September 2010

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Briefs: Software

Over 150 years ago, Faraday provided the first comprehensive scientific study on the physics of burning candles. Complex combustion driven by the rate at which gases diffuse through each other...

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Briefs: Software

Plasmas consist of electrons, ions, and neutral species interacting with each other and with externally imposed electromagnetic fields. Plasma etching and deposition of thin films are...

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Briefs: Software

SYNGAS specializes in thermal and micro-thermal technology, and designs and analyzes pre-production heating, cooling, and thermal insulation systems for a...

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Briefs: Software

In 1999, NASA’s Lunar Prospector revealed concentrated hydrogen signatures detected in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. While scientists have long speculated about the source of vast...

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Briefs: Software
TEAMS Model Analyzer

The TEAMS model analyzer is a supporting tool developed to work with models created with TEAMS (Testability, Engineering, and Maintenance System), which was developed by QSI.

Briefs: Software

The Navigation Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) at JPL, acting under the direction of NASA’s Office of Space Science, has built a data system named SPICE (Spacecraft Planet Instrument C-matrix Events) to...

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Briefs: Software

SMART is a uniform automated discrepancy analysis and repair-authoring platform that improves technical accuracy and timely delivery of repair procedures for a given discrepancy (see figure...

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Briefs: Software

A software program provides a Sensorweb architecture for alert-processing, event detection, asset allocation and planning, and visualization (see figure). It automatically tasks...

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Briefs: Software

SCRUB is a code review tool that supports both large, team-based software development efforts (e.g., for mission software) as well as individual tasks. The tool was developed at JPL to...

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Briefs: Software

The Aerial Onboard Autonomous Science Investigation System (AerOASIS) system provides autonomous planning and execution capabilities for aerial vehicles (see figure). The system is capable of...

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Briefs: Software

An improved solution for curve fitting data to an exponential equation (y = AeBt + C) has been developed. This improvement is in four areas — speed, stability, determinant...

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Briefs: Software

Deep space communications over noisy channels lead to certain packets that are not decodable. These packets leave gaps, or bursts of erasures, in the data stream. Burst erasure correcting codes...

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Briefs: Software

Short-block low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes of a special type are intended to be especially well suited for potential applications that include transmission of command and control data, cellular...

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Briefs: Software

Research has revealed distinct spatial and temporal distributions of lightning occurrence that are strongly influenced by large-scale atmospheric flow regimes. It was believed there were two flow systems,...

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Briefs: Software
GOATS - Orbitology Component

The GOATS Orbitology Component software was developed to specifically address the concerns presented by orbit analysis tools that are often written as stand-alone applications. These applications do not easily interface with standard JPL first-principles analysis tools, and have a steep learning curve due to their...

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Over the past 20 years, additive manufacturing technology has migrated from use in rapid prototyping to a full-fledged manufacturing solution, which is referred to as “direct digital...

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Videos: Photonics/Optics

The NASA World Wind Java computer program developed at Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, CA, has won NASA’s 2009 Software of the Year award. Software engineers at Ames created the NASA World Wind...

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Articles: Photonics/Optics

The basic function of a photovoltaic cell is to convert input — sunlight energy expressed in irradiance (W/m2) — into output — useable electrical power — with as little loss as possible. To...

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Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Adept Viper 850 robot arm
Adept Technology
Pleasanton, CA
925-245-3400
www.adept.com

NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, performs research...

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Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) materials are an emerging alternative technology for converting sunlight into electricity. OPVs are potentially inexpensive to...

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Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Data acquisition and distribution systems
G Systems
Richardson, TX
972-234-6000
www.gsystems.com

G Systems has delivered a Data Acquisition System...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Qualification and Selection of Flight Diode Lasers for Space Applications

The reliability and lifetime of laser diodes is critical to space missions. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission includes a metrology system that is based upon laser diodes. An operational test facility has been developed to qualify and select, by...

Products

Olympus NDT, Waltham, MA, has introduced the EPOCH 600 digital ultrasonic flaw detector, a portable instrument that enables several methods of storing, archiving, and reporting inspection and calibration data. It features onboard...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
High-Speed Operation of Interband Cascade Lasers

Optical sources operating in the atmospheric window of 3–5 μm are of particular interest for the development of free-space optical communication link. It is more advantageous to operate the free-space optical communication link in 3–5-μm atmospheric transmission window than at the telecom...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Hybrid AlGaN-SiC Avalanche Photodiode for Deep-UV Photon Detection

The proposed device is capable of counting ultraviolet (UV) photons, is compatible for inclusion into space instruments, and has applications as deep-UV detectors for calibration systems, curing systems, and crack detection. The device is based on a Separate Absorption and Charge...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Mode Selection for a Single-Frequency Fiber Laser

A superstructured fiber-grating-based mode selection filter for a single-frequency fiber laser eliminates all free-space components, and makes the laser truly all-fiber. A ring cavity provides for stable operations in both frequency and power. There is no alignment or realignment required. After...

