Award Data

This proposal describes the development of an instrument based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for the detection of lead in paint and soil that will have both military and commercial applications. The Phase I instrument will be similar to multi-species, portable LIBS instruments built by Dr. David Cremers at Los Alamos National Laboratory that utilize a spectrograph/charge coupled ...

The 3D-Flow Processor system is a new concept in very fast, real-time system architectures. The throughput of this system can reach up to 100 millin frames/sec, yet unlike currently available systems of comparable speed, it is fully programmable and extremely flexible. Algorithms for processing information from the input of multiple sensor can easily be implemented on a 3D-Flow system to achiev ...

Cured aircraft composite materials present a particularly difficult challenge for recycling technology. Those materials have mostly thermosetting epoxy matrices and occur in intimate association with metals, paints, and coatings. Current techniques for recycling thermoset composites, mostly for automotive sheet molding compounds (SMC), involve pulverizing the material for use as fillers. Th ...

A novel tertiary recycling process is proposed for investigation as an economical means for recycling shipboard plastic waste. Early development work has shown that this process can convert a wide variety of polymers and composites into low molecular weight hydrocarbons at temperatures below 200'C. The hydrocarbons produced can then be reused as chemicals, fuels, or monomers. Metal, glass, and fil ...

This proposal is directed at creating discontinuous unidirectional composite from continuous unidirectional prepreg. The process, Selectively-Discontinuous-Fiber (SDF), introduces micro-cuts in preimpregnated unidirectional materials at specified locations. This process will allow unidirectional composite prepreg to be used for the fabrication of complex-compound components that have be ...

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Current fire fighting training methods are possibly lacking maximum effectiveness due to increasing safety and environmental regulation. Additionally, performance measurement in large classes becomes difficult unless trainees have identical training scenarios and evaluations. This proposal details the analysis of current training methods and subsequent emulation of them using virtual reality (VR ...

The ultimate purpose of the proposed R&D is to develop and demonstrate an innovative software development environment which supports the engineering, analysis, development, test, maintenance, and reuse of software for embedded, heterogeneous, real-time systems. The proposed approach is innovative in two respects: (1) it is based on the integration of two best-of-breed environments, ObjecTime/ROOM ...

The AES International Corporation (AESI) of College Station, Texas, in concert with Texas A&M University personnel, can build an airborne ground-penetrating radar system to detect land mines from an Unmanned Airborne Vehicle (UAV). The radar itself will be a totally new and fully airworthy flight demonstration unit, the principles and characteristics of which will be conceptually similar to two p ...

AMI utilizes a technique known as the "ribbon wind" approach to manufacture infrared fiber image bundles. The ribbon wind approach provides a unique opportunity to manufacture relatively low cost, large format, medium resolution infrared fiberoptic image bundles for industrial, commercial and military applications. Indeed, this approach has been applied successfully by numerous fiberoptic manufa ...