Briefs: Physical Sciences
A free-space optical beam combiner now undergoing development makes it possible to use the outputs of multiple multimode laser diodes to pump a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A total of 81 optimal logic circuits based on four-gate field-effect transistors (G4FETs) have been designed to implement all Boolean functions of up to three variables. The purpose of this...
Briefs: Materials
Hybrid Wound Filaments for Greater Resistance to Impacts
The immediately preceding article includes an example in which a composite overwrap on a pressure vessel contains wound filaments made of a hybrid of high-strength carbon fibers and poly(phenylene benzobisoxazole) [PBO] fibers. This hybrid material is chosen in an effort to increase the...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
In a proposed improvement of tooling for friction stir welding, gimballed shoulders would supplant shoulders that, heretofore, have been fixedly aligned with pins. The proposal is especially...
Briefs: Information Technology
Algorithm Optimally Orders Forward-Chaining Inference Rules
People typically develop knowledge bases in a somewhat ad hoc manner by incrementally adding rules with no specific organization. This often results in a very inefficient execution of those rules since they are so often order sensitive. This is relevant to tasks like Deep Space Network...
Briefs: Materials
Pellets made of a high-surface-area composite of silica and titania have shown promise as means of removing elemental mercury from flue gases. With further technical development...
Books & Reports: Physical Sciences
Multiple-Cone Sunshade for a Spaceborne Telescope
A document describes a sunshade assembly for the spaceborne telescope of the Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph mission. During operation, the telescope is aimed at target stars in the semi-hemisphere away from the Earth's Sun. The observatory rotates about its pointing axis during a single...
Briefs: Materials
Making High-Tensile-Strength Amalgam Components
Structural components made of amalgams can be made to have tensile strengths much greater than previously known to be possible. Amalgams, perhaps best known for their use in dental fillings, have several useful attributes, including room- temperature fabrication, corrosion resistance, dimensional...
Books & Reports: Electronics & Computers
High Power Amplifier and Power Supply
A document discusses the creation of a high-voltage power supply (HVPS) that is able to contain voltages up to –20 kV, keep electrical field strengths to below 200 V/mil (≈7.87 kV/mm), and can provide a 200- nanosecond rise/fall time focus modulator swinging between cathode potential of 16.3 kV and...
Briefs: Materials
A simple, inexpensive method for bonding solid objects exploits hydroxidecatalyzed hydration and dehydration to form silicatelike networks in thin surface and interfacial layers...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Balanced flow meters are recent additions to an established class of simple, rugged flow meters that contain no moving parts in contact with flow and are based on measurement of pressure drops across...
Books & Reports: Physical Sciences
Estimating Mixing Heights Using Microwave Temperature Profiler
A paper describes the Microwave Temperature Profiler (MTP) for making measurements of the planetary boundary layer thermal structure — data necessary for air quality forecasting as the Mixing Layer (ML) height determines the volume in which daytime pollution is primarily...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A passive porous treatment has been proposed as a means of suppressing noise generated by the airflow around the side edges of partial-span flaps on airplane wings when the flaps are...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A design concept for a beam for a specific application permits variations and options for satisfying competing requirements to minimize certain deflections under load and to minimize the...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Figure 1 depicts an experimental inchworm- type linear microactuator. This microactuator is a successor to the one described in "MEMS-Based Piezoelectric/ Electrostatic Inchworm Actuator" (NPO- 30672), NASA...
Briefs: Medical
When Spinal USA, a manufacturer and distributor of advanced surgical spinal products, designed a new series of spinal implants called vertebral body...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An improved thermal modulator has been invented for use in a variant of gas chromatography (GC). The variant in question — denoted as two-dimensional gas chromatography (2DGC) or GC-GC...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An experimental nuclear-spin gyroscope is based on an alkali-metal/noblegas co-magnetometer, which automatically cancels the effects of magnetic fields. Whereas the performances of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A method is being developed for utilizing readings of an ion-mobility spectrometer (IMS) to estimate molecular masses of ions that have passed through the spectrometer. The method...
Briefs: Information Technology
Project Integration Architecture
The Project Integration Architecture (PIA) is a distributed, object- oriented, conceptual, software framework for the generation, organization, publication, integration, and consumption of all information involved in any complex technological process in a manner that is intelligible to both computers and humans....
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Assemblies containing curved piezoceramic fiber composite actuators have been invented as means of stretching optical fibers by amounts that depend on applied drive voltages....
News: Aerospace
This year, NASA celebrates its 50th anniversary, which will be observed on October 1. All year, NASA Tech Briefs will join in the celebration, highlighting technology innovations and epic moments...
Products: Electronics & Computers
VersaLogic Corp. (Eugene, OR) offers the Sidewinder, a single board computer (SBC) designed to complement their existing EBX product line. The Sidewinder is a reliable fanless design featuring a robust array of onboard...
Products: Electronics & Computers
ASSET InterTech (Richardson, TX) has expanded its ScanWorks® system by adding signal integrity analysis applications that support Intel's next-generation embedded instrumentation technology, Intel® IBIST...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Lecroy® Corporation (Chestnut Ridge, NY) has introduced a 13 GHz test system comprised of the SDA 13000 Serial Data Analyzer, the D13000PS Active Differential Probe, and a suite of debug and analysis tools. The new...
Articles: Electronics & Computers
High-powered embedded computing equipment utilizing the Air Transport Rack (ATR) form factor is playing an ever-larger role in extreme, mission-critical applications in air, land, and sea...
Products: Electronics & Computers
ALT Software, DiSTI, Green Hills Software, and RTI (Santa Clara, CA) have combined to introduce a robust solution for mission-critical data distribution and display. The real-time integrated avionics network is for remotely...
Products: Electronics & Computers
The new 32 GB SATA Solid State Disk (SSD) Drive from Ridata (Diamond Bar, CA) is almost twice as fast as a conventional hard disk drive. The data transfer rates are 60MB/s for maximum sequential read and...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Cornet Technology Inc. (Springfield, VA) has announced its latest VME64x PowerPC single board computer called the Celero CVME-7448ST. This board incorporates a newer hostbridge controller (Tundra Tsi109)...
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