Abstract: A transportation system has an air cushion vehicle in a U-shaped or W-shaped channel in the ground. The channel provides support and directional stability for the air cushion vehicle during transit along its length. This system assures high speed overland transport of heavy equipment which is faster than trains, and the system is cost effective since it does not incur expensive nonrecurring capital investments and expensive recurring maintenance costs. This transportation system is adaptable to existing overland right-of-ways.

Abstract: A line charge has a series of spaced-apart warheads coupled to strength members and a detonating cord freely extends through bores in the warheads. A rocket motor at one end of the strength members pulls the line charge across an obstacle laden area. An anchored tether or drogue chute at the other end arrests flight of the line charge and it drops across the area. The thermoplastic, polymeric, or metallic strength members provide strain management to withstand the severe deployment forces and to preclude damage to the detonating cord. Strain is absorbed by the elastic deformation of the strength members coupled to the warheads. Strain also is reduced through direct dissipation of energy by dynamic frictional losses created between strength members, coupling components, and anchoring devices during deployment when slippage occurs between the strength members and coupling components and anchoring devices.

Abstract: A boat deployed explosive net assembly includes a boat, an elongated tray, a pair of pontoons, an explosive net and one or more drogue devices. The boat is floatable on and movable along a surface of a body of water, such as a surf zone. The tray includes an outer member and a pair of inner members. The outer member is rotatably mounted to the boat such that the tray is movable between a transport position in which it is aligned in generally parallel relation to the direction of movement of the boat and a deployed position in which it is aligned in generally transverse relation to the direction of movement of the boat. Each inner member is mounted to and disposed within an interior cavity of the outer member and telescopingly movable in relation to the outer member between retracted and extended condition. Each pontoon is floatable on and movable along the surf zone and mounted to one of the inner members of the tray.

Abstract: An underwater imaging system includes a scuba facemask having a viewing portion that defines a user field-of-view. An imager generates image data of an area in an imaging field-of-view. The imager is coupled to the facemask such that the imaging field-of-view at least partially overlaps the user field-of-view. A display mounted in a lower portion of the user field-of-view is coupled to the imager for displaying images to the user based on the image data.

Abstract: A system for facilitating movement of a shipping container uses a plurality of air bearing pontoons interposed between a shipping container and a h, soft or water surface. Each air bearing pontoon includes an inflatable skirt and its own controllable air supply that allows the skirt to float on a cushion of air above the surface.

Abstract: A lens system is adaptable to face masks for divers and camera and viewing indows and assures improved viewing characteristics underwater, including unit magnification and substantially perspective distortion-free viewing over a wider field of view. The system includes a first lens having a concave outer face contacting water and a concave inner face contacting a gas filled interior. A second lens spaced apart from the first lens in the interior has a convex outer surface and a flat inner surface. The concave outer face and concave inner face of the first lens and the convex outer surface and flat an inner surface of the second lens are coaxially aligned and optically oriented to afocally process and transmit light passing through them to a nodal point in the interior. At least one of the outer face, concave inner face, convex outer surface and inner surface defines an aspheric curve.

Abstract: A transport system includes a dry dock mounted on an air cushion platform portage a ship overland. The system raises the ship from one body of water, hauls it across different surfaces, and launches it in another body of water. Ships and other water borne vessels can be portaged on air cushions across land, marsh, bog, or other impediments to navigable waters, or barge-like work platforms can be taken to work sites on water, swamps or tundra and retrieved after completion of the task. Transport system and ships can bypass canals and locks if these become inoperable, or the canals and locks can be circumvented if political conflicts deny their access.

Abstract: A turbofan engine construction has a stator portion coupled to and centra disposed within a rigid casing. A rotor portion is disposed between the rigid casing and the stator portion for rotation about the stator portion. A portion of fluids entering the turbofan are heated between the stator and rotor portions prior to expulsion thereof. The remainder of the fluids entering the turbofan pass unheated through the stator portion prior to expulsion. As a result, the heated fluids are expelled annularly about the unheated fluids.

Abstract: A frangible payload-dispensing projectile has a spherical capsule filled h a dispersible fill material. The exterior surface of the capsule has a plurality of spaced-apart dimples formed therein. Thickness at the base of each dimple is insufficient to withstand impact forces delivered thereto upon contact with a target whereas thickness between dimples is sufficient to withstand launch forces.

Abstract: A method and system for target detection processing transmits energetic pes into a media in which the energetic pulses propagate diffusively. Diffusively propagating reflections of the energetic pulses from a target are transformed into corresponding wave propagating reflections satisfying a conventional wave equation. The wave propagating reflections are then processed in accordance with a synthetic aperture processing technique.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for improving the navigation accuracy of a vehicle guided by the global positioning system (GPS). The system can be ermanent or can be delivered "on station" by delivery vehicles dropped from a host aircraft. If delivered, each delivery vehicle travels to a destination at the earth's surface on land or at sea. At each destination, an antenna and a GPS receiver use GPS signals and determine the position of the antenna. A transmitter coupled between the GPS receiver and the antenna transmits the determined position of the antenna over the air waves via the antenna. In this way, a plurality of earth-bound GPS positions can be used by a GPS-guided vehicle to improve its navigation accuracy thereby eliminating the atmospheric errors associated with satellite-transmitted signals.

