A winch system provides a method for launch and recovery capabilities for kites and tethered blimps or balloons. Low power consumption is a key objective, as well as low weight for portability. This is accomplished by decoupling the tether-line storage and winding/ unwinding functions, and...

The quality of images generated during an infrared thermal inspection depends on many system variables, settings, and parameters to include the focal length setting of the IR camera lens. If any relevant parameter is incorrect or sub-optimal, the resulting IR images will usually exhibit inherent...

A hybrid photochemical-machining process is coupled with precision stack lamination to allow for the fabrication of multiple ultra-high-resolution grids on a single array substrate. In addition, special fixturing and etching techniques have been developed that allow higher0resolution multi-grid...

The requirement for scatterometer-combined transmit-receive gain variation knowledge is typically addressed by sampling a portion of the transmit signal, attenuating it with a known-stable attenuation, and coupling it into the receiver chain. This way, the gain variations of the transmit and...

The push-pull framework was developed in hopes that an infrastructure would be created that could literally connect to any given remote site, and (given a set of restrictions) download files from that remote site based on those restrictions.

Space weather is described as the variability of solar wind plasma that can disturb satellites and systems and affect human space exploration. Accurate prediction requires information of the heliosphere inside the orbit of the Earth. However, for predictions using...

A random-force method has been developed to predict dynamic loads produced by rocket-engine random vibrations for new rocket-engine designs. The method develops random forces at multiple excitation points based on random vibration environments scaled from accelerometer data...

The problem of global maxima of functionals has been examined. Mathematical roots of local maxima are the same as those for a much simpler problem of finding global maximum of a multi-dimensional function. The second problem is instability — even if an optimal trajectory is found, there is no...

This week's Question: In a preliminary report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean, a scientific panel concluded that ocean degeneration is happening much faster than previously predicted, and that the combination of factors currently distressing the marine environment is contributing...

Mentor Graphics Corporation (Wilsonville, OR) offers a unified embedded software debugging platform, from pre-silicon to final product, based on the integration of the Mentor® Embedded Sourcery™ CodeBench embedded software development tools with Mentor’s electronic system level (ESL), verification, and...

As you can probably tell by what I do for a living, I have a good command of the English language. Unfortunately I do not have similar skills when it comes to mastering other languages. I took two years of high school Spanish and still have trouble ordering lunch in a Mexican restaurant. My wife was born...

The White House announced last week that is was planning to forge ahead with "smart grid" plans for the United States. By increasing controls technology and digital information, the effort would potentially update the American electrical transmission system to provide real-time information about the state of...

Time is running out to enter the 2011 "Create the Future" Design Contest. Entries for the ninth annual contest are due by June 30th. Click here to submit your design idea. Sponsored by COMSOL, Creo - a PTC product, and Tech Briefs Media Group, the contest recognizes outstanding innovations in product design,...