Award Data

Early detection of virulent infectious pathogens is critical to blocking the devastating epidemic spread of the pathogen and the potential harm this could have on our armed forces and general populations. In Phase I, we have utilized the state-of-the-art QuantiGene 2.0 technology to establish an assay for the sensitive quantification of SARS (epidemic spread in 2001) and assessing plasma DNA level ...

The development of compact, ultra-low drive voltage optical phase modulators is a critical key component for passive antenna remoting applications, a strategic area, part of a number of current and upcoming DARPA initiatives. With the development of sufficiently low V-pi modulators, passive front-ends can be constructed with a low figure even for a moderate optical pumping power. The combination o ...

Cost effective semiconductor processing tools that enable the high-resolution nano-fabrication of low-volume electronics are needed by the DOD. The printing of ultra-fine gratings on silicon wafers using interference immersion lithography is envisaged as a first maskless process step in the fabrication of advanced application specific integrated circuits. Next generation interference immersion lit ...

A need exists for polarization interrogating and discriminating Ladar systems to detect and discriminate defilade targets. In the proposed effort, Aerius, and our partner at the University of Illinois, will apply photonic crystal technology to extend Aerius’ high power, high wall plug efficiency, Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) results to develop a stable polarization switched VC ...

Ziva Corporation in collaboration with UCSB will assess the feasibility of developing a directly modulated polarization switching laser based on the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) geometry with a 3dB frequency of at least 10 GHz. This will be a major breakthrough in the ability to cost effectively fabricate directly modulated lasers (even in 2-D arrays) with polarization diversity ...

We propose to develop a computational model of leadership designed to capture complex variables including cultural differences in leadership requirements along with task differences, primarily ill-defined goals, which pose leadership challenges. Rather than avoiding these kinds of complexity and developing a computational model that is unlikely to scale up, we believe there is more to be gained b ...

The innovative integration of two emerging technologies, computer vision systems and Un-manned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's), can dramatically improve the capabilities of the UAV for real-world urban missions. Computer vision is being developed for robotic planetary exploration. UAV's are being developed for low-altitude military reconnaissance and surveillance in urban settings. The application of c ...

For many communication applications, the demand for more bandwidth is a never ending problem. Military system applications often can exceed commercial demands by an order of magnitude or more as SIGINT and IMINT data collection and transmission are keys to our National Security. Optical delivery of RF signals is an increasingly important topic for applications including RF antenna remoting, sign ...

A new concept of ballistically deployed sensors that form an ad hoc network for uplinking data to the user will meet a critical need for a method of projecting situational awareness into high-risk or inaccessible locations. This new method of obtaining tactical intelligence puts extraordinary demands on the sensors and especially on imaging sensors: The requirements for extreme ruggedness and si ...

We propose to develop an uncooled focal plane array (FPA) with a frame rate of at least 10 KHz and a high sensitivity in the long wave infrared (LWIR, 8-12 micron) for tracking fast-moving targets or imaging fast events. It consists of 256x256 micro interferometers as sensing elements, each of which transduces the incident LWIR into an interference beam of near IR that is detected by an ordinary h ...