Award Data

Piezoelectric ceramics in sensors have achieved substantial market penetration. These parts are used widely for heat and climate control, hydrophones, flow sensors, medical and industrial sensing and accelerometers but they have been unsuccessful in gaining significant use in actuators. It generally is felt that material restrictions, precluding development of actuator-sized displacement strokes ...

An open problem confronting Uninhabited Tactical Aircraft (UTA) is the control concept for their successful operation in combat. Unlike reconnaissance UAVs, it will not be practical to operate UTAs with fully pre-programmed missions nor will it be possible to continuosly fly with them from remote cockpits. A new control paradigm is needed. One that supports a full range of intervention from dir ...

Bio Array Solutions (BAS) proposes to apply its novel platform technology of light-controlled Electrokinetic Assembly of Particles near Surfaces (LEAPS) to develop an analytical system in a planar, "on-chip" format. Combining AC (and/or DC) electric fields with interactive light control, LEAPS provides a tool set of fundamental operations to control the transport and positioning of particles and ...

Electronic Packaging Services (EPS) proposes to develop a commercial instrument for the experimental measurement of out-of-plane thermal displacements for large area electronic substrates. The system will be based on shadow moire, a full-field non-contact optical technique. Phase stepping analysis, which convolutes multiple moire fringe images with fixed phase differences between them, extends t ...

The objective of this Phase I program is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of functional materials that can be applied by a simple print-and-heat process at temperatures below 400 C to create electronic components on a variety of substrates. The technology to be demonstrated is an extension of the existing PARMOD process from metallic conductors to resistors, capacitors and inductors based ...

A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) micro sensor of extremely low weight and power, and small size is proposed. The sensor offers a low-cost, all-weather/all-visibility-conditions high-resolution imaging capability from a small UAV to individuals and small units for surveillance and targeting purposes. In addition to being able to see through smoke, fog, etc. and its around-the-clock mission capabi ...

A lightweight, low-cost radar for detecting low-altitude airborne targets from a lighter-than-air airborne platform is proposed. The sensor offers an all-weather, all-visibility-conditions MTI and tracking capability for situation awareness and the possible activation and guidance of counter measures. A special proprietary microstrip phased array antenna concept coupled with a novel radar config ...

The objective of this Phase I is to demonstrate the use of Reactive Nanoparticles (RNP) for the decontamination/sterilization of biological agents and their mimics. Recent studies have shown that RNPs are very effective for chemical agent decontamination at ambient or higher temperature. Examples include paraoxon, VX, half mustard and HD. RNPs themselves are generally made of non-toxic magnesiu ...

This SBIR Phase I project will investigate the feasibility of an improved control strategy for piezoelectric positioners used in scanned-probe microscopes (SPMs) to increase their speed and reliability for nanocharacterization. Rapid nanocharacterization requires fast motion of the scanned piezo probe with sub-Angstrom vertical resolution and with frequent rapid changes in its axial position. Se ...

It is well known that Gen III image intensifiers based on Negative Electron Affinity (NEA) photocathodes and micromechanical plates suffer from a major limitation of having the long wavelength cutoff limited only to about 950 nm. For that reason, it has poor modulation transfer function and correspondingly lower performance in starlight and in the overcast starlight levels. To develop a new type ...