Award Data

Leveraging on Agiltron’s industry leading development of optical MEMS devices and the PI’s experience with FTIR spectrometer design, we propose to develop a new class of high performance compact and rugged FTIR spectrometers for LWIR optical range. The design is based on the MEMS lamellar mirror technique. Although this approach is not new, it has not yet been efficiently applied to LWIR, and ...

To further advance the characterization and utility of microcantilevers, next generation optical detectors with higher frequency response, improved displacement resolution and lower noise for weak signal detection are needed. Consequently, Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc. (RMD) will develop a turnkey optical detector module for use in characterizing the displacement and resonant frequencies of m ...

Longwave infrared (LWIR, 8-12µm) focal plane arrays (FPAs) play an important role in hyperspectral chemical and biological sensing. Existing thermal detectors are unable to meet the high sensitivity and fast response requirements of many hyperspectral chemical and biological sensing applications. Photodetectors and FPAs based on photon excited electron generation process can fulfill the speed and ...

The objective of Phase II is to continue our efforts from the Phase I project and perform in-depth testing of technologies critical to achieving the required level of measurement performance. The Phase II project will involve the design of the NOAA water vapor profiling lidar and testing of component parts, seeking external sources of funding for the systems (for Phase III) and further creating a ...

The drug R&D cycle is long and very expensive. In many ways, this status quo can no longer be sustained. One of the reasons for such great cost is that the vast majority of drug candidates are screened out at the stages of animal and human trials. More efficient methods of testing of drugs at the stage of ex-vivo studies, which are substantially less expensive than animal and human testing cyc ...

OPTRA proposes the development of a high speed resonant Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer for surface contaminant detection via thermal luminescence. The system will generate 10,000 spectra per second over the 7-14 m spectral range at 8 cm-1 spectral resolution; the NESR is projected at 4×10-9 W/(cm2•ster•cm-1) over a 100 s integration time. The key to the system is a res ...

A new generation of bio-inspired adhesives is under development for controlling the face-seal leakage in respirator masks. While conventional pressure-sensitive adhesives rely on liquid-like fluidity under pressure to adapt to surface roughness, biological adhesion mechanisms employed by gecko, spider and insects rely upon the compliance of a fibrillar array to accommodate surface roughness for ma ...

In Phase 1, TIAX developed and demonstrated a residential energy monitoring system (R-EMS) with potential national energy savings of $20 billion annually. Based on user requirements and well-established systems engineering methodology, TIAX’s R-EMS solution is inexpensive, easy to install and operate, and is supportive of intuitive decision making about energy usage. In Phase 2, TIAX will extend ...

Microalgae are a promising feedstock for biofuels because of their high oil content, excellent CO2 capture, and ability to use brackish water and non-arable land. The extraction of oil from algae represents a challenging cost barrier to commercial biofuel production. Conventional technologies for algal oil extraction are energy-inefficient, cost-intensive, or non scalable, leading to barriers for ...

Trace detection usually requires a vapor concentrator that collects dilute analytes from a vapor sample and delivers them at a higher concentration to the detector. Conventional vapor concentrators tend to use either cryogenics, where vapors are concentrated on a cooled surface and then desorbed via flash heating, or sorbent technology, such as zeolites, where vapors are absorbed before flash-hea ...