Award Data

There is a very large variation in the difference between scheduled and actual flight arrival and departure times, which results in a high degree of uncertainty in the airport demand. Consequently, there is a great need for tools that provide awareness of both the current and predicted future situation. The Surface Management System (SMS) developed by NASA Ames has partially addressed this need; ...

Nano forms of graphite and carbon, such as flakes, worms, and tubes, can significantly modify the properties of polymers when used as reinforcements. Challenges remain in processing composites with these nano-reinforcements in the form of attaining uniform dispersions. Many of these difficulties are due to a lack of wetting of the nano-reinforcements by the polymer. Poor wetting is caused by th ...

Aircraft encounters with turbulence are the leading cause of injuries in the airline industry and result in significant human, operational, and maintenance costs to the airline community each year. A large contributor to the above injuries and costs is that flight crews do not have sufficient situational awareness of the location and severity of potential turbulence hazards to their aircraft. Ae ...

Fiber optic sensors are rapidly emerging to replace conventional electrical-based sensor instrumentation in specific applications where small size, low mass, multiplexing capability, and high temperature resistance is a requirement. The advantages offered by state-of-the-art fiber optic sensors are particularly important for flight testing applications where the extremely low-profile geometry of a ...

This document proposes that a network routing protocol, such as the popular Internet Protocol (IP), can be combined with high speed switching fabrics to create a hardware independent routing environment for software radio. The flexible routing provided by such a network layer would allow signal streams to be dynamically routed (and re-routed) between computational elements. This would allow softwa ...

Automated impact detection and characterization on manned spacecraft has been an elusive goal due to the transitory nature of the detectable high-frequency signals. The proposed approach for this effort is to use large numbers of self-powered, miniaturized, "stick on" piezoelectric sensory nodes that are synchronized within a radio frequency network. Each node will continuously monitor an accele ...

Based on current observations Titan is believed to have a rich, dense atmosphere. If the findings of the Cassini and Huygens missions corroborate this, the next mission to Saturn is likely to include an autonomous vehicle capable of buoyant flight in its atmosphere. In the absence of oxygen hydrogen is the best choice of a buoyancy gas. Maintaining buoyancy for the duration of the one year miss ...

NASA's Advanced Extravehicular Activity (EVA) program requires the need for materials that can protect astronauts and spacecrafts from ionizing radiations such as low and high energy X-rays. Currently, lead and lead-based material are used to fabricate shields not only for X-rays but for other types of radiation as well. Lead is heavy and toxic. In this Phase I project, MMI proposes to develop a ...

Command and Control (C2) activities abound in the NAS, and significantly influence daily operations and overall NAS efficiency. Since C2 effects are so prominent, development of new operational concepts, and evaluation of proposed changes, requires simulation and modeling capabilities that include C2 effects. Metron Aviation leverages its extensive knowledge of the Command and Control (C2) funct ...

The aviation system of the United States of America is one of our national treasures. Very few elements of our culture capture the America spirit like aviation. Air transportation plays an absolutely vital role in our economy, and is also a core part of our high standard of living. But this importance of aviation in our society also makes aviation a highly desirable target for terrorists. Secretar ...