Award Data

Current design tools for gas turbine engines invoke a variety of simplifying assumptions to estimate heat transfer to solid/metal engine components (e.g., isothermal boundary conditions). These approximations are often not valid, result in inaccurate predictions of heat transfer, and ultimately compromise the thermal integrity of propulsion and power systems. Wall-modeled large eddy simulation (WM ...

Autonomous vehicles are being used for many applications varying from small indoor robots, to large-scale mining trucks, and military vehicles operating in fast-changing environments. Global position systems (GPS) have traditionally been used for vehicle positioning. GPS works well in open environments, but suffers from significant degradation due to terrain, certain operating conditions, and even ...

The multidisciplinary area of GEOINT is changing and becoming more complex. A major driver of innovation in GEOINT collection and processing is artificial intelligence (AI). AI is being leveraged to help accomplish spatial analysis, change detection, and image or video triage tasks where filtering objects of interest from large volumes of data is critical. NGA is confronting the changing GEOINT l ...

As the orbital space around the earth gets more and more crowded with civilian and military reconnaissance, weather, tracking, communication, and navigation satellites - civilian and military users become increasingly dependent on the services provided by these spacecraft. This situation increases the possibility of offense actions against some or all of these spacecraft. The possibility calls for ...

Active imaging systems are used in degraded visual environments, like those found in marine fog and other areas with a high level of attenuation and scattering from obscurants like rain, smoke and dust. These systems are still limited in range and resolution. SA Photonics is taking advantage of new eyesafe, hybrid fiber-bulk laser technology capable of high pulse energy at high repetition rate to ...

Free Space Optical (FSO) communication systems provide many benefits for satellite communications, including high data rates and low Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) compared to traditional RF communication systems. Additionally, FSO systems operate without RF emissions and are inherently immune to RF interference and jamming. The narrow optical beams and small Field-of-View of the optical receivers ...

We propose a compact, monolithic, power scalable, hollow core fiber-gas laser emitting in the atmospheric transmission region in the mid-IR, titled "mid-IR ATLAS." The proposed optically pumped fiber-gas laser system is efficient, has a small footprint as well broad spectral coverage in the mid-IR. Due to the unique approach employed, the proposed technology allows generation of mid-IR output with ...

To a large extent, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites have become the material of choice in modern aircraft design, due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion immunity and fatigue properties. Many primary structure components (e.g. bulkheads, stabilizers, wing boxes), where an aluminum skin was previously joined to a metallic airframe by fasteners, adhesives or welding, h ...

This project addresses the U.S. Air Force needs for single-piece, electronically dimmable eye protection device (EDEPD). Toward demonstrating the proof-of-principle, InnoSense LLC (ISL) in Phase I developed and evaluated individual layer components and their stacked structures. ISL also demonstrated the fabrication processes for individual-layer components, stacked structures and the scale-up pote ...

Palm-sized unmanned aerial systems (nano UAS) are emerging as a new tool for warfighters, first responders, and private industry. However, their small mass, fragility, and limited batteries still necessitate the use of emerging, low mass/power technologies to meet the full range of potential missions, including new autonomous flight control and collision avoidance strategies, structural improvemen ...