Award Data

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 ...

ADA Technologies, Inc. (ADA) and Dr. Massoud Pedram at the University of Southern California (USC) have successfully completed a Phase I STTR effort for the development of a lithium ion (Li-ion)/ supercapacitor hybrid electrical energy storage system (HEESS) to afford pulse power characteristics (projected ~10 kW/kg) in a high energy system (100-150 Wh/kg). The system is enabled via a constant cur ...

Integration of RF ferrites on printed circuit boards (PCBs) is highly desired for realizing compact, lightweight and low-cost systems with different RF ferrite components, including inductors, antennas and antenna arrays, etc. However, it has been challenging to integrate ferrites on PCBs. Spin spray deposition can produce fully dense, high crystalline quality, and low-loss RF ferrites at a low te ...

There is an unmet demand for ultra-low-power, ultra-compact and low-cost radios to address emerging sensing and communication needs for military and commercial applications such as IoT/IoE. To overcome the limitations in existing bulky and power hungry radios, we propose a disruptive solution by integration of a nano-scaled THz transceiver, on-chip antenna, and energy harvesting circuits in a form ...

The objective of this Phase II proposal is to continue the development of a Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch (PCSS) with an integrated optical trigger that can switch at least 30 kV, 1 kA, 20 ns pulses with jitter 108 shots. Ness Engineering, Inc. (NEI) and Texas Tech University (TTU) propose to utilize wide bandgap materials to demonstrate lock-on switching and allow much less optical trigger ...

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 ...

Random numbers are essential for a growing number of modern applications. As computer speed and communications bandwidth have increased the potential for practical streaming cipher and large-scale Monte Carlo simulations have become technologically feasible. For these and other applications, ultrafast random number generators are essential. This is intuitively clear. Additionally, however, the ide ...

We propose to develop a compact, integrated ion trap quantum system for quantum sensor, timekeeping, and computing applications. To do so, we leverage ColdQuantas expertise in miniature ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and atom chip technology and Duke Universitys expertise in microfabricated surface ion traps and quantum information processing experiments. We will produce a manufacturable, commercializa ...

Physical Sciences Inc. in collaboration with Colorado State University proposes to develop a compact infrared flash 3D imaging sensor employing compressive sensing (CS) approaches. The CS 3D sensor offers a combination of high range resolution (10 cm), high point cloud density (6464 format), and fast 3D image frame rates (10 Hz) in a low cost, compact form factor employing commercial off the shelf ...