Active Projects
Preparedness- Incident Management & Decision Support System (IMDSS) - Health
Dr. Jim Gantt with Murray State University is working on a health care extension to the Incident Management Decision Support System (IMDSS™) which is under development on a different contract. IMDSS-H™ will add the functionality required to collect, process, and visualize public health information and use this information to aid in planning an effective response to potential medical and public health emergencies.
Preparedness- Pandemic Planning and Preparedness Project
Drs. Paul McKinney and Ruth Carrico with the University of Louisville are leading an effort to provide operation plans if a pandemic were to occur in the foreseeable future. This program is focused on helping communities prepare and respond to pandemics. Areas of emphasis are detection, preparedness, protection, response and recovery.
Protection, Response and Recovery- A Portable Community Infrastructure Resiliency System (PCIRS)
Dr. Phil Womble with Western KY University is developing a Portable Community Infrastructure Resiliency System (PCRIS). This system will consist of a portable electrical transformer station equipped with a communications hub that can be rapidly deployed in response to a crisis in the nation’s electrical-energy infrastructure. The principal element of the station is a compact, lightweight power converter that will provide emergency replacement of large, heavy iron-core transformers used in substation and distribution yards.
Protection, Response and Recovery- Assessment and Mitigation of Water-Side Attacks on Dams
Dr. Sebastian Bryson with the University of Kentucky is identifying existing concepts and developing new ones to reduce the risk from water-side attacks to dams and gated spillways.
Protection, Response and Recovery- Blast Protection for Power Transformers
Dr. Braden Lusk with the University of Kentucky is developing blast mitigation solutions for critical power transformers. The target objective of the project is to increase resiliency of the local/regional power grid by mitigating a potential threat to critical power transformers located within the grid. The University of Kentucky is prepared to assess the threat level for critical power transformers on the power grid on a local and regional basis near Lexington, Kentucky.
Protection, Response and Recovery- Highway Bridge Standoff Measurement System
Dr. John Keilkopf with the University of Louisville is advancing the science significantly by allowing bridge inspectors to be able to measure instantly structural resonant vibration frequencies of any line-of-sight joint, plate, truss or member at a remote distance. This method is elegantly simple to implement and is comparable to a surveyor setting up a transit at a distance and just aiming to a critical point on the structure or member of interest and measuring its vibration spectrum within seconds.
Protection, Response and Recovery- North American Transportation Center
Dr. Joe Crabtree with the University of Kentucky is supporting these efforts by implementing a hazmat truck tracking center. The University of Kentucky, specifically the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) and its partners, will expand upon the work completed under the Hazmat Truck Security Pilot by building a functional prototype of a hazmat truck tracking center. A multi-state implementation program will support development of the hazmat truck tracking center into full operational status.
Protection, Response and Recovery- Optical Intrusion Alarm for Defense of Critical Infrastructure Under Conditions of Fog, Smoke or Fire
Dr. Robert Cohn with the University of Louisville is developing a low-cost, optical sensor network suitable for broad area surveillance of the perimeter surrounding critical infrastructure. The system can be designed to sense the intrusion by humans and vehicles including their position, trajectory, size and shape. Systems based on the optical sensing concept are intended to and appear capable of performing this surveillance in the presence of fog, rain, smoke, and flames, and underwater through turbulence and turbidity.
Protection, Response and Recovery- Rapidly Delpoyable System for the Structured Stabilization of Shock Dam Strucures
Dr. Thomas Robl with the University of Kentucky is developing a rapidly deployable system to stabilize blast damaged structures to avoid catastrophic failure. The system is composed of a delivery vehicle capable of shortcreting or grouting prepackaged fiber reinforced cements mortars and micro-aggregated concretes that are strong and rapid setting. The system will be easy to operate and robust.