Air force 17. 1 Small Business Innovation Research (sbir) Phase I proposal Submission Instructions

PHASE I: During Phase 1, develop the concept, including spectral bands of interest and polarization scheme, and create a preliminary design. Identify materials to realize the polarization scheme. Build a breadboard to test the viability of the concept.

PHASE II: During Phase 2, complete the final design, then build and test the prototype for delivery.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: During Phase 3, partner with industry to develop production quality system for insertion into appropriate military program and/or commercial market.

REFERENCES:

1. Goldstein D. H., “Polarization Properties of Scarabaeidae,” Appl. Opt. 45, 2006, pp. 7944-7950.

2. Myhre G., Sayyad A., Pau S., “Patternable color liquid crystal polarizer,” Optics Express 18, 2010, pp. 27777-27786.

3. Tyo J. S., Goldstein D. L., Chenault D. B. and Shaw J. A., “Review of passive imaging polarimetry for remote sensing

4. Myhre G., Hsu W. L., Peinado A., LaCasse C., Brock N., Chipman R. A. and Pau S., “Liquid crystal polymer division of focal plane polarimeter,” Optics Express 20, 2012, pp. 27393-27409.

KEYWORDS: multi-spectral, EO/IR, sensor

AF171-085

TITLE: Small Munitions Advanced Seeker Handoff (SMASH)

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Weapons

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 solicitation 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, gail.nyikon@us.af.mil.

OBJECTIVE: To integrate national ISR and satellite into a real-time target identification and targeting network for weapons cueing and control

DESCRIPTION: Next generation Air Force weapons will need to negotiate highly contested spaces. They will require fusing of information from multiple sources to include low cost on-board and off-board sensors and compressed data from space-based or other ISR platforms. The AF desires novel concepts for handing off, transmitting, fusing and processing of such multi-modal data. Concepts may include compact target representations that can be generated by the ISR sensor and then succinctly transmitted to the weapon seeker to help the weapon reacquire the target. Other concepts may include using the ISR / satellite system to automatically generate predictive models of the target as it would appear in the weapon seeker domain followed by transmission of the predictive model over a weapon network to the weapon seeker. Concepts may include new high bandwidth weapon data link technology, novel sensor fusion and compressed sensing concepts such as finding methods to transform target representations found with the ISR sensor into target representations that the weapon sensor would see. This would include ISR / weapon sensors that are the same modality and ISR / weapon sensors that are different modality. This may draw significantly from ideas for generating models of targets in one domain using information acquired in a different domain. The AF anticipates the developed capabilities will be crucial for successful terminal guidance of next generation cruise missiles and similar highly interconnected small munitions. Developed concepts must include estimates of the network bandwidth, topology, etc. that would be required for implementation of any proposed concepts.

PHASE I: Design a concept to enable automated cueing of a weapon seeker using target or scene context information gathered by an airborne or space-based ISR platform. The concept could involve the transmission of target or scene context information extracted from the ISR / satellite data or transmission of a predictive model of the target signature as it would appear in the weapon seeker sensor domain.

PHASE II: Continue developing and assessing the technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of the proposed concept. Design and construct a system to demonstrate the proposed automated weapon seeker cueing function. Design and construct simulations of external sub-systems necessary to demonstrate the overall operational concept. Develop a test plan and methodology to demonstrate and evaluate the value of the proposed concept. Conduct the demonstration and evaluation using relevant data.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Continue development of the proposed concept in cooperation with potential technology transfer or commercialization partners.

REFERENCES:

1. "Visual domain adaptation: A survey of recent advances," Patel, V.M., Gopalan, R., Li, R., and Chellappa, R., IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Vol. 32, Issue 3, May 2015, pp. 53-69. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.445.2867&rep=rep1&type=pdf

2. "Autonomous target handoff from an airborne sensor to a missile seeker," Kossa, L.E., and Tisdale, G.E., Proceedings of SPIE 0219, Electro-Optical Technology for Autonomous Vehicles 142, 24 April 1980.http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/proceeding.aspx?articleid=1229726

3. "Real-time targeting for network enabled weapons," Frame, S.R., ITEA Journal 2010, Vol. 31, pp. 316-320, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA530388

4. "NEW: Network-Enabled Electronic Warfare for Target Recognition," Liang, Q., Cheng, X., and Samn, S.W., IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 46, Issue 2, April 2010, pp. 558-568.

