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A method for providing endurance enhancement for unmanned aerial vehicles based on atmospheric phenomena is presented. The proposed method allows the UAV to sense certain atmospheric phenomena, and adapt itself to exploit these phenomena. The Phase I effort consists of understanding the physics of such flight, and developing the control laws for enabling the UAV to exploit these atmospheric phenom ...

A novel design for an in situ atmospheric sensor for CO2 and trace gases is proposed. The sensor, named AirCore, provides the advantages of existing in situ sensors (e.g. high resolution) but eliminates possible biases in analysis that often originate from imperfect measurement condition. The AirCore provides a significant savings in cost and weight while increasing the capabilities of existing ...

The proposed innovation is new technology to enable the visualization of large unstructured geospatial datasets, such as LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) data, within a commercial desktop Geographic Information System (GIS). The architecture first converts the raw LIDAR datasets into the newly approved LAS LIDAR data standard. The system then creates efficient spatial indexing mechanisms to eas ...

Our proposed innovation is to develop neural network (NN) rule extraction technology to a level where it can be incorporated into a software tool, we are calling NNRules, which captures a trained neural network?s decision logic and uses it as a basis for verification and validation (V&V) of the neural network. This formalism has never been attempted. The significance of the NNRules innovation is t ...

Premature breakdown is a key obstacle in developing AlGaN-based avalanche photo diodes (APD) for ultraviolet (UV) light detection. Novel materials growth techniques, such as Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) allows for reduction of dislocation density only to approximately 10^7 cm-2. In order to reduce the number of growth defects and dislocation density in AlGaN-based APDs we will use single cry ...

SETI proposes to develop GaN and Si based multicolor FIR/THz cameras with detector elements and readout, signal processing electronics integrated on a single chip. The active detector elements will be submicron gated channels with 2 dimensional electron gas (2DEG). The devices with gated 2DEG (commonly known as field-effect transistors) respond to the incoming FIR radiation due to the rectificat ...

This proposal addresses NASA's need for non-autoclave composites manufacture. The Constellation program, including the Ares V launch vehicle, will require very large-scale structures and conventional autoclave-based composites which are very costly and suffer from logistical problems. Out of autoclave (OOA) composite manufacturing technology has the potential to solve the constraint issues of aut ...

This proposal describes a mobile solid-state Neutron Energy Spectrometer (NES) for lunar soil moisture determination. Cosmic-ray interactions within the lunar soil will yield secondary neutrons and protons, among other particles. The produced neutrons will travel within the soil, scattering off of materials such as hydrogen. Interactions with hydrogen will greatly reduce the energy of the neutrons ...

The Phase I of the SBIR “Smart Fault Management” project aims to demonstrate how the fault management process can be innovated by exploiting concepts from a combination of well-established and emerging disciplines such as Bayesian Statistics, GPU-accelerated numerical simulations, Data Science, and Machine Learning that are disrupting the current status quo in many scientific and engineering f ...