Award Data

Proliferation of nuclear weapons is a serious threat in the world today. One way to determine the presence of nuclear weapons is to detect neutrons emitted by special nuclear material(SNM) such as highly enriched uranium and weapons grade plutonium. The purpose of this project is to develop improved solid state neutron detectors from CVD diamond for homeland security applications. Phase I work wil ...

The use and applications of radiological sources, for power, medical, and defense applications, continuously increases with time. Illicit nuclear materials represent a threat for the safety of the American citizens and the detection and interdiction of a nuclear weapon is a national problem that has not been yet solved. This represents an enormous challenge to current detection methods and monitor ...

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF FUSING DATA OBTAINED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM VISIBLE, INFRARED AND RADAR SENSORS, TO PROVIDE A HERETOFORE UNOBTAINABLE SURVEILLANCE CAPABILITY.THE DIFFICULTIES ASSOCAITED WITH SENSOR FUSION WHICH WILL BE ADDRESSEDINCLUDE THE DIFFERENT FIELDS OF VIEW, DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS, DIFFERENT RESOLUTIONS, AND DIFFERENT POSITIONS AND VELOCITIES ...

Boston MicroSystems (BMS) proposes to develop a cell-phone sized instrument for detecting hazardous chemical and explosive threats. The instrument is based on BMS' PicoSensor® chemical and explosives detection platform, which has been developed in part under DHS support and is capable of sensing explosives and toxic chemicals at ppb and even ppt (trillion) levels. The Picoensor® consists of a ME ...

THIS STUDY IS INTENDED TO DETERMINE THE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS, THE CONFIGURATION AND THE ENGINE CONTROL PHILOSOPHY FOR A HIGH ALTITUDE VARIABLE CYCLE DIESEL ENGINE INSTALLED IN A RPV. WEIGHT, PERFORMANCE AND INSTALLATION INFORMATION WILL BE DEVELOPED IN THE STUDY.

A SUPERSONDUCTOR BASED INFRARED DETECTOR WITH A CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE SENSITIVITY IS PROPOSED. THE SUPERCONDUCTING THIN FILM IS TO HAVE A POLYCRYSTALLINE NATURE TO ACHIEVE JOSEPHSON JUNCTION BEHAVIOR DIRECTLY THROUGH THE ANISOTROPIC SUPERCONDUCTING PROPERTIES OF YBA(2)CU(3)O(7-X). THE DEPOSITION SUBSTRATE IS TO BE AN OXYGEN ION CONDUCTOR THAT WILL PERMIT CONTINUOUS AND CONTROLLED ADJUSTMENT OF THE ...

Ion mobility spectrometer based explosives trace detectors (ETD) have been widely used in airport check points, ports of entry, government buildings, and other high security facilities. Most of these systems require manual collection of trace particles from vehicles via direct swabbing of surface areas of interest. Sample collection efficiency and inconsistency pose significant challenges to the e ...

THE CAPABILITY EXISTS TO DETECT MAGNETIC, NONMAGNETIC, METALLIC AND PLASTIC BURIED AND SURFACE SCATTERED MINES THROUGH THE USE OF A SIMPLE SUITE OF SENSORS FROM THE SURFACE. THE CAPABILITY ALSO EXISTS TO DESIGN, BUILD, AND OPERATE A LOW COST REMOTE CONTROLLED PLATFORM FOR CARRYING THIS SUITE OF SENSORS. BOTH TECHNOLOGIES ARE CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT AND/OR BEING DEMONSTRATED AT FOSTER-MILLER, I ...

A MAJOR PROBLEM FACING PHYPERSONIC VEHICLE DESIGNERS IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF FLIGHT STRUCTURES WHICH CAN WITHSTAND MULTIPLE HEATING CYCLES TO OVER 3500 DEG F. ADVANCED CARBON/CARBON COMPOSITES (ACC) ARE A LEADING CANDIDATE BUT WILL REQUIRE IMPROVED STRUCTURAL CONCEPTS AND OXIDATION RESISTANT COATINGS. CURRENT 2-D ACC MADE FROM CARBON-PHENOLIC HAVE POOR TRANSVERSE STRENGTH AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY. 3 ...

EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE OF REUSABLE HYPERSONIC VEHICLES WILL DEPEND ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS (TPS) FOR NOSE TIP, WING LEADING EDGE, AND FUSELAGE STRUCTURES CAPABLE OF OPERATION FOR EXTENDED PERIODS IN AN EXTREME AEROHEATING ENVIRONMENT. MINIMUM WEIGHT DESIGN MAY BE ACHIEVED VIA A COMBINATION OF ACTIVE/PASSIVE TPS APPROACHES. THIS WOULD INVOLVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH TEMPER ...