SBIR / STTR Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer

 

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase II

Award Start & Close Date:

5/14/15 - 1/31/18

Summary: Thermal anemometry (a.k.a. hot-wire anemometry) has been a key experimental technique in fluid mechanics for many decades. Due to the small physical size and high frequency response of the sensors (resulting in excellent spatial and temporal resolution), the technique has been widely used for studies of turbulent flows. Even with the advent of nonintrusive techniques such as Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), hot wire anemometry is uniquely capable of extremely high frequency response and fine spatial resolution measurements. ViGYAN has demonstrated a fundamental change to the anemometer configuration, with two related aspects. First, the circuitry to power the sensor and establish its operating point is packaged immediately adjacent to the sensor, i.e. in the typical probe holder, removing the effect of the cable connecting the sensor to an external anemometer. Second, modern analog-digital conversion hardware has been employed to the maximum extent possible,  including directly driving the sensor. Data transmission is fully digital, immune to environmental variations or electrical noise. Based on these results, the Phase II work will deploy this "Digital Bridge" system using a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) device connected via fiber-optic cable the miniaturized "probe holder" electronics. The DSP will be controlled by a generic PC with software to control the system and acquire/store data. A production-ready version will be developed and delivered; facilities, expertise, and resources are available to fabricate and deliver production units at the conclusion of Phase II. Production designs for ruggedized units will also be done for use in wind tunnels that operate at higher dynamic pressures and extreme temperatures.

Award Title: Development of a "Digital Bridge" Thermal Anemometer for Turbulence Measurements

Summary: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a constant risk for soldiers in the military work and combat environment. From vehicle accidents to explosions, a soldier can experience TBI over a range of conditions with widely varying degrees of severity. While the diagnosis of moderate to severe TBI is usually straightforward, mild TBI events are hard to identify, diagnose, and monitor over time. ViGYAN is developing a suite of advanced signal processing techniques for the identification of abnormal speech audio patterns as a marker for TBI events. The TBI-ASAP methodology will leverage advanced signal analysis, statistical process control techniques, and modeling with wavelet decomposition/synthesis. These methods are currently used successfully by ViGYAN in the analyses of large aerodynamic datasets. Applied in conjunction with expertise and data from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC), the use of these methods will be specifically customized, optimized, and employed based on expected effects of TBI on speech signals; development and validation of an early prototype of the technique will be based on relevant fresh data obtained in ViGYANs research laboratory and from the VCU Emergent Clinical Trial and Observation Recruitment (VECTOR) program. These TBI-ASAP techniques will be implemented in a range of devices to facilitate the rapid screening and identification of a TBI event as well as facilitate ongoing monitoring and quantification of TBI recovery. ViGYAN will document and correlate other abnormal speech patterns caused by non-TBI brain pathologies to assure identification of TBI-only diagnoses.

Award Title: Identification of Traumatic Brain Injury using Abnormal Speech Audio Processing (TBI-ASAP)

Agency: Department of Defense

Phase II

Award Start & Close Date:

9/18/15 - 4/17/16

Summary: Thermal anemometry (a.k.a. hot-wire anemometry) has been a key experimental technique in fluid mechanics for many decades. Due to the small physical size and high frequency response of the sensors (resulting in excellent spatial and temporal resolution), the technique has been widely used for studies of turbulent flows. Even with the advent of nonintrusive techniques such as Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), hot wire anemometry is uniquely capable of extremely high frequency response and fine spatial resolution measurements.

 

ViGYAN proposes a fundamental change to the anemometer configuration, with two related aspects. First, the circuitry to power the sensor and establish its operating point is packaged immediately adjacent to the sensor, i.e. in the typical probe holder, removing the effect of the cable connecting the sensor to an external anemometer. Second, modern analog-digital conversion hardware will be employed to the maximum extent possible, potentially including directly driving the sensor. Data transmission will then be fully digital, immune to environmental variations or electrical noise. Further, direct excitation would permit the choice of operating modes (not just variation of operating point) by changes in software. The ultimate objective of the research is therefore referred to as a "Digital Bridge".