5. "Signature prediction for model-based automatic target recognition," Keydel, E.R. and Lee, S.W., Proceedings of the SPIE 2757, Algorithms for Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery III, 306 (June 10, 1996), http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/proceeding

KEYWORDS: Network Enabled Weapon, weapon cueing, transfer learning, domain adaptation, machine to machine, M2M, signature prediction, signature modeling, context, contextual cueing

AF171-086

TITLE: Full-size Warhead Computed Tomography

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Weapons

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 solicitation 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, gail.nyikon@us.af.mil.

OBJECTIVE: Augment existing munition X-ray facility to perform computed tomography

DESCRIPTION: The warheads in future munitions are expected to grow in complexity and contain materials and components with a wide range of densities (20 - 0.6 g/cc). The Air Force is therefore interested in techniques that can extend the utility of conventional 2-Dimensional (2D) X-ray facilities suitable for imaging full size warheads (i.e. a pulsed 3.5 or 6 MeV X-ray source) by augmenting it with automated sample manipulation, image collection/indexing, and computed tomography (CT) capability.

PHASE I: Design appropriate experimental, diagnostic techniques, and computational methods adapting a pulsed, high-energy (3.5 -6 MeV) X-ray head to obtain CT images of full-scale warheads containing components with a large range of densities. Methods shall include the ability to operate in high resolution (slow) and low resolution (fast) modes.

PHASE II: Develop and implement the designs and techniques from Phase I. Characterize representative scales that demonstrate the suitability of the technique at obtaining CT images of large scale (5000 lbs class) warheads as well as small scale (~250 lbs class) systems and maintain the required resolving power.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: This technology is applicable to the nondestructive evaluation of a wide variety of systems containing energetic materials and propellants of interest to the Air Force and DoD. Commercial interests may include devices utilized in mining, rocket propellant, and medical industries.

REFERENCES:

1. M. Salamon, M. Boehnel, N. Reims, G. Ermann, V. Voland, M. Schmitt, N. Uhlmann, R. Hanke, Applications and Methods with High Energy CT Systems, Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on NDT in Aerospace, 13-15th November 2013, Singapore

2. A. Flisch, P. Schutz, T. Luthi, M. Plamondon, J. Hofmann, I. Jerjen, High energy CT with portable 6 MeV linear accelerator, Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Industrial Computed Tomography, 25-28 February, 2014, Wels, Austria

3. R. Kaufmann, A. Flisch, M. Griffa, S. Hartmann, J. Hofmann, I. Jerjen, Y. Liu, T. Lüthi, A. Neels, M. Plamondon, F. A. Reifler, P. Schuetz, C. Stritt, F. Yang, A. Dommann, New Directions in X-ray Tomography, Proceedings of the 11th European Conferenc

KEYWORDS: X-ray, warhead, munition, XCMT, CT Scan, Computed tomography, non-destruction evaluation

AF171-087

TITLE: FRM Automated Development (FAD)

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Weapons

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 solicitation 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, gail.nyikon@us.af.mil.

OBJECTIVE: Develop an automated software methodology that can reduce the overall time, costs, & complexity associated with the development of fast-running response models for the structural & infrastructure components of urban structures.

