Award Data

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EFFORT IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH CERTAIN FEATURES OF THE ADA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE CAN BE USED TO DETECT AND HANDLE HIDDEN SOFTWARE ERRORS WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE HALT PROGRAM EXECUTION. ADA'S TYPING, EXCEPTION HANDLING, AND INTERFACE CHECKIG PROVIDE THE TOOLDS FOR BUILDING SUCH ROBUTNESS INTO SOURCE CODE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS DEMONSTRATION IS TO SHOW HOW ROBUTNESS ...

AN IMPORTANT PROBLEM IN THE AREA OF IR FOCAL PLANE ARRAY IMAGING IS THE FAST AND EFFICIENT MULTIPLEXING AND PROCESSING OF THE SIGNALS FROM THE DETECTOR ARRAY. A NEW APPROACH TO THIS PROBLEM UTILIZING THE RECENTLY DEVELOPED ACOUSTIC CHARGE TRANSPORT (ACT) DEVICE IS PRESENTED. THE ACT DEVICE COMBINES SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE AND CHARGE TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGIES TO ACHIEVE A LOW-NOISE, HIGH-THROUGHPUT MULT ...

THE EFFICIENCY OF RAILGUN LAUNCHERS IS A KEY ISSUE IN BOTH THE SIZE AND LIFE OF RAILGUN SYSTEMS. PLASMA ARMATURES ARE A MAJOR ENERGY LOSS COMPONENT AND PRODUCE SEVERE BORE EROSION. METAL ARMATURES OFFER INCREASED EFFICIENCY AND REDUCED BARREL EROSION IN SOME REGIMES OF OPERATION. THIS PROGRAM ADDRESSES THE USE OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS IN ARMATURES. THE GOAL IS TO PROVIDE HIGHLY EFFICIENT AR ...

A COMPUTER CODE TO SIMULATE SHORT-WAVELENGTH (SINGLE-PARTICLEINTERACTION DOMAIN) FREE ELECTRON LASER (FELS), INCLUDING ALL THE IMPORTANT PROPERTIES OF THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH UNSTABLE OPTICAL RESONATORS, WILL BE DEVELOPED. THIS CODE WILL BE APPLIED TO A NOVEL CLASS OF UNSTABLE RESONATOR THAT HAS A COMPACT OUTPUT BEAM. THIS CLASS OF UNSTABLE RESONATOR IS ESPECIALLY WELL ADAPTED TO THE FEL BECAUSE, ...

REQUIREMENTS FOR RAILGUN ARMATURES DICTATE MATERIALS PROPERTIES VALUESWHICH ARE DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN FROM CONVENTIONAL MATERIALS. THE NEED EXISTS FOR A MATERIAL WHICH HAS LOW DENSITY, HIGH MELTING POINT, HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY, LOW COEFFICIENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION, HIGH ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY, HIGH VALUES FOR STRENGTH, AND GOOD CHARACTERISTICS OF LUBRICITY. GRAPHITE FIBER GROWN FROM PYROLYSIS O ...

LASER ROCKET PROPULSION RESEARCH RECENTLY HAS DEMONSTRATED SUBSTANTIALPOTENTIAL FOR THE CONVERSION OF HIGH POWER LASER ENERGY INTO THERMAL PROPULSIVE ENERGY, USING EITHER CONTINUOUS OR PULSED MODE LASER SOURCES. IT IS NOW POSSIBLE FOR THE FIRST TIME TO DEVELOP PROTOTYPE DESIGNS FOR ACTUAL LASER PROPULSION THRUSTERS THAT CAN BE BUILT AND TESTED AT REALISTIC LASER POWERS. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, PREVIOU ...

POLYMERIC OR CERAMIC INSULATORS CONVENTIONALLY ARE BEING USED IN HIGH VOLTAGE PULSED SYSTEMS. NEW APPROACHES ARE NEEDED THAT WOULD REDUCE INSULATORS RING THICKNESSES AND INCREASE CORRESPONDING GRADING RINGS FLASHOVER VOLTAGE. SUCH AN APPROACH WOULD POSSESS IN COMPARISON TO CONVENTIONAL INSULATORS: HIGHER SURFACE FLASHOVER FIELD STRENGTH; SMALLER PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS FOR EQUIVALENT VOLTAGE HOLDOFF; ...

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH POWER, LOW IMPEDANCE, LIGHTWEIGHT ENERGY STORAGE TRANSMISSION LINES FOR PULSE-POWER APPLICATIONS IS CRUCIAL FORSMALLER, LIGHTWEIGHT, SPACE-BASED, PULSE-POWER SYSTEMS. DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH DIELECTRIC ENERGY STORAGE LINE TECHNOLOGY WOULD GREATLY REDUCETHE SIZE, WEIGHT, AND COMPLEXITY OF PULSE POWER SYSTEMS UTILIZING THESE TYPES OF COMPONENTS. EFFICIENT TRANSPORT OF 400KV, 100K ...

THE PASSIVE HTSC FAULT CURRENT LIMITER CIRCUIT BREAKER PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A CURCUIT BREAKER WITH SHARP, FAST CURRENT LIMITING CHARACTERISTICS WHICH CAN BE SET CLOSE TO THE INTERRUPTING LEVEL. THE CURRENT LIMITER IS MADE WITH PATTERNED THIN FILM HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTOR ON A LANTHANUM ALUMINATE SUBSTRATE. THE LIMITER CIRCUIT BREAKER IS UNIQUELY SUITED TO PROTECTING LOADS WHICH ARE EASILY D ...

ILLINOIS SUPERCONDUCTOR CORP. WILL DESIGN AND TEST FAULT CURRENT LIMITERS WHICH USE RECENTLY DISCOVERED HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIALS TO PROTECT VITAL SPACECRAFT COMPONENTS FROM UNPREDICTABLE POWER SURGES AND SPIKES. THESE DEVICES WILL ALSO FIND USE IN THE ULTRA-HIGH SPEED SWITCHING OF VERY LARGE CURRENTS, A KEY TO FUTURE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEMS. THE KEY TO THESE COMPONEN ...