Award Data

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), in partnership with the Electrical Engineering Department of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), proposes to compute and reduce mutual coupling between E-field antennas (in Transmit mode) and SQUIDs magnetic loops (in Receive mode) for improved signal reception in SQIF arrays. For the computation of the mutual coupling in the near field PSI and WPI will use an ...

The Navy seeks devices that can provide power to maintain charge in batteries for shipboard sensors. The transduction materials proposed for most energy harvesting devices under development are either too brittle to endure significant loading or are too compliant to extract significant energy from the small amplitude vibrations present on ships. Terfenol-D (in a composite form) and Galfenol each p ...

Diver communication is vital for the US Navy while carrying out strategic underwater missions. Diver-to-diver communication and diver-to-vehicle communication can allow the sharing of information as it is discovered and also enable performing cooperative maneuvers. Emergency situations can also benefit from such communication. In addition to the communication capability, it would be useful to know ...

Scientific Systems and Brigham Young University will develop and test an autonomous helicopter landing system using vision-based navigation and control.

There is need for fast, easy-to-operate, and low-risk methods for mapping geography, velocity, and bathymetry of rivers. River charts can be nonexistent or inadequate because of changes in water volume, tides, sediment transport, flooding, and other events. This is a hindrance and a hazard for navigation and other operations. Currently, procedures to map rivers involve navigating surface vessels i ...

The promise of printed electronics can not be realized without high-speed manufacturing processes to drive the cost down for wide spread distribution. This proposal will outline the key points for rapid manufacturing of new electronic devices and systems and make recommendations for making them a reality. There are two main focus areas that encompass all the limitations to printed integrated circu ...

Thermo-mechanical processes of turbine disks have been progressively improved to meet microstructural requirements tailored for advanced, sustainable high temperature performances. However, the chemistry of typical Ni-base turbine disk alloys is very complex, and yields a variety of phases and microstructural anomalies under different thermo-mechanical heat treatments. These microstructural hetero ...

Advances in electronically controlled injection technologies for diesel engines have provided a method to improve medium- to heavy-duty engine performance through increased injection pressures, multiple injections, and injection rate shaping. Although these injection systems have been primarily limited to larger engines, the ability to rapidly and precisely meter fuel for smaller engines is partic ...

A team consisting of Spectral Sciences Inc., Boston University, Boston University Medical School, Radcliffe Consulting and Brighton Consulting will collaborate to develop and validate a novel optical device for the monitoring and evaluation of blood coagulation. In this proposal we describe a novel optical blood coagulation monitoring instrument. The instrument has no moving parts, uses very small ...

Electromagnetic launchers or rail guns are a key component of the Navy’s all-electric ship of the future, but they lack the durability required for repeated firings. TDA Research and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) are developing a tough, durable and conductive refractory metal coating that will protect the copper alloy conductors (rails) from the extreme heat and wear conditions inside the ...