Award Data

Although technologies derived under the Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology (IHPTET) initiative should result in higher performance of gas turbine engines, the durability of engine components continues to be one of the most important design issues which impacts their affordability and robustness. It is currently very difficult to measure or predict the fatigue life of engine com ...

Continuous attenuation of ambient light without image distortion is of great importance in helmet mounted displays. To accomplish this, we propose a device based on liquid crystal-dichroic dye mixture. The system is electrically controllable, light weight, with full grey scale capability for all light conditions. It addresses all of the requirements and restrictions of visor based helmet mounte ...

Recent efforts in the target vulnerability community (fixed ground targets, mobile ground targets, and aircraft) have focused on enhancing the blast and fragmentation modeling from weapon detonations. This includes modeling propagation of the detonation effects from the weapon through their interaction with the target geometry, to the development of loads on and response of the target structure. ...

The objective of this work is to develop analytical techniques to characterize wear and gouging phenomena of slippers at speeds up to hypersonic and demonstrate means to evaluate or reduce slipper wear/gouging. Specifically, we will develop analytical techniques that can be used to predict slipper wear patterns and gouging phenomena throughout the sled velocity regime to Mach 10. This will inclu ...

New materials such as continuous fiber reinforced aluminum matrix composites exceptional performance, but often at the expense of incompatibility with conventional joining techniques. Spacecraft structures require high stiffness for stable structures and launch vibration resistance, as well as low outgassing characteristics, especially when cryogenic sensors are in use on the spacecraft. Solutio ...

Austral Engineering and Software, Inc. proposes to develop a computer platform for simulation-and-optimization-based design of multiple-stage manufacturing processes. Phase I will use metal forming processes to demonstrate feasibility of embedding analytical models of basic transport phenomena into design models that include geometric, microstructure, and processing features. Each stage of a me ...

We propose to develop a high frame-rate, large-area, amplitude-only SLM for use in atmospheric correction. The Phase I will demonstrate the concept through the fabrication/evaluation of amplitude-only modulators, as well as an addressing structure that is economical for large-areas. Phase II will scale the addressing structure to 128X128 or higher density, for fabrication of large area amplitude ...

A novel, adaptive waveform coherent LADAR concept is proposed to provide a robust Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) sensor with the capability to meet Air Force objectives. The compact, rugged solid-state LADAR operates at eyesafe wavelengths and is capable of stand-off detection ranges to 20 km or more. Simultaneous precision range, Doppler and micro-Doppler target signatures are extracted wit ...

A novel, adaptive waveform coherent LADAR concept is proposed to provide a robust sensor capability to meet Air Force objectives. The LADAR operates at an eyesafe solid-state wavelength in order to achieve a compact, rugged design capable of stand-off ranges of 20 km or more. Simultaneous precision range, Doppler and micro-Doppler target signatures are extracted with an extremely efficient proc ...

An emerging, powerful trend in electro-optics systems development is the "multifunction sensor. It addresses the need to reduce the volume, prime power requirements, and cost of sensor suites. Further functionality and cost reduction are achieved by distributing the multifunction sensor signals over an optical bus to spatially-separated optical apertures and time multiplexing a centrally located ...