Award Data

Aircraft are susceptible to ballistic and other projectile damage. They are particularly vulnerable to damage to their fuel tanks. As a result, most jet fighters and all U.S. military rotary wing aircraft employ some type of seal-sealing fuel tank technology. Unfortunately, the existing self-sealing fuel tank technologies are heavy and offer unreliable reproducibility in the self-sealing layer res ...

The opportunity presented under this program is to develop next-generation fuel-sealing technology that can be applied to impart self-sealing capability to the most vulnerable areas of integral aircraft fuel tanks. Targeted application of the self-sealing materials will reduce the weight and fuel volume penalty associated with conventional MIL-DTL-5578 self-sealing fuel bladder constructions. New ...

The proposed research and development effort describes a composite material approach capable of providing reliable self-sealing functionality to integral fuel tanks. Since fuel containment systems can make up a large portion of an aircraft"s presented area they can contribute significantly to aircraft vulnerability to impacting threats. The ability to self-seal addresses the issue of potential fue ...

In Phase I the team of TSC and SDL will initiate an effort to collect polarimetric target and clutter signatures, identify polarimetric features and algorithms for detecting and classifying targets, and understanding the sensitivity to target aspect angle, grazing angle and radar resolution. In performing the Phase I program, the team will: 1) identify a robust set of polarimetric decomposition an ...

To meet the US Navy"s need for an innovative AE technology for extracting the true AE signal out of background noises, X-wave Innovations, Inc. (XII) and The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) propose an innovative wireless AE technology for automated detection of early stages of crack initiation and short crack propagation in rotating gearbox components. The proposed approach builds on the XII-develo ...

An advanced optical instrument is proposed with the capabilities of distinguishing between fluid and solid components of an image and measuring the velocity field and acceleration field of each. The design is based on the well known and robustly practiced principles of particle image velocimetry, but by introducing a third light pulse it produces a fundamental innovation that both enables the meas ...

In common terminology, chaos refers to a state of randomness or unpredictability. Chaos has a different meaning in physics and mathematics. In physics, chaos is a structured but irregularly patterned behavior displaying an extraordinary sensitivity to initial conditions. Work done by the principals of the proposal has proven that logic elements can be built with chaotic elements and can replicate ...

In this N12A-T015 Phase I effort, the team of Pharad and UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) propose to develop a highly efficient High Frequency (HF) transmit antenna based on utilizing existing structures that are available in the surrounding environment, as radiation mechanisms. We propose to create antennas on existing structures or other parts of the platform using either of two stra ...

Superplastic forming process (SPF) takes advantage of unique ability of certain materials such as titanium alloys that exhibit exceptionally high tensile ductility beyond its normal limits of plastic deformation at elevated temperatures and low strain rates. Within a narrow window of a combination of elevated temperatures and low strain rates, titanium alloys can withstand elongation as high as 30 ...

RCT Systems proposes to develop a conceptual design for an Intermediate Energy Storage Module (IESM) that will provide the energy storage, power electronics and controls necessary to keep high power pulse loads from disrupting the ship"s distribution grid and allow the power system to meet the specifications in MIL-STD-1399. In its system tradeoff and analysis, RCT Systems will also consider a nov ...