Award Data

MAX phases are an important class of layered machinable ternary carbides and nitrides that exhibit a unique combination of ceramic and metal properties. In 2011, a new family of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides – called MXenes – was discovered via selective etching of the ‘A’ element from MAX phases. Texas Biochemicals Inc., has ...

Space superiority requires space protection and space situational awareness (SSA), which rely on rapid and accurate space object behavioral and operational intent discovery. The presence of adversaries in addition to real-time and hidden information constraints greatly complicates the decision-making process in controlling both ground-based and space-based Air Force surveillance assets. The focus ...

To shrink the size and weight of pulsed power systems used by various military systems, the Air Force seeks to increase the energy density of their capacitors. Polymers/ceramics nanocomposites are promising materials for such capacitors. They combine the high dielectric constant of the ceramic and the high breakdown strength and processability of polymers. In collaboration with the University o ...

PrivaTran proposes the use of newly-developed manufacturing methods that convert materials commonly found in conventional integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing into memristor devices with increased packing density and an advanced, three-dimensional (3D) architecture. The memristor devices can be formed in the interconnect layers of a conventional IC so that the area available for underlying transi ...

Current high power microwave technology typically consists of electron beam sources which require high vacuum and large magnets. Such systems are typically difficult to use in the harsh environment associated with the modern battlefield. These systems are very sensitive to vibrations and typically can be easily damaged if dropped or launched from a weapon system. Nonlinear transmission lines, N ...

ABSTRACT: Adversarial installations, such as those housing the means for nuclear weapons production, are increasingly being constructed in heavily fortified locations and often using ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) as the construction material. As such, the U.S. Air Force has considerable interest in further developments of ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) to maintain an advantage o ...

ABSTRACT: There are a growing number of military (and civilian) applications for unmanned aircraft. To extend their mission capabilities, unmanned aircraft can incorporate solar panels onto their structure to generate electrical energy from the sun. Solar cell efficiency is inversely proportional to the cell's operating temperature. Therefore, thermal management of solar modules is import ...

High-power, high-efficiency, broadly-tunable coherent sources in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR, λ=3–5 μm) spectral band are coveted for applications relating to infrared (IR) countermeasures, remote chemical sensing, and free-space optical communication. MWIR sources based on optical nonlinear frequency conversion can generate broadly-tunable kilowatt-level coherent radiation over the e ...

ABSTRACT: The damage and loss caused by attacks and security breaches have drawn attentions to develop secure and reliable systems for embedded systems. Compared to their desktop counterparts, embedded devices are facing more security challenges, such as the more possible physical access to a target device and more constrained computing environment (e.g., limited RAM and CPU power). Together, the ...

Multi-processor computing systems are growing in capacity and usage. They encompass multiple, distributed implementations as well as heterogeneous, embedded computing architectures. The processing density enabled by such approaches holds promise for unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) with their plethora of mission sensors and command and control processing requirements. However, the software ...