Award Data

The recent rise in asymmetric warfare and terrorism has brought about an increased threat from biological and chemical weapons. Their potential lethality and their indiscriminate nature make them natural choices for use as a terror weapon. Quick, reliable, and safe detection of these agents is imperative. The Energid team proposes a novel teleoperated robotic system for the rapid detection of ch ...

The protective properties of the oxide films that form on aluminum alloys can break down locally and allow extensive corrosion. An amorphous alloy system recently developed at the University of Virginia is promising as an environmentally compliant metal cladding. We propose a new method for converting alloy powder into coatings. This technique does not require large standoffs and has very high hea ...

The goal of this program is to develop high linearity and high efficiency power amplifiers through innovative ultra linear transistors and digital signal processing (DSP) circuit linearization techniques for airborne or UAV applications. Specifically, we will demonstrate average output power, PAE, and inter-modulation distortion (IMD) of 150 Watts, 50% and -50 dBc respectively for the L- band mono ...

Epitaxial Technologies' overall objective is to develop innovative detector technologies that can be used to produce enhanced quantum efficiency and high detectivity VLWIR sensors that can operate at high temperatures. The goal of Phase I will be to investigate dilute nitride strain layer superlattice material structures that are capable of enhanced gain and detectivity and then grow and fabricate ...

Ammonium perchlorate (AP) is the most commonly used oxidizing ingredient in solid propellant formulations. It carries a sufficient excess of oxygen to allow for the combustion of the required binder and added metal, such as aluminum. One major drawback of AP is its chlorine content which results in the formation of hydrochloric acid (HCl) as a combustion product and can cause environmental probl ...

This Phase-I STTR MDA Proposal proposes the use of a new class of diamond-seeded solid-state material system for the manufacture of virtually all heat-generating solid-state electronics in X-band and Ballistic Missile Defense radar components and systems. In this proposal wherein much preliminary (DARPA- and MDA-funded) work has been demonstrated hitherto by the authors, all or most of the basic s ...

Tamper-proofed software and malicious binaries, commonly referred to as “malware”, often share similar technological features. Both good and bad guys wish to hinder static and dynamic reverse engineering of their software programs to thwart adversaries from gaining program understanding and to prevent the observation of code behavior. HBGary proposes the Virtual Machine for Analysis (VMA), a ...

Software protections mechanisms are a means for preventing piracy, alteration, and reverse engineering of critical national security software and data. Kernel-mode software protection techniques utilize, in-part, rootkit-like methods that provide anti-piracy and anti-reverse engineering protection to critical software applications. The fundamental difficulty associated with rootkits and software ...

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state joining process with unique characteristics that offer opportunities for cost savings, new fabrication methods, and new structural designs. FSW eliminates many of the problems associated with fusion welding techniques. In addition, FSW generates a “stir zone” microstructure that consists of very fine, equiaxed grains that are ideal for post-weld f ...

The leading edge of the V-22 rotor blade is made of titanium and nickel abrasion strips bonded to the composite substrate. Although effective for rain erosion protection, nickel and titanium show poor sand erosion resistance. In addition, this metal and composite hybrid configuration limits working strain and fatigue life. This hybrid concept also hampers field serviceability and increases the ...