Award Data

5-D Systems and the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) Autonomous Control Engineering (ACE) Laboratory will prototype a system concept and produce a long term development plan for a tool to intelligently assist MDA M & S Systems Engineers in understanding the needs of their stakeholders. Our prototype will address the elicitation, capture, characterization, and refinement of a stakeholder fun ...

The process of an MDA stakeholder specifying a needed modeling and simulation system has many problems: they may be ambiguous, overly specific, overly general, contradictory, etc. Symbolic knowledge-based representation and reasoning systems have matured to the point where they can ameliorate this. E.g., an extension of Cyc can help a Marines ISR-E requirements officer prepare a JCIDS CDD needs ...

System requirements elicitation is a time consuming process with an extremely high penalty for errors. Mistakes made in the requirements phase will cost 50 times more to fix while they are uncovered in the production phase as compared to fixing them in the requirements phase. VIStology and Northeastern University are proposing to develop an approach for supporting the requirements elicitation phas ...

Reducing the personal signature of the warfighter, while simultaneously allowing him to"see, breathe and hear"is critical to mission success. Methods of concealment that are suitable for the body do not adequately mask the face without hindering the ability to"see, breathe and hear". To address the need for reducing signature in the Visible and NIR/SWIR region Performance Indicator, LLC (PI) pro ...

This Phase I SBIR program will initiate the development of a large-format mid-wave infrared (MWIR) scene projector based on the Company's existing membrane-mirror spatial light modulator technology. The scene projector is based on a VLSI membrane-mirror light modulator (VLSI-MMLM) that uses a deformable membrane mirror to modulate an off-chip light source. Prototype infrared scene projectors ...

ANTEOS, Inc. proposes to develop new generation of photonic crystal laser diodes with narrowed emission spectrum, improved thermal stability and overall performance for application in diode-pumped alkali vapor lasers (DPAL) systems. Already demonstrated proprietary process will be employed for holographic recording of relief-free gratings and photonic crystal structures with high refractive index ...

The diode pumped alkali laser (DPAL) allows for a potentially scalable approach towards a MW-class high energy laser system. By using an alkali vapor gain medium, one overcomes the intrinsic thermo-optical limitations of more conventional diode-pumped solid state laser (DPSSL) media. High spectral brightness diode pump sources are proposed by TeraDiode as the enabling element for efficient, kW-c ...

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to develop a nanostructured, alkali vapor resistant, antireflective coating for use on Diode Pumped Alkali Laser (DPAL) windows. The materials will be deposited from chemical solutions via dip coating. A dual layer AR coating design is proposed including a dense alkali impervious base layer and a porous non-reactive top layer. The result of the Phase I effort ...

Compact, efficient, mega-watt power level lasers are being developed by the MDA for the mission of destroying targets over a range of many hundreds of kilometers. A candidate laser technology with the promise of meeting this mission goal is based on alkali gas that is optically pumped by multiple, electrically driven diode lasers. One current problem limiting the potential operational lifetime o ...

This Phase I SBIR effort will develop robust and high performance infrared detector technology based on GaSb-based Type II strained-layer superlattices (SLS). The epitaxy development effort will focus on improving QE, reducing dark current, and reducing defects. The device design will be based on the NASA-JPL CBIRD structure. Advanced dual-band LW/LW design based on CBIRD will also be explored.