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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing for Homeland Security

To address the need to protect our borders and critical infrastructure, fiber optic sensing technology developed for antisubmarine warfare applications has been adapted to homeland...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Computational Cameras

A computational camera uses a combination of optics and software to produce images that cannot be taken with traditional cameras. A variety of computational cameras has been demonstrated; some designed to achieve new...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Miniature Snapshot Multispectral Imager

Multispectral imagers use an optical device that can separate the colors to obtain the spectral content in the scene. Such an optical device could be a grating or prism, a filter wheel, a diffractive...

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Distributed, Collaborative Human- Robotic Networks for Search, Identify, and Track

A human-robotic system is under development that can map an unknown environment, as well as discover, track, and neutralize several static and dynamic objects...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Multifunctional Vehicle Structural Health Monitoring with Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors

A novel structural health monitoring (SHM) concept of embedded nondestructive evaluation with piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) has been...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Acoustic Detection Using Reverberation

Acoustic detection of undersea objects is difficult due to the uncertain environment and even more difficult when the objects are buried in the seabed. First, sediments generate high backscattering noise due to heterogeneous scatters within the sediments, clouding the object.

Briefs
Medical

Process for Testing Aeromedical Equipment

Medical devices are designed to function in environmentally controlled locations, such as stationary hospitals, and not within the harsh, dynamic aircraft environment. Yet, the same medical devices...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Ultrasonic Guided Wave Analysis for Detecting and Classifying Damage in a Thin Metallic Plate

A ircraft and rotorcraft structures are being redesigned with new lower weight materials; however, older metallic structures continue to be used. These older structures need monitoring and characterization of damage for con-

tinued operation. The...

Briefs
Physical Sciences

Disposable Chemical Sensor and Wireless Communication Device

A disposable chemical sensor and temperature device has been developed that may be dropped into building rubble or other areas not accessible by rescue personnel to test the environment in the rubble. The system also provides wireless two-way communication and control to obtain...

Products
Physical Sciences

Borosilicate Glass

SCHOTT North America, Inc. (Louisville, KY) presents SUPREMAX® 33 rolled borosilicate glass for telescope applications. SUPREMAX 33, which has the properties of SCHOTT’s BOROFLOAT® 33, provides low thermal expansion,...

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Products
Photonics/Optics

AR Coatings for Optical Fibers

Laser Components (Hudson, NH) offers both assembled cables, including coated fibers, and job coatings on fibers supplied by the customer. They also offer anti-reflection coatings, which significantly reduce...

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Products
Imaging

Surveillance Sensor

The Hyperspec Point & Stare sensor from Headwall Photonics (Fitchburg, MA) is a fully integrated imaging sensor used for unattended, ground-based surveillance applications. The sensor identifies objects based on the...

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Products
Physical Sciences

Power Generation System

Kollmorgen (Radford, VA) introduces the Power Generation System, a 28 VDC system that generates up to 30kW of power. Consisting of a permanent magnet AC generator, generator controller, software, and cables, the...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Compressive Oversampling for Robust Data Transmission in Sensor Networks

A paper discusses recent developments in the area of Compressive Sensing (CS) for data loss in wireless sensing applications. Since many physical signals of interest are known to be sparse or compressible, employing CS not only compresses the data and reduces the effective...

Briefs
Physical Sciences

Development of an Electrochemical Biosensor for Organophosphate Chemicals

Detection of organophosphate (OP) compounds has attracted much attention in terms of safeguarding human health, owing to their frequent use as pesticides in agriculture and their potential use as chemical warfare agents. Among a variety of biological methods based on the...

Briefs
Physical Sciences

Novel Active Transient Cooling Systems

Energy-efficient cooling technology is extremely important in today’s society, considering the need for energy conservation and the urgent need to mitigate global warming. Near-room-temperature...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Diode Laser Sensor for Scramjet Inlets

The supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine is one of the more promising high-speed flight propulsion technologies. One of the reasons for this is the simplicity of the engine design, having no...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

MALDI-MSI Imaging of Latent Fingerprints

For years, forensic scientists have been seeking new methods to improve existing techniques for the visualization of latent fingerprints. The structured combination of optical methods (diffused reflection, luminescence, UV absorption and reflection), physical methods (powdering, vacuum metal deposition,...

Briefs
Physical Sciences

Battery Electrolyte Level Detector Apparatus

An apparatus has been developed for checking the electrolyte level in a battery, providing a safer and more efficient means to do so. The result is a non-intrusive apparatus and method of checking the electrolyte level that reduces the need to open the caps on the battery by checking the level...

Briefs
Physical Sciences

Forehead-Mounted Sensor Measures Oxygen Saturation for Hypoxia Early Detection and Warning

Symptoms of hypoxia – a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues - have been documented among rotary-wing pilots and aircrew flying...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Manifold-Based Image Understanding

The rapid growth of sensing and imaging technology, combined with the need for near-real-time action based on the sensed data, has rendered automatic processing, understanding, and decision-making vital to...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Outdoor Synthetic Aperture Acoustic Ground Target Measurements

A novel outdoor synthetic aperture acoustic (SAA) system consists of a microphone and loudspeaker traveling along a 6.3-meter rail system. This is an extension of a prior indoor...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Portable, Rapid-Test Fuel Tank Leak Detection System

In 1988, the EPA issued Underground Storage Tank (UST) regulations for fuel storage in order to implement monthly monitoring and annual tightness testing. Monthly monitoring requires that...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Uncooled Tunable LWIR Microbolometers

Uncooled infrared detectors have significant potential capabilities that have been little explored. Micro-machined uncooled detectors with tunable spectral characteristics across the long-wave infrared...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Fluid Helmet Liner for Protection Against Blast-Induced Traumatic Brain Injury

An Advanced Combat Helmet liner design uses the novel idea of including filler materials inside channels in the liner. An energy-absorbing foam was selected for the main liner structure, and several filler material candidates of widely varying properties are being...

Briefs
Physical Sciences

Performance of Steel Stud Walls Subjected to Blast Loads

Construction trends have brought about an increase in the use of cold-formed steel studs in Air Force facilities. These steel stud walls have significant potential for mitigating large...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Through-the-Wall Small Weapon Detection Based on Polarimetric Radar Techniques

Detecting concealed small weapons carried by people has received significant interest from law enforcement agencies as well as the military, most frequently for...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Fiber-Optic Seismic Sensor for Unattended Ground Sensing

Seismic military sensors are required to be robust, reliable, compact, and easy to install and operate to be effective in the battlefield environment. Three types of sensor...

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Briefs
Physical Sciences

Liquid-Crystal-Based Optical Phased Array for Steering Lasers

A paper describes the basic design and concepts of tunable liquid-crystal polarization gratings with a nematic liquid crystal (LC) optical phase plate, with a large, continuous in- plane gradient that is variable, and its application to a beam steering device with high efficiency.