Award Data

This proposal will outline a bi-directional software defined Free Space Optics (FSO) laser communications testbed with flexible optical elements and reprogrammable waveform and signal processing elements. Vulcan Wireless Inc. currently manufacturers a 1550nm, eye safe, software defined Laser Communications Testbed MD-LC-1 and will use this as a basis for the Phase 1 effort. We will also be teaming ...

The Phase II effort will be to clearly demonstrate the feasibility and build a prototype of a noncontact, high-quality holographic polarimetry system with pixel level depth and Mueller matrix information with a user-friendly interface to image and display this data. The measurements of each data product will be validated with trusted truth samples. The system will be reproducible and will have a d ...

With the advent of the Navy’s newest classes of all-electric vessels, the interdependence and functional correlation of the power plant with other mission-critical ship systems such as integrated cooling, weapons, navigation, air surveillance, and IT control network systems, maintaining optimal oversight and control of power distribution aboard ship becomes increasingly challenging. As the opera ...

Sensors based on chip-scale atomic devices (CSADs) offer portability, manufacturability, and high performance for precision navigation and timing (PNT) missions. Key systems for PNT including atom interferometric gyroscopes (AIG) and atomic clocks. Ongoing advances and innovations in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are directly relevant to CSADs. Different material bases have been used in PICs ...

Large ground-based telescopes require adaptive optics (AO) to correct for distortions introduced by atmospheric turbulence. In order to function, the AO system must track a bright point source. Although a natural star may be used, full sky coverage requires an artificial beacon created with a laser. The most common type of laser guide star (LGS) employs the mesospheric layer of sodium atoms at an ...

West Coast Solutions (WCS) proposes the development of the SSC-X Stirling cryocooler to enable the deployment of infrared (IR) payloads on small satellite platforms. We achieve extreme miniaturization (

This proposal is related to the development of high efficiency ultraviolet (UV) light emitting devices (LEDs) operating at 265 nm and 219 nm, which have the potential to replace conventional mercury lamps for many applications including dinsinfection and water purification. To date, the wall-plug efficiency of commercial LEDs operating at 265 nm is in the range of 2-3%, which has been limited by t ...

OKSI and Northwestern University propose to develop a single-image super-resolution (SR) methodology for mid-wave infrared (MWIR) imagery that combines learning-based and regularization-based approaches to produce extreme enhancement of low-resolution images. We will also develop a detector-limited imaging system specifically designed to be used with the SR methodology for which even higher levels ...

The Navy needs cognitive control capabilities that enable an autonomous robotic team comprised of a ground control station node and a team of UAS platforms to operate independently (or with minimal human oversight) while carrying out complex missions. A cognitive control capability needs to be developed that concurrently optimizes the balance of mission risk / performance with respect to the Navyâ ...

New, innovative laser spectroscopy technology will be developed for performance quantification and combustion characterization in a Rotational Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE). The effort will push the state of the art in tunable laser absorption spectroscopy to enable fast time response diagnostics of the extreme pressure and temperature conditions of an RDRE.