Award Data

Cavity Ring-Down (CRD) spectroscopy is developing into a precise tool for measuring gaseous contaminants in ultrahigh vacuum and other environments. Optimum sensitivity is obtained by driving the CRD spectrometer in the mid-IR part of the spectrum with about 100 mWatts of average power at 5 kHz and with pulse lengths of 10-50 nsec. Bandwidths of 100 MHz are required. There are no commercial lasers ...

We will develop technology, termed a Ruggedized Wind Measurement System (RWMS), to measure directly extreme winds with high space and time resolution, focusing on the winds that occur beneath hurricanes at land fall. This development effort will include design, fabrication of two prototype RWMS units, and a series of proof-of-concept demonstrations in strong mountain-induced downslope and severe t ...

The ability of high speed photography to record useful images of spray plumes generated by metal atomizers, metal spray deposition equipment, and plasma spray coatings depends on a light source capable of providing illumination suitable to record high velocity, specularly reflecting droplets. Due to the reflective nature of the surface of these particles, point sources and collimated light only al ...

The near-field scanning optical microscope can supply information on the shape and electrical properties of surfaces with nanometer resolution. The quantitative interpretation of images is difficult because of the difficulty of electromagnetic field solutions in the near-field limit. We propose to supply software to aid in this analysis. The finite-element programs generate two and three-dimension ...

A growing number of fire fighters are suffering third degree burns; this has led to questions about the adequacy of thermal protective performance (TPP) measurements for protective clothing. A new heat flux sensor, whose response approximates that of skin, will be developed to provide better measurements of heat transfer in TPP tests. This sensor will be used with nonlinear parameter estimation an ...

As fire protection engineering moves towards the implementation of performance- based fire codes, the use of validated fire models is becoming a necessity. Part of the validation process involves demonstrating model capabilities for predicting key fire environment parameters. One of the key parameters for estimating time to ignition and fire growth is the heat transfer rate to compartment surfaces ...

This project will develop an on-line analyzer instrument for rapid automated sequential analysis of water samples for nitrate nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, ammonia, pH, and dissolved oxygen. These common chemical constituents and characteristics are essential to the management of aquacultural production facilities. These parameters must be measured frequently and accurately to maintain the health of ...

Accurate and timely information about space weather has become essential for managing many technologies on which our lives depend (e.g., radio communications, Global Positioning Systems). A major limitation to accessing this information from NOAA and private vendors is the lack of well-defined, standardized methods for accessing data or running models remotely over the Internet. Northwest Research ...

The development of a PC-based stereoscopic imaging and measuring system (SIMS) that will be suitable for underwater applications is proposed. There are three main objectives for the Phase 1 work: 1) to evaluate the requirements (accuracy, range, field of view, speed, potability, etc.) For a field-worthy, video-based SIMS; 2) to modify our existing stereo measurement system to accept video input an ...

Certain algal species have been identified as producing toxins which when ingested can cause illness and death in humans and many marine species. While it is possible and necessary to test for the actual toxins, this proposal describes the development of a rapid DNA probe based test for detection of toxin producing algal species. The test is semi-automated, easy-to-use, requires little technical t ...