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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Spacesuit Glove Cut/Damage Warning System
Current spacesuit gloves used by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have sustained cuts during extravehicular activities (EVAs) due to sharp edges and burrs, possibly on damaged ISS handrails. A warning system in the glove would aid in identifying the location of sharp objects and the...
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
An Alternative Molecular Sexing Method for the Florida Scrub-jay
A new method of molecular sexing is described that helps to understand population dynamics of the Florida Scrub-jay (FSJ). FSJ is an endemic, nonmigratory, monomorphic species of bird found on the Florida peninsula in lowgrowing oak or pine scrub. The current conservation status...
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
The SWOT Science Simulator simulates projected SWOT altimetry observations that can be applied to an ocean general circulation model, allowing the exploration of ideas and methods to...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Digital Elevation Model Maker (DEMmaker)
The DEMmaker suite of software applications produces data products containing surface shape, reflectivity, and geomorphology (craters and rocks) for a desired planetary surface based on statistically accurate size and frequency distributions of geologic and surface impact features. The current version can...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS)
TOPS is a modeling software system that integrates data from satellite, aircraft, and ground sensors, and weather/climate models with application models to expeditiously produce operational nowcasts and forecasts of ecological conditions. TOPS allows determination of the options for different...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Images of Change for iPad
Images of Change provides a user-friendly mobile interface for exploring an extensive gallery of land-based and space-based images showing dramatic change over time on Earth. Hosted on NASA’s Global Climate Change website, Images of Change is designed to raise awareness of climate change, inspire curiosity and interest...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Characteristics of the Spliced Kennedy Space Center Doppler Radar Wind Profiler Database
NASA relies on the Natural Environments (NE) Branch located at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to provide databases that represent the wind magnitudes and wind changes expected on day-of-launch (DOL) for vehicle programs that MSFC NE supports. MSFC NE has...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Engineers Put 'Spring' in Robots' Step
The ATRIAS robot model developed at Oregon State University uses a "spring-mass" walking approach. The natural-gait method gives human-sized bipedal robots the ability to blindly react to rough terrain, maintain balance, retain an efficiency of motion, and walk like humans.
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
New Sensor Peers Inside Fingertip
Scientists from The Langevin Institute, Paris, France, have constructed a new fingerprint imaging system that peers inside the finger to take a picture — a more reliable and secure way of identifying individuals. The fingerprint sensor, based on full field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT), uses an...
Question of the Week
Do the benefits of drone registration outweigh the drawbacks?
This week's Question: Last week, the U.S. Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration announced that drone hobbyists will have to register their aircraft or face unspecified penalties. The move is an attempt to prevent the unmanned aircraft from compromising air safety,...
Who's Who: Green Design & Manufacturing
Environmental engineer Amy Keith and her team developed a low-cost detector of contaminants in plants and surrounding groundwater. The non-destructive technology...
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INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Biomechatronics Group at MIT is using a data-driven approach to study the mechanics and control of human walking, with the goal of applying the findings to hardware control. PhD...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
When driving a car, the clutch mechanically carries the torque produced by the engine to the chassis of the vehicle – a coupling that has long been tested and optimized in such macroscopic machines,...
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INSIDER: Propulsion
The propulsion subsystem for NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) has been integrated onto the spacecraft, moving the mission another major step toward scheduled launch in...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
In today’s smart home, technologies can track how much energy a particular appliance like a refrigerator or television or hair dryer is gobbling up. What they don’t typically show is which...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Light, sound, and now, heat. Just as optical invisibility cloaks can bend and diffract light to shield an object from sight, and specially fabricated acoustic metamaterials can hide an object...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
Space is cold, dark, and lonely. Deadly, too, if any one of a million things goes wrong on your spaceship. It’s certainly no place for a computer chip to fail, which can happen due to the abundance...
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INSIDER Product: Electronics & Computers
Divelbiss Corporation (Frederickstown, OH) has introduced enhanced models of the Versatile Base (VB-2000) family of OEM controllers. Programmed using the no-cost Divelbiss EZ Ladder Toolkit in Ladder Diagram, Function Block, and...
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INSIDER Product: Electronics & Computers
Avago Technologies (San Jose, CA) announced an ultra-low power (255 mW typ, 405 mW max) Fast Ethernet small form-factor pluggable (SFP) fiber optic transceiver module device, the AFBR-57E6APZ, designed for industrial...
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INSIDER Product: Electronics & Computers
All Sensors Corporation (Morgan Hill, CA) has developed a new pressure sensor evaluation kit that allows design engineers to easily evaluate pressure sensors via fast prototype connection and testing. This...
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Question of the Week: Software
Is robo-journalism valuable?
This week's Question: Lars Eidnes, a Norwegian developer, recently created software that uses Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN)—a form of “deep learning”—to write new "clickbait” headlines. After training the software with several million articles from BuzzFeed, Gawker, Jezebel, the Huffington Post, and...
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers Test Robot's 'Light Touch'
Using an air-fluidized bed trackway filled with poppy seeds or glass spheres, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology systematically varied the stiffness of the ground to mimic a variety of surfaces, from hard-packed sand to powdery snow. By studying how running lizards, geckos, crabs, and a robot...
INSIDER Product: Electronics & Computers
Lemos International Co. Inc. (Barrington, RI) has introduced new wireless RF modules that can be used to design up to a 40 node alarm system, offering alarm outputs at each location for sounder and or strobe light. An...
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INSIDER: Energy
Solar-Powered Water Purification System Supports Remote Village
For nearly two years, residents of the remote Mexican village of La Mancalona, most of whom are subsistence farmers, have operated and maintained a solar-powered water purification system engineered by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
INSIDER: Medical
Researchers have developed a three-fingered soft robotic hand with embedded, stretchable fiber optic strain sensors. By using fiber optics, the researchers were able to embed 14 strain...
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INSIDER: Medical
A team of researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has invented a method for producing inexpensive and high-performing wearable...
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INSIDER: Test & Measurement
Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) have developed a new sensor system that detects quickly and nondestructively the risk of corrosion in the concrete...
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Question of the Week
Is "neuromarketing" valuable for consumers?
This week’s Question: Last week, Japanese retailer Uniqlo debuted UMood, a brain-wave analysis system designed to match the right T-shirt to a specific customer. After the shopper puts on an electroencephalography (EEG) headset, the technology's algorithm employs five metrics — interest, like,...
INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Bristol Instruments, Inc. (Victor, NY) recently introduced the 828B Optical Wavelength Meter that can measure the absolute wavelength of WDM lasers to an accuracy of ± 1 pm. This accuracy is maintained over long...
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