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AIR FORCE17.A SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR)

PHASE I PROPOSAL PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

The Air Force (AF) proposal submission instructions are intended to clarify the Department of Defense (DoD) instructions as they apply to AF specific requirements. Firms must ensure their proposal meets all requirements of the Broad Area Announcement currently posted on the DoD website at the time the solicitation closes. Incomplete proposals will be rejected.

The AF Program Manager is David Shahady, 1-800-222-0336. For general inquiries or problems with the electronic submission, contact the DoD SBIR/STTR Help Desk at 1-800-348-0787] or Help Desk email at [email protected] (9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET Monday through Friday). For technical questions about the topics during the pre-solicitation period (30 Nov 2016 through 9 Jan 2017), contact the Topic Authors listed for each topic on the Web site. For information on obtaining answers to your technical questions during the formal solicitation period (10 Jan through 8 Feb 2017), go to https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/sitis.

General information related to the AF Small Business Technology Transfer Program can be found at the AF Small Business website, http://www.airforcesmallbiz.org. The site contains information related to contracting opportunities within the AF, as well as business information, and upcoming outreach/conference events. Other informative sites include those for the Small Business Administration (SBA), www.sba.gov, and the Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, http://www.aptac-us.org. These centers provide Government contracting assistance and guidance to small businesses, generally at no cost.

PHASE I PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

The Air Force SBIR/STTR Program Office is instituting new requirements in an initiative to combat fraud in the SBIR/STTR program. As a result, each Small Business is required to visit the AF SBIR Program website and read through the "Compliance with Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program Rules" training located at the bottom of this page: www.wpafb.af.mil/AFSBIRSTTR. The Certificate of Training Completion at the end of the training presentation and/or as pg. AF-9 of this document, MUST be signed by an official of your company, AND ATTACHED to your proposal. Failure to do this will result in your proposal being removed from consideration.

Read the DoD program announcement at https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/ for program requirements . When you prepare your proposal, keep in mind that Phase I should address the feasibility of a solution to the topic. For the AF, the contract period of performance for Phase I shall be nine (9) months, and the award shall not exceed $150,000. We will accept only one Cost Volume per Topic Proposal and it must address the entire nine-month contract period of performance.

The Phase I award winners must accomplish the majority of their primary research during the first six months of the contract with the additional three months of effort to be used for generating final reports. Each AF organization may request Phase II proposals prior to the completion of the first six months of the contract based upon an evaluation of the contractor’s technical progress and review by the AF technical point of contact utilizing the criteria in section 6.0 of the DoD announcement. The last three months of the nine-month Phase I contract will provide project continuity for all Phase II award winners (see “Phase II Proposal Submissions” below); no modification to the Phase I contract should be necessary.

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https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/AFSBIRSTTR

https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/sitis

mailto:[email protected]

Limitations on Length of Proposal

The Phase I Technical Volume has a 20-page-limit (excluding the Cover Sheet, Cost Volume, Cost Volume Itemized Listing (a-j), Company Commercialization Report, Non-Disclosure Agreement Form and Certificate of Training Completion Form). The Technical Volume must be in type no smaller than 10-point on standard 8-1/2" x 11" paper with one (1) inch margins. Only the Technical Volume and any enclosures or attachments count toward the 20-page limit. In the interest of equity, pages in excess of the 20-page limitation will not be considered for review or award.

Phase I Proposal Format

Proposal Cover Sheet: If your proposal is selected for award, the technical abstract and discussion of anticipated benefits will be publicly released on the Internet. Therefore, DO NOT include proprietary information in these sections.

Technical Volume: The Technical Volume should include all graphics and attachments but should not include the Cover Sheet or Company Commercialization Report (as these items are completed separately). Most proposals will be printed out on black and white printers so make sure all graphics are distinguishable in black and white. To verify that your proposal has been received, click on the “Check Upload” icon to view your proposal. Typically, your uploaded file will be virus checked and converted to a .pdf document within the hour. However, if your proposal does not appear after an hour, please contact the DoD SBIR/STTR Help Desk at 1-800-348-0787 or Help Desk email at [email protected] (9:00 am to 6:00 pm ET).

Key Personnel: Identify in the Technical Volume all key personnel who will be involved in this project; include information on directly related education, experience, and citizenship. A technical resume of the principle investigator, including a list of publications, if any, must be part of that information. Concise technical resumes for subcontractors and consultants, if any, are also useful. You must identify all U.S. permanent residents to be involved in the project as direct employees, subcontractors, or consultants. You must also identify all non-U.S. citizens expected to be involved in the project as direct employees, subcontractors, or consultants. For all non-U.S. citizens, in addition to technical resumes, please provide countries of origin, the type of visa or work permit under which they are performing and an explanation of their anticipated level of involvement on this project, as appropriate. You may be asked to provide additional information during negotiations in order to verify the foreign citizen’s eligibility to participate on a contract issued as a result of this announcement.

Phase I Work Plan Outline

NOTE: THE AF USES THE WORK PLAN OUTLINE AS THE INITIAL DRAFT OF THE PHASE I STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW). THEREFORE, DO NOT INCLUDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION IN THE WORK PLAN OUTLINE. TO DO SO WILL NECESSITATE A REQUEST FOR REVISION AND MAY DELAY CONTRACT AWARD.

At the beginning of your proposal work plan section, include an outline of the work plan in the following format:

1) Scope: List the major requirements and specifications of the effort. 2) Task Outline: Provide a brief outline of the work to be accomplished over the span of the Phase I

effort.

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mailto:[email protected]

3) Milestone Schedule 4) Deliverables

a. Kickoff meeting within 30 days of contract start b. Progress reports c. Technical review within 6 months d. Final report with SF 298

Cost Volume

Cost Volume information should be provided by completing the on-line Cost Volume form and including the Cost Volume Itemized Listing (a-j) specified below. The Cost Volume information must be at a level of detail that would enable Air Force personnel to determine the purpose, necessity and reasonability of each cost element. Provide sufficient information on how funds will be used if the contract is awarded. The on-line Cost Volume and Itemized Cost Volume Information will not count against the 20-page limit. The itemized listing may be placed in the “Explanatory Material” section of the on-line Cost Volume form (if enough room), or as the last page(s) of the Technical Volume Upload. (Note: Only one file can be uploaded to the DoD Submission Site). Ensure that this file includes your complete Technical Volume and the information below.

a. Special Tooling and Test Equipment and Material: The inclusion of equipment and materials will be carefully reviewed relative to need and appropriateness of the work proposed. The purchase of special tooling and test equipment must, in the opinion of the Contracting Officer, be advantageous to the government and relate directly to the specific effort. They may include such items as innovative instrumentation and/or automatic test equipment.

b. Materials: Justify costs for materials, parts, and supplies with an itemized list containing types, quantities, and price and where appropriate, purposes.

c. Other Direct Costs: This category of costs includes specialized services such as machining or milling, special testing or analysis, costs incurred in obtaining temporary use of specialized equipment. Proposals which include leased hardware, must provide an adequate lease vs. purchase justification or rational.

d. Direct Labor: Identify key personnel by name if possible or by labor category if specific names are not available. The number of hours, labor overhead and/or fringe benefits and actual hourly rates for each individual are also necessary.

e. Travel: Travel costs must relate to the needs of the project. Break out travel cost by trip, with the number of travelers, airfare, per diem, lodging, etc. The number of trips required, as well as the destination and purpose of each trip should be reflected. Recommend budgeting at least one (1) trip to the Air Force location managing the contract.

f. Cost Sharing: If proposing cost share arrangements, please note each Phase I contract total value may not exceed $150K total, while Phase II contracts shall have an initial Not to Exceed value of $750K. Please note cost share contracts or portions of contracts do not allow fee. NOTE: Subcontract arrangements involving provision of Independent Research and Development (IR&D) support are prohibited in accordance with Under Secretary of Defense (USD) memorandum “Contractor Cost Share”, dated 16 May 2001, as implemented by SAF/AQ memorandum, same title, dated 11 Jul 2001.

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g. Subcontracts: Involvement of a research institution is required in the project. Involvement of other subcontractors or consultants may also be desired. Describe in detail the tasks to be performed in the Technical Volume and include information in the Cost Volume for the research institution and any other subcontractors/consultants. The proposed total of all consultant fees, facility leases or usage fees, and other subcontract or purchase agreements may not exceed 60 percent of the total contract price or cost, unless otherwise approved in writing by the Contracting Officer. The STTR offeror’s involvement must equate to not less than 40 percent of the overall effort and the research institutions must equate to not less than 30 percent.

Support subcontract costs with copies of the subcontract agreements. The supporting agreement documents must adequately describe the work to be performed, i.e., Cost Volume. At a minimum, an offeror must include a Statement of Work (SOW) with a corresponding detailed cost proposal for each planned subcontract.

h. Consultants: Provide a separate agreement letter for each consultant. The letter should briefly state what service or assistance will be provided, the number of hours required, and hourly rate.

i. Any exceptions to the model Phase I purchase order (P.O.) found at www.wpafb.af.mil/AFSBIRSTTR .

NOTE: If no exceptions are taken to an offeror’s proposal, the Government may award a contract without discussions (except clarifications as described in FAR 15.306(a)). Therefore, the offeror’s initial proposal should contain the offeror’s best terms from a cost or price and technical standpoint. In addition, please review the model Phase I P.O. found at https://www.afsbirsttr.com/Proposals/Default.aspx and provide any exception to the clauses found therein with your cost proposal. Full text for the clauses included in the P.O. may be found at http://farsite.hill.af.mil. Please note, the posted P.O. template is for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. While P.O.s for STTR awards are very similar, if selected for award, the contract or P.O. document received by your firm may vary in format/content. If there are questions regarding the award document, contact the Phase I Contracting Officer listed on the selection notification. (See item g under the “Cost Volume” section, pg. AF-3.) The Government reserves the right to conduct discussions if the Contracting Officer later determines them to be necessary.

j. DD Form 2345: For proposals submitted under export-controlled topics (either International Traffic in Arms (ITAR) or Export Administration Regulations (EAR)), a copy of the certified DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, or evidence of application submission must be included. The form, instructions, and FAQs may be found at the United States/Canada Joint Certification Program website, http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp/. Approval of the DD Form 2345 will be verified if proposal is chosen for award.

NOTE: Only Government employees may evaluate proposals. AF support contractors may be used to administratively or technically support the Government’s STTR Program execution. DFARS 252.227-7025, Limitations on the Use or Disclosure of Government-Furnished Information Marked with Restrictive Legends (May 2013), allows Government support contractors to do so without company-to-company NDAs only AFTER the support contractor notifies the STTR firm of its access to the STTR data AND the STTR firm agrees in writing no NDA is necessary. If the SBIR firm does not agree, the “Yes” box should be checked, and a company-to-company NDA should also be submitted. The attached “NDA Requirements Form” (page AF-8) must be completed, signed, and included in the Phase I proposal, indicating your firm’s determination regarding company-to-company NDAs for access to STTR data by AF support contractors. Proposal packages that do not contain an NDA will be considered incomplete, and will NOT be considered for award. This form will not count against the 20-page limitation.

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http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp/

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/AFSBIRSTTR

k. The Air Force does not participate in the Discretionary Technical Assistance Program. Contractors should not submit proposals that include Discretionary Technical Assistance.

PHASE I PROPOSAL SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

Failure to meet any of the criteria or to submit all required documents will result in your proposal being REJECTED and the Air Force will not evaluate your proposal. NOTE: If you are not registered in the System for Award Management, https://www.sam.gov/, you will not be eligible for an award.

1) The Air Force Phase I proposal shall be a nine-month effort and the cost shall not exceed $150,000.

2) The Air Force will accept only those proposals submitted electronically via the DoD SBIR Web site (https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/).

3) You must submit your Company Commercialization Report electronically via the DoD SBIR website (https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/).

It is mandatory that the complete proposal submission -- DoD Proposal Cover Sheet, Technical Volume with any appendices, Cost Volume, Itemized Cost Volume Information, and the Company Commercialization Report, and Non-disclosure Agreement Requirements Form (pg. AF-8), and Certificate of Training Completion Form-- be submitted electronically through the DoD SBIR website at https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/. Your complete proposal must be submitted via the submissions site on or before the 6:00 am ET, 8 Feb 2017 deadline. A hardcopy will not be accepted.

The AF recommends that you complete your submission early, as computer traffic gets heavy near solicitation close and could slow down the system. Do not wait until the last minute. The AF will not be responsible for proposals being denied due to servers being “down” or inaccessible. Please ensure your e-mail address listed in your proposal is current and accurate. The AF is not responsible for ensuring notifications are received by firms changing mailing address/e-mail address/company points of contact after proposal submission without proper notification to the AF. Changes of this nature that occur after proposal submission or award (if selected) for Phase I and II shall be sent to the Air Force SBIR/STTR site address, [email protected] .

AIR FORCE PROPOSAL EVALUATIONS

The AF will utilize the Phase I proposal evaluation criteria in section 6.0 of the DoD announcement in descending order of importance with technical merit being most important, followed by the qualifications of the principal investigator (and team), and followed by Commercialization Plan. The AF will utilize Phase II evaluation criteria in section 8.0 of the DoD announcement. Please note that where technical evaluations are essentially equal in merit, cost to the Government will be considered in determining the successful offeror. The next tie-breaker on essentially equal proposals will be the inclusion of manufacturing technology considerations.

The proposer's record of commercializing its prior SBIR and STTR projects, as shown in its Company Commercialization Report, will be used as a portion of the Commercialization Plan evaluation. If the "Commercialization Achievement Index (CAI)”, shown on the first page of the report, is at the 20th percentile or below, the proposer will receive no more than half of the evaluation points available under

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evaluation criterion (c) in Section 6 of the DoD 17.A STTR instructions. This information supersedes Paragraph 4, Section 5.4e, of the DoD 16.A STTR instructions.

A Company Commercialization Report showing the proposing firm has no prior Phase II awards will not affect the firm's ability to win an award. Such a firm's proposal will be evaluated for commercial potential based on its commercialization strategy.

Proposal Status and DebriefingsThe Principal Investigator (PI) and Corporate Official (CO) indicated on the Proposal Cover Sheet will be notified by e-mail regarding proposal selection or non-selection. Small businesses will receive a notification for each proposal submitted. Please read each notification carefully and note the Proposal Number and Topic Number referenced. Again, if changes occur to the company mail or email address(es) or company points of contact after proposal submission, the information shall be provided to the AF at [email protected].

As is consistent with the DoD SBIR/STTR announcement, any debriefing requests must be submitted in writing, received within 30 days after receipt of notification of non-selection. Written requests for debrief must be sent to the Contracting Officer named on your non-selection notification. Requests for debrief should include the company name and the telephone number/e-mail address for a specific point of contract, as well as an alternate. Also include the topic number under which the proposal(s) was submitted, and the proposal number(s). Debrief requests received more than 30 days after receipt of notification of non-selection will be fulfilled at the Contracting Officers' discretion. Unsuccessful offerors are entitled to no more than one debriefing for each proposal.

IMPORTANT: Proposals submitted to the AF are received and evaluated by different offices within the Air Force and handled on a Topic-by-Topic basis. Each office operates within their own schedule for proposal evaluation and selection. Updates and notification timeframes will vary by office and Topic. If your company is contacted regarding a proposal submission, it is not necessary to contact the AF to inquire about additional submissions. Additional notifications regarding your other submissions will be forthcoming.

We anticipate having all the proposals evaluated and our Phase I contract decisions within approximately three months of proposal receipt. All questions concerning the status of a proposal or debriefing should be directed to the local awarding organization SBIR/STTR Program Manager.

PHASE II PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS

Phase II is the demonstration of the technology found feasible in Phase I. Only Phase I awardees are eligible to submit a Phase II proposal. All Phase I awardees will be sent a notification with the Phase II proposal submittal date and a link to detailed Phase II proposal preparation instructions. If the mail or email address(es) or firm points of contact have changed since submission of the Phase I proposal, correct information shall be sent to the AF at [email protected]. Phase II efforts are typically 27 months in duration (24 months technical performance, with 3 additional months for final reporting) with an initial value not to exceed $750,000.

