Award Data

Thermo-mechanical processes of turbine disks have been progressively improved to meet microstructural requirements tailored for advanced, sustainable high temperature performances. However, the chemistry of typical Ni-base turbine disk alloys is very complex, and yields a variety of phases and microstructural anomalies under different thermo-mechanical heat treatments. These microstructural hetero ...

Agave BioSystems, with their academic partners at the Mote Marine Laboratory, proposes to develop probiotic pharmaceuticals from indigenous commensal microbes to enhance gastrointestinal health in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The dolphin gastrointestinal microbiome will be characterized by 16S rRNA deep sequencing, and culturable commensals will be isolated by plating dolphin gastr ...

The development of a catastrophic optical damage model for quantum cascade lasers describing instantaneous laser damage at high optical power levels is proposed. The model will be validated by comparison to experimental data. Based on obtained results, changes to laser design and laser fabrication resulting in an increased damage threshold will be implemented. The work will ultimately result into ...

Software continues to be a weak link in our critical systems. A prudent operator should employ a defense-in-depth strategy whereby"safe"systems are still monitored to detect breaches and respond to them. Unfortunately, such monitoring is challenging in practice, since there is no universal pattern that characterizes misbehaving software. We will capture an application"s intended behavior as it is ...

Complex software systems are typically developed by disparate engineering teams working concurrently. At the same time, software requirements are frequently dynamic, evolving even during active development cycles. Discrepancies between how software is defined and how it is implemented at the modular level can cascade into critical system errors when modules are integrated. More troubling is that i ...

In this project we propose to demonstrate the feasibility of an external pipe sensor for measuring sound pressure levels in submarine piping systems. The sensor consists of flexible PVDF wire wrapped a number of integral turns around the pipe exterior. The charge/voltage output of the sensor can be shown to be directly proportional and highly sensitive to the amplitude of the contained fluid pulsa ...

The Navy has been developing superconducting systems, based on high-temperature superconductors (HTS), for future use on Navy ships. One of the challenges associated with superconducting magnets is the possibility of a quench, which is an event where a local hot spot develops within the superconductor that quickly spreads throughout the device, driving it into its normal and dissipative state. Sen ...

To realize the full potential of autonomous systems, it is imperative that they behave safely, correctly, ethically, and legally. Providing these assurances through offline verification alone is insufficient, due to the complex and changing nature of autonomous systems. Online monitoring and corrective actions are necessary to account for uncertainties, and to increase trust between a human superv ...

In Phase I, Metron and the University of Miami (UM) propose to develop a theoretic reduction of dynamics framework applicable to the prediction of oceanographic fields in geophysical fluid dynamic models for use onboard unmanned platforms. Our approach leverages, extends and combines modern advances in the renormalization group and Bayesian probability combined with fluid dynamics modeling and for ...

Electromagnetic launchers or rail guns are a key component of the Navy’s all-electric ship of the future, but they lack the durability required for repeated firings. TDA Research and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) are developing a tough, durable and conductive refractory metal coating that will protect the copper alloy conductors (rails) from the extreme heat and wear conditions inside the ...