Briefs: Physical Sciences
Oxygen-Methane Thruster
An oxygen-methane thruster was conceived with integrated igniter/injector capable of nominal operation on either gaseous or liquid propellants. The thruster was designed to develop 100 lbf (≈445 N) thrust at vacuum conditions and use oxygen and methane as propellants. This continued development included refining the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Lunar Navigation Determination System — LaNDS
A portable comprehensive navigational system has been developed that both robotic and human explorers can use to determine their location, attitude, and heading anywhere on the lunar surface independent of external infrastructure (needs no Lunar satellite network, line of sight to the Sun or Earth,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Design and Performance of a Wideband Radio Telescope
The Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) is an outreach project, a partnership involving NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL ), the Lewis Center for Educational Research (LCER), and the Apple Valley Unified School District near the NASA Goldstone deep space communication complex....
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Supercritical CO₂ Cleaning System for Planetary Protection and Contamination Control Applications
Current spacecraft-compatible cleaning protocols involve a vapor degreaser, liquid sonication, and alcohol wiping. These methods are not very effective in removing live and dead microbes from spacecraft piece parts of slightly complicated...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Launch Method for Kites in Low-Wind or No-Wind Conditions
Airborne observations using lightweight camera systems are desirable for a variety of applications. This system was contemplated as a method to provide a simple remote sensing aerial platform. Kites have been successfully employed for aerial observations, but have historically required...
Briefs: Information Technology
Finite Element Models for Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication Process
Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) is a member of an emerging class of direct manufacturing processes known as solid freeform fabrication (SFF); another member of the class is the laser deposition process. Successful application of the EBF3 process...
Briefs: Information Technology
Vehicle Detection for RCTA/ANS (Autonomous Navigation System)
Using a stereo camera pair, imagery is acquired and processed through the “JPLV” stereo processing pipeline. From this stereo data, large 3D blobs are found. These blobs are then described and classified by their shape to determine which are vehicles and which are not. Prior...
Briefs: Information Technology
IMAGESEER — IMAGEs for Education and Research
IMAGESEER is a new Web portal that brings easy access to NASA image data for non-NASA researchers, educators, and students. The IMAGESEER Web site and database are specifically designed to be utilized by the university community, to enable teaching image processing (IP) techniques on NASA data, as...
Briefs: Information Technology
Autonomous Information Unit for Fine-Grain Data Access Control and Information Protection in a Net-Centric System
As communication and networking technologies advance, networks will become highly complex and heterogeneous, interconnecting different network domains. There is a need to provide user authentication and data protection in order to...
Briefs: Information Technology
HyDE Framework for Stochastic and Hybrid Model-Based Diagnosis
Hybrid Diagnosis Engine (HyDE) is a general framework for stochastic and hybrid model-bused diagnosis that offers flexibility to the diagnosis application designer. The HyDE architecture supports the use of multiple modeling paradigms at the component and system level. Several...
Briefs: Information Technology
Image Mapping and Visual Attention on the Sensory Ego-Sphere
The Sensory Ego-Sphere (SES) is a short-term memory for a robot in the form of an egocentric, tessellated, spherical, sensory-motor map of the robot’s locale. Visual attention enables fast alignment of overlapping images without warping or position optimization, since an attentional...
Products
Hewlett-Packard (Palo Alto, CA) has introduced the HP Z1 Workstation, an all-in-one workstation with a 27" diagonal display that snaps open so users can swap out parts and make upgrades without the...
Application Briefs: Software
Lockheed Martin Corp. is supporting the upgrade of the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mission Control Center’s Core Trajectory Subsystem (CTS) using a.i. solutions’...
Application Briefs: Medical
Johns Hopkins engineers, recognized as experts in medical robotics, are helping NASA with a space dilemma: How can the agency fix valuable satellites that are breaking...
Products: Electronics & Computers
STMicroelectronics (Geneva, Switzerland) has introduced a new line of Smart Reset™ chips. The integrated circuits reset ‘frozen’ gadgets, such as mobile phones, media players, and other portable consumer devices.
Products: Electronics & Computers
Using its low-power EFM32 Gecko microcontrollers, Energy Micro (Oslo, Norway) has introduced a software tool that enables designers to predict battery cell life expectancy. The free energyAware™ Battery...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Imec (Leuven, Belgium) has demonstrated 3D integrated DRAM-on-logic for lowpower mobile applications. The 3D stack technology consists of Imec’s proprietary logic CMOS IC, on top of which a commercial DRAM is stacked using...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
HEIDENHAIN (Schaumburg, IL) has released the IK5000 version 2.96 PC-based QUADRA-CHEK Metrology software for inspection measurement machines. It performs 2D and 3D measuring tasks and offers functionality such as...
Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Previously, the walk from the sales counter of the pharmacy to the medication drawer wasted valuable time. Today, the fully automated picking system for European pharmacies by KLS requires only...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Warner Linear (Belvidere, IL) has introduced the S-Track line of linear actuators for generalduty applications. Models are available with aluminum or engineered plastic housings. Enhanced control allows for 12 or 24 VDC...
Products: Motion Control
Wittenstein (Bartlett, IL) offers the RP+ and RPM+ linear rack and pinion systems. The RP+ combines the alpha TP+ gearbox, pinion, and rack into one solution for linear motion; the RPM+ combines the TPM+ actuator, pinion, and...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Kollmorgen (Radford, VA) has introduced Value-Line servomotors that cover the torque range from 0.5 Nm to 16 Nm (peak or continuous). The servomotors are available in most popular motor sizes with 12 standard windings, in both...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Advanced Antivibration Components (New Hyde Park, NY) offers the V12Z55M062M Series bell-shaped rubber mountings to dampen shock and vibration for loads up to 887 kgf (1956 lbf). They are made from a combination of natural...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Advanced Motion Controls (Camarillo, CA) has released the DZE and DZS series EtherCAT® servo drives and DxM (Demultiplexed Motion) technology. The servo drives for EtherCAT-enabled control networks are housed in a package size that...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
The A3200 MotionPAC from Aerotech (Pittsburgh, PA) is a software-based programmable logic controller (PLC) that is integrated with the company’s A3200 motion controller. The MotionPAC can be used independently for full...
Products: Motion Control
Sherborne Sensors (Wyckoff, NJ) has introduced the T835 Series gravity-referenced tri-axial inclinometer for challenging and space constrained environments. Available in angular ranges ±14.5° to ±60°, and measuring...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Prior Scientific (Rockland, MA) offers the NZ400 NanoScan Piezo Stage System for researchers producing rapid Z sections and live cell 3D images of specimens grown in well plates, large petri dishes, or mounted to glass...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Tolomatic (Hamel, MN) offers the ACS with Ethernet, which adds Ethernet connectivity to the ACS Stepper Drive/Controller. It supports both Ethernet/IP and Modbus TCP, allowing connectivity to PLCs and HMIs. It offers...
Products: Motion Control
The KNF Type NMP05 diaphragm micropump for sampling air and gases is available from KNF Neuberger (Trenton, NJ). It provides efficient operation for a wide range of portable, battery operated equipment applications. The...
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