Award Data

A compact, reliable, efficient and inexpensive cryocooler requiring less than 1 kW of power for 2W of cooling at 10 Kelvin is being developed and will be demonstrated. This performance is at least twice as efficient as the best current state-of-the-artfor small low-temperature cryocoolers. The proposed technical approach, whose technical feasibility and suitability for space-based applications h ...

This SBIR effort will develop advanced mode-matching structures for highly efficient electro-optic amplitude modulators in potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP). The intended application for these modulators is in intra-satellite fiber-optic data buses andother satellite communication and data-handling systems. The overall goal of this effort is the fabrication of electro-optic modulators featuring l ...

The greatest problem that the government has in securing integrated circuits that meet its radiation hardness requirement is the extremely high cost of these parts. The cost per unit is primarily driven by two factors, unique processing requirements andlow volume. Unique processes arise from the fact that many process steps used in commercial integrated circuit fabrication causes the parts to fa ...

This proposal is a response to the request by the United States Missile Defense Agency for Infrared Materials Modeling for Next Generation Focal Plane Architectures. We will create an improved model for infrared (IR) material growth structures used inHgCdTe IR focal plane arrays. Models should address the material processes needed for fabrication of multi-layer structures covering a wide range o ...

This program addresses a revolutionary low cost manufacturing technology of digitally switchable fiberoptic true time delay manifold for high performance phased array antenna. By using an improved electro-optic material system, the proposed integrateddevice will provide sub-microsecond high reconfigurable speed. Our approach is sate-of-the-art in design and closely coupled with proven volume fi ...

X-ray imaging is an important technique which is used in variety of applications such as nondestructive evaluation, radiology in medicine, astronomical observations, X-ray diffraction for materials studies, and others. The ability of X-rays to penetratedeep in to matter allows investigation of interior components with possibility of real-time dynamic studies. However, while significant advances ha ...

Target discrimination is one of the critical components of the midcourse phase processing in providing effective missile defense. Currently, detailed models that use an elaborate discrete Bayesian network predict the sensor phenomenology for each possibletarget type and sensor. The predicted sensor phenomenology is compared to the observed phenomenology, and the target type estimate is updated. ...

With the appropriate processing algorithms, surface-based radar has the potential to discriminate reentry vehicles from other threat objects in the presence of clutter, which is a critical part of the BMD problem. Discrimination is based on resolving theobjects in range, and characterizing each object's shape and motion. The algorithm we propose is the model-based approach, which applies a hypot ...

Employing of nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes opens new avenue in fabrication of new nanocoposite materials exhibiting quite a number of unique physical properties. ALTAIR Center proposes to develop an innovative process suitable for manufacturing of alarge variety of the nanocomposite materials for various applications in MDA missions. The proposed general technology is applicable to fabricatio ...

Athena's response to the challenge of creating a high-quality instruction set cipher that does not substantially impact the performance of the native processor is called InCipher. Use of InCipher enabled processors will harden the software binaries againstreverse engineering and unauthorized use by adversaries. InCipher will prove invaluable for protecting both the software that is at the heart of ...