Award Data

THIS PROPOSAL OUTLINES A SIMPLE YET ACCURATE APPROACH TO MEASURING THE POSITION AND ORIENTATION OF A ROBOT. THE MECHANISM CAN BE USED TO MAKE BOTH STATIC AND DYNAMIC MEASUREMENTS. TWO VERSIONS OF THE DESIGN ARE PROPOSED; THE FIRST VERSION HAVING HIGH ACCURACY OVER A SMALL WORK VOLUME,AND THE SECOND VERSION HAVING LOWER ACCURACY OVER A WORK VOLUME WHICH WOULD ALLOW POSE MEASUREMENT OVER THE ENTIRE ...

THE DISSEMINATION OF TIMELY WEATHER DATA IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT AS THE POPULATION DENSITY OF THE UNITED STATES INCREASES. AS THE SOLE GOVERNMENT OPERATED RADIO SYSTEM PROVIDING DIRECT WARNINGS TO PRIVATE HOMES, THENOAA WEATHER RADIO (NWR) SYSTEM IS CRITICAL FOR DISSEMINATING NATURAL DISASTER WARNINGS AND THE TIMELY DISSEMINATION OF WEATHER DATA. THE NEED FOR A LOW COST, REAL TIME COVER ...

THREE ASPECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE INVOLVING VERY HIGH TROPICAL CLOUDS ARE: (1) WHETHER CHANGES IN HIGH CLOUD PARAMETERS LEAD TO POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE FEEDBACK IN CO2 EFFECTS ON CLIMATIC TEMPERATURE CHANGES; (2) DO CHANGES IN THE HEIGHTS OF CLOUD TOPS AND CLOUD AMOUNT, OR CLOUDS WHICH REACH TO THE TROPICAL TROPOPAUSE, AFFECT THE AMOUNT OFWATER VAPOR IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE AND INDIRECTLY THE ANTARCT ...

Reuse in software engineering is an exciting concept that has yet to be reliably implemented. The number of program subroutines that are truly generic (and therefore applicable across all applications) is limited. However, there are specific applications that are required by many organizations, albeit with a set of constraints specific to each organization. This project proposes to design a too ...

We propose to develop DIALOG, an environment for collaborative decision making that will enable health care providers and administrators to model, learn, and reason about their business enterprise. DIALOG will utilize a user-friendly, pen- and gesture-based graphical interface, and will enable "any time/any place" collaboration over shared digital libraries and dynamic "microworld" simulations. ...

It is proposed to develop a miniature guarded hot plate apparatus that can be used to determine the thermal conductivity or thermal resistance of very small specimens (1 to 3 cm square) of thermal insulation materials over a temperature range from at least -40 degrees Celsius to +65 degrees Celsius, with the apparatus having the capability to carry out measurements under controlled environments of ...

A combustion environment can be described by a characteristic fuel-to-air ratio normalized by the stoichiometric fuel-to-air ratio, otherwise defined as an equivalence ratio, _. The equivalence ratio is used extensively in a wide range of combustion fields from fundamental flame studies, to full-scale fire testing, to power plant operations. There have been basically two methods for calculating ...

The optical pumping of helium at 1083 nm is proving useful in applications involving magnetometry, polarized electron sources and neutron spin filters, but existing sources at 1083 nm are limited in efficiency, lifetime, reliability, compactness and power. The crystal laser material Nd:LuAlO3 (neodymium doped lutetium orthoaluminate) has ideal spectroscopic properties, but previous growths have d ...

This proposal will emphasize outfitting a virtual classroom and creating a skills (CNC) oriented training program. The virtual classroom will involve contextual learning using a realistic simulation of the manufacturing environment. The simulation will have all of the characteristics of a machine shop, but will allow the learner to explore and experiment ("discover") in ways that would not be pr ...

Recent catastrophic failures of Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) aluminum gas cylinders and similar air tanks have generated the need for a highly reliable, low cost inspection method to insure the integrity of these tanks. The failures of these tanks have been the result of crack formation in the neck and shoulder area. The cracks originate from the interior wall and can re ...