Award Data

Implantable systems capable of high-bandwidth telemetry for transmission of neural information to an external receiver have not been realized.Most researchers, however, have adopted percutaneous connectors as the workhorse of high-channel count neural research.To avoid these connectors, attempts to create high-bandwidth transceivers have resulted in high-power, large-volume, or boutique solutions. ...

Chronic neuropathic pain management persists as one of the most significant medical challenges faced within the military. Current approaches to management of chronic pain, especially the use of opiates, are fraught with drawbacks and risks to military patients and cannot be deployed easily in the military theatre; therefore, new technologies that simplify treatment protocols and improve outcomes ...

An innovative bio-harvesting energy technology is proposed for powering fully implantable neural interfaces with long lifetimes. Phase 1 will demonstrate proof-of-concept, address materials compatibility and develop a model for future design optimization.

During recent conflicts, the U.S. has benefited from complete air dominance. Such dominance has allowed us to control or even eliminate many if not most sources of uncertainty affecting air missions. The command and control systems that have emerged

We propose a novel, practical CONOPS, system architecture, and algorithms for robust control of mixed manned-unmanned teams in highly uncertain environments. Our approach adds contingency policies to a baseline plan that guide dynamic activation and res

"USSOCOM has need for a lightweight, concealable, one-to-three legged support for modern targeting devices. Existing solutions are heavy, bulky, expensive, and take too long both to deploy and to stow when operations are complete. The Physical Sciences team of structural engineers and retired USSOCOM operators will determine the feasibility of using low-cost, commercially available materials to fo ...

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes a novel Reconfigurable Optical Payload for Enhanced Navigation In Cluttered Environments (ROPE-NICE) for UAVs between 1 and 55 lbs to navigate in GPS denied environments; at altitude (downward staring), low level urban, or indoor cluttered. In its leanest configuration (150g), the core payload includes one downward E/O camera, one forward E/O camera, an IMU, ...

The successful introduction of advanced prosthetic arm systems such as those developed by the DARPA "Revolutionizing Prosthetics" program will require overcoming unique challenges of fitting prostheses to arm amputees in a systematic way. Innovative diagnostic tools are required for quantifying the socket-limb interface during the fitting process, and provide for a systematic socket-fitting strate ...

Tissue differentiation, repair, and regeneration as well as the basic operation of excitable cells depends on cell membrane potential.The ability to measure these potentials for large numbers of cells and without invasive electrodes depends on the continued development of optical probes: voltage-sensitive dyes.Akita and its partners are working on a new class of such dyes which will provide higher ...

For computer based systems where time is important, a methodology is proposed which separates applications from architecture. A System is represented graphically in Blueprints, and textually in Formal Models expressed in the Real-time Executable Architecture Language (REAL). The system application and architecture are evolved to work in harmony using the SIMPLEX temporal performance simulation t ...