Award Data

This Phase II effort aims to deliver robust, reliable software that instantiates state-of-the-art feedback pseudospectral optimal control algorithms for flight trajectory optimization. The computation and real-time implementation of controls in nonlinear systems remains one of the great challenges for applying optimal control theory in demanding aerospace and industrial systems. From proportional ...

The pseudospectral optimal control (PSOC) problem is used for rapid trajectory optimization and provides the ability to re-optimize during flight. This technology was implemented on a Navy-relevant mission, and pseudo-real-time operation was demonstrated. The technical readiness level at the end of the Phase I program is a concept that has been shown to be feasible using analysis and simulation. T ...

Vacuum Process Engineering, Inc. (VPE), in collaboration with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), proposes to develop and quantitatively verify a large scale production process for scandate tungsten nanocomposite powder to be used in high current density and long life cathodes during the Phase II effort. The plan for implementation of the large scale production process at VPE with powd ...

SA Photonics has developed a concept for our Multiple Optical Beam Landing System (MOBLS) to provide autonomous landing of aircraft in RF denied environments. MOBLS utilizes multiple, redundant methods to determine the real-time location and bearing of the aircraft relative to the carrier-based landing strip. By having built in redundant modalities, MOBLS provides highly reliable landing informati ...

Systems that operate in constrained environments depend on the acoustics in several ways. Harbor defense systems detect intruders (peopleand/or vessels) by either listening for their noises (passively) or by pinging on them and detecting their echoes (actively). Furthermore, suchsystems may also form the equivalent of an underwater cell phone network using sound to carry the information. The acous ...

SA Photonics is pleased to propose the SOCRATES free space optical communication and sensing system featuring the Photonic Optical Multicast Mast Unit (POMMU). SOCRATES enables 360 degree multicast capability of high bandwidth communication in addition to threat search and tracking capability. SA Photonics will team with Prof. Michael Kudenov at North Carolina State University who will investigate ...

This STTR project develops an innovative seed fabrication technology to address the fundamental size-quality limitation of gallium nitride (GaN) substratesthe indispensable key component for GaN-based vertical high-power devices. Currently, there is no viable GaN technology to realize large-area and low-defect substrates simultaneously. The technology producing 6" and larger GaN wafers results in ...

To meet the U.S. Navy, specifically PMA-201, need for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of concrete, including evaluating its strength, material properties, and damage localization, Luminit, LLC, and Southern Illinois University (SIU) propose to develop a novel Concrete Materials Characterization (COMAC) system, combining several methods of concrete characterization into a single sensor/software com ...

Karagozian & Case Inc. and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Civil Engineering are proposing a Phase I STTR to develop a non-invasive and non-destructive methodology capable of measuring concrete material properties, including relevant spatial and statistical information associated with them, for input to hydrocode models. The solution will be both laboratory and field deployable, w ...

The U.S. Navy currently utilizes a number of towed systems from surface ship and submarines for sensing and communication applications. In a number of these cases, a tow cable extends either down from a surface ship or up from a submarine through the upper part of the water column where seawater temperature can be both highly variable vs. depth and dynamic in time and geographic location. Having a ...