Award Data

WE PROPOSE TO APPLY ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS TO THE DERIVATION OF CLOUD MOTION VECTORS FROM SATELLITE IMAGERY. IN PHASE I, WE WILL CONCENTRATE ON USING A NEURAL NETWORK IN THE FIRST STEP IN THE DERIVATIO OF CLOUD MOTION VECTORS, THE HEIGHT ASSIGNMENT AND TARGET SELECTION. THE NEURAL NETWORK COMBINES, AT EACH IMAGE PIXEL, BRIGHTNESS IN DIFFERENT CHANNELS TO DETERMINE CLOUD TYPE AND LEVEL (I.E., L ...

ADVANCES IN SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY HAVE RESULTED IN VAST NEW TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES AND HAVE AFFECTED EVERY ASPECT OF MODERN LIFE. ONE SUCH APPLICATION WHERE ADVANCES IN SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS CAN HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON SPACE EXPLORATION IS UV DETECTORS. THE IDEAL UV DETECTOR WOULD BE A SOLID STATE DEVICE WITH HIGH RESPONSITIVITY TO UV LIGHT AND NEGLIGIBLE RESPONSITIVITY TO VISIBLE LI ...

ORMASIL-DIAMOND composite coatings, made via the sol-gel method have great promise for thermal management applications. They are easy to apply, have excellent stability and can be cured at low temperatures. Recent work has provided the knowledge to tailor ORMASIL properties for this application. An unsolved problem is how to obtain a strong chemical bond to the diamond surface. A novel ultrasonic ...

Aspen systems proposes to develop high dielectric constant (K), low loss tellurium polymers to meet the design objectives of high energy density capacitors. In the proposed Phase I program we will apply rigorous computational chemical techniques to predict the properties of this new class of polymers. We will attempt the synthesis of the parent polymer of the tellurium family, fabricate films for ...

An innovative high temperature insulation system is proposed which utilizes high temperature compatible refractory aerogels and fibers. This composite structure incorporates key features of the extremely low thermal conductivity of the aerogels and the flexibility, durability, and engineerbility of the fiber matrix. The proposed comosite insulation will result in a conveniently usable, relatively ...

WE PROPOSE TO APPLY A BIOTECHNOLOGY-BASED PROCESS TO MAKE NANOSTRUCTURES FOR OPTOELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS. THE RESULT WILL BE A UNIFORM ARRAY OF SILICON QUANTUM BOXES OF IDENTICAL DIMENSIONS IN A SILICON LAYER OF CONTROLLED THICKNESS. ALL THREE TECHNIQUES, CONTROLLED THICKNESS OF A CRYSTALLINE Si LAYER, FORMATION OF A UNIFORM ARRAY, AND ITS USE AS A PATTERN FOR REPLICATING A SEMICONDUCTOR ARRAY, HA ...

The proposed project will produce single-crystal boules of GaN that can be sliced and sold as high-quality substrates for the epitaxial growth of differently-doped GaN or of other lattice-matching crystals, or as wafers for use in optoelectronic and acoustooptic applications. The feasibility of GaN boules will be tested on a small scale: to produce cm3-sized crystals. The process will be scles up ...

Astralux, Inc. will develolp a seminconductor sensor sensitive to bacuum ultraviolet photons. For this, we shall synthesize a wide bandgap semiconductor capable of forming a built-in electric field that will separate the photogenerated electron-hole pairs and produce a photovoltage in response to the incident UV. This sensor should have no response to light in the visible spectrum. In this project ...

There is a market for a room temperature infrared detector as well as for a detection system which is radiation resistant and works at high temperatures and in reactive environments. Current infrared imaging technologies are too expensive and too bulky for these applications. We are proposing to develop an infrared and thermal detector based on a novel kind of light converter. The concept incorpor ...

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