NOTE: Phase II awardees should have a Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) approved accounting system. It is strongly urged that an approved accounting system be in place prior to the AF Phase II award timeframe. If you have questions regarding this matter, please discuss with your Phase I Contracting Officer.

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All proposals must be submitted electronically at https://sbir.defensebusiness.org/ by the date indicated in the notification. The technical proposal is limited to 50 pages (unless a different number is specified in the preparation instructions). The Commercialization Report, any advocacy letters, and the additional Cost Volume itemized listing (a-i) will not count against the 50 page limitation and should be placed as the last pages of the Topic Proposal file uploaded. (Note: Only one file can be uploaded to the DoD submission site. Ensure this single file includes your complete Technical Volume and the additional Cost Volume information.) The preferred format for submission of proposals is Portable Document Format (.pdf). Graphics must be distinguishable in black and white. Please virus-check your submissions.

AIR FORCE STTR PROGRAM MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS

The Air Force reserves the right to modify the Phase II submission requirements. Should the requirements change, all Phase I awardees will be notified. The Air Force also reserves the right to change any administrative procedures at any time to improve management of the Air Force STTR Program.

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AIR FORCE17.A Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) Requirements

DFARS 252.227-7018(b)(8), Rights in Noncommercial Technical Data and Computer Software – Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program (May 2013), allows Government support contractors access to SBIR data without company-to-company NDAs only AFTER the support contractor notifies the SBIR firm of its access to the SBIR data AND the SBIR firm agrees in writing no NDA is necessary. If the SBIR firm does not agree, a company-to-company NDA is required.

“Covered Government support contractor” is defined in 252.227-7018(a) (6) as “a contractor under a contract, the primary purpose of which is to furnish independent and impartial advice or technical assistance directly to the Government in support of the Government’s management and oversight of a program or effort (rather than to directly furnish an end item or service to accomplish a program or effort), provided that the contractor—

(i) Is not affiliated with the prime contractor or a first-tier subcontractor on the program or effort, or with any direct competitor of such prime contractor or any such first-tier subcontractor in furnishing end items or services of the type developed or produced on the program or effort; and

(ii) Receives access to the technical data or computer software for performance of a Government contract that contains the clause at 252.227-7025, Limitations on the Use or Disclosure of Government-Furnished Information Marked with Restrictive Legends.”

USE OF SUPPORT CONTRACTORS:

Support contractors may be used to administratively process SBIR documentation or provide technical support related to SBIR contractual efforts to Government Program Offices.

Below, please provide your firm’s determination regarding the requirement for company-to-company NDAs to enable access to SBIR documentation by Air Force support contractors. This agreement must be signed and included in your Phase I/II proposal package

YES NO Non-Disclosure Agreement Required(If Yes, include your firm’s NDA requirements in your proposal)

Company: Proposal Number:

Address: City/State/Zip:

Proposal Title:

Name Date: _____________________

Title/Position

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AIR FORCE SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR)/SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAMS “COMPLIANCE WITH

SBIR/STTR PROGRAM RULES”

The undersigned has fully and completely reviewed this training on behalf of the proposer/awardee, understands the information presented in this training, and has the authority to make this certification on behalf of the proposer/awardee. The undersigned understands providing false or misleading information during any part of the proposal, award, or performance phase of a SBIR or STTR contract or grant may result in criminal, civil or administrative sanctions, including but not limited to: fines, restitution, and/or imprisonment under 18 USC 1001; treble damages and civil penalties under the False Claims Act, 31 USC 3729 et seq.; double damages and civil penalties under the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act, 31 USC 3801 et seq.; civil recovery of award funds; suspension and/or debarment from all federal procurement and non-procurement transactions, FAR Part 9.4 or 2 CFR Part 180; and other administrative remedies including termination of active SBIR/STTR awards.

________________________ _______________Signature Date

________________________Name

_________________________ _________________Firm Name and Position Title Proposal Number

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AIR FORCE STTR 17.A Topic Index

AF17A-T001 Fast Response Heat Flux Sensors and Efficient Data Reduction Methodology for Hypersonic Wind Tunnels

AF17A-T002 Sensors for High Pressure and Temperature Hypersonic Testing FacilitiesAF17A-T003 Improved Calibration of Sensors and Instruments used for Measurement of High Speed FlowAF17A-T004 Physics-Based and Computationally Efficient Combustion Chemistry Modules with

Acceptable Uncertainty for Air Force Relevant Hydrocarbon FuelsAF17A-T005 Alternative Methods for Creating a Sodium GuidestarAF17A-T006 Three-sided Pyramid Wavefront SensorAF17A-T007 Automated 3D Reconstruction and Pose Estimation of Space Objects Using Ground Based

Telescope ImageryAF17A-T008 Unified sensor for atmospheric turbulence and refractivity characterizationAF17A-T009 Learner Engagement and Motivation to Learn Assessment and Monitoring SystemAF17A-T010 Flexible Broad-band Optical DeviceAF17A-T011 Blended Reality Solution for Live, Virtual, and Constructive Field TrainingAF17A-T012 Development lightmap rendering technology to advance infrared simulation capabilities for

training applicationsAF17A-T013 Spectrum Localization for Improved Situational AwarenessAF17A-T014 Reliable Aerothermodynamic Predictions for Hypersonic Flight for High Speed ISRAF17A-T015 Design Analysis Methodology for Topology Optimization of Thermally Loaded StructuresAF17A-T016 LWIR Thermal Imager for Combustion ProcessAF17A-T017 Methodology for Optimization of Bodies Subjected to Loads Produced by Chaotic FlowsAF17A-T018 Adaptive and Smart Materials for Advanced Manufacturing MethodsAF17A-T019 High Strain Composite Testing MethodologiesAF17A-T020 Diagnostics for Multiphase BlastAF17A-T021 High speed, multispectral, linear polarization displayAF17A-T022 Plasmonic Metamaterial Approach to Infrared Scene ProjectionAF17A-T023 Practical Application of Molecular-Scale Modeling to Problems at the Grain Scale and

LargerAF17A-T024 III-Nitride Ternary Alloy Substrates for UV(A/B/C) and UWBG DevelopmentAF17A-T025 Structural profile disruption effects for high-velocity air vehiclesAF17A-T026 Midwave Infared (MWIR) Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCL) Thermal MonitoringAF17A-T027 Target Tracking via Deep LearningAF17A-T028 Quantum Sensor for Direction Finding and GeolocationAF17A-T029 Fast Optical Limiters (OL) with Enhanced Dynamic Range

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AIR FORCE STTR 17.A Topic Descriptions

AF17A-T001 TITLE: Fast Response Heat Flux Sensors and Efficient Data Reduction Methodology for Hypersonic Wind Tunnels

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Air Platform

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 5.4.c.(8) of the Announcement and within the AF Component-specific instructions. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. Please direct questions to the AF SBIR/STTR Contracting Officer, Ms. Gail Nyikon, [email protected].

OBJECTIVE: Develop robust sensors and an efficient data reduction methodology to obtain temporally and spatially resolved surface temperature and heat flux measurements on test articles in blowdown and continuous hypersonic wind tunnels

DESCRIPTION: The Air Force needs robust surface heat flux sensors that provide spatially resolved surface temperature and heat flux measurements on test articles in blowdown and continuous hypersonic wind tunnels. Such measurements are needed to fully understand the state of the boundary layer and provide high quality transitional and turbulent heat transfer data for designing hypersonic vehicles and validating computations of the same flows. Critical areas where heat flux measurement are needed include leading edges with small radii from 5 mm to 15 mm, control surfaces, and vehicle base.

The thin film sensors that have been successfully used in impulse facilities [1] have yet to be successfully deployed in blowdown hypersonic wind tunnels which have a total run time between 0.5 and 5 seconds. Blowdown facilities require sensors that minimize surface hot spots and provide an improved durability to erosion since test times in blowdown facilities are typically between 10 and 1000 times longer than in impulse facilities. The longer test time also implies that multidimensional heat conduction effects can be present in areas with large lateral temperature gradients such as leading edges. The sensors and data reduction methodology need to provide both surface temperature and heat transfer in standard stainless steel test articles and account for lateral heat conduction and temperature dependent thermal properties. The frequency response needs to be above 500 kHz to characterize flow instabilities and turbulent spots.

High frequency measurement of 2nd mode instabilities have been successfully performed with Atomic Layer Thermopile (ALTP) sensor [2, 3] and survivability on probes and heat shields has been demonstrated in blowdown wind tunnels [4]. However, ALTP sensors have a large footprint which prevents close sensor spacing and measurements in area of small surface curvature. The new sensors need to provide multiple point measurements on small leading edge radii where multidimensional conduction effects can be significant over the test period. For leading edges, substrate materials with a lower thermal conductivity such as MACOR might be acceptable, but sensor integration must provide well defined boundary conditions for data reduction. The sensors must sustain surface temperatures as high as ~1000 K which is a requirement for leading edges in typical blowdown hypersonic tunnels and over the test article surface in continuous hypersonic tunnels. In continuous tunnels, heat transfer measurements are performed by injecting the test articles for multiple short duration segments (with retraction and cool down periods). However, the sensors must sustain prolonged hypersonic flow during force-and-moment testing (aerodynamic test segments) during which the test article surface temperature approaches the flow recovery temperature.

In Phase 1, proposers shall evaluate the sensor requirements and perform numerical or analytical design studies. In addition, a prototype sensor and data reduction methodology shall be developed. Finally, the proposers shall perform

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primary bench top calibrations and small scale testing on a well-defined test configuration subjected to a well-characterized hypersonic flow. In Phase 2, proposers shall further refine the sensor design and implement an efficient data reduction methodology. Detailed static and dynamic calibrations shall be performed to demonstrate the sensor frequency response and absolute heat transfer precision and accuracy. Finally, the proposer shall demonstrate the sensor ruggedness, precision, accuracy and frequency response in a representative hypersonic flow environment in a pertinent experimental facility.

PHASE I: Evaluate the sensor requirements, perform numerical/analytical design studies, and develop prototype sensors, test article and data reduction algorithms. Perform preliminary bench top calibrations and testing in a small scale hypersonic facility under a well characterized flowfield.

PHASE II: Develop sensors and efficient data reduction methodology. Demonstrate and deliver sensors, signal conditioning hardware, data reduction, and documentation to a pertinent hypersonic experimental facility.Demonstrate the sensor ruggedness, precision, accuracy and frequency response in a representative hypersonic flow environment in a pertinent experimental facility

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Validated sensors and data reduction software may be offered to government, universities, and industry.

REFERENCES:1. Timothy Wadhams, Michael Holden, Matthew Maclean, Charles Campbell, Experimental Studies of Space Shuttle Orbiter Boundary Layer Transition at Mach Numbers from 10 to 18, AIAA Paper 2010-1576

2. Tim Roediger, Helmut Knauss, Boris V. Smorodsky, Malte Estorf, Steven P. Schneider, Instability Waves Measured Using Fast-Response Heat-Flux Gauges, Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 266-273, 2009

3. Michael A. Kegerise, Shann J. Rufer, Unsteady Heat-Flux Measurements of Second-Mode Instability Waves in a Hypersonic Boundary Layer, AIAA Paper 2016-0357

4. Eric Marineau, Daniel Lewis, Michael Smith, John Lafferty, Molly White, Adam Amar, Investigation of Hypersonic Laminar Heating Augmentation in the Stagnation Region, AIAA Paper 2013-308

KEYWORDS: Heat flux sensor, temperature sensor, hypersonic flow, hypersonic wind tunnel, turbulence in hypersonic flows, boundary-layer transition, heat conduction

AF17A-T002 TITLE: Sensors for High Pressure and Temperature Hypersonic Testing Facilities



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OBJECTIVE: Design and develop temperature, pressure, and gas mixture composition measurement systems that will survive in harsh (2000 psi and 4000 Â°F) test facility flow environments.

DESCRIPTION: Hypersonic ground test facilities used in the development of high-speed flight systems currently lack a comprehensive suite of pressure, temperature, and gas mixture composition sensing systems that are able to survive long durations (5+ minutes) in high pressure (2000 psi) and temperature (4000 Â°F) environments. Current systems are typically actively cooled with complex water cooling systems. Water-cooled nickel and copper devices are typically employed; however, these require frequent replacement which can be costly from both material and labor standpoints. This approach leads to systems that are prohibitively expensive which limits usefulness and precludes smaller research programs from acquiring robust instrumentation suites to comprehensively evaluate the test medium. As a result, ground test programs reduce the fidelity of their instrumentation systems which could result in increased risk to future flight test programs due to the lack of sufficient ground test data.

Improvements in both sensor material and installation are required to minimize sensor replacement necessary due to oxidation and wear. Sensors that do not require water cooling would be desirable. Lower cost pressure, temperature, and gas mixture composition sensing systems will allow programs to acquire the instrumentation suite necessary to evaluate the ground test facility test medium at higher levels of resolution. The higher resolution will allow test programs to determine the impact of baseline facility flow quality and test induced flow disruptions (e.g., inlet distortion) on scramjet system performance prior to flight test.

Phase 1 will develop pressure, temperature, and gas mixture composition (O2 concentration, especially) sensing systems capable of withstanding 2000 psi and 4000 Â°F environments in a laboratory environment. Phase II will continue this sensor and instrument package development then deliver and demonstrate instruments at an Air Force test facility. In Phase III, the increasing attention being given to hypersonic flight underscores the need for improved pressure, temperature, and gas composition measurement systems. The systems developed are expected to have applicability in government and commercial hypersonic ground test facilities.

PHASE I: Develop pressure, temperature, and gas mixture composition (O2 concentration, especially) sensing systems capable of withstanding 2000 psi and 4000 Â°F environments in a laboratory environment.

PHASE II: Continue sensor and instrument package development then deliver and demonstrate instruments at an Air Force test facility.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The increasing attention being given to hypersonic flight underscores the need for improved pressure, temperature, and gas composition measurement systems. The systems developed are expected to have applicability in government and commercial hypersonic ground test facilities.

REFERENCES:1. AIAA 1992-5105, Application of intrusive flow field probing techniques around a hypersonic lifting body at AEDC, A. Davenport, W. Strike, and J. Maus.

2. AIAA 2004-2594, Advances in Aerodynamic Probes for High-Enthalpy Applications, Heather MacKinnon, Gregg Beitel, Robert Hiers, and Daniel Catalano.

3. AIAA 2004-2592, Electroformed Diagnostic Probes for High-Temperature Gas Flows, Gregg Beitel, Daniel Catalano, Richard Edwards.

KEYWORDS: hypersonic; high pressure; high temperature; transducer

AF17A-T003 TITLE: Improved Calibration of Sensors and Instruments used for Measurement of High Speed Flow

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OBJECTIVE: Develop hardware, techniques, and standards required to improve the calibration of sensors used to measure high speed airflow.

DESCRIPTION: Scientific understanding of the multi-physics underlying the interaction of high speed flows and structural response of airframes to aerothermal effects, shocks, and high frequency flow oscillations depends on our ability to measure and model complex flow fields as they pass over and around the airframe. These airframes may vibrate, flex, and ablate during ground or flight test, leading to additional flow field perturbations and dynamical changes. While current and next generation sensors and instruments may have the ability to measure various parameters of interest for characterizing airflow and structural responses, understanding these measurements and relating them properly to physics-based models depends on accurate instrument calibration throughout the measurement period.

The Air Force is looking to improve calibration capabilities for instruments that measure flow and structure behavior in high speed airflows. Of particular interest is the flow regime where aerothermal effects are present, generally at speeds of Mach 5 and higher. At these speeds, high frequency oscillations in the incoming airflow are critical to the flow development around the vehicle so improved calibration for instruments capable of making measurements up to several MHz are of high interest. Responses that address the calibration of instruments commonly employed for use in high speed wind tunnels are sought, but proposals addressing the calibration of next generation instruments may be considered for sensors that have been successfully demonstrated and ready to enter the commercial market. Although sensors that measure pressure are of high interest, sensors that measure temperature, heat flux, wall shear stress, or paints that are sensitive to temperature or pressure at high time resolution will also be considered. In some cases the sensing system may rely on external sources, such as particles for PIV or light for Schlieren, for the measurement to be made, so the calibration process may need to take source generation and uniformity into account. Calibration may also be sensitive to instrument gain, electrical junctions, line delays, and electronics temperature changes induced by sensor current changes, so comprehensive approaches are encouraged. The approach should include evaluation of the effects of known extraneous environmental inputs such as mechanical vibration and temperature as well as off-axis response when applicable.

