Briefs: Materials
Nonflammable, Hydrophobic Aerogel Composites for Insulation
Aerogel composites that are both nonflammable and hydrophobic have been developed for use as lightweight thermal- insulation materials for cryogenic systems. Aerogels are well known in the industry for their effectiveness as thermal insulators under cryogenic conditions, but the...
Briefs: Materials
Advanced Ablative Insulators and Methods of Making Them
Advanced ablative (more specifically, charring) materials that provide temporary protection against high temperatures, and advanced methods of designing and manufacturing insulators based on these materials, are undergoing development. These materials and methods were conceived in an effort...
Briefs: Materials
Improved Anode Coatings for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
Two perfluoroalkanesulfonic acids and perfluoroalkanesulfonimides have shown promise as anodecoating materials for improving the performances of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs)....
Products: Electronics & Computers
Flash Drive Records Unmanned NASA Balloon Flight Data
BiTMICRO® Networks
Fremont, CA
510-623-2341
www.bitmicro.com
The Cosmic Rays Energetics and Mass (CREAM) project is a...
Products: Photonics/Optics
Cambridge Consultants, Boston, Massachusetts
A standalone, handheld, through-wall radar unit is under development to provide three-dimensional feedback on the location and movement of people inside buildings. Applications include military...
Articles: Medical
Diverse Technologies Enable Today's Medical Breakthroughs
As advances in cellular biology, gene mapping, and other areas of medicine continue, amazing technologies for diagnosing, treating, and even curing diseases are emerging....
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Finisar Corporation, Sunnyvale, California, and COMSOL, Inc., Burlington, Massachusetts
Internal heating is a key issue for vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), a semiconductor micro laser diode that emits light in a cylindrical...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Wavelength Translation Using SFP Transceivers Enables Extension of Optical-Communication Links
Optical-Electrical-Optical (OEO) wavelength translation (WT) based on small-form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers is meeting with increased...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Single-Board Computer Aids in Space Craft Control
Maxwell Technologies
San Diego, CA
858-503-3300
www.maxwell.com
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environment Satellite System...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Handheld Imaging Device for Security Applications
A standalone, handheld, through-wall radar unit is under development to provide three-dimensional feedback on the location and movement of people inside buildings. Applications include...
Briefs: Materials
Stable Polyimides for Terrestrial and Space Uses
Polyimides of a recently developed type have an attractive combination of properties, including low solar absorptivity (manifested as low color) when cast into thin films, resistance to...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Software Analyzes Heat Buildup in VCSELs
Internal heating is a key issue for vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), a semiconductor microlaser diode that emits light in a cylindrical beam vertically from the surface of a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Broadband External-Cavity Diode Laser
A broadband external-cavity diode laser (ECDL) has been invented for use in spectroscopic surveys preparatory to optical detection of gases. Heretofore, commercially available ECDLs have been designed,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
High-Efficiency Solar Cells Using Photonic-Bandgap Materials
Solar photovoltaic cells would be designed to exploit photonic-bandgap (PBG) materials to enhance their energy- conversion efficiencies, according to a proposal. Whereas the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Phase Correction for GPS Antenna With Nonunique Phase Center
A method of determining the position and attitude of a body equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver includes an accounting for the location of the nonunique phase...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Sol-Gel Glass Holographic Light-Shaping Diffusers
Holographic glass light-shaping diffusers (GLSDs) are optical components for use in special-purpose illumination systems (see figure). When properly positioned with respect to lamps and areas...
Briefs: Software
Generic Kalman Filter Software
The Generic Kalman Filter (GKF) software provides a standard basis for the development of application-specific Kalman-filter programs. Historically, Kalman filters have been implemented by customized programs that must be written, coded, and debugged anew for each unique application, then tested and tuned with...
Briefs: Software
ANTLR Tree Grammar Generator and Extensions
A computer program implements two extensions of ANTLR (Another Tool for Language Recognition), which is a set of software tools for translating source codes between different computing languages. ANTLR supports predicated-LL(k) lexer and parser grammars, a notation for annotating parser grammars to...
Briefs: Software
Custom Sky-Image Mosaics From NASA's Information Power Grid
yourSkyG is the second generation of the software described in "yourSky: Custom Sky-Image Mosaics via the Internet" (NPO-30556), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 27, No. 6 (June 2003), page 45. Like its predecessor, yourSkyG supplies custom astronomical image mosaics of sky regions specified by...
Briefs: Software
Computing Gravitational Fields of Finite-Sized Bodies
Briefs: Software
Software for Optimizing Plans Involving Interdependent Goals
Briefs: Software
International Space Station Electric Power System Performance Code - SPACE
The System Power Analysis for Capability Evaluation (SPACE) software analyzes and predicts the minute-byminute state of the International Space Station (ISS) electrical power system (EPS) for upcoming missions as well as EPS power generation capacity as a function of ISS...
Briefs: Software
Path Following With Slip Compensation for a Mars Rover
A software system for autonomous operation of a Mars rover is composed of several key algorithms that enable the rover to accurately follow a designated path, compensate for slippage of its wheels on terrain, and reach intended goals. The techniques implemented by the algorithms are visual...
Briefs: Software
Software for Automation of Real-Time Agents, Version 2
Version 2 of Closed Loop Execution and Recovery (CLEaR) has been developed. The previous version was reported in “Software for Automation of Real-Time Agents” (NPO-21040), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 26, No. 7 (July 2002), page 34. To recapitulate: CLEaR is an artificial intelligence computer...
