Award Data

The Phraselator, a handheld automatic translation device, currently uses a cardioic microphone as an input for automatic speech recognition (ASR). This microphone is highly vulnerable to performance degradation in typical noisy military environments and,thus, there is a need for an improved transducer for this application. We propose to develop a new directional microphone that is immune to extr ...

As the unmanned exploration of Mars and Venus becomes more of a focus area at NASA, inflatable, rigidizable wings will become an enabling technology. The successful development of this type of wing will also have significant military applications. The utility of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the military has been dramatically demonstrated in the conflict in Afghanistan. Rigidization of infla ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a prepreg material that, while maintaining the advantages of a powder towpreg system, will eliminate the use of high price, finely ground powders. By generating fine particles in situ using aerosol formation from molten polymers two steps will be eliminated from the manufacturing process -- powder grinding and powder sin ...

A lidar laser transmitter useful for profiling of clouds, aerosols, and differential absorption measurements of atmospheric trace constituents such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and ozone is proposed. The proposed laser transmitter is based on a master tunable external cavity diode laser (ECDL) used to injection lock a series of free running laser diodes (FRLD's). The FRDL's amplify the injected ...

This SBIR effort will develop advanced mode-matching structures for highly efficient electro-optic amplitude modulators in potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP). The intended application for these modulators is in intra-satellite fiber-optic data buses andother satellite communication and data-handling systems. The overall goal of this effort is the fabrication of electro-optic modulators featuring l ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to investigate the feasibility of fabricating large-aperture, periodic ferroelectric domain gratings for quasi-phase matched laser frequency conversion. The key innovation in this effort is the use of low temperature hydrothermally grown potassium titanyl phosphate (LTH-KTP) as the nonlinear optical substrate material. Using L ...

Micromachined deformable mirrors are being commercialized by the contractor and applied to DOD related projects due to their light weight, fast response, small size, and inexpensive fabrication costs. During Phase II, the contractor and university teamwill demonstrate a novel projection system incorporating a micromachined deformable mirror, and develop a complete adaptive optics system based upo ...

Diffractive wavefront control has been demonstrated as a viable technique for high-dynamic-range laser wavefront control. Unfortunately, most conventional programmable diffractive elements, like liquid crystals and segmented mirror arrays, are damagedwhen illuminated with high-power laser light. The proposed work would investigate approaches for scaling membrane deformable mirrors to provide hig ...

Accelerated development of directed energy technologies has presented new problems to mission planners and weapon operators regarding the capabilities, lethality and performance of weapon systems. The Emerging Weapons Technology Evaluation Model willaddress these shortcomings by providing users of varying technical expertise 1) the ability to model a variety of weapons in various mission scenario ...

The Air Force is pursuing aircraft and satellite-based high power laser systems to engage and destroy missiles at long ranges (hundreds to thousands of kilometers). A precision inertial reference unit (IRU) is critical to successful operation of longrange, high power laser systems for missile defense. The IRU enables the system to accurately point the payload telescope and attached tracking sens ...