Proposers must discuss plans for testing in wind tunnels or other appropriate facilities capable of Mach 5+ in the Phase 1 proposal, although testing and detailed test plans will not be required until Phase 2. The Phase 1 proposal team must include members with the necessary expertise to conduct experimental tests safely at these facilities, discuss this expertise in the proposed approach, and demonstrate this when the credentials of key personnel.

In Phase 1 proposers shall identify class of sensors and instruments, document current industry standard for their calibration, develop new or improved calibration concepts and techniques, and demonstrate, measure, and quantify potential for calibration improvements for 2 or more instruments in this class. In Phase 2 proposers shall develop calibration equipment, processes, and techniques for this class of instruments. Document calibration process and prepare it to become a new industry standard. Demonstrate and deliver NIST traceable calibration equipment, processes, techniques, data, and documentation to an Air Force facility.

PHASE I: Identify class of sensors and instruments, document current industry standard for their calibration, develop new or improved calibration concepts and techniques, and demonstrate, measure, and quantify potential for calibration improvements for 2 or more instruments in this class.

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PHASE II: Develop calibration equipment, processes, and techniques for this class of instruments. Document calibration process and prepare it to become a new industry standard. Demonstrate and deliver NIST traceable calibration equipment, processes, techniques, data, and documentation to an Air Force facility.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Calibration equipment, instruments, and services may be offered to government, universities, and industry.

REFERENCES:1. Dennis Berridge. Generating Low-Pressure Shock Waves for Calibrating High-Frequency Pressure Sensors. PhD thesis, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, December 2015.

2. Eric C. Marineau. Prediction methodology for 2nd mode dominated boundary Layer transition in hypersonic wind tunnels. Paper 2016-0597, AIAA, January 2016.

3. Adam M. Hurst, Timothy R. Olsen, Scott Goodman, Joe VanDeWeert, and Tonghuo Shang, An Experimental Frequency Response Characterization of MEMS Piezoresistive Pressure Transducers, Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2014: Turbine Technical Conference and Exposition, GT2014, June 16, 2014, Dusseldorf, Germany.

4. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Traceability - NIST Policy and Supplementary Materials, Retrieved from http://www.nist.gov/traceability/.

KEYWORDS: improved instrument calibration, wind tunnel, flight test, high frequency oscillations, high speed turbulent flow, structural response, aerothermal, pressure, temperature, heat flux

AF17A-T004 TITLE: Physics-Based and Computationally Efficient Combustion Chemistry Modules with Acceptable Uncertainty for Air Force Relevant Hydrocarbon Fuels

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Battlespace, Chemical/Biological Defense, Electronics, Sensors


OBJECTIVE: Develop physically accurate and computationally efficient combustion chemistry modules, physics and pathway-centric kinetics models; validate and improve the models and quantum-chemistry computations; quantify and reduce the module's uncertainty.

DESCRIPTION: Combustion chemistry governs the changes from high-energy-state fuel/oxidizer molecules to low-energy-state product molecules during the energy conversion process in Air Force propulsion systems. Physically accurate and computationally efficient combustion chemistry models is a critical part of physics-based modeling and simulation (M/S) tools for developing future generations of Air Force propulsion systems such as solid/liquid rockets, aviation jet engines, and hypersonic scramjets. A major challenge facing advanced model development is the prediction of combustion dynamics phenomena, such as flame blow-out, combustion instabilities and/or ignition issues, wherein the chemical time-scales may be comparable to or shorter than fluid dynamics and acoustics time-scales [1,2]. Under such circumstances, the development of accurate and efficient chemical kinetics mechanisms are

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of critical importance.

The current state-of-the-practice for combustion kinetics models used in large scale computations such as large eddy simulations (LES) remain mostly inadequate. The vast majority of the codes and simulations utilize simplified global kinetics models that are anchored on global quantities (such as flame speed) at limited conditions. Such models are inherently incapable of capturing the rich dynamics present in non-premixed and partially premixed turbulent flames. At the other end of the spectrum are highly detailed combustion reaction models. For Air Force relevant heavy hydrocarbon fuels, these detailed models involve thousands of species and hundreds of thousands of reaction steps with even larger numbers of underdetermined model parameters. Not only are these intractable for reacting-LES calculations, the vast majority of such detailed mechanisms remain significantly un-validated for Air Force relevant conditions. To meet the challenges in both physics model representation and computation efficiency in combustion chemistry modeling, AFOSR and other agencies have been funding research in this area for many years. Recently, a promising new direction has been developed based on tracking a limited number of key/dominant reaction pathways using quantum chemistry consideration/computation and state-of-art experimental methods and diagnostics techniques. For real hydrocarbon fuels, it resulted in splitting the combustion chemical process into mainly experimental anchored pyrolysis phase followed by an oxidative phase only involving lower molecular-weight pyrolysis products, modeled by both experiments and quantum chemistry computations [3,4,5].

This topic focuses on the transition of the state-of-art, physics based, path-centric combustion chemistry models for Air Force relevant hydrocarbon fuels, leading to the development of accurate, robust and efficient computational modules with quantified and acceptable uncertainty. Proposals should consider all of the following areas in an integrated fashion: (1) Selecting state-of-art combustion chemistry models for Air-Force relevant hydrocarbon fuels and modularizing these models to be portable to and usable for available CFD codes; (2) Quantifying physical accuracy, computational efficiency, and prediction uncertainty of the developed modules using state-of-art evaluation approaches based on a set of logically defined unit-physics and canonical engineering test problems; (3) Defining the accuracy, efficiency and uncertainty targets acceptable for simulating relevant Air Force propulsion systems and identifying model gaps; (4) Defining needed experiments and quantum chemistry computations to close these gaps; and (5) Executing the previously defined experimental and quantum chemistry computations and improving the underlying combustion chemistry model to achieve the desired levels of accuracy, efficiency and uncertainty.

PHASE I: Phase I efforts are comprised of the above items (1)-(4), leading to a road map for a model/module improvement path using experiments and quantum chemistry computations to achieve the targeted physical accuracy, computational efficiency and prediction uncertainty acceptable for Air Force propulsion systems.

PHASE II: Phase II efforts focus on the above item (5), i.e., executing the required improvements using experiments and quantum chemistry computations to achieve the targeted physical accuracy, computational efficiency and predication uncertainty acceptable for modeling/simulating Air Force propulsion systems.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Demonstration of newly developed and validated kinetics model to canonical problems relevant to Air Force propulsion systems, in particular, involving non-stationary and off-design operation.

REFERENCES:1. Sardeshmukh, S., Anderson, W., Harvazinski, M., Sankaran, V., Study of Combustion Instability with Detailed Chemical Kinetics, AIAA Paper, 2015 SciTech Meeting, Kissimmee, FL, Jan 2015.

2. Sardeshmukh, S., Huang, C., Anderson, W., Harvazinski, M. and Sankaran, V., Impact of Detailed Chemical Kinetics on the Predictions of Bluff-body Stabilized Flames, AIAA Paper, 2016 SciTech Meeting, San Diego, CA, Jan 2016.

3. Yang Gao, Ruiqin Shan, Sgouria Lyra, Cong Li, Hai Wang, Jacqueline H.Chen, Tianfeng Lu, On lumped-reduced reaction model for combustion of liquid fuels, Combustion and Flame 163 (2016) 437-446.

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4. Sayak Banerjee, Rei Tangko, David A. Sheen, Hai Wang, C. Tom Bowman, An experimental and kinetic modeling study of n-dodecane pyrolysis and oxidation, Combustion and Flame (2015) 1-19.

5. Klippenstein, S. J., Pande, V. S., Truhlar, D. G. "Chemical kinetics and mechanisms of complex systems: A perspective on recent theoretical advances.â€ Journal of the American Chemical Society, 136, 528-546 (2016).

KEYWORDS: Combustion kinetics, hydrocarbon fuels, pyrolysis and oxidation, aerospace propulsion systems

AF17A-T005 TITLE: Alternative Methods for Creating a Sodium Guidestar

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Battlespace, Electronics, Sensors

OBJECTIVE: Demonstrate Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers as a possible source to excite mesospheric sodium at 589 nm and 1141 nm to provide cheaper, more useful, and more powerful cooperative sources for adaptive optics.

DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this development is to investigate and implement novel techniques to develop single color (589 nm) and two color (589 nm and 1141 nm) Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL) for use as a sodium guidestar. A guidestar is a cooperative source in the mesosphere created by the excitation of neutrally charged mesospheric sodium metal. The sodium atoms are excited to their first excited state by 589 nm laser light. These atoms then fluoresce and create an artificial star at the edge of the atmosphere. This fluorescence is used as a cooperative beacon for large aperture telescopes' adaptive optics systems. A 589 nm guidestar is the primary excitation source for all current sodium guidestars; however, these guidestars are generally very complex with > 30 optical elements and very expensive > $1M in acquisition cost. Because of the wavelength selectability, small footprint, and simplistic design a VECSEL could provide a cheaper, less complex source for a sodium guidestar at 589 nm. Current developments of 589 nm VECSELs have focused on frequency doubling of an 1178 nm VECSEL to provide 589 nm light. Such a system would require narrow linewidth (20 MHz) and > 10W of output power. During the same development effort, an 1141 nm VECSEL source could also be grown to provide excitation of the next excited state in sodium when used with a 589 nm source. Such an 1141 nm VECSEL source could be paired with a traditional sodium laser guidestar at 589 nm or with a VECSEL guidestar at 589 nm. An 1141 nm guidestar would be utilized to create a sodium polychromatic laser guidestar (PLGS). A PLGS system would allow for the correction of atmospheric induced Tip and Tilt aberrations without the use of a natural guidestar. A PLGS VECSEL must be narrowband at 1141 nm (500 MHz) and must have an output power >10W. PLGS guidestars do not currently exist and would be a monumental increase in corrective ability for AO systems, especially for dim objects. Phase 1 of this development would involve demonstrating the technologies and growth of VECSEL chips for a VECSEL guidestar at 589 nm and 1141 nm. Phase 2 of this development would constitute laboratory prototype development and system robustness improvement. Phase 3 of this development would involve production of a facility grade laser guidestar system capable of being used with a large aperture telescope.

PHASE I: 1. Develop VECSELs emitting at 1141 nm and 1178 nm2. Develop High Power (>10W) VECSEL emitting at 1141 nm and/or 1178nm3. Develop high power (>10W) VECSEL emitting at 1141 nm and/or 589 nm (via SHG)4. Develop Narrow linewidth ( < 1 GHz), tunable (5 GHz tuning), high power (> 10W) VECSELs emitting at 1141 nm and/or 589 nm (via SHG)

PHASE II: 1. Develop laboratory demonstration system of Phase 1 as a proof of concept capable of pumping sodium through use of an evacuated sodium cell2. Develop wavelength stability, system robustness, and system concept of use on a telescope at 1141 nm and 589 nm3. Produce a proof of concept system capable of attaching to a telescope for an on-sky test of this system at 1141 nm or 589 nm

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PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: 1. Deliver a working prototype VECSEL guidestar PLGS system capable of attaching to a telescope for an on-sky test of this system at 1141 nm1. Deliver a working prototype VECSEL guidestar capable of attaching to a telescope for an on-sky test of this system at 589 nm

REFERENCES:1. Fallahi, M., Fan, L., Kaneda, Y., Hessenius, C., Hader, J., Li, H., Moloney, J. V., Kunert, B., Stolz, W., Koch, S., Murray, J., and Bedford, R., “5W Yellow Laser by intracavity frequency doubling of high-power vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser,” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 20, No. 20, Oct (2008).

2. Ranta, S., Tavast, M., Leinonen, T., Van Lieu, N., Fetzer, G., and Guina, M., “1180 nm VECSEL with output power beyond 20W” Electronics Letters vo. 49, Jan (2013).

3. Kantola, E., Leinonen, T., Ranta, S., Tavast, M., and Guina, M., “High-efficiency 20 W yellow VECSEL,” Optics Express, Vol 22. Issue 6, March (2014).

KEYWORDS: VECSEL guidestar, 1141 nm guidestar, sodium guidestar, 589 nm VECSEL

AF17A-T006 TITLE: Three-sided Pyramid Wavefront Sensor


OBJECTIVE: Pyramid Wavefront Sensor (PYWFS) is a highly sensitive sensor compared to the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS). We want to design and build a three-sided PYWFS as it is very difficult to build a four-sided PYWFS.

DESCRIPTION: Wavefront sensing is one of the key elements of an Adaptive Optics System. Though the Shack-Hartmann Wavefront Sensor (SHWFS) is most commonly used for astronomical applications, the high sensitivity and large dynamic range offered by the Pyramid Wavefront Sensor (PYWFS) allows us to observe in adverse seeing conditions and sense atmospheric turbulence at the sensitivity limit imposed by physics. However, the person who built most of the conventional four-sided PYWFS has retired and it is mechanically easier to build a three-sided PYWFS. Through this STTR we want to test the feasibility of a three-sided PYWFS, design and build a three-sided PYWFS, develop a reconstructor for it, and compare it to the current state-of-the-art SHWFS. Successful bidders will to the greatest extent possible show:

1. Theoretical calculations to obtain wavefront gradients from a three-sided pyramid sensor. 2. Ability to develop a reconstruction algorithm to convert gradients to a reconstructed wavefront. The reconstruction algorithm shall be detailed and described.3. Understanding of the differences between a modulated and fixed PYWFS.3. Ability to come up with and justify a WFS performance metric, be it strehl, contrast, point spread function size and encompassed energy, or something else. 4. Ability to accurately model a three-sided PYWFS, a four-sided conventional PYWFS, and a SHWFS and demonstrate wavefront reconstruction with all three sensors. Compare the simulated performance of the three sensors 5. Ability to provide an opto-mechanical design for the three-sided PYWFS.6. Ability to physically build a three-sided PYWFS.7. Ability to set up a laboratory demonstration in which the three-sided PYWFS is compared with a SHWFS by using a laser/bench source. 8. Ability to integrate the three-sided PYWFS with an AFRL/RDS telescope.9. Understanding of the cost of hardware and software, as well as the people-hours and time required to design the three-sided PYWFS and its reconstruction algorithm.10. Ability to provide follow-on use by the Air Force under a cooperative agreement to be arranged in the future.

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PHASE I: Demonstrate theoretically and through simulations that gradients can be obtained from a three-sided PYWFS from which a wavefront can be reconstructed. Formulate an optical design for the three-sided PYWFS.

PHASE II: Build a three-sided PYWFS based on the optical design presented in Phase I. Develop a reconstructor for the three-sided PYWFS. Compare the simulated performance of the three-sided PYWFS with the four-sided PYWFS, and the SHWFS. Set up a laboratory experiment to compare the performance of the three-sided PYWFS with the SHWFS. The laboratory demonstration may be done with government help. At effort close, propose cooperative agreement to make sensor available to Air Force.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: With government help integrate the three-sided PYWFS on an AFRL/RDS telescope. Compare the performance of the three-sided PYWFS against a SHWFS with a bench source and on-sky. Provide a final report detailing the design and construction of the three-sided PYWFS, and its comparison with the SHWFS.

REFERENCES:1. Esposito et. al. First Light Adaptive Optics Systems for Large Binocular Telescope. SPIE 4839 164E, Feb 2003.

2. Hadi et. al. Development of a Pyramid Wavefront Sensor. AO4ELT3.13429, May 2013.

3. Kopon, D. Enabling Technologies for Visible Adaptive Optics: The Magellan Adaptive Secondary VisAO Camera. SPIE Proc. Vol. 7439, Aug 2009.

