Award Data

Accessing a freight locomotive is one of the most basic, daily tasks performed by a railroad engineer. However, this task has historically been difficult due to several factors such as the first step which may be 19 inches above the top of the rail, weather conditions which may make the steps slippery, and the fact that the ground surrounding the locomotive may be uneven or covered in debris or ba ...

This project will use an ultrasonic beam traveling logitudinally along the rail rather than the complex normal and angle-beams transducer assemblies in current systems. Detectio of transverse defects becomes a simple pulse-echo application and resolves many inherent speed, inspectin reliability and robustness problems in current rail inspection systems. The simplified procedure will increase the r ...

AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WEIGHING TRUCKS WHILE IN MOTION IS PROPOSED. TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND REDUCE TIME LOST AT WEIGH STATIONS, THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEEDS TO EXCHANGE DATA, INCLUDING WEIGHT DATA, BETWEEN MOVING TRUCKS AND ENFORCEMENT FACILITIES. LEGALLY LOADED TRUCKS WOULD THEN BE ABLE TO PROCEED WITHOUT STOPPING. THIS INVOLVES WEIGH-IN-MOTION. PRESENT WEIGHING TECHNIQUES INVOLVE LOAD CELLS OR ...

DBA SYSTEMS, INC. PROPOSES TO FABRICATE AN ENGINEERING MODEL OF A PC-BASED VIDEO MENSURATION SYSTEM FOR THE DETAILED HUMAN FACTORS ANALYSIS ASSOCIATED WITH MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATION. THE BASELINE FOR THIS SYSTEM WILL BE DBA'S OFF-THE-SHELF 626 VIDEO TRACKER THAT TRACKS VIDEO IMAGES AT REAL-TIME RATES (60 HZ). ENHANCEMENBTS WILL INCLUDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF REAL-TIME FITTING AND LATERAL POSITIONING ALG ...

FIBER MATERIALS, INC. (FMI) PROPOSES SENSORS WHICH CAN BE EMBEDDED IN PAVEMENT TO MEASURE STRESS AND STRAIN FROM TRUCKS PASSING OVER AT SPEEDS UP TO 60 MPH. THESE SIMPLE, DURABLE SENSORS WILL BE MADE FROM PIEZOELECTRIC COMPOSITES WHICH ACT AS PASSIVE SENSORS AND DEVELOP A CHARGE PROPORTIONAL TO THE APPLIED PRESSURE. THE CHARGE IS CONVERTED TO A VOLTAGE WHICH IS RECORDED ON NEARBY EQUIPMENT. THE PH ...

DENSE FOG HAS OFTEN BEEN A CAUSE OF TRAGIC ROAD ACCIDENTS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COST EFFECTIVE HIGHWAY FOG DETECTION SYSTEM WHICH MONITORS ROAD VISIBILITY AND PROVIDES WARNINGS TO MOTORISTS THROUGH ROADSIDE DISPLAYS OR RADIO COMMUNICATION IS PROPOSED FOR DOT 94-FH7. THE PROPOSED OPTICAL SENSOR MEASURES SCATTERED LIGHT FROM FOG PARTICLES. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL BE FOCUSED ON DETERMINING THE FEASIB ...