Award Data

We propose to develop a critical enhancement to an existing interactive task guidance system, integrating the capability to utilize data from sensors and control actuators. The system will allow caregivers or rehabilitation professionals to incorporate sensors and actuators into a task script in order to detect task state; detect user state; detect environmental context; detect safety risks; or pa ...

Chlorine gas was first used as a weapon during World War I and has reemerged as a threat in Iraq compounding the dangers from existing improvised explosive devices. One of the significant challenges with preventing attacks that involve toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) like chlorine, ammonia is that they have genuine civilian uses for water treatment, in refrigeration systems, and others, that m ...

We propose to develop a nanofluidics-based biosensor system for detection and quantitation of biological threat agents. The proposed system will harness the potential of recently discovered nanofluidic phenomena, not possible in microfluidic/capillary systems, to enhance rapid and sensitive sample preparation and detection. Specifically, we will develop a nanofluidics-based device to separate and ...

Fully autonomous, taskable robots for use in unconstrained environments are still a dream rather than a reality because of a host of problems, including capabilities of existing sensors, effectors, and control/planning software. Indeed, concepts of operations for robot use are tending toward robots collaborating directly with humans, in relationships similar to bomb squad dogs. Fortunately, enough ...

Military imaging optics, such as rifle scopes, spotter scopes, and optics found on unmanned vehicles could be substantially better if the mechanical movement of optics for focus and zoom could be eliminated, without creating new problems associated with the rugged and harsh environment. The technology of liquid lenses has surfaced as a possible solution, but these lenses have problems with enviro ...

Practical use of a unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC) for solar powered aircraft and similar applications has been limited due to a lack of proven technology designed for the mission requirements. The concept of the static feed unitized regenerative fuel cell, successfully demonstrated in the laboratory in the DARPA/NRL Water Rocket program and two NASA SBIR contracts provides a strong basis ...

We provide a novel approach to realizing negative index lenses and lenslet arrays at optical frequencies using a naturally occurring material such as cis-vitamin A, a constituent in some commercially available cod-liver oils. This form of vitamin A has been recently found in the eyes of lobsters and hypothesized to be responsible for negative index lensing in their superposition eyes. The propos ...

Research is proposed to investigate the feasibility of a path planning module that makes use of time-bounded lattices to avoid potential collisions in dynamic environments. The challenge of planning in a dynamic environment is two-fold. First, tracking and predicting the trajectories of dynamic obstacles (e.g., cars, humans, and aircraft) is very noisy. Second, planning with dynamic obstacles requ ...

The project aims to develop a strategy for a small, modular heavy fuel engine in the 10 hp class, using scaled versions of a heavy fuel atomization system and combustion management systems previously developed by D-STAR, and by optimizing the engine design parameters to yield a successful engine that offers light weight, high efficiency and quiet operations. For the Phase 1, the project tasks inc ...

Development of new short-wave infrared imaging sensors with signal processing electronics on the same substrate is critical for a number of military and commercial applications. The objective of this research is to develop a new generation of Ge-on-Si p-n heterojunction photodiodes that will culminate in a demonstration of a 64 x 64-pixel infrared imaging array. These photodiodes, whose feas ...