits certain configuration choices have on the resulting aircraft performance. This information is useful for indicating potentially valuable areas for further technology development that would enhance rotorcraft capabilities. These tools must therefore co ...

United Silicon Carbide, Inc. proposes to develop a novel compact, efficient and high-temperature power module, based on unique co-packaging approach of normally-off silicon (Si) MOSFET with silicon carbide (SiC) normally-on power JFET in a cascode configuration. A much desired silicon MOS gate control is provided readily compatible with the conventional gate drivers, making a proposed module a plu ...

Solar-blind ultraviolet (UV) imaging is critically important in the fields of space astronomy, national defense, and bio-chemistry. United Silicon Carbide, Inc. proposes to develop and commercialize a unique JFET-based monolithically-integrated radiation-tolerant solar blind active pixel sensor (APS) UV imager. Silicon carbide is the ideal materials system due to its negligible dark currents, exc ...

Both NASA and the FAA have identified large civil tiltrotors (LCTRs) as the most promising method for meeting FAA goals for extending future airport capacity, flexibility, efficiency and safety. This has led to important research at NASA exploring flight dynamics and handling qualities associated with these aircraft in terminal area operations. A critical gap in current research tools is a fligh ...

This proposal presents a technique for the precise determination of distance between nodes of a planar array of nanosatellites for synthetic aperture and sensor array applications. The proposed effort will result in a navigational technique that can precisely determine the positions of nanosatellite sensor nodes in the array. The proposed innovation enables higher performance and low cost sensor a ...

Flight-testing is a crucial component in NASA's mission to research and develop of new aeronautical concepts, allowing for verification of simulated and wind-tunnel results, and exposing previously unforeseen design problems. Video is an invaluable tool for flight-testing, allowing the collection of a wealth of information; however, collected long-range imagery typically suffers from scintill ...

Future NASA LIDAR missions require low noise and large area photodetectors operated at short-wave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths. Silicon avalanche photodiodes have very low responsivity for wavelength longer than 1.1 um; and while InP-based APDs have high responsivity in the SWIR region, they exhibit high noise equivalent powers (NEPs) due to the relatively high excess noise of bulk InP multiplicati ...

Growing interest in precise measurements of methane concentration and distribution in the Earth's atmosphere is stimulating efforts to develop LIDAR systems in the spectral region of 1.65 um utilizing Path Differential Absorption techniques. The key element of such systems is a high energy optical source with good beam properties operating in the vicinity of a methane absorption line. In-ba ...