4. O. Guyon. Limits of Adaptive Optics for High-Contrast Imaging. ApJ, 629:592–614, August 2005.

KEYWORDS: Wavefront sensors, Pyramid, PYWFS, reconstructor, reconstruction algorithm, adaptive optics

AF17A-T007 TITLE: Automated 3D Reconstruction and Pose Estimation of Space Objects Using Ground Based Telescope Imagery


OBJECTIVE: Using a series of ground captured satellite imagery, automatically perform image registration to previous passes and simulations. Construct a 3D reconstruction of a satellite evaluating identity, pose, and configuration in less than 15 minutes.

DESCRIPTION: Using full passes of image data which show multiple satellite orientations, automatically create 3D wireframe images and automatically compare to existing models, evaluating identity, pose, and configuration change in less than 15 minutes (goal).

PHASE I: Develop an algorithm that automatically finds and matches features of satellite imagery to those of previous passes and 2D images produced from simulations. Register the images. 2D images of training satellite passes will be provided along with previous training images of the same satellite and 2D images from simulations. The automated process should function entirely on a standalone PC system.

PHASE II: Produce sparse and dense point cloud reconstructions of a satellite object. A sparse point cloud can be determined using multiple images of a satellite pass. A variety of techniques should be pursued that have the ability of performing a dense reconstruction, including shape from shading. This phase will demonstrate the ability to produce a 3D reconstruction with accuracies within 500 nrad of a satellite using a series of images.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Using the 3D point cloud of an object, perform a 3D registration to that of known model. This process should determine within a series of possible 3D poses, which pose is most

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appropriately matched to the 3D model that was derived from 2D imaging, within 15 minutes using a standalone PC.

REFERENCES:1. Charles L. Matson, Kathy Borelli, Stuart Jefferies, Charles C. Beckner, Jr., E. Keith Hege, and Michael Lloyd-Hart, "Fast and optimal multiframe blind deconvolution algorithm for high-resolution ground-based imaging of space objects," Appl. Opt. 48, A75-A92 (2009).

2. Michael Werth, Brandoch Calef, Daniel Thompson, Kathy Borelli, and Lisa Thompson, “Recent improvements in advanced automated post-processing at the AMOS observatories,” Proceedings of IEEE Aerospace, March 2015.

3. David R. Gerwe and Paul Menicucci, “A real time superresolution image enhancement processor,” Proceedings of AMOS, Sept. 2009.

4. Daniel Thompson, Michael Werth, Brandoch Calef, David Witte, and Stacie Williams, “Simultaneous processing of visible and long-wave infrared satellite imagery,” Proceedings of IEEE Aerospace, March 2015.

KEYWORDS: Computer Vision, 3D Reconstruction, Digital Image Processing, Satellite Imagery, Machine Learning

AF17A-T008 TITLE: Unified sensor for atmospheric turbulence and refractivity characterization



OBJECTIVE: Develop and demonstrate a compact electro-optics system capable of in-situ characterization of atmospheric turbulence and refractivity along the path to a space- or ground-based target without using an adaptive optics system.

DESCRIPTION: Simultaneous evaluation of laser beam irradiance characteristics at a target along with the line-of-sight sensing of atmospheric turbulence and refractivity effects is essential for the ongoing development of Air Force surveillance and directed laser energy systems. There is a growing need for remote in-situ evaluation of atmospheric turbulence, refractivity and laser beam characteristics (irradiance distribution, scintillations, beamfootprint, beam wander, etc.) along the path to space or ground-based targets. This characterization should be performed by a sensing system, which utilizes for its operation solely the optical waves scattered off the target - target-in-the-loop (TIL) sensor. This implies that the target is passive in the sense that it does not contain any on board sensors. The TIL sensor may use multiple wave lengths for refraction modeling. The TIL sensor should provide currently non-existing capabilities for simultaneous characterization of atmospheric turbulence and refractivity effects which are especially important for observation of space objects at low elevation angles and long ranges (< 15 degrees in elevation and 2,000 km, and 100 km ground based targets) for surveillance. Sensor design needs to be capable of measuring atmospheric parameters consistent with the models described in References 3.

PHASE I: Develop a TIL-based sensor system concept. Using wave-optics numerical simulations at two or more wavelengths, demonstrate technical feasibility of the proposed approach and evaluate expected accuracy of laser

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beam and atmospheric turbulence and refractivity characterization. The analysis should account for aberration factors and includes photon budget and signal-to-noise ratio evaluation.

PHASE II: Complete opto-mechanical design of the sensor prototype. Select optical and electronic components. Integrate system prototype. Develop sensing and data processing software. Perform the sensor prototype atmospheric evaluation with a stationary target over at least 10 km distance for horizontal paths and/or at 2000 km at 20 degrees elevation for space targets. Compare predictions and test results; identify differences and their causes.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Develop and demonstrate, over long (>100k m is preferred, 60 km is acceptable) ranges a ground-based targets and/or 2000 km range at 20 degrees elevation for space targets, an atmospheric sensing system capable of continuous monitoring of laser beam and atmospheric characterization along the dynamically changing line of sight to the space or/and ground based targets.

REFERENCES:1. Valerie Coffey, “High-Energy Lasers: New Advances in Defense Applications,” Optics & Photonics News, vol. 25, no. 10, pp. 28-35, 2014.

2. M. A. Vorontsov, “Speckle effects in target-in-the-loop laser beam projection systems,” Adv. Opt. Techn., vol. 2, no. 5–6, pp. 369–395, 2013.

3. Papers published in the Topical Conference of Optical Society of America, Propagation through and characterization of Deep Volume Turbulence, 2013-2014.

KEYWORDS: Atmospheric sensing and characterization, active sensors, scintillometer, directed energy

AF17A-T009 TITLE: Learner Engagement and Motivation to Learn Assessment and Monitoring System

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Human Systems

OBJECTIVE: Develop metrics and a system to persistently and unobtrusively assess and track learner engagement and motivation in and across learning situations and contexts.

DESCRIPTION: Over the past several years, the prevalence of gaming approaches and environments in training and educational settings has increase substantially. One of the underlying assumptions is that gaming environments are engaging and motivating and as such they draw learners into the content more directly. This more direct involvement is supposed to lead to improved learning, retention, and transfer although there is little compelling evidence to support this assumption. However, measures and metrics for learning involvement and motivation in learning contexts vary widely in their construct orientation and the underlying multi-trait multi-method nature of the measures themselves. Given that there is a continued interest in improving contexts for learning so that they are of greater interest to learners in context, this effort will conduct research to develop construct valid measures and will develop and demonstrate an assessment and monitoring system for learners in education and training contexts. For this effort, a learning environment that is focused on one of the following contexts is of primary interest: maintenance training, space operations, unmanned aircraft operations or medical care. Successful offerors are permitted to use an environment of their choice but a focus in one of the contexts identified above is preferred to constrain the application space to one of relevance and interest to the USAF.

A successful proposal will include: 1) The identification of key attributes of learner involvement, engagement, and motivation to learn and the development of subjective and objective approaches to capturing these key attributes in learners in learning contexts of interest.2) Development and validation of a taxonomy that relates the key engagement and motivation attributes with learning environment and content presentation variables with lesser and more effective training and education outcomes.

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3) Creation and validation of the measures and a measurement system that can be used to routinely, and as unobtrusively as possible, assess engagement in learning and motivation to learn.4) Conducting comparative studies evaluating different environment and content characteristics and their impact on learner engagement and motivation. Results from these studies shall be used to revise the metrics and the assessment and monitoring system as well as to develop data driven recommendations for environment and content design and delivery.

PHASE I: Phase I will result in the identification of the key indicators and attributes of engagement and motivation to learn and any metrics identified for assessment and tracking in the environment of choice. Identify specific learning strategies that have been used to promote engagement and motivation to learn in education and training contexts similar to the one of choice. A draft specification and design for an assessment system will be produced.

PHASE II: Develop and validate a data collection, analysis and assessment system for learner engagement and motivation to learn. Identify and develop criterion tasks and at least one environment of choice in which the system can be used, evaluated, refined and validated. Instructional strategies and learning environment design characteristics will be identified and embedded in the criterion tasks. Provide an integrated system for use in future operational educational and training environments such as those identified in the topic description above.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The phase III effort will integrate the system developed during phase II into representative operationally relevant learning environments utilized by ACC or AETC to demonstrate the system in real-time. The results will be quantified and documented. The final integration will be demonstrated.

REFERENCES:1. Brophy, J. (1983). Conceptualizing student motivation. Educational Psychologist, 18, 200-215.

2. Cannon-Bowers, J., & Bowers, C. (2010). Synthetic learning environments: On developing a science of simulation, games, and virtual worlds for training. In. S. W. J. Kozlowski & E. Salas (Eds.), Learning, training, and development in organizations (pp. 229-261). New York: Routledge.

3. Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Noe, R. A. (2000). Toward an integrative theory of training motivation: A meta-analytic path analysis of 20 years of research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 678 707.

4. Covington, M. (2000). Goal theory, motivation, and school achievement: an integrative review. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 171-200.

5. Pintrich, P.R., & De Groot, E.V. (1990). Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(1): 33-40.

KEYWORDS: student engagement, motivation, training, simulation, learning, learner involvement assessment

AF17A-T010 TITLE: Flexible Broad-band Optical Device


OBJECTIVE: Develop a flexible broad-band optical device capable of measuring optical properties.

DESCRIPTION: Recent advances in compact light sources, fiber optics, and computational optics, along with a continual advancement in spectral imaging technologies, are enabling a variety of imaging and spectroscopy methods for biomedical optics, atmospheric sensing, and environmental monitoring. These technologies have been applied to non-invasively measure oxygenation in the human brain and other tissues, detect disease states, sensitive detection of contaminates in liquid or gas samples, and diffuse reflectance based measurement of optical properties.

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The development of a flexible, low-cost, device capable of measuring the optical properties (including absorption and reduced scattering coefficients) will enable the completion of numerous research goals common to the Department of Defense, and within the associated industrial and research and development (R&D) base, as well as medical, environmental, manufacturing, and academic facilities. In particular, the need for broad spectral response is currently limited by single detector types within systems, or is limited by single light sources. In addition, supplementary engineering is required to adapt these systems to surface contact, liquid sample, or gas samples.

This topic seeks to explore the development of material approaches for such an optical characterization system. The program will establish a solution space for system development and explore a variety of approaches to meet cost, size, and capability performance parameters. The focus will be on the transition of emerging hardware and theory to develop the next generation in basic laboratory spectroscopic capability.

The system will be required to rapidly acquire data from solids (including living tissues), liquids and gases, and to obtain optical properties including the determination of absorption and reduced scattering coefficients. Capturing the dynamics of optical properties (i.e. change in absorption and reduced scattering over time) on a sub-second time scale is highly desired. Absorption and scattering properties over a wavelength range of 300nm to 2,000 nm is desired. It is highly desired for the system to be capable of determining optical properties for individual layers from samples with layered structure, such as human or animal skin. The system should be compact and lab portable, should include surface contact or system-mounted measurement options. The collection of data and extraction of optical parameters and spectral analysis are required within the system software.

PHASE I: Develop concepts for hardware & instrumentation software to enable a broad spectrum optical characterization system capable of point measurement of dynamic optical properties along with fluorescence & absorption spectra. The design will include capabilities for surface-contact measurements & should consider methods for determining optical properties of individual layers in an inhomogeneous sample.

PHASE II: Based upon the results of Phase I and the Phase II development plan, the company will develop a prototype for evaluation by the Directed Energy Bioeffects Program or another program as specified by the sponsor. The prototype will be evaluated to determine its capability in meeting the performance goals defined in the Phase II development plan and the requirements outlined in this description.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Applications for this technology are biomedical optics, analytical chemistry, materials manufacturing characterization, environmental monitoring, education, and general R&D. The system will have applicability for exploratory research & engineering, guiding future product development.

REFERENCES:1. Tanifuji, T. "Evaluation of time-resolved multi-distance methods to retrieve absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of adult heads in vivo: Optical parameters dependences on geometrical structures of the models used to calculate reflectance." SPIE BiOS. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2016.

2. A. Kim, et al., "A fiberoptic reflectance probe with multiple source-collector separations to increase the dynamic range of derived tissue optical absorption and scattering coefficients," Optics Express, 18(6), 5580-5594 (2010).

3. Ivancic, Matic, et al. "Extraction of optical properties from hyperspectral images by Monte Carlo light propagation model." SPIE BiOS. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2016.

4. K. Katrin, et al., "Ultrasensitive chemical analysis by Raman spectroscopy," Chemical Reviews, 99(10), 2957-2976 (1999).

5. Naglic, Peter, et al. "Extraction of optical properties in the sub-diffuse regime by spatially resolved reflectance spectroscopy." SPIE BiOS. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2016.

KEYWORDS: spectral imaging, optical characterization, broad spectral, absorption, scattering

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AF17A-T011 TITLE: Blended Reality Solution for Live, Virtual, and Constructive Field Training


OBJECTIVE: Develop and evaluate learning utility of a rugged, lightweight system to provide high fidelity blended reality for outdoor ground-based Battlefield Airmen LVC training.

DESCRIPTION: Live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) training methods have been successfully applied to tactical fast jet and Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) domains [1, 2]. The use of simulation reduces the need for support staff, live air assets, fuel, ammunition, and volunteers. By creating a virtual simulated environment, training instructors have a flexible training framework that can support a variety of training scenarios in a way that is more cost effective than live range training. Using a simulator for training works well for pilots and JTACs, as these environments can be replicated with an indoor simulator with relatively small space. However, given the broad set of techniques and procedures associated with the battlefield airmen specialties (e.g., pararescue [3]), full mission profile training is very challenging within the space limitations of a confined simulator. Further, while pilots and JTACs utilize their respective equipment to interact with the environment, many of the battlefield airmen mission sets require operators to largely interact with the physical world around them. Thus, there is a need for a solution that enables LVC concepts for outdoor, ground-based full mission profile training. Unfortunately, no such method to implement this training currently exists. Such a solution would leverage simulation methods to offset the costs associated with live training while providing the best learning and training experiences to the United States’ warfighters.

This STTR will evaluate approaches for the development of a blended reality solution that can be used in outdoor training. We define the blended reality solution as a system that allows trainees to simultaneously interact with both the live and virtual environments. The desired approach would track location and head orientation of the training participants within the virtual space; provide for use of a head mounted, see-through display that provides an overlay of virtual world elements, such as entities or buildings, on the live-world around the trainee and include personal audio of the blended reality environment. This approach has the advantage of injecting virtual and constructive entities while allowing trainees to fully interact with their live environment. Further, the system must be lightweight and rugged, given the military end-user. The addition of auditory stimulation is desired to provide an immersive, realistic environment for trainees. The STTR will also assess and validate the training utility of the system using data-driven learning metrics. Such metrics should be automated and unobtrusive to track training effectiveness and learner engagement.

The desired system will provide a framework for simulation training for personnel recovery and other ground-based warfighters. The training that will be enabled by this technology will encompass many of the tasks of a battlefield airman, such as medical care under fire, that would be difficult or costly to perform without simulation. The system should utilize LVC protocols and standards during development to allow for future system interoperability [4]. Government furnished equipment will not be provided.

PHASE I: Conduct a detailed analysis of existing technologies that may be utilized to create a blended reality LVC solution. Conceptualize and design an innovative blended reality solution for outdoor ground-based Battlefield Airmen LVC training. Develop an initial concept design and model key elements that will be fully developed in Phase II.

PHASE II: Develop prototype and demonstrate the selected blended reality training solution from Phase I. Determine fidelity, robustness, and learning utility metrics and levels required to have an effective training system. Systematically collect operator feedback and evaluate system based on aforementioned metrics. Summarize technical achievements, metrics analysis, collected feedback, and performance tradeoff analysis decisions in a technical report.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Refine design based on outcomes of demonstrations, tests and customer feedback in Phase II. Transition the capability to militarily useful platforms. Produce production representative

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prototypes. Provide user and maintainer manuals. Develop cost and schedule estimates for full rate production.