 

Award Title: Development of a "Digital Bridge" Thermal Anemometer for Turbulence Measurements

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

6/1/05 - 3/1/06

Summary: During wind tunnel testing of scaled aerodynamic models, the most critical measuring device is the internal strain gage balance. Modern internal balances are intricate and precise devices, which resolve the force moment data into Cartesian components accurately. While the accuracy of the balance system is extremely high, its design is inherently elastic and prone to vibrations. The model-balance-sting and arc sector constitute a typical wind tunnel support system. These are complex elastic systems prone to vibrations excited by the local turbulence. The model-balance-sting-support system has many complex modes of vibration with different modal frequencies and radii. They represent centrifugal inertial motion of the model and balance, which add to the static aerodynamic load of interest to the experimenter. Hence modal vibrations corrupt the quality of force-moment data in many ways.  ViGYAN is proposing to develop a Wind Tunnel Active Vibration Reduction System (WTAVRS) that will be an actively controlled assembly of piezoelectric actuation devices that will work together to cancel the dynamic motions sensed at the end of the sting in order to reduce the vibrations affecting the strain gage balance measurements. The proposed device will be installed and tested in the ViGYAN wind tunnel facility.

 

Award Title: Wind Tunnel Active Vibration Reduction System (WTAVRS)

Agency: Department of Defense

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

6/1/05 - 3/1/06

Award Title: Low-Cost Piston Engine Health Monitoring and Control System for General Aviation

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Summary:

Award Title: Low-Cost Piston Engine Health Monitoring and Control System for General Aviation

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Summary:

Award Title: A Novel Pneumatic Vortex Control Technique For Lift And Maneuverability Enhancement Of Highly-Swept Configurations

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Summary:

Summary: Leading edge vortex flap modifications are proposed for improved low-speed lift and L/D characteristics of supersonic cruise aircraft. The aim is to increase the vortex-lift potential in addition to generating vortex thrust on highly-swept wing configuration

 

Award Title: Vortex Flap Improvements for Enhanced Low-Speed Aerodynamics of Supersonic-Cruise Aircraft

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Award Title: Leading Edge Extension Blowing Concept for Enhanced High-Alpha and Post-Stall Aerodynamics of Highly Maneuverable Configurations

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Summary:

Summary:

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Award Title: Multidimensional Wave Models for Solution-Adaptive Grid Generation

Award Title: Active Flow-Control Concepts for Stall Alleviation and Post-Stall Lift Improvement of Vortex Dominated Fighter Configuration

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

6/1/05 - 3/1/06

Summary: It is proposed to experimentally explore two active separation-control concepts aimed at stall alleviation and maximum-lift improvement on generic, vortex-dominated fighter configurations. The concepts comprise a delta wing incorporating transversely-hinged apex flaps oscillating in the pitch plane, and a LEX-trapezoidal wing combination with root-hinged LEX's oscillating in the cross-plane. The common purpose of the active devices is to establish a hysteresis loop with average lift higher than the undisturbed wing lift at the same angle of attack. Even if the wing flow-field moves in and out of stall, it is anticipated that the time-averaged lift will be considerably improved. Low-speed wind tunnel tests will be conducted on two wing-body models in a wide range of angle of attack and with varying control surface frequency and amplitude parameters, measuring time-averaged six-component aerodynamic coefficients, wing surface pressures and near-wake velocity components, to determine the feasibility of the active devices and quantify their effectiveness. The potential of non-symmetrical activation of the devices for lateral control near stall will also be explored.

Summary: THE SAFETY OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS OF MANY GENERAL AVIATION (GA) AIRCRAFT IS COMPROMISED BY THE LACK OF REAL-TIME, SEVERE-WEATHER INFORMATION IN THE COCKPIT. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE AN AUTOMATED COCKPIT WEATHER-DISPLAY SYSTEM THAT WILL DO ALL THESE THINGS AND MORE. IN PHASE I, THE ABILITY OF MODERN COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS TO PUT LARGE AMOUNTS OF WEATHER DATA DERIVED FROM GROUND OBSERVING SITES ON BOARD A GA AIRCRAFT WILL BE EVALUATED. DEMONSTRATION FLIGHT TESTS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO SHOW THE FEASIBILITY OF A SATELLITE COMMUNICATION LINK AND THE PROTOTYPE MAP-TYPE WEATHER DEPICTIONS. A PROTOTYPE AIRBORNE SYSTEM WOULD BE CONSTRUCTED AND TESTED ON A HIGH-PERFORMANCE GA AIRCRAFT IN PHASE II. ADDITIONAL DATA TYPES WILL BE CONSIDERED, INCLUDING AREA FORECASTS AND TRENDS, ROUTE CROSS-SECTIONS, TDWR, AND NEXRAD PRODUCTS, IF AVAILABLE, ON AN ELECTRONIC, MOVING-MAP DISPLAY. THESE ADDITIONAL DATA TYPES WILL BE USED AS INPUT TO AN ON-BOARD SMART SYSTEM THAT WOULD DEVELOP FLIGHT PATH RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON THE PILOT'S OWN OPERATIONAL CRITERIA. THE SAFETY OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS OF MANY GENERAL AVIATION (GA) AIRCRAFT IS COMPROMISED BY THE LACK OF REAL-TIME, SEVERE-WEATHER INFORMATION IN THE COCKPIT. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE AN AUTOMATED COCKPIT WEATHER-DISPLAY SYSTEM THAT WILL DO ALL THESE THINGS AND MORE. IN PHASE I, THE ABILITY OF MODERN COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS TO PUT LARGE AMOUNTS OF WEATHER DATA DERIVED FROM GROUND OBSERVING SITES ON BOARD A GA AIRCRAFT WILL BE EVALUATED. DEMONSTRATION FLIGHT TESTS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO SHOW THE FEASIBILITY OF A SATELLITE COMMUNICATION LINK AND THE PROTOTYPE MAP-TYPE WEATHER DEPICTIONS. A PROTOTYPE AIRBORNE SYSTEM WOULD BE CONSTRUCTED AND TESTED ON A HIGH-PERFORMANCE GA AIRCRAFT IN PHASE II. ADDITIONAL DATA TYPES WILL BE CONSIDERED, INCLUDING AREA FORECASTS AND TRENDS, ROUTE CROSS-SECTIONS, TDWR, AND NEXRAD PRODUCTS, IF AVAILABLE, ON AN ELECTRONIC, MOVING-MAP DISPLAY. THESE ADDITIONAL DATA TYPES WILL BE USED AS INPUT TO AN ON-BOARD SMART SYSTEM THAT WOULD DEVELOP FLIGHT PATH RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON THE PILOT'S OWN OPERATIONAL CRITERIA.

