Award Data

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO INVESTIGATE METHODS FOR FORECASTING "LUMPY" DEMAND FOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. LUMPY DEMAND IS USUALLY ZERO BUT INTERMITTENTLY NON-ZERO. STANDARD FORECASTING SYSTEMS CANNOT COPE WITH LUMPY DEMAND, WHICH IS A COMMON PROBLEM IN PRODUCTION AND INVENTORY CONTROL. OUR INTEREST IN THE PROBLEM IS A RESPONSE TO OUR CUSTOMERS IN MANUFACTURING. EXISTING APPROACHES ...

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MILLIMETER WAVES ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF SATELLITE COMMUNICAITONS, ELECTRONIC WARFARE, AND MISSILE RADAR. UNTIL RECENTLY, THE PROSPECTS OF AMPLIFYING SIGNIFICANT LEVELS OF MILLIMETER POWER USING SOLID STATE DEVICES HAVE DEPENDED ON IMPATT DIODES WHICH EXHIBIT LOW EFFICIENCY AND RELIABILITY. SPIRE PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AN INP-BASED HETEROJUNCTION BI-POLAR TRANSISTOR (HBT) TECHNOLOGY FOR THE AMPLIFICA ...

IN RECENT YEARS, CORROSION AND OXIDATION RESISTANT PLATING PROCESSES HAVE COME UNDER CRITICISM FROM THE GOVERNMENT REGULATORY BODIES (E.G., ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, EPA, AND OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, OSHA). IN PARTICULAR, CADMIUM AND CHROMIUM PLATING PRACTICES ARE UNDER SEVERE PRESSURE. THE PLATING OPERATIONS ARE PERFORMED IN A CHEMICAL BATH (WET PROCESS) AND DISPOSAL ...

APPLICATIONS OF NONLINEAR OPTICAL (NLO) MATERIALS TO TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING, SWITCHING AND COMPUTING SYSTEMS, HAS BEEN INTENSIVELY STUDIED DURING THE LAST DECADE. STILL, THE LACK OF NLO MATERIALS WITH ENHANCED SECOND AND THIRD ORDER SUSCEPTIBILITY LIMITS DEVELOPMENT OF THESE APPLICATIONS. ORGANIC NLO MATERIALS ARE OFTEN CITED AS HAVING THE BEST LONG-RANGE PROMISE FOR NLO DE ...

CATHETERS WHICH ARE CURRENTLY PRODUCED HAVE A TACKY SURFACE WHICH MAKES INSERTION DIFFICULT AND CAN RESULT IN A NUMBER OF COMPLICATIONS. THE PHASE I RESEARCH PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A SILVER COATING WHICH CAN BE DEPOSITED ON THE CATHETER TO TRANSFORM THE TACKY SURFACE INTO A LUBRICOUS, LOW FRICTION ONE. THE PARTICULAR EMPHASIS DURING THE RESEARCH WILL BE ON ANGIOPLASTY (PTCA) CATHETERS. THE COATING W ...

DETECTORS FOR THE SUPERCONDUCTING SUPER COLLIDER (SSC) MUST HAVE EXTREME SPATIAL (30 MUM) AND TIME (15 NS) RESOLUTION. THE DETECTORS MUST OPERATE RELIABLY THROUGH TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY CHANGES IN HARSH RADIATION ENVIRONMENTS. GAS MICROSTRIP CHAMBERS, A SOLID-STATE REALIZATION OF TRADITIONAL WIRE-CHAMBER PROPORTIONAL DETECTORS, ARE UNDER DEVELOPMENT AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY AND ELSEWHERE. THESE D ...

THE PLANNED PROGRAM IS DEVELOPING HIGH ENERGY DENSITY, LONG-LIFE, RELIABLE POWER SOURCES FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS SUCH AS AUXILIARY ELECTRIC POWER FOR SATELLITES. THE CORE OF THE DEVICE IS A RADIOISOTOPE-POWERED INDIUM PHOSPHIDE VOLTAIC CELL THAT CAN ACHIEVE ENERGY DENSITIES MORE THAN 10,000 TIMES GREATER THAN THAT OF THE BEST CHEMICAL BATTERIES. IN PAST ATTEMPTS TO DEVELOP RADIOISOTOPE-POWERED VOLT ...

Spire's program will develop a high energy density, long life power source for space applications such as Brilliant Pebbles and Brilliant Eyes. The essential element of the proposed device consists of a radioisotope powered indium phosphide voltaic cell that can achieve an energy density over ten thousand times greater than that of chemical batteries. In past attempts to develop radioisotope power ...

Diode lasers are great, but not temperature stable. Keeping the frequency constant, essential for communications, requires exotic (read expensive) heavy cooling systems. Investigators at Spire think they have a better way: build a laser diode whose frequency is naturally stable, as in ionic lasers such as neodymium doped YAG. Spire reasons that adding erbium to the quantum well of conventional AlG ...