REFERENCES:1. Schreiber, B. T., Schroeder, M., & Bennett Jr, W. (2011). Distributed Mission Operations Within-Simulator Training Effectiveness. The International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 21(3), 254-268.

2. Reitz, E. A., & Seavey, K. (2014). Distributed Live/Virtual Environments to Improve Joint Fires Performance. Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (IITSEC), 2014.

3. AFI 16-1202, Pararescue Operations, Techniques, and Procedures, 3 May 2001.

4. IEEE Standard for Distributed Interactive Simulation Applications Protocols, IEEE Standard 1278.1-2012.

KEYWORDS: Live Virtual and Constructive, Blended Reality, Battlefield Airmen, Pararescue, Training

AF17A-T012 TITLE: Development lightmap rendering technology to advance infrared simulation capabilities for training applications



OBJECTIVE: Develop the capability to rapidly generate lightmap based models to enhance infrared capabilities in game engines/image generators to support C4ISR personnel training.

DESCRIPTION: State-of-the-art Command and Control, Computers and Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) training research requires rapid generation of synthetic virtual training vignettes to enable rapid response to requirements of the future fight. Existing efforts at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) enable generation of synthetic terrain using real-world imagery. However, these efforts only produce terrain. A critical shortcoming is the inability to render realistic infrared representations in real-time. C4ISR subject matter experts have stated that rendering physics-based sensor models, especially but not exclusively infrared, is an essential capability. A key capability required for physics-based sensor models is to develop cumulative temporal energy maps that models accumulated energy stored by a surface. This requires dynamic computation because moving entities shadow areas, allowing energy to dissipate.

One potential approach to the development and implementation of physics-based sensors models is the modification of lightmap rendering technology to create temporal energy maps. State-of-the-art game engines have advanced, photo-realistic lightmap technology that affects the appearance of modeled environments. One key feature of lightmaps is the ability to customize the special effects of the light: its direction, intensity, how it reflects off what materials. These features should make it possible to render realistic infrared. However, while building terrain is a fairly fast effort even for very large areas, building lightmaps is exceptionally computationally intensive, requiring many hours for smaller tasks up to days or even weeks for more complex tasks. Conveniently, some game engines/image generators have an off-the-shelf distribution system to allow distributed builds on a High Performance Computing (HPC) system. Other novel approaches to the development of physics-based sensor models

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may also be considered.

The scope of this effort is targeted at the development of a software to enhance real-time infrared capabilities within synthetic environments to support C4ISR training applications.

PHASE I: Research different physics-based sensor modeling methods and physics interactions, such as with materials. Develop methods of rendering infrared in image generator/game engine tools. Generate simple vignettes that demonstrate key rendering capabilities. Deliverable: A repository of images, movies, and interactive samples, demonstrating different approaches to rapidly generating realistic infrared imagery.

PHASE II: Configure and integrate the models into an existing image generation capability to support training effectiveness evaluation. Assess the capabilities of the prototype models in terms of fidelity and timeliness to meet the needs of C4ISR training. Deliverable: Configured and documented system in the C4ISR testbeds. Design and specify a stand-alone HPC infrastructure to enable local real-time energy map processing & streaming to support training RDT&E. Design document and bill of materials.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The immediate use case is directly applicable to the development of simulation-based training environments for the AF C4ISR domain. On the civilian side, this technology could advance the capability and fidelity of commercial gaming technologies.

REFERENCES:1. Arnaud, R. & Jones, M.T. (2000) Image generator visual features using personal computer graphics hardware. IMAGE 2000 Conference.

2. Segl, K., Richter, R., Kuster, T. & Kaufmann, H. (2012) End-to-end sensor simulation for spectral band selection and optimization to the Sentienel-2 mission. Applied Optics, 51(4), 439-440.

KEYWORDS: Virtual environment, sensor modeling, training, lightmap, image

AF17A-T013 TITLE: Spectrum Localization for Improved Situational Awareness

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Information Systems


OBJECTIVE: Develop a scalable multi-channel, multi-band architecture and algorithms capable of supporting Spectrum localization for improved situational awareness.

DESCRIPTION: Spectrum monitoring and RF source geolocation are critical tools for maintaining a situational awareness advantage in rapidly changing RF conditions. Modern urban battlefields are rich in RF emitters (friendly, hostile, and neutral) that are progressively wider band and operating across a growing range of frequencies. In response to this increasingly difficult challenge, the AFRL is seeking scalable, multi-channel architectures and supporting algorithms capable of collecting and digitizing multiple wideband antenna frontends, localizing RF emitters, classifying them, and efficiently presenting the information to the warfighter. These functions can be used

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to help the warfighter in scenarios that include: countering interference and jamming, monitoring RF emissions associated with suspicious activity, coordinating RF emissions among friendly users, and making jamming operations much more effective.

To meet the needs of future Spectrum Localization missions, it is critical that the proposed platform limit the assumptions regarding waveforms, and sampling rates to the absolute minimum. Instead, the platform should be specified and designed from the point of view of data throughput. In addition, platform flexibility should be ensured via either flexible expansion modules or firmware upgrades.

Currently, given current state-of-the-art systems, each processing element should be able to process data at a rate of >500 Gbps. In addition, at a minimum, the platform should be able to support 16 channels of with an instantaneous bandwidth greater than 1GHz. Similarly, the processing elements should be able to simultaneously handle both high input data rates and high-complexity algorithms for signal classification.

PHASE I: Develop source localization and classification algorithms and design a blueprint for a scalable architecture that supports these algorithms. Investigate SWaP and performance tradeoffs. Tradeoffs include instantaneous bandwidth, tunable bandwidth, dynamic range, number of beams / (bandwidth of beams), number of identifiable waveforms/features and system scalability.

PHASE II: Develop, demonstrate, and a multi-channel prototype platform capable of supporting at least 16 channels with an instantaneous bandwidth greater than 1GHz.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Develop spectral monitoring hardware and software for transition to appropriate platforms.

REFERENCES:1. T. S. Rappaport, Smart Antennas: Adaptive Arrays, Algorithms, and Wireless Position Location, IEEE Press, 1998.

2. V. Kalinichev, "Analysis of beam-steering and directive characteristics of adaptive arrays for mobile communications", IEEE Antennas Propagation Magazine, Vol. 43, No. 3, pp. 145-152, 2001.

KEYWORDS: Spectrum localization, direction finding, beamforming, classification, scalable processing

AF17A-T014 TITLE: Reliable Aerothermodynamic Predictions for Hypersonic Flight for High Speed ISR


OBJECTIVE: Develop a computational tool for analysis of laminar and turbulent hypersonic external flowfields in nonequilibrium to the required fidelity (high/low) for criteria driven by considerations of computational efficiency and reliability of prediction.

DESCRIPTION: High-speed ISR missions can be extremely challenging due to the complex flow behavior that includes interactions among various nonequilibrium physical phenomena for a broad range of length and time scales. This necessitates detailed representations of coupling between turbulent flow structures, and nonequilibrium energy exchange processes, such as the vibrational relaxation (vibration-translation exchanges), dissociation, electronic excitation and radiation for the high enthalpy flows in the Mach 6-12 flight regime. High fidelity numerical simulations include use of state-to-state kinetics for modeling nonequilibrium phenomena and direct numerical simulations (DNS) and large eddy simulations (LES) for flow turbulence. Detailed state kinetics based on master equations will include multiquantum rates obtained from one or more of the sources (or models) of quasi-classical trajectory (QCT), ab initio, or others such as the forced harmonic oscillator (FHO). These tools should be scalable for implementation on massively parallel computers and capable of both (a) direct numerical simulation and (b) reduced-order simulations. Lower fidelity modeling frameworks could include reduced-order models such as

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Landau-Teller, two-temperature vibration-dissociation coupling models, RANS turbulence models and other physics-based modeling approaches that can significantly reduce the computational complexity associated with turbulence and reactions but still maintain reliability of predictions. These tools should be versatile enough to allow for identification of dominant physical mechanisms in a broad range of flow scenarios and should enable new model development and validation. Criteria for model selection should be developed and implemented to allow for both high and low fidelities required for reliable predictive capability in an efficient manner. An integrated framework as a software deliverable containing these tools should be able to give reliable predictions of the aerothermodynamic flow field and quantities including drag, thermal loading, and gas surface interactions. An aero-optical analysis should be included but limited to illustration of the importance of fidelity of the aerothermodynamics modeling on signal propagation through the nonequilibrium laminar/turbulent external flowfields.

PHASE I: Develop, evaluate, and demonstrate predictive tools for three-dimensional (3D) laminar, hypersonic flows for both low fidelity and high fidelity state-to-state kinetics and criteria for model selection for both high/low fidelities.

PHASE II: Develop and validate predictive tools for 3D laminar and turbulent, hypersonic flows. High fidelity approaches for reacting turbulence will be based on DNS/LES and state-to-state kinetics. Develop criteria for model selection for both high- and low-fidelity approaches for reactive turbulence and demonstrate sensitivity of aerothermodynamics on signal propagation through simple aero-optic analysis. Document, deliver, and demonstrate predictive simulation tool to AFRL.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Commercialize the integrated tool for prediction of laminar/turbulent, hypersonic thermochemical nonequilibrium flows suitable for high-speed ISR missions. Government customers include Air Force, Army, Navy, and NASA. Commercial interests could include Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing.

REFERENCES:1. Josyula, E., “Hypersonic Nonequilibrium Flows: Fundamentals and Recent Advances,” AIAA Progress Series in Astronautics and Aeronautics, Vol. 247 (2015).

2. Josyula, E., Kustova, E., Vedula, P., and Burt, J., “Influence of state-to-state transport coefficients on surface heat transfer in hypersonic flows,” AIAA 2014-0864. Presented at the 52nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting (2014).

KEYWORDS: hypersonics, turbulence, state-to-state kinetics, nonequilibrium

AF17A-T015 TITLE: Design Analysis Methodology for Topology Optimization of Thermally Loaded Structures



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OBJECTIVE: Develop and demonstrate a methodology to optimize topologies of structures exposed to high thermal loads and other important loads for the design of novel lightweight aircraft embedded nozzles and engine aft decks.

DESCRIPTION: There is demand to reduce aircraft structural weight while safely responding to a more complex array of loads, and in the context of a more integrated aircraft system. Structures for supersonic and lower speed aircraft may be exposed to high thermal loads while supporting embedded nozzles within the aircraft outer mold line or when exposed to engine exhaust downstream of the nozzle. Traditional design methods have relied on superposition of loads in a linear analysis framework. As a result, important nonlinear responses and couplings are neglected. In particular, the typical practice of increasing stiffness by increasing structural size can exacerbate problems of structural response under thermal loads due to thermal expansion [1]. As an example of the costly failure of traditional design methods, the original aft-decks of some recent inventory aircraft have experienced cracks approximately 10 to 30 times faster than planned.

Stress-based topology optimization and nonlinear thermoelastic analysis has been found to be an effective strategy for mitigating thermal loads in two dimensions for structures relevant to engine decks and embedded nozzles [1, 2]. With this general approach, structure is placed where beneficial to meeting lifetime-based design constraints and detrimental injection of structure is avoided. Minimum compliance methods have been shown to provide poor designs [1, 2].

This topic will focus on development of a topology optimization method meeting needs not addressed in previous studies: topology optimization of lightweight structures in three space dimensions; inclusion of a broad range of heat transfer mechanisms; inclusion of a broad range of load sources; definition and inclusion of multiple load cases; and optimization of structures fabricated with metals, composites, or both. To be practical, the topology optimization capability needs to compute feasible optima on a high-performance workstation or modestly sized cluster in no more than a day of wall-clock time, with faster speeds expected in building block steps testing incremental functionality. The capability should also: be applicable to domain boundaries of arbitrary shape; output configurations ready to analyze with ABAQUS for verification; and compute stresses and meet stress constraints in an accurate fashion.

This topic will initially focus on demonstration of methodology in three dimensions for steady, nonlinear, thermoelastic analysis of metallic structure and the conceptualization of feasible approaches for addressing radiation heat transfer as a heat transfer mechanism coupled with the design analysis. The intent of Phase I is to identify a viable topology optimization strategy in three dimensions meeting Phase II objectives. Different topology optimization strategies have recently been surveyed [3]. Many of these methods benefit from the ability to compute analytical sensitivities as part of a gradient-based optimization strategy. In Phase II the methodology is extended and further demonstrated. Various load cases should be considered, including non-thermal mechanical and inertial load sources, provided they are thermally dominated. Radiation and convective cooling of substructure are additional heat transfer mechanisms of interest to include in the topology optimization process. Inclusion of composite materials should expand the range of design variables and potentially alter favorable topologies.

PHASE I: Develop and demonstrate a practical topology optimization method for stress-based, thermoelastic, design of low mass fraction, metallic structures in three dimensions subjected to a prescribed, steady, heat flux. Demonstrate the feasibility for including radiation heat transfer in two dimensions.

PHASE II: Extend the topology optimization methodology to include: radiation heat transfer; composite materials; and the definition and satisfaction of multiple load cases reflecting different notional use scenarios. Develop prototype designs of representative, lightweight structures demonstrating method functionality and practicality. Implement the methodology in scalable software; verify key analysis results with ABAQUS.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Transition to support the preliminary design of next generation air platforms (e.g., next generation tactical air). Applicability to spacecraft (lightweight structures subjected to diurnal temperature variations or re-usable launch) and lattice design of pressure vessels (e.g., nuclear).

REFERENCES:1. Haney, M.A., “Topology Optimization of Engine Exhaust-Washed Structures,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Wright State University, 2006.

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2. Deaton, J.D., “Design of Thermal Structures Using Topology Optimization,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Wright State University, 2014.

3. Deaton, J.D., and Grandhi, R., “A Survey of Structural and Multidisciplinary Continuum Topology Optimization: Past 2000,” SMO, 49(1), Jan. 2014, pp. 1-38.

KEYWORDS: topology optimization, thermal structure, air platform, lightweight structure, complex geometry, design

AF17A-T016 TITLE: LWIR Thermal Imager for Combustion Process


OBJECTIVE: Develop rugged, flexible, low-loss long-wave infrared (LWIR), fiber-based thermal imaging technology for analysis of combustion systems.

DESCRIPTION: There is a need for improved high-temperature thermometry for use in the gas turbine environment. Thermocouples provide a point measurement of the flow path component temperatures. Current commercially available high temperature thermocouples are unable to measure turbine inlet temperatures in most large gas turbine engines. Existing optical pyrometry methods face their own challenges, including interference from blackbody radiation, reactive combustion gases, the partially transparent coating surfaces, and the need to correct for coating emissivity changes as a function of temperature. Multi-color pyrometry systems have been developed to address most of these concerns, but accounting for the complex optical properties of the fielded coating will require a great deal of a priori knowledge of the coating surface condition. By operating in a region in which the coating emissivity is relatively constant, a pyrometer which operates in the LWIR could enable the user to get a much more accurate measure of the coating surface temperature; however, it will require a coherent low-loss, LWIR-transmitting optical fiber bundle that is small enough to fit through a conventional optical port in the engine case.

A coherent fiber bundle is an arrangement of optical fibers in a particular pattern (circular, hexagonal, etc.) that are bonded together to maintain this pattern throughout the length of the bundle. Coherent fiber bundles have been developed in the visible (0.4 to 0.9 microns) using robust silica glass fiber technology. Such bundles allow cameras to acquire images from locations unreachable to the camera due to space limitations and/or harsh environments. High-speed, high- resolution LWIR (8 to 12 microns) imaging fiber bundles are needed to transfer images from aircraft engines reachable only by probe penetrations into these high- pressure and/or high-temperature regions. Monitoring of aircraft engine temperature profiles and blade health condition will enable spotting of potential problems, such as wear and cracks, rapidly reducing maintenance cost and improving overall fleet readiness. However, the transmission of typical fiber materials (such as silica glass) drops quickly at longer infrared wavelengths. Other types of infrared glass fibers (e.g., chalcogenide) are under development that can operate in the LWIR but are relatively brittle, fragile, and tend to crystallize. New technology is required to provide inexpensive, rugged, high fiber-count bundles for routine temperature mapping and health condition monitoring in the LWIR. The goal is to develop innovative processes to produce flexible (8 cm bend radius) LWIR fiber bundles that are 2 to 10 meters in length, in a 6-mm-diameter bundle, and attenuation. Measurement specification requirements will include the capability to accurately measure local temperatures to within +/- 50 degrees F, with a spatial resolution of 0.002 square inch. The developed pyrometry system must be designed to withstand temperatures ranging from 1,500 degrees F (for the fiber bundle) to 2,000 degrees F (at the probe tip).

