Award Data

The Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missile is the weapon component of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system that consists of a rocket booster and kinetic kill vehicle. Recently, MDA has sought technologies to improve the performance of the booster vehicle (BV). To date, studies have shown that reductions in weight have a direct impact on overall effectiveness. The current proposal aims t ...

This STTR project develops an innovative seed fabrication technology to address the fundamental size-quality limitation of gallium nitride (GaN) substratesthe indispensable key component for GaN-based vertical high-power devices. Currently, there is no viable GaN technology to realize large-area and low-defect substrates simultaneously. The technology producing 6" and larger GaN wafers results in ...

To meet the U.S. Navy, specifically PMA-201, need for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of concrete, including evaluating its strength, material properties, and damage localization, Luminit, LLC, and Southern Illinois University (SIU) propose to develop a novel Concrete Materials Characterization (COMAC) system, combining several methods of concrete characterization into a single sensor/software com ...

Active imaging systems are used to for imaging in degraded visual environments like that found in marine fog and other environments with a high level of attenuation and scattering from obscurants like fog, rain, smoke, and dust.These systems are still limited in range and resolution. SA Photonics is taking advantage of multiple image enhancement techniques, like wavelength tunability, pulse contro ...

Friction stir welding (FSW) is an attractive joining method where high strength low porosity welds can be attained. However, the high temperatures and forces required for welding high strength materials like steel require the use of exotic tools. Cubic boron nitride (cBN)-based tools offer attractive tool wear characteristics in steels, but are very costly. Conversely, refractory metal alloys are ...

Acclimatization is the long-term adjustment that humans experience when exposed for weeks or months to high altitude. Acclimatization is important in this context because a warfighter who is acclimatized to high altitude is immune to high altitude illness, has superior work capacity, and has cognitive function approaching that found at sea level. In other words, the acclimatized warfighter is opti ...

Recognizing faces in low-light and nighttime conditions is a challenging problem due to the noisy and poor quality nature of the images.Thermal imaging is often used to obtain facial biometric in such conditions. Thermal face images, while having a strong signature at nighttime, are not typically maintained in biometric-enabled watch lists and so must be compared with visible-light face images to ...

Micro-RDC has developed portable radiation effects test structures that scale to new process nodes.These structures will enable the investigation of the effects of radiation on the new technology from the material processing level as well as the circuit level.Fabricating the chosen structures and the refinement of software to extract the model parameters will be completed in this effort.A suite of ...

Globalization and digitization have been driving the recent economic growth at the expense of raising the risk level in the supply chain related to fraud, security, and safety, while current practice of supply chain management and risk assessment is lagging far behind. Therefore, commercial industries and government agencies are seeking advanced supply chain risk assessment solutions, which can ef ...

ColdQuanta is partnering with Dr. Zoya Popovic at the University of Colorado, Boulder, to develop a three-dimensional quantum-enhanced radio-frequency (RF) signal sensor and direction finder. Our approach combine Rydberg-atom-based RF electrometry and discrete lens arrays (DLAs) of planar antennas. The DLA will serve as a Fourier optic for an incident wave, and a Rydberg-atom RF electrometer will ...