Briefs: Materials
Wholly Aromatic Ether-Imides as n-Type Semiconductors
Some wholly aromatic ether-imides consisting of rod-shaped, relatively-low-mass molecules that can form liquid crystals have been investigated for potential utility as electron-donor-type...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Nuclear Reactor Cooling Valve Design Optimized With FEA
Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., a subcontractor of Societatea Nationala Nucleoelectrica S.A. (SNN) of Romania, contracted Badger Meter to model, test, and produce a set of precision...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Pulse-Flow Microencapsulation System
The pulse-flow microencapsulation system (PFMS) is an automated system that continuously produces a stream of liquid-filled microcapsules for delivery of therapeutic agents to target tissues. Prior...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Automated Low-Gravitation Facility Would Make Optical Fibers
A report describes a proposed automated facility that would be operated in outer space to produce high-quality optical fibers from fluoride-based glasses, free of light-scattering crystallites that form during production in normal Earth gravitation. Before launch, glass preforms would...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor for Viscosity Measurement
Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a liquid to flow, and is an important measurement requirement in industrial process control and OEM applications. Viscosity describes the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Alignment Cube With One Diffractive Face
An enhanced alignment cube has been invented for use in a confined setting (e.g., a cryogenic chamber) in which optical access may be limited to a single line of sight. Whereas traditional...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Graphite Composite Booms With Integral Hinges
A document discusses lightweight instrument booms under development for use aboard spacecraft. A boom of this type comprises a thin-walled graphite-fiber/matrix composite tube with an integral hinge that can be bent for stowage and later allowed to spring back to straighten the boom for deployment in...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Tool for Sampling Permafrost on a Remote Planet
A report discusses the robotic arm tool for rapidly acquiring permafrost (RATRAP), which is being developed for acquiring samples of permafrost on Mars or another remote planet and immediately delivering the samples to adjacent instruments for analysis. The prototype RATRAP includes a rasp that...
Briefs: Information Technology
Special Semaphore Scheme for UHF Spacecraft Communications
A semaphore scheme has been devised to satisfy a requirement to enable ultrahigh- frequency (UHF) radio communication between a spacecraft descending from orbit to a landing on Mars and a spacecraft, in orbit about Mars, that relays communications between Earth and the lander spacecraft....
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Achieving Positioning Accuracy Goals
The task of choosing the correct mix of motion control components for a successful servo positioning system involves a combination of art, science, and experience. It also includes a little luck, but luck...
Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
CNC Wood Routers Use Drive for Precision Control
The woodworking industry is as advanced and under pressure to deliver high-quality goods quickly as any. One of the most versatile tools devised to quicken production with flat panels of wood...
Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Drive Utilized in Filament Respooler
Optical fiber, now the mainstay of telecommunications as well as sensor, illumination, and imaging systems, is made by first pulling a large-diameter preform into a long, filimentous fiber. Then divided...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Coating MCPs With AlN and GaN
A development effort underway at the time of reporting the information for this article is devoted to increasing the sensitivity of microchannel plates (MCPs) as detectors of photons and ions by coating the MCPs with nitrides of elements in period III of the periodic table. Conventional MCPs are relatively...
Application Briefs: Test & Measurement
Guide Used in Leak-Testing System or Plastic Bottles
Container leaks can range from mildly annoying to potentially dangerous. To avoid faulty containers from ever leaving the production line, producers have installed testing devices as part...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Automatic Locking of Laser Frequency to an Absorption Peak
An electronic system adjusts the frequency of a tunable laser, eventually locking the frequency to a peak in the optical absorption spectrum of a gas (or of a Fabry-Perot cavity that...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Brushless Motor Drive
Intelligent Motion Systems (IMS, Marlborough, CT) released the MDrivePlus motion control system for brushless motor applications. The unit features 20 microstep resolutions to 51,200 (full step, degrees, metric, and arc...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Noise Source for Calibrating a Microwave
A correlated-noise source has been developed for use in calibrating an airborne or spaceborne Earth-observing correlation microwave polarimeter that operates in a pass band that includes a nominal...
