Award Data

"Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices, though built using semiconductor equipment, have a different set of failure mechanisms and reliability concerns than integrated circuits. One major concern is stiction, a term that describes the propensity oftwo silicon surfaces to stick to each other if they touch.To solve this problem, AST is proposing to develop organic coatings with Teflon-like ...

"This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will investigate a promising new technique for fabricating periodic domain gratings in stoichiometric lithium tantalate(SLT). The key innovation in this SBIR effort is the use of externally mountedmicro-electrodes to electrically pole the material. This poling technique, made possible because of the low coercive field found in SLT, will sign ...

"Agiltron proposes a revolutionary approach to Mid-IR imager intrinsically having advantages in sensitivity, energy efficiency, reliability, and cost as compared with the competitive approaches. The innovation is based on pixel-level integration ofmicro-machined PbSe-Au interferometer that directly converts IR image into visible image providing unprecedented opportunity to produce affordable Mid-I ...

"High performance fiberoptic switches are in great demand for use in both modern commercial and defense communication networks and next-generation military sensing systems. Current fiberoptic switches lack reliability and operation speed. Carrie-classreliable switch matrix has not been realized because of the intrinsic limitation of existing technologies. Agiltron Corporation proposes to develo ...

"The terahertz (THz) wave region is an underutilized electromagnetic spectrum in which generation is difficult. The existing THz sources are generated either by large and expensive free electron laser or by pulsed optical radiations. There is an increasedneed for continuous THz wave source of high temporal and spatial coherence. The practical use of THz spectrum requires new laser technology th ...

"This program addresses the development of a solid-state optical switching technology. Current optical switches do not simultaneously meet the requirements of high speed, low loss, high extinction ratio, low power consumption, high damage threshold, andhigh reliability. Sub-microsecond and multiple-port optical switches of low loss and low cost are long sought after performance attributes. This ...

"The traditional way of steering light is using turnable mirrors, prisms or other optical components by mechanical actuators. These are usually large, heavy and consume relatively high powers. Moreover, the rate/speed at which light can be modulated is slowcompared with today's demand on switching speeds and modulation frequencies. There is considerable value of adding non-mechanical steering of l ...

"Shipboard intelligence centers deployed in littoral regions arethe "front line" for naval intelligence gathering. Onboardcryptanalysts need to monitor multiple information sources fortrends and deviations from expected norms, detect and properlyinterpret the unusual, and generate Indications and Warning(I&W). Anticipated reductions in shipboard manning and increasesin the quantity of available ...

"Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) has been proven critical to national defense. Currently, E-2C, S-3B, P-3C and EP-3 aircraft are used to support the Navy's ISR primary missions. Desires to utilize UAVs have significantlyenabled platform advances, but still demand the development of small low cost, lower power ISR payloads.ALPHATECH and NAVSYS propose to integrate ALP ...

"Missile Defense Engagement Planning systems are highly automated. It is the system developers, not the commanders of those systems, who are formulating the engagement planning problem and thereby deciding how engagements will be planned and executed. Inthe history of warfare system developers have never trumped commanders in deciding how a system will carry out orders, and this reversal of affair ...