News: Energy
Crystals for Carbon Dioxide Capture
UCLA chemists have created three-dimensional synthetic DNA-like crystals that have a sequence of information which is believed to code for carbon capture. The discovery could result in a new way to...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Venting Closed-Cell Foam Panels
A technique for reducing in-flight loss of closed-cell foam insulation has been devised. In the original application, foam is used for thermal insulation on the external tank of the space shuttle. As the space...
Blog
Big Ideas for Small Innovations
Another day at MD&M West has come and gone, and I'm continuing to see a lot of focus on miniaturization -- which makes sense, considering the multitude of medical applications that could benefit from compact yet efficient devices.
The SQUIGGLE motor from New Scale Technologies measures 2.8 x 2.8 x 6 mm....
Blog
Engineering Design at its Coolest
Day one at the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West show in Anaheim, CA was bustling with energy. Nearly everyone I spoke with said that they had found themselves happily busy throughout the day.
One nice part about meeting people at trade shows is that you might come across information you...
Question of the Week
Should the Internet be a nominee for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize?
This week's question concerns a recent Forbes/AP story that reported on the nominees for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. These include a Russian human rights group, a Chinese dissident, and, believe it or not, the Internet. Proposed by the Italian version of Wired magazine, which...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Chemical Machining of Microscopic Holes and Grooves in Glass
A technique for making precise, microscopic holes and grooves in glass workpieces has been invented. The technique differs from both (1) traditional macroscopic mechanical drilling...
News: Transportation
System Provides Hybrid Electric Autos With Power to Spare
A new PHEV traction drive power electronics system provides more power than typical freestanding portable generators, and can be used in emergency situations such as power outages and...
News: Energy
External Electric Fields and Hydrogen Storage
It has been difficult to find materials that can efficiently and safely store and release hydrogen with fast kinetics under ambient temperature and pressure, but an international research team...
Blog
Movies and Manufacturing
Day two at SolidWorks World, the worldwide event for SolidWorks users, drew a record crowd. And this time it wasn’t because of the sunny Southern California weather. It was because the special guest speaker happened to be James Cameron, who just this morning was nominated for Best Director and Best Picture Academy...
Question of the Week
Will the iPad be a game-changer in the world of personal electronics?
This week’s question concerns the much-anticipated unveiling of the Apple iPad tablet computer/book reader/music, movie, and video player. At $499, Apple touts the device as a bridge between smartphones and laptops. Tech critics say it’s nothing more than a big iPhone.
...Features: Imaging
Using Micro OTDRs to Test Fiber Optic Networks
Uses for traditional optical time domain reflectometers, or “OTDRs” include the certification and troubleshooting of very long-haul fiber optic networks such as campus and metro networks. In...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Demystifying Optical Ethernet Networks
The TDM-to-packet network transformation has been underway in transport/ telecommunications networks for some years now, fueled primarily by two trends: (a) the advent of triple-play (voice, video,...
Products: Imaging
High-Resolution Thermal Imager
L-3 Infrared Products (Dallas, TX) has launched the first commercially available high-resolution Thermal-Eye Series 17-640 thermal imager. The 17-640 features a high-performance amorphous silicon...
Products: Test & Measurement
Keyence IM-6000 Series
Keyence Corporation of America, Woodcliff Lake, NJ, has introduced the IM-6000 Series dimension measurement and inspection system that features pattern registration and pattern search functions for “place and...
Articles: Medical
Reinventing Disease Detection and Diagnosis
As devices for disease detection and diagnosis become more advanced, they also are becoming smaller. Next-generation technologies for faster detection of diseases such as cardiovascular disease,...
Application Briefs: Test & Measurement
Spectrometer Helps NASA Detect Water in Excavated Moon Matter
Ocean Optics
Dunedin, FL
727-733-2447
www.oceanoptics.com
An Ocean Optics QE65000 spectrometer has contributed measurements to the...
Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Near-Infrared Cameras Indicate Signature of Water on the Moon
Sensors Unlimited, Goodrich Corp.
Princeton, NJ
609-520-0610
www.sensorsinc.com
Shortwave infrared (SWIR)...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Insulation-Testing Cryostat With Lifting Mechanism
The figure depicts selected aspects of an apparatus for testing thermal-insulation materials for cryogenic systems at temperatures and under vacuum or atmospheric conditions representative...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Optical Testing of Retroreflectors for Cryogenic Applications
A laser tracker (LT) is an important coordinate metrology tool that uses laser interferometry to determine precise distances to objects, points, or surfaces defined by an optical reference, such as a retroreflector. A retroreflector is a precision optic consisting of three orthogonal...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Measuring Cyclic Error in Laser Heterodyne Interferometers
An improved method and apparatus have been devised for measuring cyclic errors in the readouts of laser heterodyne interferometers that are configured and operated as displacement...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Self-Referencing Hartmann Test for Large-Aperture Telescopes
A method is proposed for end-toend, full aperture testing of large-aperture telescopes using an innovative variation of a Hartmann mask. This technique is practical for telescopes...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Measuring a Fiber-Optic Delay Line Using a Mode-Locked Laser
The figure schematically depicts a laboratory setup for determining the optical length of a fiber-optic delay line at a precision greater than that obtainable by use of optical...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Compact, Reliable EEPROM Controller
A compact, reliable controller for an electrically erasable, programmable readonly memory (EEPROM) has been developed specifically for a space-flight application. The design may be adaptable to other applications in which there are requirements for reliability in general and, in particular, for prevention of...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Ka-Band Waveguide Two-Way Hybrid Combiner for MMIC Amplifiers
The design, simulation, and characterization of a novel Ka-band (32.05±0.25 GHz) rectangular waveguide two-way branch-line hybrid unequal power combiner (with port impedances...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Quad-Chip Double-Balanced Frequency Tripler
Solid-state frequency multipliers are used to produce tunable broadband sources at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The maximum power produced by a single chip is limited by the electrical breakdown of the semiconductor and by the thermal management properties of the chip. The solution is to...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Radiation-Hardened Solid-State Drive
A method is provided for a radiationhardened (rad-hard) solid-state drive for space mission memory applications by combining rad-hard and commercial offthe- shelf (COTS) non-volatile memories (NVMs) into a hybrid architecture. The architecture is controlled by a rad-hard ASIC (application specific integrated...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Reconfigurable Hardware for Compressing Hyperspectral Image Data
High-speed, low-power, reconfigurable electronic hardware has been developed to implement ICER-3D, an algorithm for compressing hyperspectral-image data. The algorithm and parts thereof have been the topics of several NASA Tech Briefs articles, including “Context Modeler for...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Speed Ring Bus
The high-speed ring bus at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) allows for future growth trends in spacecraft seen with future scientific missions. This innovation constitutes an enhancement of the 1393 bus as documented in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1393-1999 standard for a spaceborne...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Spatio-Temporal Equalizer for a Receiving-Antenna Feed Array
A spatio-temporal equalizer has been conceived as an improved means of suppressing multipath effects in the reception of aeronautical telemetry signals, and may be adaptable to...
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