Award Data

The AF needs compact, portable sources of tunable infrared radiation for spectroscopic gas detection. Devices incorporating these sources can be used for measuring the efficiency of combustion in jet engines, measuring the spectroscopic signatures of combustion gases in high-temperature test cells, and monitoring environmentally sensitive engine emission gases. Many of the most important molecul ...

The use of synthetic data for the generation of target signature templates is a vital element of current and future automatic target recognition systems. [1] [2] Although current synthetic signatures closely match their measured counterparts, they suffer from two shortcomings: 1) susceptibility to model error and 2) poor representation of signature variance. The current model validation relie ...

Dynamics Technology, Inc. (DTI) proposes to develop and adapt analytical intel/surv/recon sensor performance models to support ISR TPIPT upgrades to campaign and mission level simulations (e.g., THUNDER, EADSIM). The models will accommodate representative targets and environmental backgrounds. They will be used either directly, or to provide a physical basis for system performance templates curre ...

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The elimination of HCl in solid propellant exhaust was realized with the development of high performance solution type solid propellants. These propellants utilize as oxidizer a liquid eutectic of hydroxylamine nitrate (HAN) and ammonium and hydrazinium nitrate. These propellants still, however, require aluminum fuel to achieve high performance. This proposal has identified a possible class of ene ...

Aircraft range is limited, in part, by skin friction drag. Recent advances in control technology with small actuators such as piezoelectric materials and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) may make active boundary layer control for drag reduction practical. The unique characteristics of piezoelectric materials and MEMS are small size, fast response, and low energy consumption. Additionally, ...

Lightweight thrusters with high strength and stiffness at high temperatures are required for laser propulsion to be effective. With currently available megawatt-class lasers, ultralightweight thruster design is required to demonstrate a significant thrust to weight ratio.This project investigates a structural materials concept in which strong refractory fibers are assembled in a way that eliminat ...

Increasing the high temperature mechnical properties of turbine blades reduces the need for cooling and improves turbine engine efficiency. Heat extraction from the mold is critical in casting good blades, but conventional directional solidification furnaces typically rely on radiative cooling augmented by isolated "chill plates" at discrete locations, which limits the precision of local temperat ...

The fabrication of large format, long wavelength (LWIR) mercury cadmium telluride based focal plane arrays (FPAs) is highly desirable for Air Force applications such as satellite power and array cooling reduction along with higher resolution. However, the development of large FPAs has been seriously impeded by the limited size of commercially available bulk Cd{sub 1-x}Zn{sub x}Te substrates. In ...

The Fixed Wing Vehicle (FWV) IPST of the Wright Laboratory Flight Dynamics Directorate is developing tools for use in the comparison and evaluation of new technologies offering improvement in cost and performance for future military and commercial aircraft. A series of Technology Development Approaches (TDAs) developed at DoD set goals for percentage improvements in various categories of aircraft ...