Patents Assigned to United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
  • Patent number: 11385201
    Abstract: A method of forming a stable protein complex comprising: providing aqueous protein complexes, wherein the protein complexes are one or more of photosystem I complex from spinach, photosystem II complex from spinach, chlorophyll antennae, thylakoids, bacteriochlorophylls, chlorosomes, and photosystems from green algae, cyanobacteria, and plants; cationizing the aqueous protein complexes by the addition of stoichiometric amounts of a crosslinker in the presence of a coupling reagent; titrating the cationized protein complexes with a counter anionic polymer until the protein cation/anion pair solution becomes negative by zeta potential measurement, to create at least one antibody cation/anion pair in aqueous solution. The protein complexes cation/anion pair solution may be lyophilized to remove all of the water, forming a lyophilized solid. The lyophilized solid may be heated until a protein complex ionic liquid is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Joseph M Slocik, Rajesh R. Naik, Patrick B Dennis
  • Patent number: 11387013
    Abstract: A deformable yet mechanically resilient microcapsule having electrical properties, a method of making the microcapsules, and a circuit component including the microcapsules. The microcapsule containing a gallium liquid metal alloy core having from about 60 to about 100 wt. % gallium and at least one alloying metal, and a polymeric shell encapsulating the liquid core, said polymeric shell having conductive properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Brad L Cumby, Christopher Tabor
  • Patent number: 11378562
    Abstract: A self-timing, passive, chemical dosimeter. The dosimeter includes a sampling media and electronics supported by a cassette. The sampling media is configured to absorb volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds, or both, while the electronics are configured to record a time of exposure. The dosimeter further includes an actuator having a closed position and an open position. In the closed position, the actuator resists exposure of the sampling media to volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds, or both, and in the open position, the actuator permits exposure of the sampling media to volatile organic compounds, semivolatile organic compounds, or both. The actuator is configured to operate the electronics for recording time of exposure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: H Mitchell Rubeinstein, Christin M Duran, Daniel O Reilly, Steven D Fisher, Anthony V Qualley
  • Patent number: 11378476
    Abstract: An Instrumented Spherical Blast Impulse Recording Device (ISBIRD) provides for survivable test measurement of an explosive blast impulse. The ISBIRD includes a spherical housing formed of a metal having a thickness sufficient to survive the explosive blast wave from a test weapon. A test data module of the ISBIRD includes: (i) a three-axis acceleration sensor; (ii) a memory; and (iii) a controller communicatively coupled to the three-axis acceleration sensor and the memory. The controller executes a data acquisition utility to record acceleration data in three-dimensions from the three-axis acceleration sensor during exposure of the spherical housing to the explosive blast wave. An internal support structure of the ISBIRD is attached inside of the spherical housing and attached to the test data module. The internal support structure centrally locates the test data module within the spherical housing during exposure to the explosive blast wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Charles M. Jenkins, Alain L. Beliveau
  • Patent number: 11380457
    Abstract: A deformable yet mechanically resilient microcapsule having electrical properties, a method of making the microcapsules, and a circuit component including the microcapsules. The microcapsule containing a gallium liquid metal alloy core having from about 60 to about 100 wt. % gallium and at least one alloying metal, and a polymeric shell encapsulating the liquid core, said polymeric shell having conductive properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Brad L Cumby, Christopher Tabor
  • Patent number: 11381051
    Abstract: A fiber laser system includes a high power pump laser, an optical fiber that is aligned to receive output from the high power pump laser. The fiber laser system includes a first pair of orthogonally opposed, periodic electrode structures longitudinally aligned on opposite first and second sides of the optical fiber. The fiber laser system includes a controller that is communicatively coupled to the first pair of periodic electrode structures. The controller performs variable period poling of the first pair of periodic electrode structures to achieve quasi-phase matching (QPM).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventor: Christian Keyser
  • Patent number: 11372134
    Abstract: A film includes a substrate having a planar surface attachable to a surface that transmits electromagnetic energy; and a photonic crystal structure formed in the planar substrate that alters the transmitted electromagnetic energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventor: Joshua Lentz
  • Patent number: 11374376