PHASE I: Determine the feasibility of fabricating a low-loss, stable glass fiber for the LWIR spectral range. Demonstrate feasibility of LWIR glass fibers suitable for production of flexible fiber imaging bundles.

PHASE II: Produce, demonstrate and deliver a LWIR fiber bundle capable of providing a spatial resolution of 0.002 square inch and describe path to increase number of fibers at useful diameters and lengths.

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PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The Air Force has requirements for LWIR fiber bundles for studying combustions processes in systems such as turbine engines. This technology will also enable engine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to validate their combustion system performance models. Other potential applications include non-contact monitoring of high-temperature ceramic coatings and structures in commercial and military propulsion and power generation systems. Real-time surface temperature monitoring could also enable commercial coaters to better monitor their process conditions and enable the development of a more robust feedback loop for their process control algorithms.

REFERENCES:1. J.A. Davis, “Development of a Water-cooled LDV Probe for Rocket/gas-turbine Engine Environments,” Dissertation, The University of Alabama –Tuscaloosa (2011).

2. V. Gopal, A. Goren, I. Gannot, and J. Harrington, “Coherent hollow-core waveguide bundles for infrared imaging,” Opt. Eng., 43(5), pp. 1195-1199 (2004).

3. J. Estevadeordal, N. Tralshawala, V. Badami, “Multi-color imaging pyrometry techniques for gas turbine engine applications,” ASME 2013 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting. Vol. 2, Part 2, Article Number V002T11A007 (2013).

KEYWORDS: thermometry, pyrometry, fiber optics, coherent bundles, image guides, LWIR, thermal imager

AF17A-T017 TITLE: Methodology for Optimization of Bodies Subjected to Loads Produced by Chaotic Flows


OBJECTIVE: Develop a methodology and software implementation to optimize body shape and internal structural size when exposed to unsteady loads produced by surrounding chaotic flows (i.e., turbulent and other highly unsteady flows).

DESCRIPTION: The ability of numerical methods and computer hardware to simulate flow fields has continued to improve, leading to the feasibility of very high resolution methods that reveal the chaotic nature of unsteady flows encountered by bodies at Reynolds numbers on the order of 10,000 and higher. In a similar progression of technology, capabilities have emerged to optimize the shape [1], and potentially the internal structure, of bodies subjected to steady flows (e.g., the optimization of wing shape in transonic flow) using gradient-based optimization. This capability has generally relied on the ability to compute sensitivities (analytical or finite difference), or derivatives, of quantities of interest (e.g., lift/drag) with respect to relevant design variables, which has been demonstrated for analysis based on the Euler or Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations [2].

However, there is a barrier to directly applying gradient-based optimization capabilities to flow fields modeled with high-resolution techniques such as large-eddy simulation (LES) or direct numerical simulation (DNS), since the unsteady and chaotic responses produced by these techniques are not amenable to local sensitivity analysis. Owing to the chaotic nature of the responses, sensitivities computed locally can vary in sign (i.e., reflecting instantaneous conditions of objective increase or decrease). Reference [3] describes the fundamental challenges. Mitigating strategies that average responses over very large time records become impractical in terms of computational time and do not scale well in terms of number of design variables. It is unclear how either method works in the presence of shocks.

Recent work has shown promising results for sensitivity analysis and optimization. In Reference [4] sensitivities of a chaotic, two-dimensional flow field produced by shedding are computed with a least squares shadowing technique. However, this technique is quite costly and perhaps not practical in three dimensions. Statistical, gradient-free methods suitable for noisy and costly-to-compute objective functions have also been explored [5]. The Bayesian optimization approach was found to be effective for a fine-scaled chaotic flow, but for optimization of a single

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parameter. It is unclear how this approach will scale to dimensions of practical interest.

This topic will focus on development of a practical method for optimization of bodies subjected to air loads produced by chaotic flows. Here, practical refers to the ability to obtain optimization results without significant allocations of high-performance computing time, and for problems involving 10 to 20 design variables. In Phase I, emphasis will be on demonstration of feasibility of the basic optimization algorithm in two dimensions for flows with and without shocks, while in Phase II, the methodology is extended to three dimensions and applied to more representative problems. While the methodology may involve a specific technique of flow analysis, the methodology strategy for coping with chaos should be general and not dependent on the specific choice of analysis procedure.

PHASE I: Develop and demonstrate a practical shape optimization method for two-dimensional bodies subjected to air loads produced by a chaotic flow field (arising with and without self-excited oscillations, such as shedding, and otherwise stationary flows with shocks). Demonstrate scaling to problems of 10 to 20 design variables on modestly sized computer clusters.

PHASE II: Extend the methodology developed in Phase I to three dimensions. Enrich the cases examined in Phase I to include structural coupling (e.g., structural panel or tail subject to buffeting loads) and design variables associated with the structure. Verify that the methodology remains viable following the introduction of new time scales and responses arising from structural coupling. Demonstrate for 10 to 20 design variables on larger sized computing clusters for flow fields with and without shocks.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Transition the optimization tool to support the preliminary design of next-generation air platforms (next gen tactical air and mobility). Private Sector Commercial Potential: Applicability to design of commercial aircraft and marine vessels.

REFERENCES:1. Jameson, A., “Efficient Aerodynamic Shape Optimization,” AIAA Paper 2004-4369, Sep. 2004.

2. Nielsen, E.J. and Anderson, K.W., “Aerodynamic Design Optimization on Unstructured Meshes Using the Navier-Stokes Equations,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 37, No. 11, pp. 1411-1419, Nov. 1999.

3. Wang, Q., Hu, R., and Blonigan, P., “Least Squares Shadowing Sensitivity Analysis of Chaotic Limit Cycle Oscillations,” Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 267, pp. 210-224 (2014).

4. Blonigan, P.J., Wang, Nielsen E.J., and Diskin, B., “Least Squares Shadowing Sensitivity Analysis of Chaotic Flow Around a Two-Dimensional Airfoil,” AIAA Paper 2016-0296, Jan. 2016.

5. Talniker, C.A., Blonigan, P.J., Bodart, J., and Wang, Q., “Optimization with LES - Algorithms for Dealing with Sampling Error of Turbulence Statistics,” AIAA Paper 2015-1954, Jan. 2015.

KEYWORDS: gradient-based optimization, chaos, air platform, sensitivity analysis, shedding, large eddy simulation, direct numerical simulation

AF17A-T018 TITLE: Adaptive and Smart Materials for Advanced Manufacturing Methods

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Space Platforms

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this effort is to identify new materials that are suitable for advanced manufacturing techniques, like 3D printing, that accommodate adaptive properties with respect to mechanical, geometrical, or electromagnetic properties.

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DESCRIPTION: The AF is investing in advanced manufacturing methods including areas such as additive manufacturing. While the material choices and quality associated with these methods continue to improve, there is still room for new material options. One such category that is lacking development is that of intelligent or adaptive materials. These materials have found utility in industry for their reconfigurable properties to meet geometrical, mechanical, or electromagnetic variability needs. It is necessary that this class of materials not be forgotten from emerging manufacturing practices in advanced manufacturing fields such as additive manufacturing.

This STTR topic is soliciting business and institutional partnerships to research and develop materials suitable for advanced manufacturing techniques that allow for tailored material properties and sensing. Ideally the AF is interested in growing the available options for new materials that allow designers to create reconfigurable or 'SMART' components and be able to utilize emerging manufacturing methods.

It should be noted that additive manufacturing is not the only technique of interest requiring these new material solutions but is the source of motivation for this topic. Adaptive materials may focus on one or many adjustable properties and may be controlled using passive or active methods. Also as these materials can be stimulated to perform a change, it is also understood that that phenomenon may also allow some printed material to act as a sensor or actuator. While this STTR is more of a basic science investigation, proposers should not forget to consider the components or environments that these materials will operate in.

The space vehicles directorate, for example, develops technical solutions for satellite components. Additive manufacturing allows for a potential means of creating complex geometric parts in short schedules but these parts must be able to withstand extreme launch loads, wide temperature cycles, high vacuum, radiation exposure, and charging events without loss of function or capability. If a proposer's solution is a material that changes properties with applied electric bias, how will that material be utilized in space where deep dielectric charging occurs and may affect that material. Printed fluid channels may suffer from leakage over time as printed layers crack due to outgassing and radiation damage. These issues do not need to be solved early on, but need to be understood so that research efforts can be focused to properly develop these new materials.

PHASE I: A Phase I effort is expected to involve iterative material developments with material coupon samples and numerical analysis of adaptive properties under controlling stimuli. Proposers should work with TPOC to deliver samples early and often to capitalize on potential, but not promised, testing opportunities.

PHASE II: A Phase II effort should work toward the construction of some relevant widget based on AFRL TPOC guidance to demonstrate possible scalability and application of the designed material to meet a particular capability and space relevant environmental testing to examine how that material's function performs under different space effects.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Phase III would consider a flight unit for a system scheduled for future launch and may include the electronics necessary to evaluate the material on flight.

REFERENCES:1. D. Doyle; C. Woehrle; D. Wellems; C. Christodoulou, "Environmental Concerns with Liquid Crystal Based Printed Reflectarrays in Space," in IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol.PP, no.99, pp.1-1doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2538085.

2. David L. Edwards and Jacob Kleiman. "Introduction: Space Environmental Effects on Materials", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 43, No. 3 (2006), pp. 481-481. doi: 10.2514/1.25314.

KEYWORDS: Adaptive materials, Smart Materials, additive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, space effects

AF17A-T019 TITLE: High Strain Composite Testing Methodologies

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TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Space Platforms

OBJECTIVE: Develop detailed testing methodologies and procedures, enabling the fundamental understanding of high strain composite structural components for critical space strain energy driven deployable architectures.

DESCRIPTION: High strain composites (HSC) have recently gained regard as a viable enabling technology within the aerospace structures community as a means to fold space and aero structures with high reliability, stiffness, dimensional stability, and low cost. HSC's currently serve as a favorable prospect in evolving deployable solar array, reflector, and instrument boom architectures.

A significant challenge to widespread adoption of HSC’s is the lack of established constitutive mechanics to describe behaviors observed in thin composites subjected to high strain flexural deformations—the primary load case in HSC applications. In regards to carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), fiber failure in bending appears to occur at elevated strain levels contrary to values determined by traditional uniaxial testing approaches. It is also evident from stress-strain plots that there is an appreciable nonlinear tensile “stiffening” and compressive “softening” behavior present in the specimen when large strains are induced. The problem is that currently available test standards (i.e., ASTM) used to measure bending stiffness, strain, and failure onset of high strain composites are limited; typically resulting in lower material capacities non-representative of those observed in thin HSC's in bending. In addition, the fundamental nonlinear composite failure mechanics are not fully understood. The challenge lies in understanding the increased capacity seen in these thin composite flexures in bending; why do thin composites fail at elevated strains in bending? It is postulated that the heightened strains seen in thin flexures are attributed to tension mechanics causing an increase in local shear stiffness that stabilizes the compressive fibers by the adjacent tensile fibers. As a result, this prevents a compressive micro-buckling failure mode commonly observed in thicker composite samples [1-3].

Therefore, new test protocols are needed. It is desirable to develop a complete empirical and analytical protocol to characterize the composite mechanics of a thin laminate system in a high strain flexural loading regime pertinent to HSC applications. Specifically, the determination of critical parameters for understanding failure and stiffness at the unidirectional lamina level is desired. Such knowledge is critical for members of industry to design optimized HSC driven structural architectures. Expected work includes development of detailed test methods including both fixtures and procedures, creating and validating post-testing data analysis tools using commercial codes, and a streamlined lamina and laminate characterization workflow that leads to an industry recognized test standard intended for widespread use by the aerospace community.

PHASE I: Phase I work should identify the testing approaches of interest and prove its feasibility in high strain flexural application to CFRP and GFRP composite unidirectional lamina and multi-directional laminates.

PHASE II: Refine and validate the testing methods from Phase I by conducting a complete testing and analysis campaign with focus on developing comprehensive industry recognized testing standards.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Identify space industry recognized testing entities and transition previously developed methodologies.

REFERENCES:1. Thomas W. Murphey, William Francis, Bruce Davis, and Juan M. Mejia-Ariza. "High Strain Composites", 2nd AIAA Spacecraft Structures Conference, AIAA SciTech, (AIAA 2015-0942).

2. Thomas W. Murphey, Michael E. Peterson, and Mikhail M. Grigoriev. "Large Strain Four-Point Bending of Thin Unidirectional Composites", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 52, No. 3 (2015), pp. 882-895.

3. Michael E. Peterson and Thomas W. Murphey, "High Strain Flexural Characterization of Thin CFRP Unidirectional Composite Lamina", 31st ASC Technical Conference, 2016.

KEYWORDS: composite, high strain, testing, deployable structure

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AF17A-T020 TITLE: Diagnostics for Multiphase Blast

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S):

OBJECTIVE: Develop time-resolved test diagnostics to characterize particle and gas flow in multiphase blast.

DESCRIPTION: The damage mechanisms for the multiphase blast weapons used in Close Air Support (CAS) missions are not well understood. Multiphase blast (MB) imparts momentum to a target via two mechanisms -- particulates, typically in the form of metal powder with diameter in the range of microns to millimeters, and a shock wave generated by the high explosive (HE). Development, validation, and verification (V&V) of multiphase simulation models requires accurate information about the particle flowfield and detonation product gases. The gas phase is highly turbulent and the particulate phase exhibits instabilities like jetting and clumping that change as a function of distance from the point of detonation. The objective of this program is to develop new or improved diagnostic capabilities for explosively-generated multiphase flow of particles and gas. This data will be used for V&V of multiphase flow simulations, providing an ability to reduce the number of experiments while gaining insight into the parametric simulation space. Although this topic does not preclude novel diagnostics, optically-based techniques [1-3] are attractive in that they have a wide field of view for observing instabilities and large-scale eddies. Ideally, the diagnostic would: 1) provide visualization of the particle flowfield; 2) provide visualization of the turbulent characteristics of the gas flow; and 3) provide particle and fluid velocity and acceleration, and quantifiable data for the turbulent detonation products using statistical data analysis software.

PHASE I: The contractor will design a system concept capable of visualization and analysis of particles in the micron to millimeter range and the detonation product gases. Testing to show proof-of-concept is highly desirable. The test case can be a non-explosive to reduce cost, but should be in the supersonic, turbulent flow regime. Merit and feasibility must be clearly demonstrated during this phase.

PHASE II: Develop, demonstrate, and validate the component technology in a prototype based on the concept developed in Phase I. The Phase II effort should include time-resolved data from the diagnostic system for an explosive event in an indoor blast chamber. The Phase II deliverable is a prototype system (consisting of hardware and software) for evaluation by the Air Force.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The military application is a state-of-the-art time-resolved diagnostic system for multiphase explosive events. The commercial application might include non-detonation applications [4] for which gas velocity, particle reaction kinetics and gas temperature are of interest.

REFERENCES:1. Justin L. Wagner, et al., Pulse-Burst PIV in a High-Speed Wind Tunnel (AIAA 2015-1218) 2015,10.2514/6.2015-1218.

2. Charles M. Jenkins, Robert C. Ripley, Chang-Yu Wu, Yasuyuki Horie, Kevin Powers, and William H. Wilson, Explosively driven particle fields imaged using a high speed framing camera and particle image velocimetry, Int. J. of Multiphase Flow 51, pp. 73-86, 2013.