Tech Needs
Ammonium Probe-Type Sensor for Biofermentation Process Monitoring

A company seeks a probe-type ammonium sensor that can stand up to high temperatures and pressure during the sterilization step for fermentation, and that can deliver real-time concentration information during fermentation. The fermentation processes used require up to 60 hours to...

Products: Photonics/Optics

ADLINK Technology (San Jose, CA) has introduced the industry's first compact vision system based on the Intel® Core™2 Duo P8400 processor. The EOS-1000 provides four independent PoE (Power...

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Tech Needs
Anti-Fouling Technologies for Hard Surfaces

A company seeks components to make up one or more systems that can remove surface contamination (biofilms), lime scum, and lime scale buildup; ameliorate water hardness, mold, mildew, and similar spores; and handle soap scum and remove surface detritus from a variety of materials. These components...

Products: Photonics/Optics

Schurter (Santa Rosa, CA) has introduced the ASO series fuse and FSO series fuseholder, both designed to protect DC applications from low short circuits and overvoltage conditions in systems upwards of 1000 VDC. They are...

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Techs for License
Multi-Vector Electronic Control of an AC Motor Drive Reduces Torque Ripple

By suppressing or controlling harmonic currents and voltages of the motor to overcome torque ripple, this system improves the efficiency and torque performance of an AC motor, especially permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM). Many PMSMs use a concentrated winding,...

Products: Photonics/Optics

ERG Lighting, a division of Endicott Research Group (Endicott, NY), has introduced the eDriver family of LED power supplies for solid state lighting (SSL) applications. It is available in a range of constant voltage and...

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Techs for License
Innovative Aluminum Flat Solar Collector

A new flat solar collector features a heat-absorbing surface that equals the heat-transferring surface, resulting in high-heat performance and efficiency. There is no mediatory unit between the heat-transferring surface of the absorber and the heating agent. This means no galvanic corrosion, which would...

Products: Photonics/Optics

Jenoptik Optical Systems Division (Jupiter, FL) has added two USB camera types to its CCD microscope camera range: ProgRes® SpeedXTcore 3 and ProgRes® SpeedXTcore 5. SpeedXTcore 3...

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NASA Tech Needs: Aerospace
Icing Protection for Composite UAV Aircraft

NASA is expanding the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) fabricated from composite materials as aerial platforms to carry scientific payloads for science and environmental missions. The UAV brings an unprecedented capability for extended flight duration (over 24 hours on station) to provide...

Products: Photonics/Optics

FLIR Systems (Portland, OR) has introduced the 640 × 480 resolution Tau 640 long-wave camera core. It delivers thermal imagery with a 17-micron pixel size and Digital Detail Enhancement image processing...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Instrument for Measuring Thermal Conductivity of Materials at Low Temperatures

With the advance of polymer and other non-metallic material sciences, whole new series of polymeric materials and composites are being created. These materials are being optimized for many different applications including cryogenic and low-temperature industrial...

Products: Photonics/Optics

Optical Surfaces (Surrey, England) has announced the delivery of a pair of ultra-high-precision counter-rotating doublet prisms for an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC), which is part of the SONG (Stellar...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences

A system for wirelessly measuring the volume of fluid in tanks at non-horizontal orientation is predicated upon two technologies...

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Products: Photonics/Optics

Universe Kogaku America (Oyster Bay, NY) offers the EL1025B, a 25mm CCTV lens with adjustable focus and iris that offers an F/0.95 aperture. Aperture range is 0.95 to 16 in a 16mm lens format. The lens is suitable for low-light...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Multi-Axis Accelerometer Calibration System

A low-cost, portable, and simplified system has been developed that is suitable for in-situ calibration and/or evaluation of multi-axis inertial measurement instruments (e.g., accelerometers). This system overcomes facility restrictions and maintains or improves the calibration quality for users of...

Products: Photonics/Optics

DALSA Corporation (Billerica, MA) has introduced the BOA M1280, a high-resolution model of its BOA vision system, a highly integrated smart camera that comprises the elements of an industrial machine vision system. It...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Pupil Alignment Measuring Technique and Alignment Reference for Instruments or Optical Systems

A technique was created to measure the pupil alignment of instruments in situ by measuring calibrated pupil alignment references (PARs) in instruments. The PAR can also be measured using an alignment telescope or an imaging system. PAR allows the...

