Helicopter Observation Platform
Pratt owns and operates a Bell JetRanger helicopter "user facility" outfited with a new platform of research sensors to bridge a gap in airborne studies of natural and man-made environmental processes.
The Helicopter Observation Platform (HOP), carries specialized instruments attached to its nose to perform environmental observations that are missed by high-flying and fast airplanes, satellites, and balloons and sounding rockets.
The scientific sensors currently mounted on the craft’s nose include a sonic anemometer to measure very-high frequency, three-dimensional turbulence at low flying speeds; an instrument to measure water and carbon dioxide concentrations; a sensor to measure three-dimensional wind, temperature and moisture content at high flying speeds; and an aerosol counter to sample the air and count the number of aerosols as well as measure their size distribution. In addition, the helicopter is equipped with a satellite navigation system that produces computer-generated, three-dimensional images of the aircraft's position in relation to the terrain below. Other instruments will be mounted on the helicopter as needed.
HOP is available on a hire per project basis, or through research proposal collaboration. For more information, contact Roni Avissar, avissar@duke.edu.
Duke Immersive Virtual Environment (DiVE)
The Duke Immersive Virtual Environment (DiVE) is the ideal system for fully immersive simulation and cognitive studies, and for verifying 3D structure between data models and experimental data. Projects currently planned for this Visroom include research in cognitive neuroscience, exploration of 3D structures, and education.
As the datasets scientists collect increase in size and complexity, so increases the need for ever more powerful tools to support data analysis and scientific communication. The tools that in the past have proved most useful in this regard have been those that take advantage of the remarkable information-processing ability built into human perceptual systems, particularly vision and audition. Thus, investigators in many of the most innovative fields of research, e.g., proteomics, genomics, seismology, neuroscience and astrophysics, rely heavily on computationally-intensive visualization tools to explore their data and test models. Technologies such as the DiVE are used not only to explore data collected through other means, but also as experimental tools in and of themselves.
For more information about how to use the DiVE for research, contact Rachael Brady, rbrady@duke.edu.
Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility
The Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMIF) provides researchers with high quality and cost-effective access to advanced materials characterization and fabrication capabilities. The facility is operated as a multidisciplinary shared use resource, and is available to Duke University researchers from the various schools and departments as well as to external users from other universities, government laboratories, and industry. SMIF is an official Duke University recharge center open to all trained students, staff, and faculty, and is used for both research and educational purposes.
SMIF currently consists of approximately 2,000 square feet located in the basement of the Levine Science Research Center for synthesis and characterization equipment, and approximately 600 square feet in Hudson Hall housing clean room fabrication facilities. These facilities will serve until the new characterization and clean room facility is constructed and upfit in the new Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine, and Applied Science building (FCIEMAS). The new facility will include class 1000 and class 100 clean room space and various characterization labs for electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, optical characterization equipment and X-ray analysis equipment.