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Briefs Information Technology
Automatic Abstraction of Information From Digitized Images
A research effort now underway addresses fundamental mathematical issues involved in a methodology of creating flexible machine vision systems that would be able to modify their...
Briefs Sensors/Data Acquisition
Data Fusion for Space Situational Awareness
Satellites greatly enhance US defense operations; however, these key assets are vulnerable to perils such as space weather and acts of aggression. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine the cause...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Near-Precision Soft Landing Resupply Dispenser
AFRL munitions experts teamed with engineers from Systima Technologies, Inc., under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to develop a Covert Resupply (COVRES) dispenser. The team...
Briefs Aerospace
Blended Wing Body Aircraft
Scientists from Boeing Phantom Works, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and AFRL are testing a new aircraft with the potential to realize up to 30% better fuel efficiency because of its unique...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Improved Accuracy of Computational Fluid Dynamics Calculations
Understanding how air flows over the surfaces of an air vehicle can help AFRL designers maximize the vehicle's performance and minimize its cost. AFRL scientists recently developed...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Remote-Controlled Aerial Vehicle for Application of Pesticides
AFRL demonstrated its Remotely Controlled Aerial Vehicle for Application of Pesticides (RCAVAP) at the Force Protection Equipment Demonstration (FPED) conducted at Quantico Marine...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
AFRL Proves Feasibility of Plasma Actuators
AFRL is laying the groundwork for the development of revolutionary hypersonic aerospace vehicles (see Figure 1). Accordingly, AFRL engineers are examining the feasibility of replacing an air vehicle's...
Briefs Test & Measurement
Composites Design and Structural Analysis Tool
AFRL researchers developed a unique design and structural analysis tool for composite materials, and they subsequently transitioned their product to manufacturers of helicopters and other...
Briefs Manned Systems
Corrosion Suppression Technologies and Techniques
Members of AFRL's Air Force Corrosion Prevention and Control Office (AFCPCO) teamed with corrosion experts from Warner Robins Air Logistics Center to assess environmentally induced damage to...
Briefs Materials
Enhanced Blast-Resistant Windows
AFRL entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Dlubak Technologies, Inc., of Freeport, Pennsylvania, to pursue ongoing research in blast-resistant window and glazing...
Briefs Materials
Friction Stir Welding of Aerospace Materials
AFRL scientists are studying a unique metal joining process— friction stir welding (FSW)—for building major structural assemblies. FSW is a solid-state welding process that forces a spinning tool...
Briefs Information Technology
Intelligence Fusion System Tracks Mobile Targets
Current intelligence fusion systems are not accurately and quickly performing the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) fusion necessary for tracking moving targets that use...
Briefs Materials
Integrated Aircraft Oxygen Sensor
Shortly after its takeoff from New York City on July 17, 1996, Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean and crashed. The accident investigation board determined that the center wing fuel tank caught fire and exploded. Although the ignition source remains unknown, it was unquestionably...
Briefs Power
Film Cooling Using Pulsed Coolant
Turbine engine designers routinely use film cooling to cool engine components in the hot-gas flow-path. Film cooling is the process of injecting coolant fluid at one or more discrete locations along a surface...
Briefs Electronics & Computers
Textile Capacitor
The Air Force (AF) is evolving from a Cold War-era force with a large, containment- focused infrastructure to a smaller, more responsive and affordable Air and Space Expeditionary Force. In support of this transformation, AFRL...
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Patterned Gallium Arsenide Devices for Infrared Countermeasures
The US Air Force has a need for improved tunable laser sources—both in the midinfrared region, for developing infrared countermeasure (IRCM) applications, and in the longinfrared...
Briefs RF & Microwave Electronics
Unmanned SkyTote Demonstrates Capabilities
AFRL scientists are working on SkyTote, a novel unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that will take off and land vertically like a helicopter (see figure) but also transition into horizontal flight like a...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Propulsion - Safety, Affordability, and Readiness Program
Propulsion - Safety, Affordability, and Readiness (P-SAR) is a new and unique program effort intended to achieve common engine sustainment goals across the Army, Navy, and Air Force...
Briefs Materials
Nonchromated Treatment for Aluminum Surfaces
AFRL scientists and engineers recently completed development of a nonchromated treatment for aluminum aircraft surfaces and structures. The new treatment method is the result of a collaborative...
Briefs RF & Microwave Electronics
Ground-Penetrating Radar
AFRL engineers used prototypes of recently developed ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electronic cone penetrometer (ECP) devices to determine whether voids and anomalies in a particular airfield's subsoil were...
Briefs Software
Materials Knowledge Base
A team of scientists, engineers, and developers from AFRL and RJ Lee Group, Inc., recently completed functional prototype development of the Materials Knowledge Base (MKB), an object-based data repository for laboratory...
Briefs Medical
AFRL Study Defines Standards for Low-Level Chemical Agent Exposure
Results of a 5-year, $40 million effort to study chemical warfare agents will benefit military and civilian personnel alike, helping leaders in both arenas cope with events...
Briefs Software
Advanced Hardware-in-the-Loop Sensor Simulation
AFRL researchers and their counterparts at CG2, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quantum3D, Inc., are collaborating through a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to...
Briefs Medical
AFRL Seeks Ways to Prevent Hearing Loss in Military Environments
In the 1988 movie "Good Morning, Vietnam," character Adrian Cronauer, a Saigon- based military disc jockey, performs an on-air skit in which he contacts an artilleryman in the...
Briefs Software
Dynamic Air Battle Planning
An air tasking order (ATO) implements air operations supporting the joint force commander's campaign by assigning aircraft and munitions to targets and specifying the timing and grouping of air missions. Currently,...
Briefs Aerospace
Adaptable Miniature Initiation System Technology
The ever-changing nature of warfare presents constant challenges to weapon system designers, who must carefully consider various perspectives of mutual importance. Specifically, designers must...
Briefs Materials
AFRL Supports C-5A Evaluation Program
AFRL materials integrity experts are collaborating with the Aeronautical Systems Center's C-5 Systems Group, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center (WR-ALC), and Air Mobility Command (AMC) in an effort to...
Briefs Electronics & Computers
Microelectromechanical Systems Switch Simulator
AFRL materials scientists developed a highly sophisticated laboratory instrument that simulates the effects of physical forces and electrical current on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)...
Briefs Aerospace
Strain-Induced Porosity Model
AFRL scientists developed advanced computer models to improve the processing and quality of titanium alloys used in manufacturing gas turbine engine parts and critical structural components for military aircraft....
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