Archive | Physical Sciences | Armed with Science

Air Force Office of Scientific Research Hosts Annual Program Spring Review

Filed under Energy, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Technology by glenn.selby on March 5, 2012 at 12:11 pm {no comments}

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research will host its annual Spring Review from 5 through 9 March, 2012. This program review, to be held at 950 Glebe Road, Suite 210, in Arlington, Virginia, will be the 55th formally designated annual assessment of AFOSR’s research portfolio. It will also be streamed live online.

By Robert White
Air Force Office of Scientific Research

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) will soon host its annual Spring Review from 5 through 9 March, 2012. This program review, to be held at 950 Glebe Road, Suite 210, in Arlington, Virginia, will be the 55th formally designated annual assessment of AFOSR’s research portfolio.

Since its establishment in 1951, AFOSR has been responsible for investing in extramural basic research programs at leading universities and in-house (intramural) Air Force laboratories. During the first five years of AFOSR’s existence, the annual budget was relatively lean (as was the staff–between 20 to 27 personnel).

It was then that history intervened when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first earth satellite, in October 1957. Almost overnight, AFOSR’s budget almost doubled, and with it, a gradual commensurate boost in personnel. Sputnik was a major wake-up call regarding the overwhelming importance of science and technology to the future security, as well as economic vitality, of the United States. It was a hard lesson.

For several decades thereafter, AFOSR held not only a Spring Review, but a Fall Review as well. By 1975 AFOSR was responsible for all Air Force basic research funding, and the bi-annual reviews continued to provide a formal review of the status and areas of emphasis in the overall basic research portfolio.

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Army Attacks Hardware Corrosion

Filed under Energy, Physical Sciences, STEM, Uncategorized by glenn.selby on February 27, 2012 at 8:00 am {no comments}

Corrosion engineer Nancy Whitmire goes over the findings of a corrosion test with Steve Carr, the program manager for the Aviation and Missile Command's Corrosion Program. The test involved coating metal coupons with different finishes and then placing them in an accelerated corrosion chamber to determine the amount of corrosion that would develop in a sand and salt environment.

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. — Scott Reis is on a mission.

An anti-corrosion mission, that is.

He and fellow Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center employees carry out the mission of the Aviation and Missile Command’s Corrosion Program Office to promote corrosion prevention programs for a wide range of AMCOM systems. They study the way metals, coatings and finishes develop corrosion; engineer design and materials solutions for corrosion issues in the field; train Soldiers on how to prevent equipment corrosion; and tout the ill effects of corrosion on the Army’s missile and aviation systems.

Those ill effects are staggering in terms of capabilities lost, and the cost of repairing or replacing equipment due to corrosion. At AMCOM, an estimated $1.6 billion a year is spent combating corrosion issues. The U.S. General Accounting Office estimated the cost of corrosion to the Department of Defense at between $9 billion and $20 billion annually.

“Problems with corrosion represent 20 percent of AMCOM’s total annual maintenance program,” Steve Carr, AMCOM’s corrosion program manager, said.

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Research And Development’s Global Role in Force Health Protection

Filed under Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, STEM by Julie Weckerlein on October 27, 2011 at 2:57 pm {no comments}

By Vice Adm. Adam M. Robinson Jr., MC, US Navy

Vice Adm. Adam M. Robinson Jr., MC, US Navy

I have said throughout my tenure as your 36th Surgeon General that medical research and development is crucial to future capability of our armed forces because, more often than not, our medical innovations derive from an idea or experiment in one of our laboratories. Researchers and scientists epitomize the spirit of interdisciplinary scholarship, innovation, and entrepreneurship that lead to translational advancements in critical areas.

Our global research and development arm is dedicated to enhancing the health, safety, readiness and performance of Navy and Marine Corps personnel deployed around the world through cutting edge medical research in a wide range of disciplines.

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Simulation of Hypersonic Vehicle Structures at the Air Force Research Lab

Filed under Physical Sciences, Technology by Carla Voorhees on October 25, 2011 at 3:21 pm {no comments}

Dr. Michael Spottswood is a aerospace research engineer at the Structural Sciences Center at the Air Force Research Lab. He is the recipient of the 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for his research simulating extreme environments on hypersonic vehicle structures.

Dr. Spottswood, winner of a 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering

As a civilian researcher for the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), I work on many exciting projects. It is very rewarding to have a job that allows me to continually explore new concepts in the development of aircraft technologies. Currently, I am part of the Structural Sciences Center (SSC), a small basic research group within AFRL. The objective of our group is to explore and develop methods for the simulation of hypersonic vehicle structures operating in extreme environments such as excessive temperatures, thermally-induced stresses and aeroacoustic loading. To put it simply, we would like the ability to simulate the response, material evolution and ultimately predict the useful life of these extreme-environment structures. In order to achieve this goal, the SSC conducts in-house research and experimentation, and we also have collaborative efforts with targeted groups in the aerospace industry, NASA, and the academic community.

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So, why do you change your oil every 3,000 miles?

Filed under Physical Sciences, STEM, Technology by John Ohab on April 27, 2011 at 1:54 pm {5 comments}

MRAP on Patrol in Afghanistan. (Photo: Sgt. Justin Howe)

This blog post was shared by the Reliability Information Analysis Center (RIAC). It is the 17th in our 22-part series produced by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

Because that’s what it says in the owner’s manual. But, how much could you save if you waited until 6,000 miles [provided of course you didn’t damage your engine]? It’s questions like this that RIAC engineers, scientists and subject matter experts (SMEs) are dealing with every day on weapons platforms from tanks, to planes, to helicopters, and even submarines.

