Grants and Contributions

The team has identified metal fuels, including aluminum and iron, as excellent candidates for storing clean renewable energy. These metal fuels can be burned with air to produce useful heat, which can be converted into motive or electrical power using heat engines. The products of combustion, solid metal oxides, can be recycled back into reactive metal fuels using clean energy. In this project, the combustion of metal fuels in different configurations in order to design future metal fuel energy systems will be investigated.

Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft are often used for transporting goods to and from inaccessible areas, surveillance, ground support, etc. which can be enhanced and de-risked by increasing the autonomous capabilities of the vehicles. One of the main challenges in flight autonomy is the detection of landing zones (LZ) and obstacles to facilitate the safe, reliable, and quick landing of VTOL vehicles. The current research for LZ detection makes use of simple geometric rules to identify the safe LZs (e.g., can the helicopter fit in the available obstacle-free area). These approaches may not provide reliable results since the terrain characteristics such as slope, type of terrain, type of surrounding obstacles that affect landing safety are not taken into account. In this work, a sensing and dedicated computing module for real-time LZ identification and obstacle detection using deep learning will be developed. A novel dual-sensor solution, combining Laser Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and optical sensors, will be used, which allows identifying both geometric features and visual information of a scene with a high level of confidence. The performance of the proposed system will be evaluated using flight data captured using a VTOL drone.

Aptamers have been proven as versatile molecular recognition elements, possessing specificity and selectivity comparable to that of antibodies, with additional unique properties: their synthesis is simpler, readily scalable, and less expensive; the can be designed to incorporate a variety of chemical modification; and they are much more stable than antibodies. The current gold standard of aptamer discovery is conducted through Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX), which is very time and resource consuming, To remedy the shortcomings associated with this technique, the objective of this project is to develop a novel method for aptamer discovery. The team proposes to combine the oligonucleotide library design with the magnetic nanoparticles in concert with microfluidic surface plasmon resonance imaging biosensor capable of delivering one-step aptamer selection and validation technology. This proposed aptamer discovery method is both novel and has many advantages over the existing technologies. It significantly improves the ability to select high affinity and specificity aptamer akin to antibody counterparts and increases the applicability of the technology for the assays such as ELISA and immunoPCR.

Atmospheric CO2 levels are at a record high. Further increases are predicted to produce large and uncontrollable impacts on the world climate and ocean acidity levels. Meanwhile, the global energy demand is expected to boom by 2040, with a growth of more than 25%. To meet this demand, while addressing our CO2 challenge, a solution (photosynthetic biohybrid systems (PBSs)) that can efficiently capture and store CO2 and solar energy in a CO2-negative or CO2-neutral manner is being explored. PBSs are still in their infancy, with less than a handful of microbes incorporated as their biocatalysts. The technical breakthrough of PBSs relies on enhancement of bacterial attachment, biofilm development, and electron-transfer rates at the microbe-electrode interfaces, all of which will benefit immensely from a deeper understanding of the ecological strategies and environmental drivers of the solar absorber compatible CO2 fixing microbes in their natural habitats. Fe- and Mn-mineral coated mining sites with ample solar exposure will be the ideal ecosystem to find these microbes. This project will thus fill the knowledge gap of CO2 fixing photoelectrotroph communities associated with Fe- and Mn-mineral coatings on Earth’s surface.

La tomographie par cohérence optique (OCT) est une technique d'imagerie permettant de visualiser des couches cellulaires d'organes sans devoir faire de prélèvements. Les organes internes sont atteints à l'aide de catheters en fibres optiques. Originalement développées pour les télécommunications, ces fibres optiques peuvent être adaptées aux contraintes de l'imagerie endoscopique. Ici, il est question de déveloper des coupleurs en fibres optiques dédiés à l'imagerie médicale. En particulier, l'équipe addresse la measure de la phase pour améliorer le rapport signal-sur-bruit des images OCT.

The firm is getting to a stable, mature point where we can comfortably balance improving our core product by improving the robustness and the variety of inputs we can confidently support, in addition to developing critical features that significantly increase the product’s usefulness across a longer duration of lab work. This critical feature is being dubbed “smart work orders” and is a mechanism for users to create, publish, distribute, consume, and verify technical instructions or guides in our tool.

Spartan Bioscience (Spartan) proposes development of a SARS-CoV-2 assay to operate on its Cube sample-to-result real-time PCR testing platform. The proposed assay will have a simple workflow requiring no sample preparation after sample collection. The portable size of the Cube, along with the simplicity of the proposed workflow allows the solution to be deployed and implemented into airports, border crossings, and critical national infrastructure with ease.

This development project will address key issues encountered with conventional electronic beamforming networks (BFN) used in space based Radio-Frequency (RF) phased array antennas. Those antennas are gaining in popularity thanks to the recent plans for low cost, large, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation projects. Large bandwidth performances are thus expected to be much improved over the wide scan angles needed for operations in LEO. This study will lead to the fabrication of Optical BFN prototypes.

Atmospheric fluctuations severely limit the bandwidth of a satellite-to-ground optical communications channel. The project team proposes to use methods similar to those used in astronomy to mitigate atmospheric fluctuations and improve image fidelity. At present, researchers are exploring a technical solution via an optical system analogous to adaptive optics, optimized for satellite-based optical communications. This project will support the larger goal, led by NRC, of developing a high bandwidth optical communications system to serve rural and remote communities in Canada.

The objectives of the Program are: .• promoting volunteerism among seniors; .• engaging seniors in the community through.mentoring of others; .• expanding awareness of elder abuse, including.financial abuse; .• supporting social participation and inclusion of.seniors; and .• providing capital assistance for new and existing.community projects and/or programs for seniors. .