Award Data

The personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by firefighters (turnout Gear, SCBA, helmet, etc.) protects the wearer against burns and hazardous environments. Unfortunately, they work so well that they decrease the firefighter's situational awareness, in particular their ability to notice rapidly increasing temperatures. Although current thermal sensor technologies (generally built in to the Pers ...

A number of civil sectors, including energy, transportation, emergency, communications, and banking, use GPS to perform critically important functions. This is a concern due to the fragility of the GPS signal, and vulnerability to attacks or disruptions. The problem has been studied to greater or lesser degree by sector. At this point however it remains unclear exactly how vulnerable these sectors ...

Timing and position data from civil GPS receivers have become integral to the operation of many of the Nation's critical infrastructures. Through the Patriot Watch architecture, DHS is coordinating efforts to identify, locate, and attribute domestic GPS interference, maintain a central database for reports of domestic and international interference to civil use of GPS and its augmentations, and n ...

The technical problem addressed is implementation of a device called the Burn Saver Device (BSD) that can be attached to a firefighter's helmet to provide an early detection system to warn the firefighter of rapidly developing and/or unsafe thermal conditions in his/her immediate environment that might not be immediately evident inside protective gear. The specific innovation and the focus of the ...

Title: Portable Imager for Stand-off Detection of Person-borne Bulk Military and Homemade Explosives. The overall goal of this SBIR proposal is to develop a portable system for stand-off detection of concealed explosives. The system will produce images positively identifying the presence of explosives and have the ability to detect and identify different types of military explosives (like TNT, C ...

The project team is developing a prototype of WebFluidMath, a software programto support students who are learning basic algebra principles. To use the Web FluidMath program, students will write math expressions and make drawings on the screen of apen-enabled tablet computer (e.g., iPad, Android, Microsoft Surface). The software will recognize the handwritten math formulae and generate solutions ...

This Phase I project proposes the development of a Marine Profiling Radiometer (MPR). The MPR is a passive microwave remote sensor capable to measure the stability of the marine boundary layer. Significant innovations in radiometer design, packaging, mode of operation, and calibration enable the MPR to operate in the unforgiving marine environment for an extended time without maintenance and user ...

The biomass supply chain is evolving to meet the expanding forms of biomass utilization. In particular to meet the goals to produce 60 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2030 will require a massive increase in cellulosic biofuel production. To produce 45 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuel will require about 530 million tons of cellulosic biomass to be processed and converted to fuel each ye ...

Carbon dioxide capture systems are currently being considered to mitigate the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration caused by fossil fuel combustion. The costs to implement and operate these systems must be reasonable to minimize economic impacts. In particular, the required compression systems will consume significant power, and they will require large capital investment. Advanced technol ...

New Generation IV nuclear power plants are being developed that promise to enable nuclear power to achieve its potential as a large scale source of environmentally benign power generation while improving safety and minimizing proliferation risks. These reactors will need large numbers of metallic fuel pins made from uranium alloys, but existing methods for casting these fuel pins are very costly. ...