Award Title: PILOT WX ADVISOR

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase II

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Award Title: A DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE FOR PLANNING AND SCHEDULING TOOLS

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Summary:

Award Title: ADAPTIVE RAY TRACING OF TIME-DEPENDENT FLOWS ON MASSIVELY PARALLEL COMPUTERS

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

 

Summary:

Award Title: MECHANICAL AND PNEUMATIC HIGH-ALPHA VORTEX CONTROL TECHNIQUES FOR LOW OBSERVABLE FOREBODY CONFIGURATIONS

Agency: Department of Defense

Summary: A 'control' vortex concept for generating high-alpha yaw and pitch control on low-observables type forebodies (viz., having diamond-shaped chined cross sections), is proposed for exploratory low-speed wind tunnel study. Two parallel approaches for realizing the control concept will be evaluated on a generic forebody configuration: a mechanically actuated vortex flap and a novel slot-blowing technique. Six-component force/moment data will be acquired with emphasis on the high-alpha regime and including large side-slip angles, to identify key variables governing the efficacy of the two techniques; complimentary flow visualizations will also be performed.

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

Award Title: VOLUME VISUALIZATION ON MASSIVELY PARALLEL COMPUTERS

Agency: Department of Energy

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

Summary: THIS RESEARCH IS DIRECTED TOWARD THE VOLUME VISUALIZATION ON A MASSIVELY PARALLEL COMPUTER (MPC) OF THE ANALYZED RESULTS IN PARALLEL WITH TIME-DEPENDENT ANALYSIS. IN THE PRESENT VOLUME VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUE, THE VOLUMETRIC DATA THAT MAYBE OBTAINED FROM NUMERICAL OR EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ARE DIRECTLY RENDERED ONTO THE SCREEN. THE TECHNIQUE IS OBJECT ORIENTED AND IS BASED ON A CELL-BY-CELL VOXEL PROCESSING TECHNIQUE. IN THIS RESEARCH, AN ACCURATE AND DIRECT METHOD OF VOLUME RENDERING FOR PICTURE DEVELOPMENT IS BEING DEVELOPED BY ASSOCIATING COLOR AND OPACITY VALUES AT THE CELL CORNER. FOR ARBITRARY CELL SHAPES, THE NODAL VALUES ARE APPROXIMATED IN A TRILINEAR FASHION FOR OBTAINING THE COLOR AND OPACITY VALUES INSIDE EACH CELL. SEVERAL TEXTURE MAPPING FUNCTIONS THAT MAP THE DYNAMIC RANGE OF VARIATION OF THE SCALAR FIELD INTO OPACITY AND COLOR ARE PROVIDED. PHONGSHADING AND AN EMPIRICAL ILLUMINATION MODEL ARE ALSO INCORPORATED INTO THE METHOD. THE ENTIRE VISUALIZATION ALGORITHM IS WELL SUITED FOR AN MPC. IN PHASE I OF THE PROJECT, THE ALGORITHM IS BEING IMPLEMENTED, BOTH ON A SINGLE INSTRUCTION MULTIPLE DATA ARCHITECTURE SYSTEM, AND ON A MULTIPLE INSTRUCTION MULTIPLE DATA ARCHITECTURE MACHINE. THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPED IS INTERACTIVE AND IS BEING INITIALLY TAILORED TOWARD COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS STUDIES, BUT ISTO BE EXTENDED LATER TO OTHER AREAS OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. THE PROBLEM OF INTEGRATING THE TIME-ACCURATE NUMERICAL COMPUTATIONS AND THE VISUALIZATION WILL BE INVESTIGATED DURING PHASE II USING A NAVIER-STOKES SOLVER.

