With the rapid advancement of Internet technology over the last few years, the Internet has shed its static nature in favor of a dynamic and interactive environment where functionality and capabilities once found only in desktop applications are now made available to the Internet user. This project will research the technological issues of taking advantage of this new dynamic environment to implement Internet-based oral proficiency exams. Although methods for administering oral proficiency testing have been the focus of much research, their application in the Internet environment has not been widely explored. The intricacies of delivering quality audio and video, capturing audio responses (especially in quantity), and the difficulties posed by materials which utilize non-Roman writing systems (such as is necessary with Chinese and Korean) are just a few of the problems that need to be solved. Phase I of this project will begin with the technological research to propose a new method for developing and administering oral proficiency exams via the Internet, then demonstrate that proposed method in a prototype oral proficiency examination, using Chinese as a sample base. Phase II will entail development of full technical and content development for Chinese and Korean at the Advanced level. Summary of Anticipated Results and Implications: Phase I will demonstrate the technological feasibility of delivering oral proficiency examinations via the Internet. A new method for administering a technologically-mediated oral proficiency examination will have been proposed and tested in prototype form, using Chinese as a sample base. Phase II will consist of full technical and content development of oral proficiency exams for Chinese and Korean. Such examinations will test a user's oral proficiency at the Advanced level according to the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) and the 2 level according to the Federal Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR). Phase II will also entail the development of a proficiency evaluation process and a user notification process. LAS anticipates that this project will result in an extensible, re-useable method of oral proficiency testing. While the exams developed under Phase II of this project will focus on Chinese and Korean at the Advanced level, the technology will be extensible to other skill levels and to other languages; in particular, less commonly taught languages. Federal agencies and state governments, which implement and maintain oral proficiency requirements, will have an easily administered and reliable process for testing. Businesses with overseas interests will also benefit from the readily updateable content that can be tailored to address specific topics in which personnel are required to be proficient. We propose to develop a new polymeric photonic RF phase shifter suitable for electronically scanned optically interconnected phased array antenna system, which will have unique capabilities for early-warning radars, command control, and communications. The phase shifter will combine novel electro-optic polymer materials with a unique triple-nested Mach-Zehnder architecture for optimized performance. This photonic RF phase shifter offers major simplifications in the optically controlled phased array architecture, dramatically reducing the number of microwave components and allowing for remote operation via a single optical fiber. Our system offers electronic beam steering combined with an optically interconnected distribution network in a very simple robust package requiring just a single phase shifting element and a minimum of optical components. The system is compact and very lightweight. Its remote optically interconnected control unit allows for conformal implementation of phase array antenna radiating elements. Our approach combines recent USC advances in electro-optic polymer materials with Pacific Wave Industries newly developed serial feed configuration for optically controlled phased arrays. This distinguishes it from the current generation of electronically scanned antennas as well as older optically controlled systems, which merely substitute optical components for appropriate RF elements. This program will develop a new generation of photonically controlled RF devices based on novel electro-optic polymer materials. Our photonic RF phase shifter opens up a way of implementing electronically scanned phased array antennas, which will be extremely lightweight, small in size and remotely controlled. The use of our optical serially fed interconnects will reduce the cost and weight so that numerous applications will now become practical for the NMD, FAA and commercial markets.
Keywords: Electro-Optic Polymer Mach-Zehnder Modulator Photonic Rf Phase Shifter Phase Array Antenna