Products: Photonics/Optics

FEI (Hillsboro, OR) has introduced the Helios NanoLab™ x50 DualBeam™ Series, which integrates FEI's extreme high-resolution scanning electron microscope (XHR SEM) with a high-performance focused...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Autonomous System for Monitoring the Integrity of Composite Fan Housings

A low-cost and reliable system assesses the integrity of composite fan-containment structures. The system utilizes a network of miniature sensors integrated with the structure to scan the entire structural area for any impact events and resulting structural damage, and to...

Products: Photonics/Optics

The 5300 Series optical table from Kinetic Systems (Boston, MA) offers maximum dynamic deflection coefficients of ≤0.3 (10)-3 and an IRD-maximum relative motion as low as 0.8(10)-9 inches. It features...

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Advanced Flip Chips in Extreme Temperature Environments

The use of underfill materials is necessary with flip-chip interconnect technology to redistribute stresses due to mismatching coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) between dissimilar materials in the overall assembly. Underfills are formulated using organic polymers and possibly...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Adaptation of the Camera Link Interface for Flight-Instrument Applications

COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) hardware using an industry-standard Camera Link interface is proposed to accomplish the task of designing, building, assembling, and testing electronics for an airborne spectrometer that would be low-cost, but sustain the required data...

Products: Photonics/Optics

SPECIM, Spectral Imaging Ltd. (Oulu, Finland), offers the V10M, a high-resolution hyperspectral imaging sensor with dimensions required for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications. The sensor operates in the...

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Performance CCSDS AOS Protocol Implementation in FPGA

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) space data link protocol provides a framing layer between channel coding such as LDPC (low-density parity-check) and higher-layer link multiplexing protocols such as CCSDS Encapsulation Service,...

Products: Photonics/Optics

Ophir-Spiricon (Logan, UT) has introduced the PD10-IR-pJ photodiode energy sensors. It extends the low measurement capability to the NIR range, covering from 800 to 1800nm, and is designed for low-energy...

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Performance CCSDS Encapsulation Service Implementation in FPGA

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Encapsulation Service is a convergence layer between lower-layer space data link framing protocols, such as CCSDS Advanced Orbiting System (AOS), and higher-layer networking protocols, such as CFDP (CCSDS File Delivery...

Products: Photonics/Optics

Fiberguide Industries (Stirling, NJ) offers a line of low and standard hydroxyl concentration (OH) plastic-coated silica fibers. The Anhydroguide™ and Superguide™ are low-cost optical fibers that provide UV...

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Briefs: Software
World Wide Web Metaphors for Search Mission Data

A software program that searches and browses mission data emulates a Web browser, containing standard metaphors for Web browsing. By taking advantage of back-end URLs, users may save and share search states. Also, since a Web interface is familiar to users, training time is reduced. Familiar back...

Products: Photonics/Optics

PHOTONIS USA (Sturbridge, MA) has introduced an optical receiver that is capable of sustaining tens of microamperes of signal current over an indefinite period. It also features an integrated power supply with low power...

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Briefs: Software
Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool

The Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool (PPET) is a set of algorithms implemented in MATLAB that estimates key vegetative phenological parameters. For a given year, the PPET software package takes in temporally processed vegetation index data (3D spatio-temporal arrays) generated by the time series...

Products: Photonics/Optics

New Focus™ (Santa Clara, CA) has introduced a new series of semiconductor tapered amplifiers for high-power tunable and fixed-wavelength applications. The VAMP series is designed to accept many...

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Briefs: Software
Numerical Mean Element Orbital Analysis With Morbiter

The Morbiter software numerically averages an osculating orbit’s equations of motion (EOM) to arrive at the mean orbit’s EOMs, which are then numerically propagated to obtain the long-term orbital ephemerides. The long-term evolution characteristics, and stability, of an orbit are best...

Products: Photonics/Optics

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors’ (Sunnyvale, CA) new infrared DRAGON SFH 4236 LED achieves a typical radiant intensity of 650 mW/sr at a DC current of 1A, more than three times that of the standard IR DRAGON. The device emits at a...

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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Plasma pyrolysis of methane has been investigated for utility as a process for producing hydrogen. This process was conceived as a means of recovering hydrogen from methane produced as a...

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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Self-Deployable Membrane Structures

Currently existing approaches for deployment of large, ultra-lightweight gossamer structures in space rely typically upon electromechanical mechanisms and mechanically expandable or inflatable booms for deployment and to maintain them in a fully deployed, operational configuration. These support structures,...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Reactivation of a Tin-Oxide-Containing Catalyst

The electrons in electric-discharge CO2 lasers cause dissociation of some CO2 into O2 and CO, and attach themselves to electronegative molecules such as O2, forming negative O2 ions, as well as larger negative ion clusters by collisions with CO...