Award Title: pilot WX Advisor

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Summary:

Phase I

Award Start & Close Date:

Award Title: POST PROCESSING OF CFD DATA

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase II

Summary: A RAPID, USER-FRIENDLY AND INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS POST PROCESSOR PROGRAM FOR THE ANALYSIS OF CFD DATA IS PROPOSED. THE PROGRAM WILL BE ABLE TO HANDLE STRUCTURED AND/OR UNSTRUCTURED GRIDS OF SINGLE-OR MULTI-BLOCK FORMAT. IT WILL BE FLEXIBLE ENOUGH TO PLOT FLUID DYNAMIC DATA AT USER SPECIFIED ARBITRARY LINES, PLANES OR SURFACES. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY MODIFYING AN EXISTING PROGRAM, FOR UNSTRUCTURED GRIDS. INITIALLY, THE PROGRAM WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR SILICON GRAPHICS IRIS WORKSTATION UTILIZING FULL CAPABILITIES OF ITS HARDWARE. DURING PHASE II, THE PROGRAM CAPABILITIES WILL BE ENHANCED TO MAKE IT MORE REBUST AND GENERAL PURPOSE. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT, ON SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION, AN ENHANCED LEVEL OF EXPERTISE IN INTERPRETING CFD RESULTS WILL BE AVAILABLE RESULTING IN AN ENORMOUS SAVING OF ENGINEER'S TIME.

Award Start & Close Date:

Award Title: MICROCOMPUTER BASED CONTROL OF A LARGE CRYOGENIC WIND TUNNEL

Agency: National Aeronautics & Space Administration

Phase II

Award Start & Close Date:

Summary: PROOF OF CONCEPT DEMONSTRATION, OF THE 0.3 M TRANSONIC CRYOGENIC WIND TUNNEL IN EARLY 1970'S, HAS PAVED WAY FOR LARGE HIGH REYNOLDS NUMBER CRYOGENIC TUNNEL LIKE THE NATIONAL TRANSONIC FACILITY (NTF) IN 1984. THE QUALITY OF DATA GENERATED IN A CRYOGENIC TUNNEL IS INTIMATELY RELATED TO THE STABILITY OF THE TUNNEL TEST SECTION FLOW STATES VIZ,STAGNATION PRESSURE, TUNNEL GAS TEMPERATURE AND FLOW MACH NUMBER. THE TUNNEL FLOW STATE DYNAMICS IS HIGHLY NONLINEAR AND COUPLED RELATIVE TO THE INPUTS USED FOR CONTROLLING THE TUNNEL. THE 0.3 M TRANSONIC CRYOGENIC TUNNEL AT LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER HAS BEEN OPERATIONAL FOR NEARLY 14 YEARS OF WHICH IT HAS BEEN UNDER CLOSE LOOP CONTROL FOR EIGHT YEARS. RECENTLY THE 0.3 M TCT HAS BEEN BROUGHT UNDER FULL CONTROL OF A 16 BIT MICROCOMPUTER TO REALIZE TEMPERATURE STABILITY OF +/-0.15 K, REYNOLDS NUMBER TO +/-0.03 MILLION AND MACH NUMBER TO +/-0.002. THE CONTROL ANALYSIS USED HAS BEEN A LUMPED PARAMETER APPROACH AND MECHANIZATION OF THE CONTROL LAW IS THROUGH USE OF STANDARD COMMERCIAL MICROCOMPUTER HARDWARE WITH FLEXIBLE SOFTWARE WRITTEN IN A HIGH LEVEL REAL TIME LANGUAGE. THE AIM OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO APPLY LUMPED PARAMETER CONTROL TECHNIQUES, AND MICROCOMPUTER SOFTWARE BASED MECHANIZATION OF CONTROL LAWS TO THE NATIONAL TRANSONIC FACILITY. SPECIFICALLY, DEMONSTRATION OF TEMPERATURE IS PROPOSED.