    Abstract: A cylindrical electrode module of a fiber optic laser system includes an inner cylinder having an inner repeating pattern of longitudinally-aligned positive and negative electrodes on an outer surface of the inner cylinder. The cylindrical electrode mode includes an outer cylinder that encloses the inner cylinder. The outer cylinder that has an outer repeating pattern of longitudinally-aligned negative and positive electrodes on an inner surface of the inner cylinder that are in corresponding and complementary, parallel alignment with the positive and negative electrodes of the inner repeating pattern on the outer surface of the inner cylinder. The cylindrical electrode module includes an optical fiber having an input end configured to align with and be optically coupled to a high power pump laser. The optical fiber is wrapped around the inner cylinder within the outer cylinder to form a cylindrical fiber assembly. The electrodes are activated to achieve quasi-phase matching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Christian Keyser, Trevor Courtney
  • Patent number: 11366054
    Abstract: An optoacoustic sensor includes a liquid crystal (LC) cell formed between top and bottom plates of transparent material. A transverse grating formed across the LC cell that forms an optical transmission bandgap. A CL is aligned to form a spring-like, tunable Bragg grating that is naturally responsive to external agitations providing a spectral transition regime, or edge, in the optical transmission bandgap of the transverse grating that respond to broadband acoustic waves. The optoacoustic sensor includes a narrowband light source that is oriented to transmit light through the top plate, the LC cell, and the bottom plate. The optoacoustic sensor includes an optoacoustic spectrometer that is oriented below the bottom plate to receive the transmitted light and to record a time-domain modulation of transmission intensity at a selected one of a falling and rising edge of the transmission bandgap for detecting analog acoustic vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Hengky Chandrahalim, Michael Dela Cruz
  • Patent number: 11359613
    Abstract: The present invention relates to electrospray thrusters, processes of making electrospray thrusters, and methods of using such electrospray thrusters. Applicant's thruster incorporates a unique geometry for the emitters and extractor grid that effectively eliminates ion interception on the grid, which is the primary failure mechanism of current devices, yet maintains the electric field conditions necessary for ion emission to occur. Without grid impingement, the thrust produced by the thruster is increased and thruster operational lifetime is increased substantially. Additionally, this non-traditional geometry also allows for higher electric fields at the emitter tip for a given applied voltage, thus enabling lower operational voltage of the thruster as compared to conventional designs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Michael Ryan Natisin, Zachary Andrew Holley
  • Patent number: 11361999
    Abstract: A method for making a selective-area lift-off thin film comprises depositing a van der Waals (vdW) buffer on a substrate; depositing a thin film material (or device structure) on the van der Waals buffer; depositing an adhesion layer on the thin film material; forming a stressor layer on top of the thin film layer; and bonding a handle layer to the stressor layer. Force may be applied to the layered structure by one or more of rolling, bending, and shearing. The area selected for lift-off may be defined by one of laser cutting and mechanical scribing. The vdW buffer includes one or more of hBN, graphite, and graphene. The handle layer is a one of a polyimide tape, thermal release tape, UV release tape, water- or solvent-soluble tape, Kapton tape, and Scotch tape. The stressor layer is a metal film, e.g. Ni, Cr, Ti.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Michael R. Snure, Eric W. Blanton, Jeff L. Brown, Albert M. Hilton
  • Patent number: 11353627
    Abstract: A star tracker includes imaging optics comprising a folding mirror, a lens, and a detector. The folding mirror bends light received from an optical axis through the lens that focuses the bent light onto the detector. The star tracker includes a steering mechanism that steers light from an adjustable field of view (FOV) to the optical axis of the imaging optics. The steering mechanism includes: (i) a first photonic crystal element comprising beam pointing spatially variant photonic crystals (SVPCs); (ii) a second photonic crystal element comprising beam pointing SVPCs that is positioned adjacent and axially aligned with the first photonic crystal element; and (iii) a housing that receives the first and second photonic crystal elements for independent rotation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Joshua Lentz, Kevin Brink
  • Patent number: 11350845
    Abstract: Passive location of an emitter is achieved by sensing a signal propagated from the emitter at multiple sensing locations and determining its phase at each sensing location. A three-dimensional region is searched to find an emitter location for which phase estimates of the signal at the emitter location are in good agreement among the sensing locations. An iterative search from a set of starting points in the region may be performed. The region may be subdivided and each region searched in parallel using multiple processors in parallel. Phase at the sensing locations may be determined locally, using synchronized clocks at the sensing locations, or at a common receiver. In the latter case, signal propagation time from the sensing location to the receiver location is taken into account. The emitter may be a wireless endoscopy capsule, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventor: Charles A. Berdanier
  • Patent number: 11354452
