Award Data

Sensors based on chip-scale atomic devices (CSADs) offer portability, manufacturability, and high performance for precision navigation and timing (PNT) missions. Key systems for PNT including atom interferometric gyroscopes (AIG) and atomic clocks. Ongoing advances and innovations in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are directly relevant to CSADs. Different material bases have been used in PICs ...

Assess the feasibility of a novel technology which automatically generates human-understandable explanations of an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm’s decisions – for example, a deep neural network’s (DNN’s) classification decisions. Our technology, called EMERALD (Explainable Machine Reasoning through the Application of Linked Data), is designed to improve trust a ...

Quantum computer technology is so critical and strategic that the Air Force Research Laboratory is itself working on a quantum bit focused on the trapped ytterbium (Yb+) ion. The current technology based on entangling electrons, photons, or ions are challenging to put together in multiple qubits. To make a qubit stable, it is essential to protect it from outside interferences that can disrupt the ...

The proliferation and capabilities of hobbyist off-the-shelf drone systems poses a direct and immediate threat to U.S. national security. This proposal is a cUAS system to track unwanted UAS in the vicinity using stealthy radars that are AJ. The project will start with an understanding of customer needs and how we can adapt our proposal to best meet the needs of the Air Force.

Exosonic is developing a quiet Mach 1.8, 4500 nmi range supersonic civil aircraft that uses aerodynamic shaping techniques to mute its sonic boom. Exosonic is teamed up with Stanford University Prof. Juan Alonso's Aerospace Design Lab to apply the lab's low boom shape optimization tools to design this aircraft to meet future low-boom regulatory standards. The aircraft's primary customers are comme ...

Efficient design, build, and test of an HEL system leverages modeling and simulation (M&S) to reduce cost and increase robustness. Designers use models to explore parameter variations and to estimate performance in conditions which cannot be tested due to physical or financial constraints. This provides significant savings in cost and time. Because live testing is so expensive, it is best used as ...

The Phase II effort will be to clearly demonstrate the feasibility and build a prototype of a noncontact, high-quality holographic polarimetry system with pixel level depth and Mueller matrix information with a user-friendly interface to image and display this data. The measurements of each data product will be validated with trusted truth samples. The system will be reproducible and will have a d ...

Through the execution of our Phase 1 effort, Nutronics, Inc. and Montana State University developed an improved means to optimize the Pellizzarri cost functional for coherent imaging using digital holography. Our algorithm developed during the Phase 1 effort accelerates convergence times by a factor of 20-40 for the majority of scenarios evaluated. Our proposed Phase 2 effort has a two-fold focus: ...

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have great potential for high performance RF applications. Theoretical study has shown that the electrical current in a CNT field effect transistor (CFET) is intrinsically linear. Today, linearity is the underlying limitation in increasing the data transport densities of wireless networks. The complex modulation protocols used to achieve higher data rates requires linear am ...

The team of AlphaMicron Inc. and Kent State University proposes a novel LC technology, the dynamic polarizer, as a light control system for Battlefield Airmen and Pilots. The dynamic polarizer technology shares the performance capabilities of AlphaMicron’s e-Tint LC light control technology: instantaneously fails-to-clear, millisecond switching times, and customizable tint and color. Howeve ...