Award Data

In the setting of altitude-induced hypoxia, operator cognitive capacity degrades and can compromise both individual and team performance. This degradation is linked to falling brain energy (ATP) levels and an increased reliance on anaerobic energy production from glucose. Ketone bodies are the evolutionary alternative substrate to glucose for brain metabolic requirements; previous studies have sho ...

Special Operations Forces (SOF) are an integral aspect of the US military. SOF operators are among the most elite and highly qualified individuals in the U.S. military. As such, extraordinary physical and mental demands are placed upon them to excel in extreme environments for extended periods of time. This unrelenting cycle of combat deployments and intense pre-deployment training shortens the fu ...

The widespread use of Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFF) at DOD facilities for firefighting, training, and fire suppression systems has resulted in numerous contamination sites. The perfluoroalkyl (PFA) compounds used in the AFFF, such as perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFOS) and perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFOA) are extremely stable in the environment and have been shown to be resistant to typical ...

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 ...

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 ...

Operational experts collect recorded data about emerging tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) from sources such as live and virtual training exercises, and numerous test and evaluation simulations. However, instructional designers cannot easily reuse the recorded data to create new training. Without sufficient access to operational experts, expert knowledge is inaccessible and fragmented, of ...

As the number of emerging warfare capabilities increases, adaptive training is required in order to keep pace with the corresponding increase in the scale and complexity of training regimes. To enable truly adaptive training, training systems need to both (1) automatically generate training scenarios and (2) automatically assess trainee performance. Lastly, (3) diagnostic visualization technologie ...

Demand for portable power continues to expand, and new portable devices require increased variability in form factor. Furthermore, expired batteries may not be easily replaceable due to the lack of standard geometries. New manufacturing technologies are necessary to respond to each of the challenges. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising approach that is well known for its ability to quickly ...

Increased workloads and operational pressures can degrade human analysts cognitive performance, jeopardizing their ability to safely and effectively carry out mission-critical tasks. To avoid overload and maximize the potential of human operators, a method for conducting real-time evaluation of cognitive state, combined with means to dynamically enhance performance, is required. Novel technologies ...

Currently networks are not taking advantage of the inherent benefits of high multi-beam directional networking. For example, the current MADL implementation simply daisy chains the nodes in the network creating multiple single points of network failure (of course retaining self-healing properties.) The Fuse Directional Cross-Layer Networking Solution (DCLNS) optimized architecture features a robus ...