Products: Motion Control
Motor Drive Module
International Rectifier (El Segundo, CA) released the IRMCT3UF1 fully integrated high-reliability hybrid motor control modules enabling digital, sensor-free vector control of permanent magnet motors. The module combines...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Self-Passivating Lithium/Solid Electrolyte/Iodine Cells
Robust lithium/solid electrolyte/iodine electrochemical cells that offer significant advantages over commercial lithium/ iodine cells have been developed. At room temperature, these...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Hub-Fastening Gears
Sterling Instrument (New Hyde Park, NY) released the “S1268Z-...M” series of 84 combination aluminum-acetal gears. Coming in metric and imperial sizes, the gears are 20° pressure angled, AGMA Q10 and ISO Class 7....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Hybrid Deployable Foam Antennas and Reflectors
Hybrid deployable radio antennas and reflectors of a proposed type would feature rigid narrower apertures plus wider adjoining apertures comprising reflective surfaces supported by...
Products: Motion Control
Translation Stage
Physik Instrumente (PI) LP (Auburn, MA) introduced the P-652 piezoelectric linear-motor driven translation stage, measuring 9.0 × 6.5 × 2.4 mm. Consisting of four parts (ultrasonic piezoelectric resonator, two lateral...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Gesture-Controlled Interfaces for Self-Service Machines
Gesture-controlled interfaces are software-driven systems that facilitate device control by translating visual hand and body signals into commands. Such interfaces could be especially...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Bi-Directional Motors
Oilgear Co. (Milwaukee, WI) introduced the MFW and MVW fixed and variable displacement bi-directional high-speed motors, offered in two frame sizes and four displacements. Features are: cylinder mounted in polymerous...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Domed, 40-cm-Diameter Ion Optics for an Ion Thruster
Improved accelerator and screen grids for an ion accelerator have been designed and tested in a continuing effort to increase the sustainable power and thrust at the high end of the...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Mini Servo Actuator
Harmonic Drive (Peabody, MA) introduced the FHA Mini Actuator, a hollow shaft, brushless servo actuator. The unit is a combination brushless DC servomotor and an encoder, with a through-bore up to 14 mm in diameter. The...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Digital Motion Controller
The EPOS P 24/5 from Maxon Precision Motors (Fall River, MA) is a programmable digital motion controller capable of position, velocity, and current mode. The unit’s supply voltage is 11 – 24 V DC; the controller...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
3-Phase Motor Control
TURCK (Minneapolis, MN) released the BL20 xStart motor starter modules that allow 3-phase motor control to be connected to the same rack as standard I/O. The units may be mounted next to other BL20 modules, allowing...
Products: Motion Control
Roller Bearings
AST Bearings (Montville, NJ) introduced the High Carbon Chromium Steel Tapered Roller Bearings line, comprised of the inner and outer rings, tapered rollers, and a cage (roller retainer). The rings and rollers carry the load;...
Products: Motion Control
Magnetic Encoders
Baumer Electric (Southington, CT) released four magnetic encoders for harsh or contaminated environments. The devices come in diameters of 30 and 40 mm. The EcoMag 30 and EcoMag 40 are incremental encoders, offering...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Corrosion-Resistant Bearings
MRC Bearing Services (Kulpsville, PA) released the custom-engineered “HNCR” steel bearings made from high-nitrogen corrosion-resistant steel. The bearings display a hardness of 58 HRC, and have an extended...
Products: Motion Control
DIN Motion Controller
From Trio Motion Technology (Pittsburgh, PA), the MC302X DIN rail-mounted motion controller features two axes; the first can be configured in software for servo (with encoder feedback) or high-speed stepper control. The...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Ball Splines
Released from THK (Schaumburg, IL), the SLS/SLF Ball Splines feature caged technology, allowing for smooth motion. A synthetic resin cage cradles each ball, separating it from others, while spaces between rolling elements retain...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Linear Actuator
From Exlar (Chanhassen, MN), the Tritex™ Series of electric linear actuators, combining a brushless servomotor, servo amplifier, and position control in one unit. Up to 500 watts of continuous power can be applied to the...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Ethernet Controller
Galil Motion Control (Rocklin, CA) released the DMC-40x0 Ethernet/RS232 controller family as part of the Accelera line, coming in 1- to 8-axis formats. Accepting encoder input frequencies up to 22 MHz and providing servo...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
DC Gearmotor
Midwest Motion Products (Watertown, MN) released the Model No. MMP-S28-400A GP81-046 BR-015 DC gearmotor. The device accepts any 24 V DC source. The gearmotor is reversible; the output is rated for 61 Nm continuous torque at 43...
Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
IP Engine Helps NASA Crew Visually Inspect Shuttle's Heat Tiles
Pleora Technologies
Ottawa, ON, Canada
613-270-0625
www.pleora.com
Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Position Sensors Help Cassini Mission Provide Clues to Planetary Formation
Novotechnik U.S.
Southborough, MA
508-485-2244
www.novotechnik.com
Products
p1411A RF vector signal generator
PrecisionWave Corp., Colorado Springs, CO, has introduced the p1411A RF vector signal generator that includes a spectrum analyzer display and an internal IQ waveform generator.
It is available in both...
Who's Who: Physical Sciences
Dr. Michael Bicay, Science Director, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Having served at both JPL as a member of the Project Office science staff for the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech where he...
Articles: Electronics & Computers
30 Years of Computer Technology
Throughout 2006, we’ve been celebrating the 30th anniversary of NASA Tech Briefs with special feature articles highlighting the past 30 years of a different technology category each month. This month, we...
Techs for License
Multiple Networks from One WiFi Card
This software solution virtualizes multiple WiFi cards within the same computer. It creates two or more software WiFi cards in computer memory so that multiple WiFi connections can take place essentially at the same time, using a single WiFi card and antenna system. The same computer simultaneously can be...
Techs for License
Flexible Absorbent Binder
The Flexible Absorbent Binder (FAB), is a liquid coating that, once dry, forms a cross-linked, water absorbent hydrogel film on many substrates. The coating binds glass, metal, plastics, cellulose, and...
Articles: Electronics & Computers
Multi-Fabric Switching Enables New Architectures for Military Systems
With multiple switched interconnects gaining momentum in the embedded space, selecting just one to address a wide range of military systems requirements is not...
Application Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Multicores Affect Algorithm Choices
Design engineers soon will need to bridge the growing gap between hardware reality and software capabilities in the high-performance computing (HPC) realm as the use of multicore microprocessors grows. If...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Multi-Processor VME64x Computer With PowerPC Processor
Themis Computer (Fremont, CA) has introduced the TPPC64 multi-processor VME64x computer using IBM's 970FX Superscalar RISC processor. It can be configured with one or two 1.8-GHz PowerPC...
Products: Electronics & Computers
High-Speed Ethernet Communication for PLCs
AutomationDirect (Cumming, GA) has released the H4-ECOM100 Ethernet communication module for the DirectLOGIC DL405 PLC. The H4-ECOM100 can be inserted into any I/O slot of any local DL405 base,...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Graphics Card for Advanced Visualization Systems
The NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 X2 graphics card from NVIDIA Corp. (Santa Clara, CA) is designed for advanced visualization systems requiring scalable graphics performance, such as CAD and geo-seismic applications. The card features two NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics processing units (GPUs) in a...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Ultraminiature Microswitches Offer Long Life Ratings
ALCOSWITCH ultraminiature SPDT microswitches from Tyco Electronics (Harrisburg, PA) have extended cycle life ratings up to 1 million cycles. The PC-mount product is available with straight...
Products: Electronics & Computers
FPGA-Based Carrier Card Reduces Processor Board Count
TEK Microsystems (Chelmsford, MA) has announced the PowerRACE® 3A carrier card combining highdensity FPGAs, an onboard switched fabric, PowerPCs, and PMC interfaces. High-speed I/O...
