Award Data

We propose to develop a commercial weakly ionized plasma modeling capability based off of Tech-X’s high energy density plasma fluid code TxFluids. The new additions will be able to be used to model hypersonic vehicle physics including shock waves, plasma chemistry and innovative techniques for blackout mitigation and hypersonic vehicle control through the application of electric and/or magnetic ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer Research phase I program will develop a new class of uncooled THz detectors for the 1-10THz band with a novel design using surface plasmon resonant cavities with integrated metal-insulator-metal tunneling diodes as the detecting element. Tunneling diodes provide ultrafast broadband response, potentially into the visible (300THz), but demonstrated performanc ...

We apply the theory of partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) to the design of guidance algorithms for controlling the motion of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with on-board sensors for tracking multiple ground targets. While POMDPs are intractable to optimize exactly, principled approximation methods can be devised based on Bellman’s principle. We introduce a new approximation ...

The objective of this Phase I project is to evaluate the use of novel Laser Induced Surface Improvement (LISI) techniques to provide surface modification to substrate materials which will provide superior wear resistance in extreme conditions. The specific application of interest is the hypersonic metal-to-metal contact that occurs at high speed test track facilities that can and has lead to catas ...

Aerosol Jet printing is proposed as a method for printing large area, CNT-based transistor arrays on flexible substrate. The teaming relationship combines expertise in high resolution printing along with device and materials expertise. All semiconductor, dielectric, and conductive materials comprising the TFTs will be solution processed and printed with a single machine. This will lead to a cos ...

The present text proposes development of efficient, accurate and rapidly-convergent algorithms for the simulation of propagation and scattering of electromagnetic fields within and around structures that (i) Consist of complex combinations of penetrable materials as well as perfect and imperfect conductors, and, (ii) Possess complex geometrical characteristics, including open surfaces, metallic c ...

Existing computer combat wargames offer a sophisticated and high fidelity base platform for accurately modeling standard combat scenarios. However, the rapid development of UAV capabilities in terms of sizes, weapons, sensors, communications and flight ability is presenting a new challenge for these simulations. At the same time, the general state of world affairs is changing such that the likeli ...

Combustion stability is an important consideration in the design of liquid rocket engines. While fundamental modes of unstable operation in simple geometries are easily identified using analytical methods, recent times have seen these methods greatly expand in scope, applied in semi-numerical format to increasingly complex geometries and flow situations. Much remains to be explored in understandin ...

We propose to demonstrate and advance several key aspects of our novel, scalable ammonothermal technology for growth of high quality single crystal gallium nitride. Specifically, we propose to demonstrate a high growth rate and high crystalline quality, to design and analyze a pilot-scale reactor, and to construct and validate a quantitative model to describe the fluid dynamics of the growth envi ...

The proposed effort develops the understanding required to assess the utility of using OAM states and quantum entanglement as a novel protocol for quantum key distribution for propagation through an aberrating medium such as the atmosphere. In addition a conceptual design of an experiment that is appropriate to further the development of this capability will be developed on the proposed Phase I e ...