Abstract: A thermal liner in a diving suit has a layer of incompressible phase change materials for storing latent heat energy and for later releasing the std energy while changing phase. This thermal liner provides thermal protection for divers' wetsuits, drysuits, and hot-water suits using stored energy from phase change materials, for extreme cold water diving. The thermal liner can function as an emergency backup heat source upon power failure when electrically-heated drysuits are used, or as an emergency backup heat source in case of interruption of warm water supply when hot-water diving suits are used. It can also be used as a supplemental source of heat for divers wearing passively-insulated wetsuits or drysuits to prolong acceptable durations in cold water missions. The thermal liner gives divers an emergency "come home" capability in case of power failure within drysuits supplied with an electrically-heated undergarment, or of an interruption of the warm water supply to a hot-water suit.

Abstract: A limpet and method for control thereof have a receiver section responsive o magneto-inductive signals in the ELF to VLF range that arm and fire a main charge. A swimmer places the limpet and enables it for control by remotely transmitted magneto-inductive signals in the ELF to VLF range. ELF to VLF frequencies provide safe and reliable communications from a remote control platform such as a land-based command station, an aircraft, surface craft, or submarine. The appropriately coded magneto-inductive signals in the ELF to VLF range are transmitted through the sea, air, beach, buildings, vegetation and sediment or any combination of these conditions to arm and fire or disarm the limpet as called for in the battle plan.

Abstract: Line contrast difference effect which limits the capabilities of laser line scan (LLS) sensors is substantially reduced by a process that uses a smhing array, modified based upon a mean magnitude array of all columns of a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of an image matrix. Trouble frequencies (both small band width and large band width) indicative of line contrast difference effect are identified from the mean magnitude DFT array using a linear least squares error method. The same technique is used to calculate suppression values for each of the identifiable trouble frequencies and the smoothing array is modified thereby. Once all modifications are made to the smoothing array, it is applied to the mean magnitude DFT array to suppress those pixels of the array that are associated with trouble frequencies. The corrected mean magnitude DFT array is then subject to an inverse DFT function for each column in the array to reconstruct the original image, now in corrected form, to be saved for display or storage.

Abstract: A method of and sensor for processing a laser line scan image to enhance portion representing otherwise obscure objects from background. Two contrast enhancement routines are applied to enhance obscured objects in the low signal strength regions. One is a background equalization routine employing an overlapping piecewise least squares error technique that equalizes the high/low signal strength regions. The second is a local histogram clipping routine that applies a moving window histogram clip to enhance details in the low strength regions without effecting the high strength regions.

Abstract: A head-supported two-way communication system. The system combines a thin bstrate forehead or head-bone microphone, a noise filter embedding the microphone, a universal impedance matcher connecting the microphone to a two-way radio, an unobstructed and unfettered-access push-to-talk switch, and a pair of rigidly positionable noise protected speakers, all secured to a head-supported structure permitting proper location of the embedded microphone, the switch, and the speakers for a particular user and application.

Abstract: A computer-readable software stored on a storage medium and executed on a mputer to perform an integrated sonar simulation, includes a parameter definition code for defining a plurality of parameters of a sonar, target and sonar environment, and a SNR computation code for computing a SNR of the sonar as a function of range to target, based upon the parameters defined by the parameter definition code. The parameters defined by the parameter definition code include ambient noise, volume scattering strength of the sonar environment, sound velocity profile of the sonar, beam patterns of both projector and receiver of the sonar, type of sonar, range resolution of the sonar, number of eigenrays striking the surface and bottom of the sonar environment, number of eigenrays striking the target, ray trajectories to the target, and surface and bottom scattering strength as a function of angle.

Abstract: To produce an enhanced image, the contrast of the image is first measured computing a central histogram moment. The image is scaled at each pixel thereof based on the central histogram moment and the maximum value of the image's dynamic range resulting in the generation of a scaled image. An estimate of the image background is subtracted from the scaled image to produce a low contrast enhancement value and added to the scaled image to produce a high contrast enhancement value. A portion of the low contrast enhancement value is summed with a complimentary portion of the high contrast enhancement value to generate an enhanced image intensity at each pixel.

Abstract: A low watch circle buoy system (LWCBS) uses global positioning system (GPS) P(Y) code coordinate sensing and transmission to mark its position in wr depths up to 40 feet to a positional accuracy of 3 meters or less. LWCBS maintains this position with a flotation unit on the water's surface that transmits signals representative of its location. A submerged unit is affixed to a surface at the bottom of the body of water and has outwardly reaching extensions that lie adjacent the surface. The extensions are tethered to the flotation unit by lines that are each connected between a distal part of each of the extensions and the flotation unit. A spool on each distal part each deploys and secures one of the lines to maintain the flotation unit substantially vertically above the submerged unit. These tether lines limit the range (watch circle) the flotation unit may traverse on the water.

Abstract: A standoff delivery system is responsive to GPS coordinate signals and inight GPS signals to deliver and emplace a sonobuoy at a remote location that otherwise would be hazardous for full size aircraft conventionally deploying the sonobuoy. A flying platform, such as a drone or gliding guided wing, carries the sonobuoy to a remote location. A GPS receiver on the platform enters GPS coordinate signals representative of the remote location and receives GPS signals representative of the location of the platform. A control signal generator produces control signals in response to both of the GPS signals and feeds control signals to servos that displace control surfaces to pilot the platform. The sonobuoy is released from the platform in response to GPS signals that are representative of at least the proximity of the remote location. This system provides for clandestine deployment and activation of the sonobuoy.