Briefs: Materials

Products and manufacturing processes can be sensitive to outgassed chemical compounds, resulting in the use of adhesives, encapsulants, and sealants that have been specially formulated for low-outgassing performance....

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Briefs: Materials
Functionalization of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes by Photo-Oxidation

A new technique for carbon nanotube oxidation was developed based upon the photo-oxidation of organic compounds. The resulting method is more benign than conventional oxidation approaches and produces single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with higher levels of oxidation.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Mass balances usually use a strain gauge that requires an impedance measurement and is susceptible to noise and thermal drift. A piezoelectric balance can be used to measure mass directly by...

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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Acoustic Liner for Turbomachinery Applications

The purpose of this innovation is to reduce aircraft noise in the communities surrounding airports by significantly attenuating the noise generated by the turbomachinery, and enhancing safety by providing a containment barrier for a blade failure. Acoustic liners are used in today’s turbofan...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

A bladderless water tank (see figure) has been developed that contains capillary devices that allow it to be filled and emptied, as needed, in microgravity. When filled with water, the tank...

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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Large-Flow-Area Flow-Selective Liquid/Gas Separator

This liquid/gas separator provides the basis for a first stage of a fuel cell product water/oxygen gas phase separator. It can separate liquid and gas in bulk in multiple gravity environments. The system separates fuel cell product water entrained with circulating oxygen gas from the outlet of...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Metering Gas Strut for Separating Rocket Stages

A proposed gas strut system would separate a liquid-fueled second rocket stage from a solid-fueled first stage using an array of pre-charged struts. The strut would be a piston-and-cylinder mechanism containing a compressed gas. Adiabatic expansion of the gas would drive the extension of the strut....

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Counterflowing Jet Subsystem Design

A counterflowing jet design (a spacecraft and trans-atmospheric subsystem) employs centrally located, supersonic cold gas jets on the face of the vehicle, ejecting into the oncoming free stream. Depending on the supersonic free-stream conditions and the ejected mass flow rate of the counterflowing jets, the...

Briefs: Physical Sciences
True Shear Parallel Plate Viscometer

This viscometer (which can also be used as a rheometer) is designed for use with liquids over a large temperature range. The device consists of horizontally disposed, similarly sized, parallel plates with a precisely known gap. The lower plate is driven laterally with a motor to apply shear to the liquid in...

Briefs: Physical Sciences

An improved magnetic levitation apparatus (“Maglev Facility”) has been built for use in experiments in which there are requirements to impose variable gravity (including zero gravity) in...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Focusing Diffraction Grating Element With Aberration Control

Diffraction gratings are optical components with regular patterns of grooves, which angularly disperse incoming light by wavelength in a single plane, called dispersion plane. Traditional gratings on flat substrates do not perform wavefront transformation in the plane perpendicular to...

Briefs: Physical Sciences
Universal Millimeter-Wave Radar Front End

A quasi-optical front end allows any arbitrary polarization to be transmitted by controlling the timing, amplitude, and phase of the two input ports. The front end consists of two independent channels — horizontal and vertical. Each channel has two ports — transmit and receive. The transmit signal is...

Briefs: Information Technology
3D GeoWall Analysis System for Shuttle External Tank Foreign Object Debris Events

An analytical, advanced imaging method has been developed for the initial monitoring and identification of foam debris and similar anomalies that occur post-launch in reference to the space shuttle’s external tank (ET). Remote sensing technologies have been used...

Briefs: Information Technology
Hidden Statistics Approach to Quantum Simulations

Recent advances in quantum information theory have inspired an explosion of interest in new quantum algorithms for solving hard computational (quantum and non-quantum) problems. The basic principle of quantum computation is that the quantum properties can be used to represent structure data, and...

Briefs: Information Technology
Determining Atmospheric-Density Profile of Titan

A method was developed for measuring the atmospheric density of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, to create an accurate density profile as a function of altitude. This will allow mission planners to select safe flyby altitudes, and for navigation engineers to accurately predict the delta-v...

Articles: Imaging

As warfare moves into a new era, military strategists tool up with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones to provide the visual surveillance the new combat...

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Briefs: Imaging
Plenoptic Imager for Automated Surface Navigation

An electro-optical imaging device is capable of autonomously determining the range to objects in a scene without the use of active emitters or multiple apertures. The novel, automated, low-power imaging system is based on a plenoptic camera design that was constructed as a breadboard system....

Briefs: Physical Sciences
Reconstituted Three-Dimensional Interactive Imaging

A method combines two-dimensional images, enhancing the images as well as rendering a 3D, enhanced, interactive computer image or visual model. Any advanced compiler can be used in conjunction with any graphics library package for this method, which is intended to take digitized images and...

Application Briefs: Imaging

A new imaging technology can quickly give users accurate three-dimensional depictions of objects being tracked, whether they are incoming missiles or the faces of...

