The KSC Electronic Documentation System (KEDS) is a computer-intranet system at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the storage and retrieval of engineering drawings and other engineering documents that have been officially released. Prior to the development of the KEDS, microfilm copies of...

Computer Aided Grid Interface (CAGI) is a computer program that serves as an interface between computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) programs and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) programs. CAGI reads Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) files from CAD/CAM...

Compact instruments, similar in appearance to common personal pagers, have been proposed for warning aircraft crewmembers that cabin air pressure has decreased to a potentially dangerous level. An instrument of this type, called a "personal cabin pressure monitor and warning system" (PCPMWS), implements a warning...

V072 is a computer program that predicts the noise generated by the interaction between the rotor-blade wake (fan wake) and the stator vanes of a turbofan engine. The program is a combination of subroutines from prior NASA programs, with many added features.

A computer program introduces a predistortion into the chirp signal used to frequency-modulate a synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) signal at the transmitter. The predistortion is intended to compensate for distortions introduced by nonideal performance of the various pieces of SAR equipment — especially the...

An ultrasonic instrument has been developed for measuring the sizes of bubbles in the human body. A primary example is that of bubbles associated with decompression sickness (the "bends"); these bubbles consist mostly of nitrogen and can occur in both blood vessels and extravascular tissues. The bubbles can lodge...

A report discusses the development of the GENOA-PFA computer program, which was described in "Software for Simulating Progressive Fracture in Braided PMCs" (LEW-16845), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 24, No. 3 (March 2000), page 52; and "Update on a Progressive-Failure-Analysis Software System...

A report describes experiments using multiwavelength pyrometry to determine the surface temperature of the end tip inside a BeO cylinder that is part of a probe designed to measure high-temperature gases. The cylinder is heated by the gas into which it is inserted, and the gas temperature...

"Tribology for Aerospace Applications" is a textbook and reference source written for designers of rotating machinery; users and designers of such mechanical components as bearings, gears, and seals; tribologists; university and industrial researchers; and students of machine design. The book incorporates...

Carbon-fiber-filled polymers made from ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) have been found to be useful as ablative thermal-insulation materials. Like the silica-filled EPDM polymers described in the preceding article, these polymers have been investigated as candidates to replace some...

A flexible design concept and an associated method of fabrication have been conceived as means to satisfy growing demands for lightweight composite-material pipes for corrosive and cryogenic liquids. The design concept and method can be applied to produce piping systems capable of...

An improved formulation of the dynamics of multiple flexible bodies coupled via joints, and an algorithm that implements the formulation, have been developed at Johnson Space Center (JSC). A robot arm with multiple, somewhat flexible links is a prime example of a dynamic system to which...

Johnson Space Center is sponsoring continuing research on the use of myoelectric signals to control dexterous robotic and prosthetic hands. This research is expected to advance the state of the art beyond that of today's most common, commercially available, myoelectrically controlled...

Experiments have shown that a substrate can be patterned with submicron features by the following procedure:

An advanced technique of deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE) has been developed for fabricating smooth vertical walls in silicon wafers. These walls are suitable for use as bounding surfaces of optical waveguides in photonic and optoelectronic devices. The roughness of a typical 8-µm-high...