Products: Electronics & Computers
PowerPC Single-Board Computer for Mil/Aero Applications
Cornet Technology Communications (Springfield, VA) has introduced the Celero CVME-7448S PowerPC single-board computer available for the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Load Switches Offer Thermal & Packaging Performance for Portables
Fairchild Semiconductor (South Portland, ME) offers the FPF100x family of IntelliMAX™ load switches featuring WL-CSP or MLP packaging, integration (slewrate control, ESD...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Gigabit Ethernet Test Solution for Compact Platform
EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering (Quebec City, Canada) has launched the FTB-8510 Packet Blazer Ethernet test module for the FTP-200 Compact Platform. The combination of the Ethernet test...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Embedded Software Verification for Early Device Testing
S2 Technologies (San Diego, CA) has released the STRIDE 2.0 embedded software verification platform providing infrastructure and tools that enable development teams to perform testing,...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Low-Profile Surface-Mount Inductors for Small PCBs
Datatronic Distribution (Romoland, CA) offers the DR331-5 surface-mount inductor for designers of small, compact, or portable electronic equipment with limited printed circuit board (PCB)...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Ethernet Switch With Port-Based VLAN Support
The PRV-1059 VLAN-enabled 5-port PC/104 Ethernet switch from Parvus Corp. (Salt Lake City, UT) is designed and tested to MIL-STD-810F, and features low power consumption of 1.5 watts and...
Briefs: Software
User Interactive Software for Analysis of Human Physiological Data
Ambulatory physiological monitoring has been used to study human health and performance in space and in a variety of Earth-based environments (e.g., military aircraft, armored vehicles, small groups in isolation, and patients). Large, multi-channel data files are typically...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Inferring Gear Damage From Oil-Debris and Vibration Data
system for real-time detection of surface- fatigue-pitting damage to gears for use in a helicopter transmission is based on fuzzy-logic used to fuse data from sensors that measure...
Briefs: Software
Representation of Serendipitous Scientific Data
A computer program defines and implements an innovative kind of data structure than can be used for representing information derived from serendipitous discoveries made via collection of scientific data on long exploratory spacecraft missions. Data structures capable of collecting any kind of data...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Forecasting of Storm-Surge Floods Using ADCIRC and Optimized DEMs
Increasing the accuracy of storm-surge flood forecasts is essential for improving preparedness for hurricanes and other severe storms and, in particular, for optimizing...
Briefs: Software
Dynamically Alterable Arrays of Polymorphic Data Types
An application library package was developed that represents data packets for Deep Space Network (DSN) message packets as dynamically alterable arrays composed of arbitrary polymorphic data types. The software was to address a limitation of the present state of the practice for having an...
Briefs: Software
Identifying Trends in Deep Space Network Monitor Data
A computer program has been developed that analyzes Deep Space Network monitor data, looking for changes of trends in critical parameters. This program represents a significant improvement over the previous practice of manually plotting data and visually inspecting the resulting graphs to...
Briefs: Software
Predicting Lifetime of a Thermomechanically Loaded Component
NASALIFE is a computer program for predicting the lifetime, as affected by low cycle fatigue (LCF) and creep rupture, of a structural component subject to temporally varying, multiaxial thermomechanical loads. The component could be, for example, part of an aircraft turbine engine....
Briefs: Software
Partial Automation of Requirements Tracing
Requirements Tracing on Target (RETRO) is software for after-the-fact tracing of textual requirements to support independent verification and validation of software. RETRO applies one of three user-selectable information-retrieval techniques: (1) term frequency/inverse document frequency (TF/IDF) vector...
Briefs: Software
Automated Synthesis of Architectures of Avionic Systems
The Architecture Synthesis Tool (AST) is software that automatically synthesizes software and hardware architectures of avionic systems. The AST is expected to be most helpful during initial formulation of an avionic-system design, when system requirements change frequently and manual...
Briefs: Software
SSRL Emergency Response Shore Tool
The SSRL Emergency Response Shore Tool (wherein “SSRL” signifies “Smart Systems Research Laboratory”) is a computer program within a system of communication and mobile-computing software and hardware being developed to increase the situational awareness of first responders at building collapses....
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Four-Quadrant Analog Multipliers Using G⁴-FETs
Theoretical analysis and some experiments have shown that the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) 4-gate transistors known as G4-FETs can be used as building blocks of four-quadrant analog...
Briefs: Materials
Carbon-Nanotube-Carpet Heat-Transfer Pads
Microscopic thermal-contact pads that include carpetlike arrays of carbon nanotubes have been invented for dissipating heat generated in integrated circuits and similarly sized single electronic...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Temperature Sensing for Oil, Gas, and Structural Analysis
With retirement of the space shuttle imminent, and the commercial space industry burgeoning, NASA is searching for safe and innovative...
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