DESCRIPTION: This topic aims to develop a new software methodology capable of creating accurate, expandable, and adaptable High-Fidelity Physics-Based (HFPB) Fast-Running Models (FRMs) for use in weapon-target interaction (WTI) studies. The current approach to developing HFPB FRMs is to employ either physical data or the results from validated HFPB computational models as surrogate data to correlate target response to weapon loads and then formulate FRMs based on this data as fixed software modules to predict WTI responses, compute metrics for uncertainty quantification (UQ), and then validate the FRMs with data suitable for validation. This process has been very successful on a case-by-case basis, such as when addressing a new building component or infrastructure item. However, this process requires a very high-level of expertise to produce any one FRM for different target materials or component types for which a more rapid development cycle is needed to meet emerging testing and mission needs. Considering the broad range of targets (components ranging from columns, beams, walls, floors, etc.), target materials (steel, concrete, brick, adobe, stone, wood, etc.), infrastructure (power, telecom, pluming, HVAC, etc.) weapons (inventory and developmental), and secondary effects that can be generated during WTI (secondary debris & airblast, gas pressure, venting, etc.), a new methodology capable of generating FRMs that can be run by government personnel is desired.

Consequently, development of a highly automated software model capable of producing HFPB FRMs that can supplement the existing ones for broader or emerging ranges of targets is required. The methodology must address loading from weapons effects that include airblast, gas pressure, weapon fragment and structural debris loadings, and time-dependent variable venting. The resulting software model will need to be integrated into AFRL’s Modular Effectiveness Vulnerability Assessment (MEVA) software architecture to provide seamless transitions between the existing single-strike FRMs and new progressive-damage methodology, require a level of expertise consistent with an analyst familiar with weapons effects and target response, potentially having access to Verification and Validation (V&V) data, and yield HFPB FRMs that have execution times similar to the existing FRM(s). Desired FRM outputs include structural component damage (deflection, spall, breach, and/or failure), structural debris mass & velocity distributions, subsequent residual strength (residual capacity), and Collateral Damage Estimation (CDE) data.

One of the options for defeating urban structures is collapse due to damage from single or multiple weapons. Walls, columns, beams, and slabs not completely destroyed during a strike could be further damaged during subsequent strikes to promote structural collapse. The residual capacity of the structural components under repeated weapon loading, including impulse loading from structural debris and secondary airblast, is of interest. These residual capacity outputs will be fed into a progressive collapse model to determine the structural integrity of the building.

Current requirements specify the need for FRMs that predict the damage to Urban Mass & Framed constructed structures (subjected to single or multiple weapon detonations at single or multiple locations) with an overall accuracy of 80% or better when compared to actual test data. Blast & fragment loads from current & future weapons are of particular interest. If necessary, government test facilities and or test data will be provided if requested and within the government’s funding constraints. If required, government HPC facilities will be provided to the contractor upon request.

PHASE I: Develop a.) a theoretical approach to model development & uncertainty quantification, and b.) a software approach, that together will yield a tool that can automate the steps in the production of HFPB FRMs. Demonstrate the approach using a simplified structural component item and an infrastructure component. Document the efficiency & potential cost savings and develop a Phase-II prototyping plan.

PHASE II: The contractor will develop the standalone software (operated in an off-line mode). The software will allow analysts & target/weapon experts to select data for a variety of structure & infrastructure components, select the desired output responses, and then the range of loads from AF weapons. Next, the software will automatically calculate the training data covering the range of problem parameters. Lastly the software will utilize the training data to train the fast running models.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Military Applications: A wide range of lethality assessment programs throughout the DoD rely on legacy damage severity models. Using HFPB models is extremely costly in terms of data development and computational cost. This streamlined ability for analysts to develop FRMs is what is needed.

REFERENCES:

1. Reference 1: Crawford, J.E., and H.J. Choi, "Development of Methods and Tools Pertaining to Reducing the Risks of Building Collapse," Proceedings of the International Workshop on Structures Response to Impact and Blast, November 2009, Haifa, Israel.

2. Reference 2: Lloyd, G.L., T. Hasselman, and J.M. Magallanes, "Fast Running Model for the Residual Capacity of Bomb-Damaged Steel Columns," Proceedings of the 80th DDESB Explosives Safety Seminar, Palm Springs, CA, August 12-14th, 2008.

3: Anderson, Mark C., W. Gan, and T. K. Hasselman, "Statistical Analysis of Modeling Uncertainty and Predictive Accuracy for Nonlinear Finite Element Models," Proceedings of the 69th S & V Symposium, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, October 12-16, 1998.

