Manufacturing

Reliability, maintainability, and availability (RAM) are three system attributes that are of great interest to systems engineers, logisticians, and users. Collectively, they affect both the utility and the life-cycle costs of a product or system.   Although significant improvements have been made in increasing the reliability of basic components such …

The Department of Defense (DOD) has a well-documented history of taking much longer and spending much more than originally planned to develop and acquire its weapons systems. In particular, as systems transition from development to production, programs experience significant manufacturing problems. Billions of dollars in cost growthoccur as programs transition …

The rapid evolution of technology and outsourced manufacturing has created new opportunities, as well as new challenges and risks. Organizations today are under increased pressure to improve product designs as well as manufacturability and sustainability while reducing costs and development schedules. These initiatives are taking place in a competitive environment where …

Energetic materials and munitions are used across DoD in mission critical applications such as rockets, missiles, ammunition, and pyrotechnic devices. In these applications, energetic materials and munitions must perform as designed to ensure success in both training and combat operations. Energetic materials consist of fuels and oxidizers which are intimately mixed.  …

Energetic materials and munitions are used across DoD in mission critical applications such as rockets, missiles, ammunition, and pyrotechnic devices. In these applications, energetic materials and munitions must perform as designed to ensure success in both training and combat operations. Explosive substances are solid or liquid substances or mixtures, which …

Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) is the integration of mechanical elements (levers, springs, deformable membranes, vibrating structures, etc.), sensors, actuators, and electronics (resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc.) on a common silicon substrate through microfabrication technology. MEMS devices are today considered as one among the most promising technologies of this century, capable to revolutionize the …

The design of aerodynamic airfoils is optimized for certain conditions. For instance, the shape of the wings of fixed-wing aircrafts are designed and optimized for a certain flight condition (in terms of altitude, speed, aircraft weight, etc.). However, these flight conditions vary significantly during the flight. Currently, aircraft are provided …

The piezoelectric effect was discovered by brothers Pierre and Jacques Curie in 1880, and named after the Greek word piezein, that means to press or squeeze. They found that certain crystals were able to generate an electrical charge when mechanically loaded with tension or pressure. If exposed to an electric …

Blockchain is based on open, global infrastructure, decentralized public ledger of transactions that no one person or company owns or controls, ensures security of transfer of funds through public and private cryptology and third parties to verify that they shook, digitally, on an agreement. A blockchain is, in the simplest …

Uncertainties in materials and component manufacturing processes are a primary cause of cost escalation and delay during the development, testing and early production of defense systems. In addition, fielded military platforms may have unanticipated performance problems, despite large investment and extensive testing of their key components and subassemblies. These uncertainties …