Award Data

Cities must perform detailed assessments of sidewalks and streets, including curb ramps, pedestrian signals, crosswalks, street furniture, and other components to determine compliance with the Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines. However, current assessment methods are inadequate or unreasonable due to time and resources required. The objectives of this project are to: 1) develop elect ...

An optical, non-contact roof deformation monitoring system will be designed based on an existing multi-point, non-contact, multi-axis optical sensor-based measurement system that is currently used to measure chest deflection in crash-test dummies. The research involves determining suitable components to be used in the optical path, from high-power LED arrays through lenses and optical sensors. T ...

FUEL SULFUR IS ON THE INCREASE AND THERE EXISTS NO DIRECT METHOD FOR ALERTING DIESEL ENGINE OPERATORS AS TO THE DESIRABILITY OF CHANGING LUBRICATING OIL. MOST DIESEL OPERATORS NOW CONSIDER PERIODIC OIL ANALYSES AS THEIR FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE IN MAINTAINING EQUIPMENT; THIS METHOD IS BOTH EXPENSIVE AND OFTEN INCONVIENT. THIS RESEARCH EXPLORES THE FEASIBILITY OF USING THE ELECTROCHEMICAL CORROSION OF ...

Substantial simulation work has been done showing that traffic shock-waves can be reduced or eliminated through "cooperative adaptive cruise control" and "communicating cruise control" where following vehicles are warned that leading vehicles are slowing in time to react. To be effective, however, such devices must be installed and operate in the majority of vehicles in the queue. Even if mandat ...

While mechanical damage to pipelines is a common occurrence, the impact of mechanical damage on pipeline remaining life is not easily determined. The mechanical damage features, such as residual stresses and stress concetrations, will determine the effect of the damage on pipeline remaining life. Empirical relationships between damage features and burst pressure have been developed and adopted i ...

Detection, classification, and characterization are the key to enhancing motorcycle safety, operations and travel estimation. Motorcycle fatalities are currently estimated at 30 times those of auto fatalities per Vehicle Mile Traveled (VMT). Although it has been an active research area for many years, motorcycle detection and classification still remains as a challenging task. The goal of Phase I ...

Automated vehicle counting technology has been in use for many years, but developments in automated pedestrian counting technology have been limited. Pedestrians are more difficult to detect, track and count, than motor vehicles because their paths are much less constrained. In Phae I, we propose to develop a new system for pedestrian detection, tracking and counting. In this system, both IR LE ...

This project addresses the specific need for an improved method for cleaning insulators that electrically isolate the third rail. Current methods are labor intensive and expensive, but the insulators should be cleaned regularly to avoid even greater expense. This project is to adapt an innovative photolytic paint stripper to cleaning insulators for the third rail. The overall objective is to de ...

The FRA has identified cab car end door kick panels as possible emergency egress panels. They could be used in circumstances where the convential emergency exits are unusable. The industry has operational and maintenance concerns. The objectives of this SBIR are to define the requirements for end door emergency egress panels and identify alternative design approaches and assess their effectiven ...

To assist with the National Geodetic Survey’s federal mandate to provide accurate positioning—including heights—to all federal non-military mapping activities in the USA, Aurora Flight Sciences proposes to integrate a gravimetry payload on a unmanned aerial system (UAS). Potential options include using either an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or an optionally piloted aircraft (OPA). An OPA ...