KEYWORDS: High-fidelity physics based simulations, simulation, weapon target interaction, fast running models, reduced order models, surrogate models

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Weapons

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 solicitation 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, gail.nyikon@us.af.mil.

OBJECTIVE: Develop material solutions that can provide enhanced lethality and selectable energy outputs from mitigated, attenuated or directional shock propagation.

DESCRIPTION: Weaponization of current and future air platforms will require smaller munitions with equivalent or better lethality than today’s weapons. One possible solution is the development of highly flexible ordnance packages that can provide a range of lethal effects. This could include multi-functional systems that provide penetration, area attack and low collateral damage capabilities within a single weapon or half penetrating, half fragmenting warheads. Other possibilities are decoupling fragments from the main charge or the ability to reduce the velocity of designated frags. Such munitions could allow the prosecution of a wider range of targets through the synchronization of selected effects. Conceivably, these capabilities can be better achieved by using liners/barriers within the weapon that are capable of mitigating or attenuating shock propagation in one direction versus the opposite. These materials would most likely be engineered composites with highly anisotropic properties.

The intent of this topic is the design and development of multi-functional composites capable of controlling energy outputs through a finite thickness by intentionally affecting the intensity of propagating shock waves in one direction while accelerating or allowing its unimpeded progress in the opposite direction. This could include changing/restricting the path or direction (i.e. propagation in one direction, but not the opposite direction) or modifying the attenuation characteristics (i.e., dampening/reduction below critical threshold) through impedance mismatching, energy absorbency, morphological design, or a combination thereof. Studies have shown the potential of tailoring shock propagation through layered structures with foams cores, liquids in elastic shells, cellular materials, abrupt geometrical changes, introduction of dust particles, interlaced molecular threaded polymers, etc. Enhanced blast effects should be achieved through the addition of chemical energy to the detonation event using materials such as thermites and intermetallic systems. Reduced munition sizes will require a full exploitation of all subsystems and therefore multi-purposed materials with tailored architectures are desired. Proposed solutions should specifically address energetic and shock properties and should take into consideration application environment and limited area available for insertion. Numerical and experimental analysis should be performed to demonstrate predicted efficiency of proposed materials in controlling waves properties (i.e. shock speed, arrival time, maximum peak pressure, etc.) and specific mitigation strategy should be identified.

PHASE I: Design multi-functional materials that provide enhanced blast and controllable wave propagation capabilities and develop efficient techniques to fabricate these designs. Perform computational analysis to predict wave propagation properties of proposed materials. Small scale fabrication to show manufacturing feasibility is highly desirable.

PHASE II: Develop, demonstrate and validate concept developed in Phase I. Deliverables are a prototype demonstration, experimental data, 1x1 samples, a baselined model with experimental data, and substantiating analyses. Incorporate lessons learned and scale-up material concept.

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The military application is ordnance. Commercial application could include sports and law enforcement personal protective gear.

REFERENCES:

1. O. Igra, J. Falcovitz, L. Houas, and G. Jourdan, Review of methods to attenuate shock/blast waves, Progress in Aerospace Sciences 58 (2013) 1-35.

2. E. Gutierrez-Puebla, Interlacing molecular threads, Science 351 (2016) 336.

3. J-W Park, J-S Kim, Feasibility of shock attenuation by simple obstacles in mitigating severe accident explosive loads, Annals of Nuclear Energy 70 (2014) 109.

4. W. Chen, H. Hao, S. Chen, F. Hernandez, Performance of composite structural insulated panel with metal skin subjected to blast loading, Materials and Design 84 (2015) 194.

5. N. Gardner, E. Wang, P Kuma, A Shukla, Blast mitigation in a sandwich composite using graded core and polyurea interlayer, Exp. Mech. 52 (2) 119.

KEYWORDS: asymmetric shock propagation, attenuated shock, shock mitigation

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Weapons

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 solicitation 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, gail.nyikon@us.af.mil.