Award Data

This proposal is for the use of state-of-the-art computer wargames to be used in the research on the impact and optimal use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in realistic combat scenarios. High fidelity, historically calibrated wargames ranging from sub-tactical ground-centric game engines through operational, strategic, air campaign, and naval-centric game engines will be used to address the fu ...

Synthetic scenario-based training of Navy personnel in the use of Navy SIGINT/IO systems has helped to reduce training costs, and it has enabled the personnel to be trained in an environment that sufficiently approximates real-world situations that could not otherwise be accomplished within the class room. However, scenario development is highly complex and involves a great deal of human effo ...

We propose to design a high average power Er:Fiber ultrafast laser system which is pumped at 14xxnm, and at the same time solve other problems related to ultrashort pulses in fiber lasers. The advantage of using 14xxnm pumping is the reduction of the standard quantum defect from 37% to 5%, thus greatly reducing the thermal load on the system, which makes it inherently more efficient. We also inten ...

This STTR Phase I project proposes to develop and establish a novel clumping (flocculation) strain of algal using an engineered extracellar protein that can be induced. The overarching goal is to provide the industry with a novel, energy efficient, and cost effective tool to dewater microalgae. What are the broader/commercial impacts of the proposed project? The broader/commercial impact of the p ...

Aging aircraft commonly suffers from several types of degradation including fatigue cracking and lack of bonding. It is virtually impossible to predict degradation in structural performance or when a component or structure will fail due to the inability to test new material systems under all loading conditions and under all environmental conditions. A material state awareness system using minimali ...

Advances in electronically controlled injection technologies for diesel engines have provided a method to improve medium- to heavy-duty engine performance through increased injection pressures, multiple injections, and injection rate shaping. Although these injection systems have been primarily limited to larger engines, the ability to rapidly and precisely meter fuel for smaller engines is partic ...

In miniature gas turbines for UAV applications, traditional bearings exhibit a typical lifetime of only 25 hours due to excessive axial loading. Mainstream proposes to use a passive, permanent magnet thrust bearing to alleviate this problem and increase service life to over 1000 hours. Since this type of bearing is non-contacting, it can operate at very high rotational speeds with minimal heat gen ...

Military shelters currently use electrically driven Environmental Control Units (ECUs) to provide cooling for the air inside the shelter. The ECU is vapor compression cycle powered by a diesel generator, operating on JP-8 fuel. Other than fueling jet engines, the largest drain on U.S. military fuel supplies in current operations comes from running generators at forward operating bases. In hot cli ...

Hydrogen produced today from coal, natural gas, or biomass must be separated and purified outside the reactors using pressure swing absorption (PSA), a process that requires significant additional space and energy. Placing hydrogen-permeable membranes inside the reactors themselves would allow hydrogen to diffuse out, thereby reducing the cost of hydrogen production. In this Phase I effort, Mainst ...

We propose algorithm development and efficient GPU implementation of numerical PDE solvers based on four novel high-order methodologies: 1) High-order Discontinuous Galerkin approaches, 2) Fast High-Order boundary integral methods, 3) Convergent FFT-based methodologies for evaluation of computational boundary conditions, and 4) Fourier Continuation methods. These methodologies are applicable to a ...