Briefs: Software
LabVIEW Interface for PCI-SpaceWire Interface Card
This software provides a LabView interface to the NT drivers for the PCI-SpaceWire card, which is a peripheral component interface (PCI) bus interface that conforms to the IEEE-1355/ SpaceWire standard.
Briefs: Software
Software for Engineering Simulations of a Spacecraft
Spacecraft Engineering Simulation II (SES II) is a C-language computer program for simulating diverse aspects of operation of a spacecraft characterized by either three or six degrees of freedom.
Briefs: Software
Component-Based Visualization System
A software system has been developed that gives engineers and operations personnel with no "formal" programming expertise, but who are familiar with the Microsoft Windows operating system, the ability to create visualization displays to monitor the health and performance of aircraft/spacecraft.
Briefs: Software
Comprehensive Micromechanics-Analysis Code Version 4.0
Version 4.0 of the Micromechanics Analysis Code With Generalized Method of Cells (MAC/GMC) has been developed as an improved means of computational simulation of advanced composite materials.
Briefs: Software
Program for Weibull Analysis of Fatigue Data
A Fortran computer program has been written for performing statistical analysis of fatigue-test data that are assumed to be adequately represented by a two-parameter Weibull distribution. This program calculates the following:
Briefs: Software
Facilitating Navigation Through Large Archives
Automated Visual Access (AVA) is a computer program that effectively makes a large collection of information visible in a manner that enables a user to quickly and efficiently locate information resources, with minimal need for conventional keyword searches and perusal of complex hierarchical...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Medium-Frequency Pseudonoise Georadar
Ground-probing radar systems featuring medium-frequency carrier signals phase-modulated by binary pseudonoise codes have been proposed. These systems would be used to locate and detect movements of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Front-Side Microstrip Line Feeding a Raised Antenna Patch
An improved design concept for a printed-circuit patch antenna and the transmission line that feeds the patch calls for (1) a microstrip transmission line on the front (radiative)...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Treatments To Produce Stabilized Aluminum Mirrors for Cryogenic Uses
Five metallurgical treatments have been tested as means of stabilizing mirrors that are made of aluminum alloy 6061 and are intended for use in cryogenic applications. Aluminum alloy 6061 is favored as a mirror material by many scientists and engineers. Like other alloys, it...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Vehicle Maintenance Shelters Meet Structural Requirements Through FEA Analysis
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Making AlNx Tunnel Barriers Using a Low-Energy Nitrogen-Ion Beam
A technique based on accelerating positive nitrogen ions onto an aluminum layer has been demonstrated to be effective in forming thin (<2 nm thick) layers of aluminum...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Making Wide-IF SIS Mixers With Suspended Metal-Beam Leads
A process that employs silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates and silicon (Si) micromachining has been devised for fabricating wide intermediate frequency band (wide-IF)...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Rugged Iris Mechanism
A rugged iris mechanism has been designed to satisfy several special requirements, including a wide aperture in the “open” position, full obscuration in the “closed” position, ability to function in a cryogenic...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Alignment Stage for a Cryogenic Dilatometer
A three degree of freedom alignment stage has been designed and built for use in a cryogenic dilatometer that is used to measure thermal strains. The alignment stage enables precise adjustments of...
Briefs: Information Technology
Generating Solid Models From
A method of generating solid models of terrain involves the conversion of topographical data into a form useable by a rapid-prototyping (RP) machine. The method was developed to enable the use of the RP machine to make solid models of Martian terrain from Mars Orbiter laser-altimeter topographical data. The method is...
Briefs: Information Technology
Computationally Lightweight Air-Traffic-Control Simulation
An algorithm for computationally lightweight simulation of automated airtraffic control (ATC) at a busy airport has been derived. The algorithm is expected to serve as the basis for development of software that would be incorporated into flight-simulator software, the ATC component of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Compact Infrasonic Windscreen
A compact windscreen has been conceived for a microphone of a type used outdoors to detect atmospheric infrasound from a variety of natural and man-made sources. Wind at the microphone site contaminates received...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Automated Counting of Particles To Quantify Cleanliness
A machine vision system, similar to systems used in microbiological laboratories to count cultured microbes, has been proposed for quantifying the cleanliness of nominally precisely cleaned hardware by counting residual contaminant particles. The system would include a microscope equipped...
Briefs: Materials
Low-Density, Aerogel-Filled Thermal- Insulation Tiles
Aerogel fillings have been investigated in a continuing effort to develop low-density thermal-insulation tiles that, relative to prior such tiles, have greater dimensional stability (especially less shrinkage), equal or lower thermal conductivity, and greater strength and durability. In...
Briefs: Materials
High-Performance Polymers Having Low Melt Viscosities
High-performance polymers that have improved processing characteristics, and a method of making them, have been invented. One of the improved characteristics is low (relative to...
Briefs: Materials
Diamond-Coated Carbon Nanotubes for Efficient Field Emission
Field-emission cathodes containing arrays of carbon nanotubes coated with diamond or diamondlike carbon (DLC) are undergoing development. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes have been shown to perform well as electron field emitters. The idea underlying the present development is that by...
Briefs: Materials
PETIs as High-Temperature Resin-Transfer-Molding Materials
Compositions of, and processes for fabricating, high-temperature composite materials from phenylethynyl-terminated imide (PETI) oligomers by resin-transfer molding (RTM) and resin...
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