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Who's Who: Aerospace

Born and raised in Seoul, Korea, Jaiwon Shin emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 23, and in 1989, he joined NASA’s Glenn...

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Podcasts
Dr. Jaiwon Shin, Associate Administrator, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC

Born and raised in Seoul, Korea, Jaiwon Shin emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 23, and in 1989, he joined NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH, where he served most recently as Chief of the Aeronautics...

Products: Imaging

ADLINK Technology, San Jose, CA, offers the HDV62, a PCI Express frame grabber with uncompressed image acquisition and video streaming in 1080p HD. The unit provides 1920 × 1080p resolution, progressive scan, and noise...

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Products: Imaging

Universe Kogaku America, Oyster Bay, NY, has released the EL1025B lens with a F/0.95 aperture in a 1" format. The 25-mm CCTV lens features adjustable focus and iris, and is designed for low-light applications such as...

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Products: Imaging

DALSA, Waterloo, ON, Canada, offers the GEVA Gigabit Ethernet (GigE)-ready vision appliance that is compatible with DALSA Genie and Spyder3 cameras. It offers an expandable platform for multi-camera vision applications such...

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Products: Imaging

Matrox Imaging, Dorval, QE, Canada, has introduced the Orion HD graphics adapter with video capture capabilities. It features two independent video paths; each path can connect and switch between RGB/CVBS/YPrPb,...

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Articles: Electronics & Computers

Historically, processors from the PowerPC® family, now known as Power Architecture® processors, have been the dominant choice for implementing Digital...

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Products: Imaging

The Northstar nBoxTM simulation display processor from 3D perception, Orlando, FL, is a plug-and-play, zero-frame-latency controller that scales, warps, blends, and color-corrects content, outputs to multiple...

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Articles: Electronics & Computers

Military systems represent extreme environments for COTS electronic equipment. Many systems involve multiple enclosures, often from different suppliers. Equipment layout, the...

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Products: Imaging

FLIR Systems, Colorado Springs, CO, offers the ChromaNox electron multiplied CCD low-light cameras available in VGA (640 × 480) and SXGA (1280 × 1024) resolution, and in color and monochrome models. The cameras feature...

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Application Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Systems engineering is not about developing electronics, mechanical, or software designs. Systems engineering is really about four things:

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Products: Imaging

The VHX-1000 digital microscope from Keyence Corp. of America, Woodcliff Lake, NJ, features real-time 16-bit imaging resolution that makes subtle color differences visible, and optimizes areas that are too dark or too...

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Application Briefs: Electronics & Computers

DC is not always DC. When systems are developed to operate on DC power, the DC electrical environment will have noise and may experience other disturbances. This article will explore considerations for generating low...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

Xilinx, Inc. (San Jose, CA) has launched the industry’s first high-density, rad-hard reconfigurable FPGA. The new devices are built on the second-generation ASMBL™ column-based architecture of...

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Products: Imaging

Alternative Vision Corp., Tucson, AZ, has released the f/1.4 SWIR lens series from Optec. The lens line is designed for large-format (20.5 mm) shortwave infrared (SWIR) imagers, and combines high throughput with low vignetting...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

The PIXCI® SI2 frame grabber from EPIX (Buffalo Grove, IL) supports two high-resolution SILICON VIDEO® cameras with resolutions from 0.3 to 10 megapixels on the x1 PCI Express bus. With 64 MB of onboard memory and...

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Products: Imaging
Touch Screen Display

Banner Engineering, Minneapolis, MN, offers the iVu Remote Touch Screen Display for vision inspection in hard-to-access areas. Users can program iVu sensors through a single display and change inspection parameters remotely with no PC or external devices. One display can be used to program multiple iVu sensors. Connected via...

Products: Electronics & Computers

STMicroelectronics (Geneva, Switzerland) has introduced the STM32TS60, a single-chip multi-touch “resistive” touchscreen controller that detects up to 10 simultaneous touches with fingers, nails, or stylus,...

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Products: Imaging

IMPACT® 9.1 machine vision software from PPT Vision, Bloomington, MN, features the Pinpoint Pattern Find tool for applications including robotic guidance and high-speed inspection of randomly oriented,...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

Keithley Instruments (Cleveland, OH) has released a free tutorial CD that offers practical and helpful techniques for obtaining the most accurate and precise measurements possible using advanced electrical...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

The MAXQ622® microcontroller with integrated USB transceiver from Maxim Integrated Products (Sunnyvale, CA) features an ultra-low stop-mode current (300nA, typ.) and intelligent supply switching to extend battery life...

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Products: Imaging

Jenoptik Optical Systems Division, Jena, Germany, offers the ProgRes® SpeedXTcore 3 and ProgRes SpeedXTcore 5 USB CCD microscope cameras. The first model features live image speed of 17...

