Award Data

In this SBIR program, AlphaSense, Inc. teamed with the Center for Non-destructive Evaluations at Iowa State University to develop a compact, low cost handheld sensor for non-destructive material case depth verification. In phase I, we have proven the feasibility of using an alternating current potential drop (ACPD) sensor for non-destructive measurements of case depth. Phase II will be focusing on ...

To reduce size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-c), military platforms have been evolving towards more integrated platforms that utilize all available space. For radiating systems, this will require exploring innovative design methods, materials and manufacturing approaches to realize cost-effective, customizable and conformal antennas. An attractive solution to this challenge is offered by additive ...

Although biodiesels have been increasingly used in automobiles, trains, commercial aircrafts and heating systems, they are not currently used in the military aircrafts and land vehicles because they typically do not meet the JP-8 performance criteria as specified by MIL-PRF-83133E. Unintentional contaminations by the biodiesels into the jet fuels can introduce adverse effects, including engine ope ...

To reach the end user, oil and gas production at the wellhead must be transmitted through the country and distributed to a wide range of customers. This logistical system requires natural gas gathering lines, processing facilities, product storage tanks and lots of other equipment. What results is air pollution caused by industry losses during these operations and the use of continuous or intermit ...

Shipboard structures employing composites typically use glass/vinyl ester (VE) manufactured with vacuum assisted RTM. This composite system offers reduced weight, no corrosion and improved signature performance but lacks the fire performance characteristics required for shipboard use. Phenolic resins (PH) provide outstanding fire performance but are difficult to process and offer lower structur ...

There continues to be a need for low cost production and shipment of fuel-grade ethanol from agricultural sources. Ethanol from agricultural sources has many advantages including developing fuel independence and significantly reducing greenhouse gases. Also, bio-ethanol has significant value as an oxygenated and octane improver. Although ethanol from agricultural sources has many advantages, th ...

There continues to be a need for production of biofuels from agricultural sources. Butanol is a more attractive fuel than ethanol because it leads to better gas mileage, it achieves higher blends with gasoline than bioethanol, it has greater compatibility with existing fuel infrastructure, it is less volatile, it is more amenable to transport via pipeline due to low water absorption, there is no n ...

In this program, we propose a radio frequency (RF) direction finding sensor for low probability of intercept (LPI) RF radar system. This sensor consists of a dielectric lenses focusing system and an innovative focus plane detector array (FPDA) developed by Spectrum Magnetics, LLC (SM). The focusing system project the RF signal onto its focus plane. A novel FPDA based on emerging spintronic and met ...

Modern DoD applications are benefiting from the proliferation of EO/IR sensor technology. As imagers become cheaper and smaller, they are being more widely deployed for a variety of scenarios. This trend is exemplified by the Navys Future Targeting System (FTS), which will provide laser designation, laser spot imaging, and some target location functions in a single 5.5-pound unit, replacing discre ...

This project aims to develop a low-cost millimeter-wave (mmW) imaging system for ground vehicles, to operate in combination with a long-wave infrared (LWIR) camera. Such a system will mitigate the challenges of driving in degraded visual environments (DVE) including night time, fog, dust, or smoke by providing real-time image of the vehicle surrounding independent from the presence of naturally oc ...