RIAC engineers not only study the maintenance requirements in the owner’s manuals, but they also spend hours researching failure rates and explore various data sets related to maintenance events. This is a highly structured and very effective process called Reliability Centered Maintenance.

A Reliability Centered Maintenance analysis starts with detailed systems drawings. From the drawings, every component is analyzed for ways that it could possibly fail and then analyzed to see how severe that failure could be to the system. Next, engineers review the actual field failure data or use one of the databases on failures developed over the past 45 years at RIAC. Then, RIAC engineers look at the maintenance currently performed and analyze whether or not certain activities could be eliminated or reduced. Any activity that’s been identified for elimination or reduction must be explored further to ensure the overall system remains safe and reliable. If the overall system remains safe, there’s an opportunity for cost savings to come into play.

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Protecting Law Enforcement from Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Threats

Filed under Earth Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences by John Ohab on April 25, 2011 at 10:56 am {no comments}

The National Institute of Justice's new ensemble standard meets the special needs of law enforcement officers. (Photo: DOJ)

This is a guest post from Debra Stoe, program manager for the National Institute of Justice’s Body Armor and Standards and Testing programs within the Office of Science and Technology. Her areas of interest include development of standards, certifications programs, test methodologies, and Indian Country research. Maureen McGough & Matt Acocella also contributed to the post.

Here at the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Office of Science and Technology, we are tasked with establishing and maintaining performance standards for law enforcement technologies. Recently, we developed a standard for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) protective ensembles used by law enforcement. This standard establishes a minimum level of protection for law enforcement when dealing with CBRN hazards. CBRN hazards are very serious, and include chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, biological agents, and radiological and nuclear particulate hazards that may inflict bodily harm, incapacitation, or even death.

The new CBRN protective ensemble standard will be a tremendous boon to the law enforcement community, allowing them to more effectively perform their mission in CBRN environments. Previous standards for CBRN protective ensembles were geared towards firefighters, who have vastly different needs than law enforcement officers. As a result, the old standards did not address the unique needs of law enforcement officers within the first responder community such as stealth movement, manual dexterity, and physical combat. NIJ recognized that a performance standard addressing law enforcement needs was essential to ensure officer safety.

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DARPA Works to Build Computers Inspired by Human Brain

Filed under Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, STEM, Technology by John Ohab on April 8, 2011 at 10:59 am {no comments}

Today’s warfighters possess the ability to meet the dynamic demands of the battlefield by relying on their knowledge and training to make the right decisions in demanding complex situations. In contrast, unmanned systems and electronic devices, while able to collect and process information, are limited in their efficiency and flexibility, and current computer systems can only process information according to their programming.

What if warfighters could access an entirely new class of electronic systems that can meet the demands of dynamic environments?

DARPA’s Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) program aims to fundamentally alter conventional designs by developing biological-scale neuromorphic electronic systems that mimic important functions of a human brain. Applications for neuromorphic electronics include robotic and manned systems, and sensory and integration applications such as image processing.

The goal of SyNAPSE is to create electronic systems, inspired by the human brain, that can understand, adapt, and respond to information in fundamentally different ways than traditional computers. While current computers are organized into distinct processor and memory units that function in accordance with their programming, the brain is organized as an intimate and distributed web of very simple processors (neurons) and memory (synapses) that spontaneously communicate and learn their functions.

Using knowledge of the brain’s organization as a platform, SyNAPSE is developing integrated circuits with high densities of electronic devices and integrated communication networks that approximate the function and connectivity of neurons and synapses. This program has also developed tools to support this specific area of hardware development such as circuit design tools, large-scale computer simulations of hardware function, and virtual training environments that can test and benchmark these systems.

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It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Scientist…

Filed under Physical Sciences, STEM by John Ohab on April 6, 2011 at 4:41 pm {one comment}

The X-51A Waverider is designed to ride on its own shockwavem and accelerate to about Mach 6. (Air Force)

This blog post was shared with us by the Chemical Propulsion Information Analysis Center (CPIAC). It is the 14th entry in our 22-part series produced by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

Improving efficiency and expediency when resources are scarce is hardly a new concept. In fact, pick any point in history, and you’ll hear people talking about how they’ve faced similar constraints. Striving for efficiencies in the face of constraints may be an age-old concept, but it’s as important today as it ever was. Reflecting on past successes can remind us of what we can achieve and allow for us to take a fresh look at why we were able to do so.

In the rocket propulsion community, one of our greatest successes is a continuing drive for joint agency collaboration. This is especially true in the development and fielding of new technologies. Why is joint agency collaboration so important you may ask? Because there are few among us who haven’t had that moment in their career when we finally realized that someone else, somewhere out there, was working on the same problem we were – and if we were lucky, they had already solved it, and if very lucky, that they were willing to share. In a time when resources are scarce, joint agency collaboration connects people by tearing down walls and allows for the transition from “silo” to “community.”

However, collaboration is not without its challenges. How do you find others working on the same problem as you? How do you convince them to share? Here lies one of those frustrating intersections of engineering, organizational structure, and cultural sociology. Despite all the frustration, the rocket propulsion community has greatly benefited from those willing to set aside their differences and work together for the betterment of the community.

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