    Abstract: The invention is a secure logic chip with resistance to hardware Trojan induced data leakage. The invention solves the untrustworthy fabrication risk problem by introducing a secure logic chip design such that even when the design is entirely known to an attacker and a data leakage Trojan is injected subsequently, no useful information can be obtained. This invention contains several features including randomized encoding of binary logic, converting any combinational binary logic into one with randomized encoding, and partitioning a randomized encoded logic for split manufacturing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Yiyu Shi, Travis Schulze, Kevin Kwiat, Charles Kamhoua
  • Patent number: 11356599
    Abstract: A system includes a control station that enables efficient human collaboration with automated object tracking. The control station is communicatively coupled to an aerial vehicle to receive full motion video of a ground scene taken by an airborne sensor of the aerial vehicle. The control station spatially registers features of a movable object present in the ground scene and determines motion of the movable object relative to the ground scene. The control station predicts a trajectory of the movable objective relative to the ground scene. The control station tracks the movable object based on data fusion of: (i) the spatially registered features; (ii) the determined motion; and (iii) the predicted trajectory of the movable object. The control station presents a tracking annotation and a determined confidence indicator for the tracking annotation on a user interface device to facilitate human collaboration with object tracking.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Terry W. Stanard, Theus H. Aspiras, Vijayan K. Asari, Taleri L. Hammack
  • Patent number: 11354451
    Abstract: The invention is a secure logic chip with resistance to hardware Trojan induced data leakage. The invention solves the untrustworthy fabrication risk problem by introducing a secure logic chip design such that even when the design is entirely known to an attacker and a data leakage Trojan is injected subsequently, no useful information can be obtained. This invention contains several features including randomized encoding of binary logic, converting any combinational binary logic into one with randomized encoding, and partitioning a randomized encoded logic for split manufacturing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Yiyu Shi, Travis Schulze, Kevin Kwiat, Charles Kamhoua
  • Patent number: 11345460
    Abstract: An aircraft having an empennage rotatable about a longitudinal axis via an electric motor drive is disclosed herein. A pair of horizontal stabilizers extend from opposing sides of the rotatable empennage and are independently rotatable via electric motor drives. The rotatable empennage is operable for controlling yaw, pitch and rolling moments without a traditional vertical stabilizer and rudder system which can reduce weight as well as the radar cross section of the aircraft. This technology can also be applied to a weapon control system such missile such as a missile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventor: James Joo
  • Patent number: 11346017
    Abstract: The present invention relates to single crystalline NaUO3, hydrothermal growth processes of making such single crystals and methods of using such single crystals. In particular, Applicants disclose single crystalline NaUO3 in the R32 space group. Unlike other powdered NaUO3, Applicants' single crystalline NaUO3 has a sufficient crystal size to be characterized and used in the fields of laser light, infrared countermeasures, nuclear fuel material, nuclear forensics and magnetic applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: James M. Mann, Thomas A. Bowen, Eric J. Plummer
  • Patent number: 11339208
    Abstract: Single-domain antibodies (SAbs) against three Yersinia pestis surface proteins (LcrV, YscF, and F1), nucleic acid sequences encoding the SAbs, and polypeptides comprising two or more SAbs capable of recognizing two or more epitopes and/or antigens. The present invention further includes methods for preventing or treating Y. pestis infections in a patient; methods for detecting and/or diagnosing Y. pestis infections; and devices and methods for identifying and/or detecting Y. pestis on a surface and/or in an environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Camilla A Mauzy, Serge Victor Marie Muyldermans
  • Patent number: 11338037
    Abstract: A method for creating a stable protein/antibody ionic liquid, comprising: (a) cationizing aqueous proteins/antibodies by addition of an excess of a positively-charged crosslinker in the presence of a coupling reagent; (b) purifying the cationized proteins/antibodies; (c) titrating the cationized proteins/antibodies with a corresponding biologically-compatible counter anionic polymer to create at least one protein/antibody cation/anion pair in aqueous solution until the cation/anion pair solution becomes negative by zeta potential measurement; (d) repeatedly dialyzing the protein/antibody cation/anion pair in water to remove excess anionic polymer using at least one molecular weight cutoff 7000 dialysis membrane; (e) lyophilizing the protein/antibody cation/anion pair to remove most of the water, forming a lyophilized solid; and (f) heating the lyophilized solid until a protein/antibody ionic liquid is generated. The antibody may be any desired antibody, and the anion may be any biologically-compatible anion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventors: Joseph M Slocik, Rajesh R. Naik, Patrick B Dennis