Award Data

Special Operations Forces (SOF) are an integral aspect of the US military. SOF operators are among the most elite and highly qualified individuals in the U.S. military. As such, extraordinary physical and mental demands are placed upon them to excel in extreme environments for extended periods of time. This unrelenting cycle of combat deployments and intense pre-deployment training shortens the fu ...

Users of additive manufacturing machines expect the highest quality when it comes to the mechanical properties of parts, the usability of the machines and associated processes, and overall machine design. The main contributor to the quality of the part is the involvement of process-related by-products originating from the melting process. To handle these by-products in additive manufacturing - in ...

Most existing simulation tools are deficient in modeling gas flow effects, which have been proven to significantly affect the build quality of metal additive manufacturing (AM). In Phase I, the research team will extend our current Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) modeling toolkit by including a multiscale and multiphysics simulation modules to predict the effect of gas flow o ...

The Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tracking Layer is tasked with providing global indications, warning, tracking, and targeting of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems. They are currently leading the development of an Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) Missile Tracking satellite constellation in LEO as part of the DoD’s future threat-driven National Defense Space A ...

We propose to develop tunable, high-power handling, low-loss phase-to-amplitude conversion photonic-integrated circuit (PIC) based device on heterogeneous SiN platform. The use of SiN for waveguide is the key to meet the stringent requirements, while additional heterogeneously integrated components are the key to enable tuning and locking of the phase-to-amplitude device. Nexus Photonics, realizi ...

We propose a serially concatenated switchable asymmetric Mach Zehnder switching network on a silicon nitride photonic integrated circuit platform to provide flexible and switchable demodulation of signals from less than 1 GHz to greater than 45 GHz. The silicon nitride platform provides a low size weight and power solution while reducing the stabilization requirements and providing long path lengt ...

Corrosion of Air Force aircraft and missiles is estimated to cost $5.7 billion per year and result in 2.1 million non-available hours.  The first line of defense and single most important factor in controlling corrosion of aircraft is the protective coating system.  Chromate containing primers used for aerospace are the largest single source of hexavalent chromium in the US DoD, but elimination ...

Due to requirements to minimize radar cross-sections, most modern turbine engines of military aircraft are coupled with offset diffusers that create significant fan face distortion. Conceptual blended-wing/body commercial aircraft also create distortion challenges. In order to fully understand the effects of complex inlet distortions on conventional fan and compressor designs, a range of inlet dis ...

Sensors and trusted autonomy are as important to the future of Flying Cars as safe and reliable propulsion systems. The recent autonomous car tragedies indicate the gravity of the matter. And the increased speeds, 3-D complexities, and numerous obstacles

In this proposal, we study the behavior of electric monopole and magnetic dipole antennas in a collisional plasma such that the plasma thickness is much less than the EM wavelength. Since standard wave theory may not apply to this situation, current theor