Award Data

Modern Directed Energy (DE) missions require target engagements at low elevation angles and long ranges.These engagement geometries require propagation through distributed-volume turbulence. To correct for distributed-volume turbulence effects, an estimation of the turbulence along the propagation path is required. Correcting for these image aberrations will improve the quality of the target image ...

Nutronics, Inc. and Montana State University propose to develop and evaluate computational methods for a Volume Digital Holographic Wavefront Sensor (VDHWFS).VDHWFS based imaging offers the potential to provide the equivalent of wide field of view adaptive optics (AO) compensated imaging, but without the added complexity of AO components and hardware.Recent result for coherent imaging developed by ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will develop ultradense, low-power plasmonic integration components and devices for on-chip manipulation and processing of optical signals. Both passive and active components will be studied. Detailed performance predictions will be obtained through finite element modeling (FEM) of the harmonic Maxwell’s equations. The FEM provides detai ...

The objectives of this Phase-II research effort is focused on transitioning noninvasive diagnostic techniques based on ultrafast lasers for characterizing nanoenergetic materials and their performance in rocket engine environments. Through the use of ultrafast laser imaging and spectroscopy, it is possible to isolate and characterize each physical process from initiation through energy release an ...

The objectives of this Phase-II research effort is focused on transitioning noninvasive diagnostic techniques based on ultrafast lasers for characterizing nanoenergetic materials and their performance in rocket engine environments. Through the use of ultrafast laser imaging and spectroscopy, it is possible to isolate and characterize each physical process from initiation through energy release an ...

We propose to develop ultradense plasmonic integrated devices and circuits for optical interconnect compatible with the electronic circuitry. In our proposal, we will employ engineered metallic nanostructures that combine energy concentration by plasmonic lenses and retardation-based plasmonic resonances to even further boost the efficiency of materials exhibiting optical nonlinearity. These plas ...

We apply the theory of partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) to the design of guidance algorithms for controlling the motion of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with on-board sensors for tracking multiple ground targets. While POMDPs are intractable to optimize exactly, principled approximation methods can be devised based on Bellman’s principle. We introduce a new approximation ...

Military applications for CBRNE/GWTO and C4ISR require R&D for materials to protect personnel and equipment. However, challenges remain in experimental synthesis and characterization of new materials, such as providing insight into observed properties for further advancement. Thus, it is essential to develop a predictive modeling and simulation approach that will not only provide a fundamental u ...

ABSTRACT: In this project, we assemble leading commercial and academic groups within nano-scale device simulation community to overcome the modeling bottleneck by implementing new high performance modeling methods for simulating the electrical properties of nano-scale devices. The majority of the tools will be integrated into an already existing and very user friendly commercial platform for simu ...

A diagnostic is proposed for obtaining instantaneous three-dimensional volumetric distributions of density in a flow field at velocities ranging from subsonic to supersonic. Multiple Sheet Filtered Rayleigh Scattering (MSFRS) will be developed, which enables a series of two-dimensional images to be rapidly obtained making up a volumetric image while suppressing background scattering from wind tunn ...