3. B.J. Balakumar, and R.J. Adrian, Particle image velocimetry in the exhaust of small solid rocket motors, Exp. Fluids 36 166â€“175, 2004.

4. R.H. Haynes, B.A. Brock, and B.S. Thurow, Applications of MHz frame rate, high dynamic range PIV to a high temperature, shock-containing jet, AIAA 2013-0774, 51st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition

KEYWORDS: diagnostics, multiphase blast, multiphase explosive, close air support

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AF17A-T021 TITLE: High speed, multispectral, linear polarization display

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Weapons

OBJECTIVE: Develop high speed, multispectral, linear polarization display capability, suitable for realistic stimulation of insect and crustacean optical systems.

DESCRIPTION: Develop high speed (exceeding 400 Hz), multispectral (UV and visible, approx. 300 nm - 650 nm), linear polarization (angle of polarization, degree of polarization) display device. Ability to provide realistic stimuli to wide field of view compound eyes (at least 2 pi steradian field of view) with adequate resolution (better than a degree) in tailorable multicolor imagery, which also displays desired linear polarization signal, with ability to specify both angle and degree of polarization, is desired.

PHASE I: Survey possible imaging device technologies; develop device concept. Demonstrate key critical areas using small numbers of detailed channels. Develop plan for full-scale device.

PHASE II: Build and demonstrate large-scale functioning device. Minimum angular size at device under test is approximately 30 degrees by 30 degrees (more is better). Show path to filling larger angular subtense.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Build and demonstrate prototype device, with minimum of two pi steradian field of view, equally illuminated in all parts of the field of view (no cosine fall-off), and meeting minimum temporal, radiometric, spectral, and linear polarization display capabilities suitable for characterizing insect and crustacean vision performance. Performance requirements to provide realistic imagery to animals under test will be based on then-current state of the art sensor understanding from the appropriate vision ecology research communities.

REFERENCES:1. Belusic, G., et al. (2008). "Temperature dependence of photoreception in the owlfly Libelloides macaronius (Insecta: Neuroptera:Ascalaphidae)." Acta Biologica Slovenica 50: 93-101.

2. Ewing, T. K., et al. (2012). Development of a polarization hyperspectral image projector, SPIE. 8364, 836408.

KEYWORDS: multispectral display, polarization display, wide field of view display, polarization projector, multispectral projector, wide field of view projector, linear polarization display

AF17A-T022 TITLE: Plasmonic Metamaterial Approach to Infrared Scene Projection

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S):

OBJECTIVE: Develop emission control materials for infrared scene projection technology to provide a high contrast, high resolution, high apparent temperature, broad-band solution for infrared hardware-in-the-loop scene projection.

DESCRIPTION: Hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing of infrared guided weapons requires high fidelity infrared imagery to provide target signatures in a simulated environment using continuous projection mechanisms (avoiding pulsed techniques such as pulse width modulation, etc.). Current technology limitations from resistor arrays prevent the required higher temperature targets from being achieved. Resistor arrays also suffer from poor temporal response, having a relatively long response (rise/fall) time associated with the technology, limiting the maximum frame rate. Alternative technologies continue to be investigated to overcome these problems, but introduce additional problems including narrow-band emission, angular limitations, low efficiency and bit depth/contrast

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issues. Recent results from the field of metamaterials, plasmonics and photonic crystals show promise for controlling and shaping thermal emission from structured materials systems. The purpose of this topic is to investigate approaches to thermal emission control for applications to meeting the growing need for a next generation scene projector, with emphasis on the mid-wave infrared spectral region. The research objective is to identify a design approach to overcome resistor array limitations and meet the Air Force need for a next generation HITL infrared scene generator. Design goals are for a 512x512 array of pixels

PHASE I: Investigate the applicability of structured materials such as plasmonics and/or metamaterials for infrared scene generator. Establish design requirements and define a design approach to building a target scene projector. Plan a Phase II development and demonstration activity.

PHASE II: Finalize the design for a prototype hardware-in-the-loop scene generator using emission control materials. Manufacture and assess a range of small form factor emitter designs to validate models and determine optimal design approach. Build and demonstrate a projector array prototype system to demonstrate the design approach and reduce risk for production of an objective scene projector system.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Produce a marketable scene projection system that satisfies DoD needs for a target scene generation. Work with an experience system engineering house to package and integrate the system with a drive control electronics and perform system calibration.

REFERENCES:1. Liu, Xianliang, Talmage Tyler, Tatiana Starr, Anthony F. Starr, Nan Marie Jokerst, and Willie J. Padilla. "Taming the blackbody with infrared metamaterials as selective thermal emitters." Physical review letters 107, no. 4 (2011): 045901.

2. Guo, Yu, Cristian L. Cortes, Sean Molesky, and Zubin Jacob. "Broadband super-Planckian thermal emission from hyperbolic metamaterials." Applied Physics Letters 101, no. 13 (2012): 131106.

3. Mason, J. A., S. Smith, and D. Wasserman. "Strong absorption and selective thermal emission from a midinfrared metamaterial." Applied Physics Letters 98, no. 24 (2011): 241105.

4. Wu, Chihhui, Burton Neuner III, Jeremy John, Andrew Milder, Byron Zollars, Steve Savoy, and Gennady Shvets. "Metamaterial-based integrated plasmonic absorber/emitter for solar thermo-photovoltaic systems." Journal of Optics 14, no. 2 (2012): 024005.

5. Lee, B. J., C. J. Fu, and Z. M. Zhang. "Coherent thermal emission from one-dimensional photonic crystals." Applied Physics Letters 87, no. 7 (2005): 071904.

KEYWORDS: metamaterials, infrared, scene projector, target simulator, plasmonics

AF17A-T023 TITLE: Practical Application of Molecular-Scale Modeling to Problems at the Grain Scale and Larger

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S):

OBJECTIVE: Develop practical applications of molecular-scale modeling techniques to modeling problems at much larger length scales.

DESCRIPTION: The Air Force is interested in techniques that can be used to predict properties and mechanical response for energetic materials. These techniques would enable advanced understanding of fuze well survivability and performance in modern weapon systems and allow predictions of munitions component damage, safety, and

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initiability during harsh environmental insult.

PHASE I: Develop theory and methods for property prediction, coupling methodologies and model validation, as specified above. They will lay initial groundwork for the resultant models and perform initial verification of the theory.

PHASE II: Develop serviceable framework for modeling and simulation that leverages the initial modeling groundwork from Phase I. Utilize this framework to make more advanced predictions and validate results against analytical predictions and experimental data.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Develop improved munition fuze components, energetic material formulations of munition component survivability and the applicable mission space for existing munitions. Improve commercial composites for high stress environments damage mechanisms. Improve mechanical fatigue of composite components.

REFERENCES:1. Tadmor, E., Modeling Materials: Continuum, Atomistic, and Multiscale Techniques, Cambridge University Press 2012

2. Lee, K., Joshi, K., Chaudhuri, S., and Steward, D.S., Mirrored continuum and molecular scale simulations of the ignition of high-pressure phases of RDX, accepted for publication to the Journal of Chemical Physics

3. Rice, B.M., A perspective on modeling the multiscale response of energetic materials, Proceedings of the APS Topical Conference on the Shock Compression of Matter, 2015

KEYWORDS: energetic materials, molecular dynamics, coarse graining, mesoscale modeling

AF17A-T024 TITLE: III-Nitride Ternary Alloy Substrates for UV(A/B/C) and UWBG Development

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Materials/Processes

OBJECTIVE: Development of controlled, variable lattice constant Al(x)Ga(1-x)N substrates for device design flexibility in epitaxial thin films. High-quality ternary nitride substrates will enable the development of UV (A/B/C) lasers and power switching devices.

DESCRIPTION: Optical and electronic devices both rely on high quality heteroepitaxial layers for their design. In materials such as GaAs and AlAs, the growth of high quality Al(x)Ga(1-x)As on GaAs is trivial, as both GaAs and AlAs have essentially the same lattice constant. However, when the lattice constants are different, dislocations can be generated which harm the device performance. Of particular interest is the development of thick layers (e.g. a substrate) of Al(x)Ga(1-x)N, where the Al alloy composition is variable (0.25 < x < 0.75), for which no substrates are suitable. Application areas of interest would include power switching electronics in ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) devices, UV light emitting diodes (LED) and laser diodes (LD) in the UVA, UVB, and longer edge of the UVC spectral regions. An availability of substrates for the III-N ternary alloy system, spanning all lattice constant values between AlN and InN, would promote greater flexibility and strain balancing capability for these devices without optical loss in LEDs and LDs, or reliability in breakdown voltages and performance limitations in power switching and RF electronics.

Ternary III-Nitride alloys can have some form of phase separation (undesired change from a ternary alloy, such as Al(x)Ga(1-x)N to its binary constituents, AlN and GaN) through three main degradation processes: thermal decomposition, spinodal decomposition, and surface segregation. Different bond strengths between the cations can cause thermal decomposition from the ternary to its binary counterparts. Spinodal decomposition occurs when phases of materials undesirably separate due to low energy barriers. This can cause both device useful minor

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compositional fluctuations as well as two completely separated, more energetically favorable phases. Surface segregation is perhaps the most disruptive of natural limitations of the nitride materials system. Surface segregation can be described as the tendency for various atoms to preferentially migrate vertically along the growth front and laterally across the film during the growth of Ternary III-Nitride alloys. When used as a substrate, all forms of thermal, spinodal decomposition, and surface segregation are detrimental as the constancy of the lattice constant laterally and vertically, defect structure and surface quality are all detrimentally affected.

PHASE I: Develop single phase, Al(x)Ga(1-x)N pseudo-substrates of 0.25 < x < 0.75. Composition, uniformity, and alloy quality controlled simultaneously.1. Diameter: = 25 mm 2. Layer thickness: = 20 µm 3. Composition: ± 3% of target (both radial and z)

The layer shall be absent of spinodal decomposition or surface segregation. Delivery of 3 layers of the same alloy composition (x) shall be required.

PHASE II: Expand the technology development (of Phase I), for AlGaN ternary substrates for the following metrics:1. Free-standing substrate, = 250 µm thick 2. 50.8 mm diameter 3. ± 2 % compositional uniformity (radial and z-direction) 4. Single phase, absent of spinodal decomposition and surface segregation. Delivery of one substrate and a final report shall be required.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Military Applications: High temperature power electronics, (e.g., power diodes, IGBTs, Thyristors, etc.). UV counter measures, water purification, bio-detection. Commercial Applications: UV laser diodes and LEDs for water purification, power electronics for switching, such as power MOSFETs.

REFERENCES:1. T. Saxena et.al. “Spectral Dependence of carrier lifetime in high aluminum content AlGaN epitaxial layers”, J. Appl. Phys. 118, 085705 (2015).

2. E. Iliopoulos, K.F. Ludwig Jr., T.D. Moustakas, S.N.G. Chu, “Chemical ordering in AlGaN alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 463 (2001).

3. S.V. Novikov, C.R. Staddon, R.W. Martin, A.J. Kent, C.T. Foxon, “Molecular beam epitaxy of free-standing wurtzite AlxGa1-xN layers”, J. Cryst Growth, 425, 125 (2015).

KEYWORDS: AlGaN, Ultra-Wide Bandgap, Ternary Substrate, Water purification, UVC laser, Power switching, Power electronics

AF17A-T025 TITLE: Structural profile disruption effects for high-velocity air vehicles

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Materials/Processes

OBJECTIVE: Localized heating may produce profile disruptions in air vehicles at high enough velocities to affect either/both structural integrity and trajectory. The topic seeks to model the effects of such disruptions over a range of velocities and conditions.

DESCRIPTION: The proposed effort studies potential damage mechanisms resulting in mission failure. Localized heating may result in holes/pockets (0.5 inch dia or greater) and/or local structural instabilities especially at the leading edge regions of assets at high enough velocities to affect either/both structural integrity and trajectory. The

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topic seeks to model the effects of such disruptions on performance of air vehicles over a range of velocities and conditions.

Well before burn through or back surface temperature effects on internal components, mechanical failure and/or profile disruption of structural materials may result in mission failure. For example, the induced flutter in softening or vaporized constituent materials for various boundary flow velocity profiles may amplify damage area induced by Directed Energy irradiation. Furthermore, at high enough mach numbers a simple hole/pocket, e.g. at 0.5 inch dia or greater, may be enough to induce difficulty in maintaining trajectory. Structural fluttering and ablation can be modeled using coupled micro/macro techniques to study the effects of instabilities directly induced by irradiation and/or amplified by aerothermal heating and acoustic loads present at especially leading edge regions. A flow boundary layer is critical to structural instability simulation, as the energy and momentum transfer from within the boundary layer drive the continuing deformation and flutter of the illuminated region, extending into the original structural profile and against the protrusions as the cyclic deformation proceeds. For associated models, velocities, structural features and damage initiation and development should be considered.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be employed to develop environment predictions, including extreme hypersonic environments; e.g. industrial developments at Dassault (France) include turbulence, high temperatures, dissociation, radiation, energy transport and slip flows in association with the Hermes space plane in 2D and 3D [1], currently embedded in an industrial stabilized finite element code including Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence, Detached Eddy Simulation, higher-order elements, and chemically reacting flows as part of the European project IDIHOM (Industrialisation of High-Order Methods) aimed at bringing higher-order capabilities to industrial applications, tested by project partners e.g. on a 3D Falcon jet geometry [2]. CFD is required for flutter prediction associated with transonic flows (shock waves, separation), esp for military applications with associated complex configurations requiring unstructured meshes [3]. Stabilized methods for unstructured meshes applied to turbulent flows are critical for such modeling, e.g. [4].

The aerodynamic/acoustic forces associated with development of holes/pockets will cause torques on the vehicle that especially at high mach numbers could cause loss of trajectory to target, as well as the potential for local heating effects especially in the case of associated thermal protection material systems (TPS) disruptions leading to amplified profile disruption through the structural instability mechanisms already mentioned.

Material types can be any layered TPS (i.e. materials systems enhancing esp temperature environment survivability) including specifically high-temperature ceramics and and/or polymers (and may include others) appropriate to vehicles traveling at velocities where the effects will be of consequence, generally suggesting hypersonics but the range of applicable velocities is of interest so a variety of material types and velocities are possible, with higher mach number systems being most likely to be affected.

The modeling can be used as well for informing countermeasures based on materials properties, adaptivity, coating protective systems, etc., which could also be part of the study.

An aerospace prime contractor partner is encouraged for structural, flight control and mission-relevant details. Government-Furnished Equipment and data are not required.

PHASE I: A modeling capability should be demonstrated that will realistically lead to combining flow velocity with profile features to assess effects on structural integrity and trajectory as specified in Phase II.

PHASE II: A full analysis capability shall assess the effects of hole diameters and pockets, of various size and shape, on flutter, propagating damage and aerothermal heating of various layered material systems over a range of velocity profiles to include Mach 1-7 and addressing supporting data as may exist. For given velocities, it is desired to know defect and local instability region sizes that produce a trajectory change of at least one degree/second as well as leading to gross structural instabilities associated with mission failure. Direct testing of model systems in wind tunnels or other relevant conditions is encouraged as may be possible.

PHASE III DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Potential long range military and commercial air platforms as well as government and commercial space vehicles must survive potential disruptions at relevant conditions of velocity and temperature, and relevant data and countermeasures are lacking. Skin panel temperatures associated with even

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commercial systems due to aerodynamic heating alone may reach hundreds of degrees Celsius (e.g.,85–108 C for the Concorde cruising at Mach 2.0, and 141–189 C for the Quiet Supersonic Platform at Mach 2.4. [5]) The present study can potentially aid designers in both mitigation of threat effects as well as effects of profile disruptions induced by service conditions at high velocities and temperatures.

REFERENCES:1. Chalot, F., Johan, Z., Mallet, M., Ravachol, M., Roge, G. (1992), Development of a Finite Element Navier Stokes Solver with Applications to Turbulent and Hypersonic Flows, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, AIAA-92-0670.

