Award Data

Individual differences in vulnerability to sleep loss and fatigue from extended work hours and night work are a substantial problem in transportation work schedule development, fatigue risk management strategies, and prediction of performance impairment in real-world operations. This project will deliver an individualized Fatigue Management Program (FMP) technology for trucking operations that in ...

More than 1,300,000 Level 1 commercial vehicle inspections - a safety-critical, time-consuming, often difficult and painstaking process, especially as regards the brake inspection component -- are performed every year in the United States, under all sorts of weather and lighting conditions. The current technology used adds to the complexity and error potential inherent in this important task. In ...

This project addresses the specific need for an improved method for cleaning insulators that electrically isolate the third rail. Current methods are labor intensive and expensive, but the insulators should be cleaned regularly to avoid even greater expense. This project is to adapt an innovative photolytic paint stripper to cleaning insulators for the third rail. The overall objective is to de ...

The FRA has identified cab car end door kick panels as possible emergency egress panels. They could be used in circumstances where the convential emergency exits are unusable. The industry has operational and maintenance concerns. The objectives of this SBIR are to define the requirements for end door emergency egress panels and identify alternative design approaches and assess their effectiven ...

This proposal describes the application of a mature nanotechnology-based crack arrest / structural repair technology as a novel crack arrestor tool for high-strength pipelines. The crack arrestor would comprise a thin layer or sleeve of electrodeposited nanocrystalline material applied to the outside of the pipe either in the coating mill during fabrication or in-field during or following constru ...

With infrastructure costs escalating it is becoming essential to monitor the health of concrete structures so that timely maintenance can maximize their useful lives. This SBIR will demonstrate the feasibility of using a passive sensor, embedded within concrete, to measure mositure, temperature, pH and concentrations of chlorides. It will provide critical data for evaluating concrete performance s ...

An optical, non-contact roof deformation monitoring system will be designed based on an existing multi-point, non-contact, multi-axis optical sensor-based measurement system that is currently used to measure chest deflection in crash-test dummies. The research involves determining suitable components to be used in the optical path, from high-power LED arrays through lenses and optical sensors. T ...

Laser Technology Inc. (LTI) proposes a Phase II SBIR research project to further develop a Compact Shearography System, Analysis Method and Software for micro-crack detection in concrete. There is an urgent need to detect and characterize fine cracks in concrete that form because of various damage mechanisms including alkali-silicate reaction, delayed ettringite formation or frost damage. Fine s ...

Railroad freight car safety and maintenance cost is directly related to knowledge of the actual braking force provided by a brake shoe. If the brake force is too low, safety is at risk. If the brake shoe is replaced before the end of it's lifetime to ensure safety, maintenance and thus operating costs are increased. Currently there is no system in place to monitor brake shoe force during train ...

Development of the basic EMAT based transverse rail defect detector has progressed toward finished form, as envisioned in the original solicitation. This modification is intended to produce a demonstratable version of a 2-rail detection system with automated signal interpertation. The objectives of this work are to: a. Further develop the system into a functioning 2-rail detection system, as ori ...