Award Data

Nanoscale, material sensitive, imaging techniques are critical for progress in many disciplines as we learn to master science and technology at the smallest dimensions — on the nanometer to atomic-scale. However, progress in both science and technology is becoming increasingly limited by the constraints of current imaging techniques and metrologies. Fortunately, by combining coherent extreme UV ...

As the importance of social networks skyrockets, so does the need to understand human behavior in these forums. While statistical analyses can help to some extent, many types of patterns are simply not visible by looking at raw numbers. However, many of these patterns do emerge in visualizations, and the innate human ability to see these patterns in graphical depictions represents a valuable oppo ...

The increasing use of video in force protection, autonomous vehicles reconnaissance, and surveillance in general has created a great demand for automated analysis and monitoring. It is infeasible to have humans monitoring and analyzing the vast amount of video used in such surveillance, and automated analysis yields hope to ease the burden and increase the amount of information extracted from col ...

The development of compact, ultra-low drive voltage optical phase modulators is a critical key component for passive antenna remoting applications, a strategic area, part of a number of current and upcoming DARPA initiatives. With the development of sufficiently low V-pi modulators, passive front-ends can be constructed with a low figure even for a moderate optical pumping power. The combination o ...

Future systems such as morphing aircraft will adapt and reconfigure to accommodate mission needs. These shape changes must allow change while still bearing substantial loads. Fiber-reinforced composites are the preferred reinforcement materials due to their mechanical and lightweight properties suited for meeting the requirements of morphing systems. Although thermally activated shape memory comp ...

Cost effective semiconductor processing tools that enable the high-resolution nano-fabrication of low-volume electronics are needed by the DOD. The printing of ultra-fine gratings on silicon wafers using interference immersion lithography is envisaged as a first maskless process step in the fabrication of advanced application specific integrated circuits. Next generation interference immersion lit ...

The challenges faced by airborne and ground-based sensors in detecting, classifying, identifying, associating and tracking difficult moving targets, such as insurgent forces, operating in difficult terrain such as mountains and forests will be addressed. Our team will quantify the performance that can be achieved using multi-sensor, multi-spectral, and multi-platform techniques, where the sensors ...

Early detection of virulent infectious pathogens is critical to blocking the devastating epidemic spread of the pathogen and the potential harm this could have on our armed forces and general populations. In Phase I, we have utilized the state-of-the-art QuantiGene 2.0 technology to establish an assay for the sensitive quantification of SARS (epidemic spread in 2001) and assessing plasma DNA level ...

For many communication, applications the demand for more bandwidth is a never ending problem. Military system applications often can exceed commercial demands by an order of magnitude or more as SIGINT and IMINT data collection and transmission are keys to our National Security. Optical delivery of RF signals is an increasingly important topic for applications including RF antenna remoting, sign ...

Mobile Army commanders must frequently adjust their planned course of action (COA) in response to events and changes in the battlespace. Advances in the battlefield information infrastructure and related technologies provide new opportunities for the development of human-machine collaborative systems to support decision-making in this context. The objective of this effort is to develop a prototy ...