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Products: Imaging

QImaging, Surrey, BC, Canada, offers the Rolera EM-C2 EMCCD microscopy camera for low-light imaging applications that features a 40-MHz pixel clock rate. Up to 34.2 frames per second can be read out and transferred over an...

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Articles: Electronics & Computers

VPX is like a three act play. Act one was the launching of a new high density platform for critical embedded computing applications. Leveraging the wildly popular VMEbus in 3U and 6U Eurocard formats, VPX added the...

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Articles: Electronics & Computers

The OpenVPX Industry Working Group, a 28-company team founded by Mercury Computer Systems, collaborated with a common goal and accelerated the completion of a system architecture specification for...

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Articles: Electronics & Computers

VPX systems offer tremendous performance for the Mil/Aero market, including naval, airborne, and ground-based computing systems. The architecture provides an unprecedented...

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Articles: Electronics & Computers

Before the advent of OpenVPX, designers of embedded systems took advantage of the extreme connectivity offered by VPX (VITA 46), but were faced with a virtually unlimited number of possible implementations. Specific...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

Available in both air- and conduction-cooled configurations, the Ensemble™ 6000 Series OpenVPX HCD6410 High Compute Density Module from Mercury Computer Systems (Chelmsford, MA) combines eight...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) has introduced the OpenVPX™/VITA-65 compliant VPX6-6902 Serial RapidIO® (SRIO) switch card. This rugged 6U VPX board,...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

GE Intelligent Platforms (Charlottesville, VA) has announced the SBC622 rugged 6U OpenVPX-compliant single board computer. At 2.53GHz, the SBC622’s Intel Core i7 processor is 30% faster than its...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

Elma Bustronic Corporation (Fremont, CA) has introduced a new 6U VPX Load Board that helps confirm the chassis meets the VITA 46/48 power specifications for VPX and aids in locating hot spots within the enclosure. The 6U...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) (Middleton, WI) is now shipping the XPand4200, a sub-1⁄2 ATR, forced air-cooled enclosure for conduction-cooled modules. The system measures 4.88" (W) × 6.0" (H) × 13.5"...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

Elma Electronic Systems Division (Fremont, CA) has released a new two-slot VPX/OpenVPX test and development platform that accommodates both 3U and 6U boards via a shelf divider. The new E-Frame Series...

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Products: Electronics & Computers

The new Kontron (Poway, CA) Gigabit Ethernet Switch VX3910 offers 3U VPX (VITA 46.x) and OpenVPX™ (VITA 65) platforms enterprise-class switching functionality with a total of 28 Gigabit Ethernet ports and...

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Briefs: Software
Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) for the HyspIRI Spectrometer Mission

The OSSE software provides an integrated end-to-end environment to simulate an Earth observing system by iteratively running a distributed modeling workflow based on the HyspIRI Mission, including atmospheric radiative transfer, surface albedo effects, detection,...

Briefs: Software
Probabilistic Design and Analysis Framework

PRODAF is a software package designed to aid analysts and designers in conducting probabilistic analysis of components and systems. PRODAF can integrate multiple analysis programs to ease the tedious process of conducting a complex analysis process that requires the use of multiple software packages....

Briefs: Software
Excavator Design Validation

The Excavator Design Validation tool verifies excavator designs by automatically generating control systems and modeling their performance in an accurate simulation of their expected environment. Part of this software design includes interfacing with human operations that can be included in simulation-based studies...

Briefs: Software
Momentum Management Tool for Low-Thrust Missions

A momentum management tool was designed for the Dawn low-thrust interplanetary spacecraft en route to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, in an effort to better understand the early creation of the solar system. Momentum must be managed to ensure the spacecraft has enough control authority to perform...

Briefs: Software
Mixed Real/Virtual Operator Interface for ATHLETE

The mixed real/virtual operator interface for ATHLETE (MSim-ATHLETE) is a new software system for operating manipulation and inspection tasks in JPL’s ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer). The system presents the operator with a graphical model of the robot and a palette...

Briefs: Software
Antenna Controller Replacement Software

The Antenna Controller Replacement (ACR) software accurately points and monitors the Deep Space Network (DSN) 70-m and 34-m high-efficiency (HEF) ground-based antennas that are used to track primarily spacecraft and, periodically, celestial targets. To track a spacecraft, or other targets, the antenna must...

Briefs: Software
Efficient Parallel Engineering Computing on Linux Workstations

A C software module has been developed that creates lightweight processes (LWPs) dynamically to achieve parallel computing performance in a variety of engineering simulation and analysis applications to support NASA and DoD project tasks. The required interface between the module and...

