Award Data

As the single largest consumer of materials and energy use worldwide, the construction sector remains a prime target for materials reuse reform. (Krausmann et al., 2009; De Ia Rue du Can & Price, 2008). Construction and ongoing operation of the built environment extracts a significant amount of resources -- and on an ongoing basis. According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), buildings ac ...

Across the nation, school buses drive our kids to and from school, in rural, suburban, and large cities – all having the same problem: safely transporting school children. This proposal calls out (1) there is no school bus V2X solution that exists in any meaningful scalable way today (2) there is no readily available solution to solve for school children being struck during evening hours when vi ...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have emerged as a pervasive and persistent threat to drinking water throughout the world. Called ‘forever chemicals” because their high stability leads PFAS to build up in the environment. PFAS accumulates in the blood from exposures and is associated with various cancers and other illnesses. There is an urgent need for a technology that can both remo ...

Founded in 2004, the mission of Wi-Tronix is to improve railway safety, operational efficiency, and service reliability, in real-time. We are the preferred connected solutions provider to over one-third of all locomotives in North America. Wi-Tronix is proposing to leverage our expertise in developing and making commercially available AI based technologies for autonomous highway-rail grade crossin ...

Identification of defects and incipient failures before the breakdown of the equipment is recognized as an important maintenance activity in the railroad industry to improve efficiency and safety of the operation. It is well known that a proper implementation of condition monitoring improves the overall equipment reliability and reduces unexpected field failures. Traction motor faults can result i ...

This project seeks to define the performance requirements for a wireless Digital Train Line (WiDTL) through definition of functionality and performance expected, and translating these into network equipment specifications and architecture that wireless network equipment manufacturers can build towards. The effort will include an in-depth review of wireless technology as it applies to sensitive and ...

Autorack cars transport one of the most valuable commodities – fully assembled Automobiles. Due to the longer and higher profile of an Autorack and the fact that heavy automobiles are loaded on to high deck levels, freight trucks with improved track-to-vehicle dynamics as well as higher speed capabilities are desired in anticipation of higher speed passenger service and shared corridors. Unique ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will employ Nanofiltration to generate sulfate ion feedstocks and high current density on-site generation (synthesis) of the powerful oxidant peroxodisulphate (“persulfate”) with novel, high reliability boron-doped untrananocrystal-line diamond (UNCD) electrodes to dramatically lower the cost of unconventional fossil fuel (FF) waste water ...

A team of EP Purification and the University of Illinois engineer and chemists is pursuing the commercialization of low cost microchannel plasma modules capable of efficiently producing ozone for water treatment. The conservation of water resources for human consumption is a growing national priority. Contamination of ground municipal water by animal manure, fertilizer and pharmaceuticals, for e ...

We propose the development of a near infrared/shortwave infrared (NIR/SWIR) sensor based on mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) in an n-type/barrier/n-type (nBn) architecture, designed for room-temperature operation in the 0.7 to 2.8µm NIR/SWIR spectral range. The sensor will compete as a low cost/high performance alternative to near infrared indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs)-based cameras by prov ...