Award Data

Quantitative, non-invasive X and gamma ray 3-D tomographic assessment of large, irregularly shaped, heterogeneous bodies is essential for efficient progress of environmental waste management. Currently, thousands of sealed containers with low-level radioactive waste are in storage. The material must be identified and quantified as a preliminary step to processing or storing the material. Curren ...

The ability to monitor the progress of chemical reactions and to detect the presence of corrosive constituents is a challenge in the emerging field of hydrothermal oxidation (HTO) reactors. Likewise, there is also a need to monitor crevice corrosion in commercial steam-generation boilers because corrosion undermines the integrity of steam generators and therefore impacts the operating cost and re ...

This project will develop a multi-sensor data acquisition and processing system. The goal of this research will be to investigate the feasibility of developing a high-performance, real-time system capable of coordinating the simultaneous operation of several sensors aboard aircraft. The system's main feature would be real-time processing and display of data products such as salinity charts, sea ...

A critical component to the overall performance of the diffractometer is the rotary positioning system. Accurate positioning of the source and detector with respect to the specimen and minimization of the "sphere error" is essential for characterization of multilayers and new X-ray powder standard reference materials. OPTRA will develop a new rotary stage that directly monitors the rotation of t ...

There are no single-frequency laser devices yet available that continuously cover the 1400 nm to 1700 nm wavelength range. If such a device was developed, it could be used for several applications in telecommunications, LIDAR, and spectroscopy. One of these applications could be OPO seeding. To address this need, we propose to develop and demonstrate a tunable, single-frequency, solid-state las ...

Broodshrimp are given natural (wild-capture) foods for maintenance and maturation. This practice causes problems with production schedules and diseases, limits management options, and raises production costs. Conventional feed processing can degrade high quality ingredients-essential nutrients and other natural biochemicals- such that they become ineffective for broodshrimp reproduction. The pu ...

Intelligent Automation, Incorporated is developing a new innovative approach to concurrent product-process development. The resulting system will also allow integrated development of production planning and scheduling, including external supplier integration. Our approach is based on the paradigm of autonomous agents. The work herein proposed focuses on improvements and extensions to the "Intel ...

The ultimate objective of this project is to develop an instrument capable of remote detection and location of tornadoes and/or storms containing tornadoes. There are many reports, both scientific and anecdotal, suggesting that tornadoes and tornadic thunderstorms emit anomalous electromagnetic (EM) radiation-both RF and luminous. This radiation is characterized by unusually high rates of EM pulse ...

In response to the increasing demand for better understanding of the manufacturing processes and the machining systems, a new testing standard--ASME B5.54 and a family of new testing instruments have been developed for evaluating the performances of a variety of CNC machining centers. Because of the advancement and versatility of the new instruments, test data are being collected at a much higher ...

The storage photostimulable phosphor (SPP) technique has been demonstrated to be sensitive to ionization radiation. It is especially suited for detecting alpha particles since the efficiency is practically 100%. In addition to being able to quantify total ionization deposited in a SPP sensor, it also captures the radiation source distribution information in a digital image which can be readily ana ...