Award Data

Power electronic converters are essential in every MDA vehicle, with use in critical systems ranging from electric power management applications, to power distribution, to on-board servo motor/actuator drivers. Advancing state-of-the-art power electronics technologies through the use of SiC semiconductors will produce significant savings across the board in almost all areas of MDA power management ...

Profit margins in commercial catfish production continue to shrink due to increased production costs, economic inflation, and increased foreign competition. In order to compete, catfish producers must become more efficient. Research has shown that progeny resulting from the hybridization of channel catfish eggs and blue catfish sperm exhibit faster growth, improved feed conversion efficiency and i ...

The primary focus of this project is to develop new high valued health related agricultural products through the application of biotechnological research approaches. Domestic and wild fowl, as the disease reservoir for avian influenza virus, play a central role in the re-emergence of this potentially pandemic disease pathogen. The increasing threat of pandemic flu in domestic fowl and human popula ...

Fiber Materials Inc. (FMI) teamed with Aerojet Sacramento proposes to advance low cost, non-eroding material systems based on carbon fiber reinforced carbon silicon carbide (C-SiC) to high performance divert and attitude control system (DACS) components for the SM-3 TDACS application. In addition the program will develop advanced ceramic matrix composite manufacturing processes to further the mat ...

Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) Systems, in near-term deployment, offer a single kill opportunity per vehicle. The growing sophistication of threat countermeasures and target discernment are addressed by the Miniature Kill Vehicle (MKV) interceptor system. Enabling technologies including substantial reduction of kill vehicle size, mass and acquisition cost are required. For the proposed program, ...

By 2020, fully one quarter of Americans will be over 60. Some 77 million Baby Boomers ages 42 to 60 are just beginning to face this critical juncture in their lives. In Maine, the oldest state in the nation, some people, due to lack of planning, may leave their homes and enter assisted living facilities or nursing homes at a huge economic and social cost to themselves, their heirs and public resou ...

The high cost of producing microalgae as food for bivalves constrains the size to which large quantities of bivalve seed can be grown in controlled hatchery conditions prior to transfer into a nursery. Larger hatchery seed translates to larger juveniles planted in the fall, and dramatically improves yields at harvest. Based on preliminary bench-top studies conducted by Mook Sea Farm, the SBIR Phas ...

Biofouling is a costly and serious problem for all types of aquaculture and with certain types of shellfish, culture is highly vulnerable. Fouling organisms not only clog gear, stopping water flow and food delivery, they can also settle and grow on the cultured organisms themselves, causing reduced growth rates, decreased product quality and mortality. In response to increasing problems with biofo ...

The exposure of perishable commodities to even modest levels of ethylene is known to significantly affect the quality and appearance of the product resulting in a reduction of shelf life and market value. A Phase I project is proposed which will demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative, low cost ethylene monitor to be used to facilitate control of ethylene levels at or below biologically criti ...

Stabilized plant propagation media are used throughout the agricultural industry for mechanized planting, to ease transplant and shipping of young plants and to increase efficiencies in greenhouses and nurseries. Rynels Grow-Tech division manufactures a growing medium used by foresters and commercial growers to start seeds or cuttings, but it is only partially organic due to a polyurethane compone ...