Award Data

Adaptive Optics allow ground-based astronomical observatories to overcome atmospheric distortion limited observation by using natural and artificial guide stars to measure the distortion. Sodium-layer guide stars provide near all-sky coverage for high resolution astronomy. Over the last 20 years, Optically Pumped Semiconductor Laser (OPSL), also referred to as Vertically Extended Cavity Surface ...

The proposed project will develop advanced modeling capabilities for high-fidelity liquid-fuel spray calculations. State-of-the-art multiphase combustion models will be implemented in a volume-filtered Eulerian-Lagrangian framework that can easily be ported into existing CFD codes. Unlike traditional methods, the proposed strategy will ensure convergence under mesh refinement of the interphase exc ...

We propose development of an improved bottom database suitable for use in the frequency range of 1-10 kHz. Measured transmission loss (TL) and reverberation level (RL) will be jointly processed in building the database. The influence of the rough sea surface, rough seafloor, as well as subbottom heterogeneity will be accounted for during database generation. The rough sea surface will be character ...

The goal of this program is to design a lightweight optical bench capable of remaining stable under temperature and moisture changes, while isolating the precision optical array from vibrations such as engine noise and air turbulence. By integrating a customizable periodic stack in the bench, vibrations are attenuated more effectively than commercially available mounts. Additionally, the periodic ...

In this proposed SBIR program, IBC Materials & Technologies, in conjunction with our industry partner Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (MSI) and Texas A&M University, will leverage our knowledge and experience in the domain of industrial metallic coatings to develop a metallurgical coating solution for the Air Foil Bearing. IBC has deep expertise in a variety of industrial coating processes including mu ...

DeepDive is a system for extracting relational databases from dark data: the mass of text, tables, and images that are widely collected and stored but which cannot be exploited by standard relational tools. If the information in dark data --- scientific papers, Web classified ads, customer service notes, and so on --- were instead in a relational database, it would give analysts access to a massiv ...

Towing of a Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) system is an important aspect of rotorcraftmaritime operation. The oscillatory rotorcraft combined with the long and flexible towingcable, the low mass ratio of the towed body to the towing aircraft, and the rotor wake effecton the towed body presents a challenge for integration of a modern MAD system withrotorcraft platform. The research objective is t ...

While aluminum casing materials provide some enhanced performance and thermal loading to explosive ordinance, their overall effectiveness is highly limited by incomplete combustion and long residence times. In order to reduce these problems, the casing material must be designed to facilitate rapid fragmentation through either specialized casing geometries or greatly refined initial particle sizes. ...

Laboratory investigations have suggested that acoustically or vibrationally inducing motion in buried targets can aid in improving target detectability through a characteristic response related to differential target motion. This gain is realized by adding an additional degree of freedom, modulation due to motion in the GPR return signal, to use as a discriminating feature. The AKELA team is propo ...

Next Dimension Technologies and Caltech will jointly develop a handheld detector to meet the Armys need for a field-based illicit drug identification system. The project will focus on the design and development of a dual-mode chemiresistive sensor array capable of detecting key drugs of interest, including synthetic cannabinoids and opioids. Novel sensing materials, with enhanced chemical sensit ...