Award Data

The Air Force and other branches of the armed forces require compact and cost-effective, high power (10s of Watts) sources of mid-infrared radiation at wavelengths within atmospheric transmission bands. Thermal issues in solid-state lasers have so farlimited the performance of these devices at long wavelengths. By contrast gas lasers can provide power scalability, however these devices are typica ...

Tactical laser sources delivering high peak power (from multi-MW to TW) in agile optical pulse trains at high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) in the 3.5-4 µm wavelength region are of interest for several military applications including proactive infrared countermeasures (PIRCM), non-lethal munitions, and remote sensing of battlefield threats. To meet the needs for future tactical lasers, Aculig ...

This project will create a distributed portal and virtual testbed for ATR/Fusion algorithms. The investigators will develop a CORBA architecture and software tools to support profiling of distributed software processes, workflow task management, andinterfaces to algorithm and performance measure repositories. The investigators will design and create databases for algorithm inputs, algorithm outp ...

A small propellantless electrodynamic tether system can provide a low-mass and low-cost means for lowering the orbit of an existing satellite from high- or mid-LEO altitudes down to low-LEO altitudes so that the satellite can be retrieved for examination,repair, or return to Earth. We propose to develop prototype hardware for an electrodynamic tether drag system to enable a

InnoSys proposes the advanced development of microwave power modules (MPMs) that combine monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) driver amplifiers with miniature traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifiers. This provides high power density at low cost and a small size and weight. When used as a driver amplifier in the MPM, the V/W band MMIC provides sufficient power and gain to drive the special ...

Current high-energy computed tomography (CT) techniques for nondestructive testing (NDT) of solid rocket motors (SRM) and other large industrial objects often produce inferior imagery due to artifacts, impairing detection, identification, and measurement of anomalies. Phase I results verified that these artifacts arise from failure of assumptions implicit in the filtered backprojection algorithm. ...

Mobilisa proposes the creation of a tool which runs on a standard PC and provides users with a straightforward and standardized way of detecting and evaluating safety hazards in test and operational scenarios; similar in scope to the current Integrated Laser Hazard Assessment (LHAZ) program. The implementation will be based on our AIRchitect® software, an RF design tool based on ray-tracing techn ...

Through this research grant nLight Corporation will combine its proven design and production experience in high-reliability, single-emitter, fiber-coupled, laser diode module packaging, with its proven experience in 9XX nm, high-power, wide-stripe, super-high-efficiency-diodes (SHEDs) to produce a space qualifiable, high-power, single-emitter, fiber-coupled, 9XX nm laser diode module. Part of this ...

Novel waterjet machining techniques are proposed to reduce the costs of grid fin manufacturing by 80% over conventional waterjets. Waterjets are well suited to the task of machining fins because they are a cold cutting process that will not cause thermal damage to the thin webs, they can achieve the tight tolerances and small corner radii and can be used on a wide range of candidate materials. The ...

Scheduling is a complex, NP-hard problem that challenges the use of any single solution technique. In Phase I, we built a model that uses our multi-technique Quantum Leap Problem Solving Engine to solve a representative but simplified version of the AirForce Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) contact scheduling problem. The system demonstrated that it could schedule the hundreds (500 to 600) of t ...