Award Data

Overall biometric system performance depends on data quality, the strength of the biometric matching algorithms, the compatibility of data quality with matching algorithms, and quality of the overall integrated system. For long-range face image acquisition and processing for tactical biometrics, there are many issues to consider for these dependencies, both obvious and subtle. Our team has spent t ...

Today"s military must be highly mobile and carry all necessary equipment and supplies with them. A major limitation to mobility is the need to carry fresh water. Although there are military systems that can treat any source water for drinking, their size, weight and large energy requirements often make them impractical for use by small units and forward operating bases. What is needed is a mobi ...

Providing power for dismounted soldiers on long-duration missions remains a critical technical challenge. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells convert hydrogen fuel directly to electric power and offer a lightweight and efficient power source for individual soldiers. However, technology for storing the hydrogen fuel is still too heavy to meet the Armys mission requirements. We propose to ...

The goals of this Phase II program are threefold. First, FIRST RF will enhance the current vest-integrated ground-radio (VIG-R) antenna to realize the instantaneous bandwidth required by the SINCGARS radio to provide full channel hopping capability. During the Phase I effort, FIRST RF demonstrated great success for a wearable VHF antenna solution by optimizing antenna topology and matching network ...

Small manned and unmanned aircraft need advanced propulsion technology to increase mission capabilities and improve reliability. We propose to develop an innovative recuperator technology that can significantly reduce fuel consumption for small gas turbines. Our microchannel recuperators are built using advanced manufacturing techniques that will enable a compact, inexpensive recuperator to signif ...

Due to its favorable combustion properties, aluminum is the material of choice in metalized nanoparticle formulations for energetic materials; however, the full potential of aluminum nanoparticles has not been realized due to the presence of a nascent oxide layer (Al2O3) that surrounds the nanoparticles and retards their combustion. As a result, the military is looking for novel surface modificati ...

The Army uses Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) for the location and tracking of enemy soldiers and vehicles. The sensors can often determine range and relative bearing to the signal source, but without knowing its own orientation, these data cannot be converted to source geo location and ground track. There is therefore a need for a sensor to determine the UGS azimuth, roll, and pitch relative to a ...

The targeting accuracy of mortar rounds is critically dependent on obtaining accurate gun barrel azimuth and elevation data to feed to the fire control system. Current barrel attitude determination is not sufficiently accurate and requires manual readouts. Creare proposes to build a sensor for the determination of azimuth and elevation using novel MEMS rate gyros and inclinometers. These highly ac ...

Affordable, low profile SATCOM On the Move (OTM) terminals are a subject of intense research due to the cost, performance and physical burden of current systems. For airborne ISR platforms like EMARSS and others, SATCOM uplinks using a gimbaled dish on the top fuselage centerline are the preferred means of backhauling large volumes of ISR data. Due to the reasons listed above, alternate SATCOM ...

Army SBIR Topic A04-199 identifies the need for an Active Noise Reduction (ANR) Communication Earplug for Helicopter Crew that, when used in combination with a Gentex HGU-56 helmet, provides “effective attenuation of at least 40 dB at all frequencies, with adequate speech intelligibility, while meeting safety requirements with respect to potential injuries caused by side impacts.” Phase I res ...