Stories
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The figures depict two miniature mechanisms actuated by strips made of shape-memory alloy (SMA). A typical SMA is a nickel-titanium alloy known by the trade name “Flexinol” or “Nitinol.” In...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The figure shows parts of a shutter mechanism designed to satisfy a number of requirements specific to its original intended application as a component of an atomic clock to be flown in outer space....
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Temperature-Controlled Clamping and Releasing Mechanism
A report describes the development of a mechanism that automatically clamps upon warming and releases upon cooling between temperature limits of ~180 K and ~293 K.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Fastener Starter
The Fastener Starter is a creative solution to prevent the loss of small fasteners during their installation. This is the only currently available tool that can firmly grip and hold a single screw, bolt, nut, washer, spacer, or any combination of these parts. Other commercially available fastener starters are unable to accommodate...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
An active frequency doubler in the form of an InP-based monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) containing a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) has been demonstrated in operation at...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) on a single lightweight, low power integrated-circuit chip has been developed to implement an azimuth pre-filter (AzPF) for a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR)...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Ribbon waveguides made of alumina or of semiconductors (Si, InP, or GaAs) have been proposed as low-loss transmission lines for coupling electronic components and circuits that...
Briefs: Software
Electronic Router
Electronic Router (E-Router) is an application program for routing documents among the cognizant individuals in a government agency or other organization. E-Router supplants a prior system in which paper documents were routed physically in packages by use of paper slips, packages could be lost, routing times were unacceptably...
Briefs: Software
Centralized Planning for Multiple Exploratory Robots
A computer program automatically generates plans for a group of robotic vehicles (rovers) engaged in geological exploration of terrain. The program rapidly generates multiple command sequences that can be executed simultaneously by the rovers. Starting from a set of high-level goals, the program...
Briefs: Software
Predicting Flows of Rarefied Gases
DSMC Analysis Code (DAC) is a flexible, highly automated, easy-to-use computer program for predicting flows of rarefied gases — especially flows of upper-atmospheric, propulsion, and vented gases impinging on spacecraft surfaces. DAC implements the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, which is widely...
Briefs: Software
Software Would Largely Automate Design of Kalman Filter
Embedded Navigation Filter Automatic Designer (ENFAD) is a computer program being developed to automate the most difficult tasks in designing embedded software to implement a Kalman filter in a navigation system. The most difficult tasks are selection of error states of the filter and tuning...
Briefs: Software
Autonomous Navigation by a Mobile Robot
ROAMAN is a computer program for autonomous navigation of a mobile robot on a long (as much as hundreds of meters) traversal of terrain. Developed for use aboard a robotic vehicle (rover) exploring the surface of a remote planet, ROAMAN could also be adapted to similar use on terrestrial mobile robots. ROAMAN...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improvements of ModalMax High-Fidelity Piezoelectric Audio Device
ModalMax audio speakers have been enhanced by innovative means of tailoring the vibration response of thin piezoelectric plates to produce a high-fidelity audio response. The ModalMax audio speakers are 1 mm in thickness.
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Long-Range Emergency Preemption of Traffic Lights
A forwarding system could prove beneficial as an addition to an electronic communication and control system that automatically modifies the switching of traffic lights to give priority to emergency vehicles. A system to which the forwarding system could be added could be any of a variety of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A high-efficiency power amplifier that operates in the S band (frequencies of the order of a few gigahertz) utilizes transistors operating under class-D bias and excitation conditions. Class-D operation...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The monocoque chassis of a Formula 1 race car is a sandwich structure, made of high-performance carbon-epoxy composite face sheets and an aluminum or aramidic...
Briefs: Information Technology
Generating Mosaics of Astronomical Images
"Montage" is the name of a service of the National Virtual Observatory (NVO), and of software being developed to implement the service via the World Wide Web.
Briefs: Information Technology
FastScript3D a Companion to Java 3D
FastScript3D is a computer program, written in the Java 3D™ programming language, that establishes an alternative language that helps users who lack expertise in Java 3D to use Java 3D for constructing three-dimensional (3D)-appearing graphics.
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A system that generates an intense, nearly collimated, nearly monochromatic, small-diameter x-ray beam has been developed for use in macromolecular crystallography. A conventional...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A proposed highly accurate clock or oscillator would be based on the concept of an opto-electronic oscillator (OEO) stabilized to an atomic transition. Opto-electronic oscillators, which have...
Briefs: Medical
The figure depicts a replaceable microfluidic cartridge that is a component of a miniature biosensor that detects target deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences. The biosensor utilizes (1)...
Briefs: Materials
Special-purpose balloons and other inflatable structures would be constructed as flexible laminates of multiple thin polymeric films interspersed with layers of adhesive, according to a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A compact, lightweight heat exchanger has been designed to be fault-tolerant in the sense that a single-point leak would not cause mixing of heat-transfer fluids. This particular heat exchanger is intended to be...
Briefs: Materials
Nanostructured MnO2-based cathodes for Li-ion/polymer electrochemical cells have been investigated in a continuing effort to develop safe, high-energy-density, reliable, low-toxicity,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Automatic Focus Adjustment of a Microscope
AUTOFOCUS is a computer program for use in a control system that automatically adjusts the position of an instrument arm that carries a microscope equipped with an electronic camera.
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The figure depicts a device for measuring the electrical conductivity of a flowing liquid. Unlike prior such devices, this one does not trap gas bubbles entrained in the liquid.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Nanoactuators of a proposed type would exploit the forces exerted by electric fields on dielectric materials. As used here, “nanoactuators” includes motors, manipulators, and other...
Briefs: Medical
A method has been invented for utilizing directed, hyperthermal oxygen atoms and ions for texturing tips of polymeric optical fibers or other polymeric optical components for use in...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Many feeder cattle companies currently conduct “slaughterability” assessments by sending cattle through a chute and photographing them from above with a CCTV or visible light camera...
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