Award Data

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a technique used to detect near-field interaction when a sample is rater-scanned by a probe. Example include atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscope (STM). It offers nanometric and atomic image resolution. In this field, an emerging technique, Near-Field Scanning Microwave Microscopy (SMM), utilizes microwave evanescent waves to attain the ...

Over the last decade the amount of data available from the internet, sensors and other sources has grown dramatically providing the opportunity to gain novel insights in many fields. Uncovering non-linear low dimensional structure in high-dimensional data (i.e., manifold learning), a key to summarization, remains a challenging problem which ultimately inhibits knowledge discovery. Intelligent Auto ...

For Robotic/Autonomous Systems (RAS) to be truly effective in the battlefield, they need to be integrated with intelligent decision-making capabilities. In particular, the following capabilities will help them dealing with the challenging real-world problems of off-road navigation: 1) Accurate terrain traversability assessment; 2) Optimal trajectory computation; and 3) Effective maneuver selection ...

Our nation’s warfighters require advanced armor to give them the best protection while allowing mobility to perform their missions. This proposal will develop two powerful tools to aid future body armor advancements. First, this research program will develop a statistical analysis software that will predict likelihood of impacts based on defined attack scenarios (i.e. rifle, distance and firing ...

The ability to accurately design and predict the performance of combustion-based machinery like gas turbine engines is important in improving their performance, increasing their fuel economy, lowering operating costs, and decreasing pollutant emissions. Almost all of the flows are turbulent in industrial combustion applications, therefore understanding the interaction between turbulence and combu ...

White River Technologies, Inc. (WRT) and University of Vermont (UVM) present this proposal, "Acoustically/Vibrationally Enhanced High Frequency Electromagnetic Detector for Buried Landmines". Among the primary gaps in our current landmine detection technology base is the ability to detect a wide range of buried explosive hazards including emerging low-metal mines and improvised explosive devices ...

An innovative and fundamental approach to measure far field noise of a helicopter using a hot-air balloon as an acoustic measurement platform is described. The technique, featuring a microphone suspended beneath the basket of a hot-air balloon, is used to obtain acoustic data above, in, and below the horizon plane of a helicopter in forward flight. This approach is postulated to have many advantag ...

The Tunable Active HEterodyne Terahertz Imager (TAHETI) system will use Terahertz Quantum-Cascade Lasers (QCL) combined with a Schottky diode detector for ultra-high dynamic range heterodyne imaging. Distributed feedback (DFB) QCLs with milliwatt power levels are engineered to emit at slightly offset frequencies, and are used as local oscillator and illumination for imaging. The QCLs will be down ...

Boston Fusion Corp. and Arizona State University propose to research and develop Big Open Source Social Science (BOSSS). In BOSSS, we will create a unified approach that combines social and computer science methodologies to collect and interpret big open source data, yielding meaningful focused analysis of selected populations. We will develop a system framework that adaptively learns social behav ...

Hostile conflicts leave behind millions of armed landmines in developing countries throughout the globe. Humanitarian demining is hazardous and labor intensive. A promising development in detecting explosives found in landmines is using small, olfactory sensitive animals trained to act as biosensor detectors. However, current manual training methods require skilled trainers following strict pro ...