Award Data

The Army requires the development of models for improving the state-of-the-art understanding of soil state characteristics in regions with varying observational input datasets. Currently, weather-scale remote sensing, mesoscale standoff sensing, and point-scale in situ sensing provide approximate measurements of near-surface soil moisture at different scales and extents of coverage. In addition, s ...

Bulk InAs(x)Sb(1-x) is an infrared detector material that promises higher quantum efficiency than antimony-based superlattices in the longwave infrared (LWIR). This is due to the longer diffusion length of minority carrier holes in the bulk than in superlattices where they are localized. No native substrate exists for lattice-matched growth of InAs(x)Sb(1-x) material with LWIR bandgaps. So a key c ...

Alphacore will develop an Intermediate Frequency (IF) Conversion System for High-Bandwidth Multiplexed Sensors Arrays for NIST’s 2018 solicitation for Exploratory Measurement Science Topic 9.04.02.68. The proposing team has already successfully developed and evaluated a similar printed-circuit board (PCB)-based system for NIST (ROACH2 BLAST-TNG, refer section 1.2). The goal in Phase I is therefo ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Ship groundings can cause sever environmental damage to the delicate ecosystems such as coral reefs, seagrass beds, and beaches. At present, survey work is performed by hand – a method that is inefficient and difficult to perform reliably. Improved bottom survey tools are clearly needed to evaluate the extent and type of damage and assist in determining remediation efforts. ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: NOAA and the National Weather Service maintain an immense network of automated maritime, surface, and upper-air observing stations throughout the world and at great expense. These automated stations provide regularly updated data for both short-term weather prediction and long-term climate models. Maritime and surface observations occur as frequently as every 10 to 20 minutes, ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Creare proposes to develop a self-sustained small-scale power conversion system to power NOAA’s weather monitoring network stations located in harsh uninhabited locations. Our miniature heat engine will take advantage of the existing year-round thermal gradients found between water and air in Arctic regions. Our baseline approach is the development of a compact Turbo-Rankine ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Ensuring the health of coastal marine ecosystems has emerged as one of the primary environmental concerns of this century. Frequent monitoring of water quality is required to establish baseline levels and enable early detection of problems. Citizen science programs have been shown to provide a highly effective method of monitoring water quality. Creare is developing an open-sou ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Commercially available unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) are not well designed to meet requirements for many atmospheric measurement applications, including deployment from ships, long endurance, and low cost. Existing multi-rotor systems suffer from limited payload and endurance. Existing fixed wing systems offer improved endurance and payload, but require significant support h ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Accurate marine weather nowcasts and forecasts are critical requirements for mariners to maintain situational awareness and ensure safe navigation for vessels, passengers, crew, and cargo. To best achieve this, reliable observations of atmospheric and sea conditions must be available at high spatial and temporal coverage. Unfortunately, existing approaches for marine weather ob ...

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: The Hybrid Quadrotor concept, developed by Latitude Engineering, combines the high power density of electric motors and propellers with the high energy density of a piston engine and liquid fuel. Together, each technology enables maximum performance in HQ's two regimes of flight: the electric system is responsible for lift while hovering (high power, short endurance), and the g ...