2. Chalot, F., Dagrau, F., Mallet, M., Normand, P. E., Yser, P. (2015), "Higher-Order RANS and DES in an Industrial Stabilized Finite Element Code," in N. Kroll et al. (eds.), IDIHOM: A Top-Down Approach, Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics and Multidisciplinary Design 128, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-12886-3_23.

3. Chalot, F., Mallet, M., Roge, G. (2010), "Review of Recent Developments and Future Challenges for the Simulation-Based Design of Aircraft," Proceedings, ICAS 2010, 27th Intl. Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences.

4. Calderer, R., Masud, A. (2013), "Residual-based variational mutiscale turbulence models for unstructured tetrahedral meshes," Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engrg., 254, 238-253.

5. Guo, X., Mei, C. (2006), "Application of aeroelastic modes on nonlinear supersonic panel flutter at elevated temperatures," Computers and Structures 84, 1619-1628.

KEYWORDS: heating, profile, TPS, flutter, trajectory, turbulence, stabilized methods, finite elements, CFD, industrial

AF17A-T026 TITLE: Midwave Infared (MWIR) Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCL) Thermal Monitoring


OBJECTIVE: Develop a thermal monitoring system capable of measuring the temperature profile of a MWIR QCL during operation (>100 mW) with high thermal, spatial, and temporal resolution.

DESCRIPTION: The MWIR spectral band (3-5 µm) is heavily utilized for homeland security and defense applications, including chemical sensing and infrared countermeasures. These applications require coherent light sources capable of generating >1W of optical power within cost, size, weight, and power (CSWaP) constraints. While these infrared sources have historically been either nonlinear or solid state in nature, quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have recently shown a great deal of promise and are being integrated onto military systems, although fundamental questions about their performance and reliability still remain unanswered.

A critical parameter to optimizing performance of many optoelectronic devices is thermal generation and transport. Recent studies have shown QCLs are unique types of devices in this regard in that they: (a) have considerably lower thermal conductivity than standard diode lasers; (b) have less mature facet coating, fabrication, and packaging; and (c) have a photon-electron-phonon interaction that leads to heat generation in accordance with the optical mode profile. These thermal effects are detrimental to output power, and help to explain the large performance difference between pulsed and continuous wave (CW) operation. The capability of mapping a MWIR emitting device under typical operation conditions is a critical capability that will not only help the DoD, but various other applications such as stand-off chemical effluent detection and surgical and healing optical sources. The ability to map the thermal profile of the QCL facet so far remains elusive. While thermal mapping is typically done via thermal cameras, the subwavelength nature of the facet makes this impossible for most ridge lasers, as does the high optical power emitted by the QCLs. Therefore, a new measurement technique is needed, one especially capable of measuring large temperature ranges (200-600 K) at high resolution (1 K or better) with high spatial resolution (less than 1 sq. µm), over a large area (greater than 1,500 sq. µm), different emissivity values (i.e. metal, semiconductor, and dielectric),

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and reasonable temporal resolution (0.1 Hz refresh rates or faster). Matching this data with both simulations and measurements will significantly enhance state-of-the-art understanding of QCLs and how to improve their performance across the plethora of existing designs. No government furnished materials, equipment, data, or facilities will be provided.

PHASE I: Measure the facet temperature of several MWIR QCLs operating at >10 mW (pulsed or CW). Validate the experimental data using simulations, and analytically show that the desired performance can be achieved in Phase II.

PHASE II: Measure the facet temperature of several operating MWIR QCLs operating at >100 mW CW, preferably with different mounting configurations (e.g. epi-down, buried heterostructure, etc.). Demonstrate the capability to accurately measure temperature across multiple facet materials (i.e. metal, semiconductor, and dielectric). Demonstrate the ability to meet the temperature, spatial, and temporal resolution goals over at least 100 sq. µm. Produce a prototype measurement unit.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Demonstrate an integrated system capable of near-field mapping and thermal monitoring of a QCL to be offered as characterization equipment and/or a service to be utilized by the QCL community.

REFERENCES:1. Law, K.K. Monolithic QCL design approaches for improved reliability and affordability. Proc. SPIE, 2013. p. 899307.

2. Sin, Y., et al. Destructive physical analysis of degraded quantum cascade lasers. Proc. SPIE, 2015. p. 93821P.

3. Bai, Y., et al., Quantum cascade lasers that emit more light than heat. Nature Photonics, 2010. 4(2): p. 99-102.

KEYWORDS: MWIR, midwave infrared, QCL, quantum cascade laser, thermal mapping, III/V, compound semiconductor, buried heterostructure, facet coating

AF17A-T027 TITLE: Target Tracking via Deep Learning



OBJECTIVE: Develop target tracking and reacquisition algorithms capable of learning and adapting to track high-value targets (HVT). Initial focus will be on electro-optical (EO) video with later extension to multiple intelligence (multi-INT) data sources.

DESCRIPTION: The Air Force is currently faced with new and emerging threats within highly contested environments. To be effective against these threats, target trackers must be robust to a wide variety of dynamic and challenging operating conditions often unique to these environments, such as adversaries that employ camouflage,

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concealment, and deception techniques to evade detection. Tracking is further complicated by the presence of typical challenges such as shadows, confusers, oblique viewing angles, slow moving targets, and move-stop-move targets. A high degree of autonomy is also desirable in order to take full advantage of potentially multiple cooperative platforms with minimal operator and analyst interaction in the presence of unreliable and intermittent communications. This motivates a combined, long-term, adaptive approach to target tracking that takes into account the complementary nature of detection, identification, and tracking, which are often viewed as related, but independent problems. The proposed solution should take advantage of the complementary nature of these problems while learning to adapt to challenging operating conditions in order to track HVTs for extended periods of time. Target reacquisition is often necessary during these extended time periods as targets may become partially to completely unobservable for unknown durations.

Recent advances in deep learning have shown state-of-the-art performance in identification (IMAGENET Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge) and tracking (Visual Object Tracking Challenge) and several of these approaches have shown encouraging results on Air Force detection, identification, and tracking problems. Of specific interest, anecdotal results have shown improved tracking performance when incorporating identification algorithms into the tracking process.

Synthetic or surrogate data will be provided as Government Furnished Data (GFD) for development and demonstration of the tracking capability. A baseline performance dataset will also be provided as GFD that utilizes the existing trackers developed at AFRL. This baseline will be used by contractors to demonstrate the performance improvements by the methods developed under this effort. Performance evaluation of the tracking suite will be conducted using standard tracking metrics based on guidance obtained from the COMPASE Tracker Evaluation Software Suite (CTESS) which will also be provided as GFD.

PHASE I: Address HVT tracking in EO video with consideration for extension to multi-INT in Phase II. The expected product of Phase I is an experimental algorithm suite for target tracking which will be documented in a final report and the algorithms implemented in a proof-of-concept software deliverable.

PHASE II: Extend Phase I capabilities to multi-INT data sources. Develop enhancements as needed to address performance issues from Phase I or those identified when processing the data in Phase II. Deliver updates to the software (source code) and technical reports. The expected product of Phase II is an implementation of the Phase I target tracking system, extended to a full prototype capable of ingesting and analyzing extensive imagery datasets.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Refine and harden the tracking software based on application to operational needs. Apply this technology to other EO/IR data that would benefit from novel tracking methods. This will increase the commercialization potential and applicability outside government facilities.

REFERENCES:1. Nam, H. and Han, B., Learning multi-domain convolutional neural networks for visual tracking, arXiv:1510.07945, 2016.

2. Danelljan, M., Hager, G., Khan, F., and Felsberg, M., Convolutional feature for Correlation Filter Based Visual Tracking, In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision workshops, pp. 58-66, 2015.

3. Ren, S., He, K., Girshick, R., and Sun, J., Faster R-CNN: Towards Real-Time Object Detection with Region Proposal Networks, arXiv:1506.01497.

4. He, K., Zhang, X., Ren, S., and Sun, J., Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition, arXiv:1512.03385.

5. COMPASE Tracker Evaluation Software Suite (CTESS) - Software Guide. Available from TPOC.

KEYWORDS: ISR, image processing, computer vision, visual tracking, high value target, situation awareness, sensor, machine learning

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AF17A-T028 TITLE: Quantum Sensor for Direction Finding and Geolocation



OBJECTIVE: Exploit the novel quantum electrodynamic properties from innovations in nanoelectronics, superconductors, meta-materials, and photonics to achieve a three-dimensional electromagnetic (EM) sensor for accurate vector sensing and geo-location of complex RF s

DESCRIPTION: Recent advances in the material properties and scaling of nano-electronics, photonics meta-materials, and superconductors have given rise as a means to achieve precision measurement of energy and sampling time in the radio frequency (RF) domain for increased accuracy of a digitally represented signal of interest. Nano-electronics, photonics, and superconductors can be designed to operate under reduced temperature environments enabling the time-bandwidth product to address greater sensitivity to distinguish signals from surrounding noise. In addition, these technologies can be configured into a three-dimensional assembly capable of complex EM sensing and signal energy vectors approaching very discreet levels. This concept of the product of small and precise delta in energy with a delta in time is a fundamental to analog-to-digital (ADC) and digital-to-analog signal theory, it has only been in the last decade that conversion energy metrics have been defined as Joule per quanta and time sampling accuracy or jitter has gone below 10 femtoseconds. It is now possible to more efficiently map the electromagnetic energy of a signal of interest to the degree that the direction of energy emission and geo-location accuracy can be determined. Current instantiations of multi-dimensional sensors (E-dot and B-dot probes) are not well integrated and not constructed to conform to a three-dimensional sensing environment. The development of a compact three-dimensional EM sensor that exploit quantum electro-dynamic fundamental material properties are valuable for computational EM where sensitivity is required to delineate near and far-field RF propagation and for biomedical applications such as examining EM anomalies in the human brain passively where second order RF signal phase transitions and stochastic statistical methods have to be applied.

PHASE I: Develop analytical solutions for a three-dimensional EM sensor that exhibit quantum properties. Incorporate these properties into direction finding and geo location energy vector formulations for an enhanced representation of an RF signal with respect to time accuracy. Design a three-dimensional quantum-based EM sensor with accompanying complex EM vector signal formulations.

PHASE II: Fabricate and test a three-dimensional quantum EM sensor and accompanying vector signal processor code to demonstrate proof-of-concept functional operation. Devise controlled environment laboratory tests validating the increased sensor fidelity and accuracy as a result of the quantum sensor properties. Devise and implement representative complex RF signals for the proof-of concept lab test.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Ruggedize and integrate three-dimensional quantum sensor and signal processor for relevant environment testing in complex EM signal environments.

REFERENCES:1. Narendra, S., "Through the Looking Glass Continued (III)", IEEE Solid State Circuits Magazine, VOL. 1, NO. 1, Winter 2014, pps. 49-53.

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2. Bunyk, P. I., et al., "Architectural Considerations in the Design of a Superconducting Quantum Annealing Processor", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 24, NO. 4, AUGUST 2014, 1700110.

3. E. Cho et al., Applied Physics Letters 106, 252601 (2015).

4. S. Cybart, et al., Nature Nanotechnology, V.10 p.598 (July 2015).

KEYWORDS: Quantum Sensors, Direction Finding, Geo-location, Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs), Single Flux Quantum Logic Circuits, Analog-to-Digital Converters, Digital-to-Analog Converters, Photonic integrated circuits

AF17A-T029 TITLE: Fast Optical Limiters (OL) with Enhanced Dynamic Range



OBJECTIVE: Design, prototype fabrication, and testing of wide-aperture optical limiters with high laser-induced damage threshold and tunable limiting threshold. The protection from high-level laser radiation should be fast, broadband, and omnidirectional.

DESCRIPTION: Optical limiters (OL) protect sensitive optical and electronic devices from laser-induced damage. The existing passive OL utilize nonlinear optical materials transmitting low-intensity light, while blocking laser radiation with intensity exceeding certain limiting threshold (LT). The State-of-the-Art is summarized by the following characteristics (more details are in cited literature):

1) Limited non-linear optical material availability for certain wavelengths of operation and protection bandwidth;

2) Damage threshold (DT) is restricted to the LT for sacrificial limiters, requiring limiter replacement before asset becomes operational and fully protected again;

3) DT is at least 10dB above the LT for the best non-sacrificial limiters;

4) Response time can be as slow as in the millisecond range, depending on the operation wavelength regime, nonlinear material used, and the associated absorption mechanism;

5) Recovery time can be as slow as in the seconds or minutes range, depending on the operation wavelength regime, nonlinear material used, and the associated energy release mechanism. There is no recovery for sacrificial limiters.

The common problem with the existing OL is that, at any particular frequency range, the choice of suitable nonlinear optical materials is very limited, or nonexistent. At the same time, the required value of the LT can differ dramatically in different applications. Another problem is that the nonlinear optical material is directly exposed to the high-level laser radiation, often causing overheating, dielectric breakdown, or other irreversible damage of the device. In other words, the LT provided by most of the known nonlinear optical materials is not far away from their

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DT. In recent years, several different ideas have been put forward on how to address the above problems by incorporating nonlinear optical material in a photonic layered structure. In principle, some of the proposed approaches might work, but what is needed is a practical design for Visible and Infrared wavelengths.

The objective is to design, fabricate, and test OL having greatly enhanced DT and tunable LT. The optical materials used in the design should be practically available. A significant increase in the DT and the control over the LT should be achieved by proper design of the photonic structure, rather than by using exotic (practically unavailable) nonlinear optical materials. Thin-film multilayer configuration for wide aperture input is preferable.

The technology may have dual use, military and commercial. OL provide continuous, uninterrupted protection of military assets on land, air, and space from high-level laser radiation. On the other hand, OL present highly enhanced saturable absorbers. They may provide, in particular, mode locking for the generation of ultrashort laser pulses.

The critical requirements are:

1) Wavelengths of interest: 500 - 2000nm. A specific OL does not have to cover the entire wavelength range, but it should provide a broadband protection from laser-induced damage; 2) OL response time: <1ns;

3) OL recovery time: <1ms;

4) Low-intensity transparency is >50%;

5) For light intensity or fluence above the LT, the attenuation is >20dB;

6) The DT of the OL is at least 10 times larger than that of the nonlinear optical material used;

7) The fluence LT is below 1J/cm^2/pulse;

8) Multiple use without performance degradation exceeds 10,000 pulses;

9) Wide acceptance and protection angles;

10) OL testing should be performed using f-number optics no greater than f/10, unless a higher f-number is required by a specific application.

Use of government materials, equipment, data, or facilities will not be offered and will not be required.

PHASE I: The Phase I effort will demonstrate the feasibility of an approach to achieve the stated objectives for a particular wavelength range between 500 - 1200nm, and satisfying the other critical requirements.

PHASE II: The Phase II effort will develop at least one working prototype of the optical limiter satisfying the critical requirements.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: A demonstration of the technology is required for the successful transition. The exact specifications will be provided based on the technology capabilities. The device must be capable of fast dynamic response, high optical powers, and fast recovery to its normal working state after the exposure.

REFERENCES:1. B. Y. Soon, J. W. Haus, M. Scalora, and C. Sibilia, One-dimensional photonic crystal optical limiter, Opt. Express 11, 2007-2018 (2003).

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2. M. Scalora, J. Dowling, C. Bowden, and M. Bloemer, Optical Limiting and Switching of Ultrashort Pulses in Nonlinear Photonic Band Gap Materials, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 1368 (1994).

3. Y. Zeng, X. Chen and W. Lu, Optical limiting in defective quadratic nonlinear photonic crystals, Journal of Applied Physics 99, 123107 (2006).

4. E. Makri, T. Kottos, and I. Vitebskiy, Reflective optical limiter based on resonant transmission, Phys. Rev. A 91, 043838 (2015).

5. J. Vella, J. Goldsmith, A. Browning, N. Limberopoulos, I. Vitebskiy, E. Makri, and T. Kottos. Experimental Realization of a Reflective Optical Limiter. Physical Review Applied 5, 064010 (2016).

KEYWORDS: Laser-Induced Damage, Optical Limiter

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