Award Data

Modern Model-Based Enterprise / Engineering (MBE) systems rely on freeform surfaces built as complex combinations of geometric primitives to define engineered objects. Unfortunately, the intersection of freeform surfaces in MBE applications results in highly approximated solutions, degrading models that cost billions annually by US industry to fix. Current technology limits the abilities of users ...

We will develop a series of object manipulation primitives to pick up and assemble standard mechanical parts such as screws, gears and pulleys that can be configured without any programming skills. Building up on a smart robotic gripper, 3D perception and machine learning algorithms, we will design a graphical user interface for the Universal Robot E-Series that allows an user to label arbitrary 3 ...

In this Phase I SBIR proposal, SandBox Semiconductor™ proposes to develop an Advanced Manufacturing and Material Measurements software tool called Weave ™ for accelerating and automating SEM image analysis for the semiconductor industry. During the development of a new manufacturing process line for a semiconductor device, tens of thousands of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images are take ...

Conventional characterization and test methods are increasingly ineffective when applied to structures less than 100 nanometers, causing challenges across R&D, process control and failure analysis. An increasing number of subtle defects become prominent drivers of failure as device size and operating margins decrease, e.g., processing anomalies in thin gate oxides, substrate problems related to do ...

This project will develop a new scientific instrument optimized for the advanced characterization of near-infrared fluorescent nanoparticles that can exist as left- or right-handed structures (enantiomers). Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are the leading current example of such nanomaterials. Applied NanoFluorescence, LLC (ANF) proposes a novel multi-mode chiroptical spectrometer that can ...

Reliable automated pattern recognition in the current system is limited by excessive noise and clutter combined with insufficient and/or ambiguous features. Our team consisting of AcornSI and Leidos thus propose a multi-step approach based on the combined effects of improved detection, feature extraction, phase identification, and global association. A key innovation here is creating a new classif ...

In Phase II of PLATO, we will develop a prototype plan and goal identification system that employs a rich model of domain actions and events, extracted automatically from a massive amount of real-world domain-relevant information, to model agent-specific action costs and to process sequences of agent actions and events, extracted from text, as an agent plan in progress. The system will be able to ...

The goal of this project is to design and develop Semantic Analysis Technologies for the Identification of Dual Use Research of Concern (STIR). STIR processes scientific documents using semantic technologies and inference algorithms to identify potential for Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC). The focus is on 15 high consequence pathogens and toxins and 7 experimental categories identified as DUR ...

During the Phase I effort, Proportional Technologies, Inc. developed non-saturating components for a military battlefield dosimeter based on ionization chamber technology. Chambers were thimble-shaped, made out of carbon, and incorporated different materials for the conversion of fast neutrons, thermal neutrons, and gamma radiation. Extensive testing showed that the proposed solution is feasible. ...

TDA Research, Inc. (TDA), designed, built, and tested a dense array of 100 very low cost infrasonic sensors. Due to their low cost (1/100x-1/10x the cost of other infrasound sensors), they can be economically deployed in very large numbers; such large arrays can gather more information than a few expensive sensors. They are sensitive from 0.1 Hz - 100 Hz down to 0.08 Pa. We tested the sensors in s ...