Award Data

Southwest Sciences will develop a novel fire detection technology based on optical spectroscopy, using diode lasers and fiber optics. Rapid, quantitative detection of part per million concentrations (or better) of multiple gases, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride, and a fiber optical distribution network permits one laser to be used for at least 800 di ...

In 1995, we started field trials of miniature autonomous aircraft, an aerosonde, for long-range weather reconnaissance. With a maximum weight of only 12 kg, and a wingspan of 3 m, it has about 1500 km range and 24 hours endurance. This early version leaves much room for improvement, and we expect to double range and endurance by mid-1997. Still another doubling ultimately should be feasible, to ...

THIS PROGRAM IS ORGANIZED TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF AN ACOUSTIC APPROACH TO AUTONOMOUS DETECTION, IDENTIFICATIONAND MEASUREMENT OF HAIL. THE SENSOR, WHICH IS DESIGNED TO DISCRIMINATE HAIL FROM RAIN AND OTHER FORMS OF PRECIPITATIONIS CONFIGURED IN A SMALL, ALL SOLID STATE UNIT WITH NO MOVING PARTS. LOW COST, LOW POWER CONSUMPTION AND HIGH RELIABILITY ARE ALL IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ...

TWO APPROACHES WILL BE EXAMINED TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THESENSITIVITY OF LAUNDRY MONITORS TO DETECT AND SPECIFY LOCATION OF HOT PARTICLES ON LAUNDERED GARMENTS. THESE PROPOSED TECNIQUES HAVE HIGH POTENTIAL FOR DETECTING BOTH LOW ENERGY BETA AND ALPHA PARTICLE RADIATION AS WELL AS IMPROVING SENSITIVITY BY REDUCING BACKGROUND COUNT RATE.

INSPECTION OF PAINTED OR COATED CARBON STEEL SURFACES OFTEN INVOLVES THE REMOVAL OF THE COATING PRIOR TO INSPECTION, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE USE OF MAGNETIC PARTICLE TESTING (MT) IS REQUIRED. IN THE CASE OF EXAMINATION OF CONTAINMENT VESSEL WALLS IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS, THE REMOVAL IS TIME CONSUMING, RESULTING IN INCREASED RADIATION EXPOSURE TO WORKERS. IN ADDITION, THE REMOVAL MUST BE DONE WITHOUT C ...

Cavity Ring-Down (CRD) spectroscopy is developing into a precise tool for measuring gaseous contaminants in ultrahigh vacuum and other environments. Optimum sensitivity is obtained by driving the CRD spectrometer in the mid-IR part of the spectrum with about 100 mWatts of average power at 5 kHz and with pulse lengths of 10-50 nsec. Bandwidths of 100 MHz are required. There are no commercial lasers ...

We will develop technology, termed a Ruggedized Wind Measurement System (RWMS), to measure directly extreme winds with high space and time resolution, focusing on the winds that occur beneath hurricanes at land fall. This development effort will include design, fabrication of two prototype RWMS units, and a series of proof-of-concept demonstrations in strong mountain-induced downslope and severe t ...

A diode laser method for the real-time measurement of absolute flux concentrations and spatial profiles of atomic beams used in MBE will be tested. The proposed method uses the doubled output of a near-infrared diode laser to access atomic absorption lines of species such as Ga, Al and In. The detection method will combine high frequency wavelength modulation and noise canceler approaches in order ...

Commercial aviation offers a low cost platform from which to make extensive humidity measurements, provided the instrumentation can run autonomously and endure the rigorous flight schedules. Advances in state of the art diode laser gas sensing technology make possible compact, fully automated, self-calibrating instrumentation with the sensitivity needed to measure humidity levels throughout the tr ...

This proposal describes a new research program to be established at the small business Still Sciences, LLC, in collaboration with Department of Physics of Oklahoma State University. The overall goal is to develop and commercialize an all-optical dosimetry system for industrial radiation processing based on a novel Pulsed Optically Stimulated Luminescence readout technique and a new Al2O3 material ...