Award Data

In 1969 George Cooper and Robert Harper published their seminal report on the use of pilot ratings in aircraft handling qualities evaluations that produced the pilot rating scale that remains in use today. The scale features key innovations that revolutionized handling qualities testing including the decision tree that guides pilots to the handling qualities level and the individual ratings that a ...

To address the Navy’s need for a rapid, cost effective inspection system for microstructures in alloys, Hedgefog Research Inc. (HFR) proposes to develop a new Microtexture Identification and Characterization for Alloys (MICA) system. The proposed MICA is based on a novel combination of an optical measurement system and advanced image processing algorithms for microstructure inspection. The optic ...

The tactical weaknesses of Radio Frequency (RF) communications have been thoroughly established and adversaries are becoming increasingly capable of exploiting them. Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) are particularly vulnerable to the limitations of RF communication because of the need for continuous communication links. Missions involving RAS have a lower chance of success in RF denied enviro ...

Addressing the Navy’s need for high-speed, broadband, secure communications in RF-denied environments between manned platforms and Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), Intellisense Systems, Inc. (ISI) proposes to develop new Robotic Optically Based Autonomous Communications (ROBACOMS). Incorporating laser communication, which is not susceptible to jamming, interception, or detection, ROBACOMS ...

In Phase I, Shear Form, Inc will apply a severe plastic deformation (SPD) processing technology to ultra-high strength steels (UHSS), specifically 4340M and AF 9628, to enable penetration improvement for munitions casings. Equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE), a fully scalable SPD method, will be used to process the steels under ausforming conditions. This will facilitate microstructural enginee ...

To address the Navy need for a holographic optical element (HOE) that enables enhanced functionality of free space optical (FSO) communication among mobile platforms, Intellisense Systems, Inc. (ISI) proposes to develop a new Holographic Lens Optical-Element for Laser Inter-Node Communication (HoloLINC) technology based on the integration of three key technological components developed by ISI: (1) ...

Size, Weight, Power and Cost (SWAP-C) are significant influencers in the design and operation of mobile Free Space Optical (FSO) communications hardware. As FSO technology evolves to applications for smaller vehicles such as Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV), the need for reduced size and weight optics becomes critical. Large, heavy glass optical elements are required in today’s FSO units to acquire t ...

4S has developed a Free Space Optical (FSO) system identified as Through-the-Air Link Optical Component (TALOC). TALOC enables a mesh network that constitutes an expert system with distributed processors capable of fusing all relative distance and angle measurements into a highly accurate 3D map of the overall mission group. Using the computed 3D map, the mission group is able to organize itself i ...

To address the Navy’s need for a mobile phased array antenna for robotic autonomous systems (RAS), Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop Multiple Antennas Extending Phased Optical Communication (MAEPOC). It is based on a new design that utilizes POC-developed mature components and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. Specifically, the innovation in MAEPOC enables a group o ...

Freedom Photonics proposes to develop a revolutionary miniature Free Space Optical (FSO) Transceiver to operate in a network of airborne terminals. The focus of the proposed effort will be to develop and implement FSO communication links serving airborne terminals forming highly directional RF Phased Array Antennas to be employed in RF-sensitive environments.