Award Data

The objective of the proposed research and development effort is to conduct the basic research that is necessary to populate a matrix of validated design inputs for future flight systems. The research effort will demonstrate the feasibility of laser propelled systems with greatly simplified hardware and improved performance. This will be accomplished through application of an advanced propellant ...

As the number of optical communication terminals proliferate there will be a need to have these terminals interoperate.  In the past, optical terminals were designed with a single purpose in mind.  New space constellations are requiring non-RF crosslink solutions.  It is expected that there will be a large number of both commercial and military systems providing crosslinks and space to earth li ...

The Phase 2 development will yield a prototype Cognitive Data Sampling (CDS) system for 2 RF bands to fully demonstrate the capability of the underlying technology. This will include the development of RF antennas, RF signal conditioning for the bands, CDS analog to conversion module and a processor module. The processor module shall be comprised of a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) module that in ...

Laser guide stars (LGS) are artificial sources of light produced by laser-induced fluorescence from sodium atoms in the mesosphere between 85 km and 100 km altitude. The fluorescence can be detected on the ground with a telescope and used as a reference for compensating atmospheric aberrations in astronomical and space observations in conjunction with an adaptive optics system. Sodium LGS are vita ...

The U.S. Air Force is interested in developing hypersonic vehicles including reusable transport aircraft, cruise missiles, and unmanned systems. Hypersonic flight regimes result in multifaceted and very difficult design challenges that can be encapsulated into an aerothermoelastic problem, which is a complex interaction of structural, thermal, and aerodynamic mechanisms. When a flexible structural ...

Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (GLCT) is partnered with Michigan State University (MSU) to develop novel diamond materials for research and evaluation at Air Force Research Laboratory for applications in quantum communications. The technical effort seeks to build upon advanced plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology licensed by GLCT which was developed at MSU by scientists at ...

BaySpec Inc., in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, proposes to develop a new portable multi-order mass spectrometry system that can sequence peptides derived from biological agents including bacteria, viruses, and toxins. During Phase I stage, a fully functional prototype instrument, based on an innovative design concept, was successfully built and the performance evaluatio ...

Stottler Henke proposes PACT to address the threat posed by unknown/novel bacteria. Stottler Henke’s solution leverages AI/ML technologies to assess the pathogenic potential of unknown/novel bacteria for DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office. Threat assessment is inferred from phenotype as characterized by a series of assays developed by Harvard University as part of DARPA’s Friend or Foe p ...

As unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) become more prevalent there is an increasing desire to automate UAS navigation and control. To enable future UASs to perform a wider variety of missions, they must be able to complete autonomous relative navigation to accomplish missions. Current technologies rely heavily on GPS measurements, which are undesirable since GPS signals may be unavailable in many DoD ...

Filamentation of ultra-short laser pulse propagation in non-linear media offers significant potentials allowing to address numerous problems in military and commercial sectors. However, practical implementation of this requires an ability to control the USLP at its propagation through inhomogeneous media, like turbulent atmosphere. On the basis of our approach for combating turbulence effects on p ...