Briefs: Software

The FAILSAFE project is developing concepts and prototype implementations for software health management in mission-critical, real-time embedded systems. The project unites features of the...

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Briefs: Software

This software has been designed to detect water bodies that are out in the open on cross-country terrain at mid- to far-range (approximately 20–100 meters), using imagery acquired from a stereo pair...

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Briefs: Software
Nonlinear Combustion Instability Prediction

The liquid rocket engine stability prediction software (LCI) predicts combustion stability of systems using LOX-LH2 propellants. Both longitudinal and transverse mode stability characteristics are calculated. This software has the unique feature of being able to predict system limit amplitude.

Briefs: Software
JMISR INteractive eXplorer

MISR (Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer) INteractive eXplorer (MINX) is an interactive visualization program that allows a user to digitize smoke, dust, or volcanic plumes in MISR multiangle images, and automatically retrieve height and wind profiles associated with those plumes. This innovation can perform...

Briefs: Software
Characterization of Cloud Water-Content Distribution

The development of realistic cloud parameterizations for climate models requires accurate characterizations of sub-grid distributions of thermodynamic variables. To this end, a software tool was developed to characterize cloud water-content distributions in climate-model sub-grid scales.

Briefs: Unmanned Systems
Autonomous Planning and Replanning for Mine-Sweeping Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

This software generates high-quality plans for carrying out mine-sweeping activities under resource constraints. The autonomous planning and replanning system for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) takes as input a set of prioritized mine-sweep regions, and a...

Briefs: Physical Sciences
'In-Situ' Pointing Correction and Rover Microlocalization

Two software programs, marstie and marsnav, work together to generate pointing corrections and rover micro-localization for in-situ images. The programs are based on the PIG (Planetary Image Geometry) library, which handles all mission dependencies. As a result, there is no...

Briefs: Software
Dayside Ionospheric Superfountain

The Dayside Ionospheric Superfountain modified SAMI2 code predicts the uplift, given storm-time electric fields, of the dayside near-equatorial ionosphere to heights of over 800 kilometers during magnetic storm intervals. This software is a simple 2D code developed over many years at the Naval Research...

Briefs: Software
Hybrid-PIC Computer Simulation of the Plasma and Erosion Processes in Hall Thrusters

HPHall software simulates and tracks the time-dependent evolution of the plasma and erosion processes in the discharge chamber and near-field plume of Hall thrusters. HPHall is an axisymmetric solver that employs a hybrid fluid/ particle-in-cell (Hybrid-PIC)...

Briefs: Physical Sciences
BioNet Digital Communications Framework

BioNet v2 is a peer-to-peer middleware that enables digital communication devices to “talk” to each other. It provides a software development framework, standardized application, network-transparent device integration services, a flexible messaging model, and network communications for distributed...

Briefs: Physical Sciences
Operation Program for the Spatially Phase-Shifted Digital Speckle Pattern Interferometer — SPS-DSPI

SPS-DSPI software has been revised so that Goddard optical engineers can operate the instrument, instead of data programmers. The user interface has been improved to view the data collected by the SPS-DSPI, with a real-time mode and a play-back...

Briefs: Software

The iPatch computer code for intelligently patching surface grids was developed to convert conceptual geometry to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) geometry (see figure). It...

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Briefs: Software

The Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science System (AEGIS) provides automated targeting for remote sensing instruments on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, which...

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Briefs: Software

Space Images for NASA/JPL is an Apple iPhone application that allows the general public to access featured images from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). A back-end infrastructure stores, tracks, and retrieves...

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Briefs: Software
Real-Time Feature Tracking Using Homography

This software finds feature point correspondences in sequences of images. It is designed for feature matching in aerial imagery. Feature matching is a fundamental step in a number of important image processing operations: calibrating the cameras in a camera array, stabilizing images in aerial movies,...

Briefs: Software
Stereo Imaging Tactical Helper

The Stereo Imaging Tactical Helper (SITH) program displays left and right images in stereo using the display technology made available by the JADIS framework, which was described in “JAVA Stereo Display Toolkit,” NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 4 (April 2008), page 63. An overlay of the surface described by the...

Briefs: Software

XMbodyinfo was designed to evaluate potential reference trajectories, providing a proficient way to assess the quality of all satellite body flybys for a Cassini type mission tour. It is autonomous and will generate a variety of...

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Briefs: Software

Software was developed that automatically detects minerals that are present in each pixel of a hyperspectral image. An algorithm based on sparse spectral unmixing with Bayesian...

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News: Transportation

The era of personalized energy systems — in which individual homes and small businesses produce their own energy for heating, cooling, and powering cars — took...

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Question of the Week
Should airplanes have families-only sections?

