Award Data

To fully understand the combustion dynamics when chemical warfare agents are detonated, fast time-scale diagnostics are needed. While computational modeling may provide insight into the different processes, experimental measurements are needed to verify and validate these models. Since the detonation or combustion of chemical agents can result in optically thick fireballs, innovative techniques mu ...

With the advent of high-density low-power sub-20nm technology processes and circuits with tens-of-billions of transistors, radiation-induced single-event effects present a new set of design challenges for terrestrial applications. Developing reliable single-event effect resilient microelectronics in these modern technology nodes is a resource and time-intensive endeavor that further requires valid ...

Robotic actuators exceed human speed, accuracy, and strength, but human hands are regarded as the ultimate in dexterity. SynTouch proposes this is due absent human-like tactile sensing and intelligent reflexive behaviors in robots. SynTouch created a multimodal compliant tactile sensor that mimics the sensory ability of the human fingertip (force, vibration and temperature) and algorithms that fil ...

We propose the definition, design, and prototype development of a software tool for use by the U.S. manufacturing community to enable the automated production of design-based measurement strategies of know reliability and high economic efficiency for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). The measurement strategies so generated will meet the objective of reducing overall costs to near-minimal value ...

The use of WMDs and IEDs by covert insurgents and terrorists poses a significant risk to U.S. military forces and civilians. The capability to execute rapid forensic DNA analysis to identify individuals who manufactured and transported these threatening devices is of paramount importance to military mission, homeland security and civilian safety. Current DNA forensic analyses are time-consuming, b ...

Terrorist use of radioactive nuclear materials via nuclear and/or radiological dispersion devices (dirty bombs) is a serious threat. Therefore, it is crucial to detect proliferation of nuclear material. Critical challenges include: (a) high sensitivity detection of signature emissions from radioactive isotopes, and (b) cost-effectiveness for deployment of sensor networks across large storage facil ...

TDA Research, Inc. (TDA), designed, built, and tested a dense array of 100 very low cost infrasonic sensors. Due to their low cost (1/100x-1/10x the cost of other infrasound sensors), they can be economically deployed in very large numbers; such large arrays can gather more information than a few expensive sensors. They are sensitive from 0.1 Hz - 100 Hz down to 0.08 Pa. We tested the sensors in s ...

Reliable automated pattern recognition in the current system is limited by excessive noise and clutter combined with insufficient and/or ambiguous features. Our team consisting of AcornSI and Leidos thus propose a multi-step approach based on the combined effects of improved detection, feature extraction, phase identification, and global association. A key innovation here is creating a new classif ...

Spontaneous Parametric Down conversion (SPDC) is currently an active research area in quantum communications (QC) to develop entangled single photon sources. However, the bandwidth of current SPDC sources is too broad for many applications. NIST researchers have modeled a solution to this problem that reduces the bandwidth by >50. We proposed to fabricate a prototype of the NIST device by developi ...

Future high-performance integrated circuits in DoD satellite systems will require non-planar nano-technology devices, such as MultiGate Field Effect Transistors (MuGFET) or FinFET, which can decrease pattern area of logic circuits below 50% of the conventional planar technologies. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors predicts that such devices will be the cornerstone of sub-32nm ...