Award Data

"Current glass-based transparent armor has two major deficiencies: 1) It is very heavy, and therefore can compromise performance and helicopter transportability of vehicles; and 2) It is very thick, and therefore can compromise visual signature of vehicles. Advanced technology ceramic transparent armor removes both these deficiencies and provides a twofold improvement in performance, but costs 6-1 ...

The Naval Special Warfare Group - 4 spends billions of dollars annually for energy, with a major portion of this attributed to fuel consumption on-board its combatant crafts such as the Special Operations Craft-Riverine (SOC-R). Prior research indicates the potential of utilizing H2 injection into the air intake of the SOC-R diesel engine to improve its efficiency and reduce emissions. In this pro ...

Triton Systems Inc.(Triton), together with our partner Technical Products Inc. (TPI) will conduct a feasibility study to evaluate options for armoring non standard commercial vehicles (NSCV) in an unobtrusive fashion using austere mechanical facilities corresponding to expedient basing in the area of operations. Triton has wide experience in metallic, ceramic and composite armoring solutions and ...

High speed combatant craft utilized by SOCOM, such as the Riverine (SOC-R), use pumped raw water to provide engine cooling for the twin marine diesel engines. While raw water provides an essentially limitless heat sink, it often contains debris which can clog engine strainers, causing the engines to overheat. Thus, engine performance, as well as maintenance, is negatively affected by the use of th ...

This program addresses the need for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods for quality assessment and defect evaluation of thermal protection systems (TPS). Novel linear drive eddy current methods are proposed for NDE of carbon-based TPS materials, such as felts, rigid materials, and three dimensional woven fiber composites. Using a combination of physics-based models of layered media, includin ...

Heat shield technology is a critical component for both re-entry and hypersonic vehicles. The traditional manufacturing approach for designing heat shields consists of joining TPS tiles together with an adhesive that fills any gaps between them. This approach has significant challenges, including the reduction in thermal-mechanical performance as compared to that of acreage woven material. Nhung's ...

Accurately predicting Remaining Useful Life (RUL) provides significant benefits—it increases safety and reduces financial and labor resource requirements. Relying on just one methodology for RUL prediction is unsuitable because certain methods of prediction perform better for certain use cases and conditions. Approaches must be combined to maximize accuracy. Encoding these hybrid methods is c ...

Saber Astronautics proposes spacecraft subsystem control software which can autonomously reconfigure avionics for best performance during various mission conditions. The approach is to construct performance metrics from spacecraft health and welfare telemetry and learn their relationships in a probabilistic, multi-modal model called a "System Map". In this way the relationships between consumable ...

Traditional hydraulic actuation and control surface layout both limit span wise control of lift distribution, and require large volume within wing cross-section, ultimately reducing efficiency. Mounting and support structures for traditional actuators, also necessitate drag-inducing protrusions in otherwise ideally smooth airfoils. Consequently, hydraulic systems are heavy and energy intensive as ...

New measurement technologies are required to support science campaigns to better quantify rapid changes in the Earth atmosphere system. A key factor in this heightened focus on risk and uncertainty is the growing recognition that the climate is changing far more rapidly than was thought just five years ago. Aurora Flight Sciences and Harvard University propose to miniaturize the Harvard Integrated ...