This week's Question of the Week concerns a poll from Skyscanner, a travel fare-comparison Web site. To reduce noise and keep children in one place, sixty percent of more than 2,000 surveyed travelers said it would be a good idea for airplanes to have families-only sections on flights.

What...

Products: Energy

Trident Solar (Brookfield, CT) and Alpha (South Plainfield, NJ), a Cookson Electronics company, have collaborated on additive, non-contact inkjet technologies that provide enhanced production...

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News: Green Design & Manufacturing

Releasing engineered nano-sized disks or sulphuric acid, a condensable vapour, above the Earth are two novel approaches that offer advantages over simply putting sulphur...

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News: Green Design & Manufacturing

Desmond Lun, an associate professor of computer science at Rutgers University–Camden, is researching how to alter the genetic makeup of E. coli to produce biodiesel fuel...

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News: Energy

The sun’s rays can be highly destructive to many materials and lead to a gradual degradation of many systems developed to harness it. MIT researchers have developed a new...

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Question of the Week
Will 3D catch on in the long run, and will TV fans and movie buffs demand the technology?

This week’s Question of the Week concerns 3D. The technology offers moviegoers and TV fans an enhanced viewing experience, and many recent 3D films, including Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, have had box office success. Several 3D movies, however, have...

Supplements
SOFTWARE Tech Briefs - 2010

sponsored by co-sponsored by

Software Tech Briefs is a special supplement to NASA Tech Briefs. Download the digital version (PDF) at right to learn about new software programs outlined in the table of contents below.

Table of Contents

DESIGN & ANALYSIS SOFTWARE 4 Multiphysics...

Supplements
SOFTWARE Tech Briefs - 2011

sponsored by co-sponsored by

Software Tech Briefs is a special supplement to NASA Tech Briefs. Download the digital version (PDF) at right to learn about new software programs outlined in the table of contents below.

Table of Contents

FEATURES 4 Better, Faster Sonar Development With...

News: Energy

Purdue University researchers have developed a facility aimed at learning precisely how coal and biomass are broken down in reactors called gasifiers as part of a project to strengthen the scientific...

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Question of the Week
Should smartphones be used as learning tools in the classroom?

This week's Question of the Week focuses on smartphones in the classroom. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently suggested students should be allowed to use smartphones in the classroom, saying that the devices have a variety of helpful educational tools -- calendars, planners, and...

Products: Energy

Sandvik (Benton Harbor, MI) has introduced Sandvik Sanergy HTTM, an advanced stainless steel strip developed for interconnectors in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The strip has...

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INSIDER: Transportation

As industries and consumers seek improved battery power sources, a new microscopy technique developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers is providing a novel...

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News: Green Design & Manufacturing
November 2011

Lighting Technology
Advances in LEDs & Solid-State Lighting

August 2011

Lighting Technology
Advances in LEDs & Solid-State Lighting

September 2011 May...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

Sensors developed by researchers at the University of Washington and the Georgia Institute of Technology use residential wiring to transmit information to and from...

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INSIDER: Energy

Electronic products pollute the environment with a number of heavy metals before, during, and after they're used. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 70% of heavy metals...

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INSIDER Product: Electronics & Computers

MicroStrain, Inc. (Williston, VT) introduces EH-Link™, a new hybrid energy harvesting wireless sensor node that collects energy from multiple sources including strain, vibration, thermal gradients,...

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INSIDER Product: Green Design & Manufacturing

Linear Technology Corporation (Milpitas, CA) introduces the LTC4098-3.6, an autonomous high efficiency power manager, ideal diode controller, and battery charger for 1-cell Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries used...

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INSIDER Product: Lighting

Zenaro (Karlsruhe, Germany) has introduced a new line of electronic power supplies specially designed for LED indoor/outdoor lighting applications. The efficiency performance is greater than 92%, saving more...

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Question of the Week
Should Internet communication services be redesigned so that law enforcement can carry out legally authorized intercepts?

This week's Question of the Week focuses on the redesign of some Internet communication services. Law enforcement officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail...

INSIDER: Energy

The Office of Naval Research Global (ONR Global) continues to pursue aggressive energy goals established by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, with the design of a system...

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INSIDER: Energy

Graphite foam technology developed by James Klett of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Materials Science and Technology Division extends the life of light-emitting diode...

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Webcasts

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On-Demand Webinars: Defense

From Data to Decision: How AI Enhances Warfighter Readiness

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Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

April Battery & Electrification Summit

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Upcoming Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Tech Update: 3D Printing for Transportation in 2024

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Upcoming Webinars: Materials

Unleashing Epoxy's Potential: Ensuring Hermetic Sealing in Modern...

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Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement

Building an Automotive EMC Test Plan

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Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

The Moon and Beyond from a Thermal Perspective

Videos