The Advanced Land Imager Assessment System (ALIAS) supports radiometric and geometric image processing for the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) instrument onboard NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. ALIAS consists of two processing subsystems for radiometric and geometric processing of the ALI’s...

A methodology has been developed for delivering, via the Internet, images transmitted to Earth from cameras on the Mars Explorer Rovers, the Phoenix Mars Lander, the Mars Science Laboratory, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The images in question are used by geographically dispersed...

Progress has been made in a continuing effort to develop a spaceborne computer system for processing readout data from a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer to reduce the volume of data transmitted to Earth. The approach followed in this effort, oriented toward reducing design time...

An effort related to that described in the preceding article focuses on developing a spaceborne processing platform for fast and accurate onboard classification of image data, a critical part of modern satellite image processing. The approach again has been to exploit the versatility of...

A technique for simulating extreme-temperature operation of integrated circuits that incorporate silicon carbide (SiC) junction field-effect transistors (JFETs) has been developed. The technique involves modification of NGSPICE, which is an open-source version of the popular Simulation...

Avocado Security, Fairfax, VA, has introduced Avocado Express 2.0, a security and business intelligence optimization platform that provides security images by taking the video images from surveillance cameras and translating them into intelligent business data and statistics. It can convert video images from existing...

Progress has been made in a continuing effort to develop multi-chip power modules (SiC MCPMs). This effort at an earlier stage was reported in “SiC Multi-Chip Power Modules as Power-System Building Blocks” (LEW-18008-1), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 31, No. 2 (February 2007), page 28.

A radio communication and ranging system has been proposed for determining the relative position and orientations of two approaching spacecraft to provide guidance for docking maneuvers. On Earth, the system could be used similarly for guiding approaching aircraft and for automated...

A scheme for protection against short circuits has been devised for series strings of lithium electrochemical cells that contain built-in short-circuit protection devices, which go into a high-resistance, current-limiting state when heated by excessive current. If cells are simply...

PPT Vision, Eden Prairie, MN, has introduced IMPACTTM Software Suite Version 8.0 machine vision software. New features include the ability to drag and drop tools and controls, snap-to-grid alignment on the control panel canvas, and easy data linking between vision tools and controls. The IMPACT Vision Program Manager (VPM)...

A theoretical and experimental study was conducted of the limit imposed by photon-detector jitter on the capacity of a pulse-position- modulated optical communication system in which the receiver operates in a photon-counting (weak-signal) regime. Photon-detector jitter is a random delay between...

The term “electromagnetically clean solar array” (“EMCSA”) refers to a panel that contains a planar array of solar photovoltaic cells and that, in comparison with a functionally equivalent solar-array panel of a type heretofore used on spacecraft, (1) exhibits less electromagnetic interference to and...

A system for removing pollutants — primarily sulfur dioxide and mixed oxides of nitrogen (NOx) — from incinerator exhaust has been demonstrated. The system is also designed secondarily to remove particles, hydrocarbons, and CO. The system is intended for use in an enclosed environment, for...

Subsystem Multiplexer (Sub-MUX) Quintron Systems Santa Maria, CA 805-928-4343 www.quintron.com NASA has awarded Quintron Systems an Indefinite-Delivery- Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract, and the first task order is for a command and control communications system that...

A C-language computer program accepts, as input, a set of scientific data and metadata from an Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite and converts the set from (1) the format in which it was created and delivered to (2) another format for processing and exchange of data on Earth. The first-mentioned format...

The HDF-EOS 2 and HDF-EOS 5 Compatibility Library contains C-language functions that provide uniform access to HDF-EOS 2 and HDF-EOS 5 files through one set of application programming interface (API) calls. (“HDF-EOS 2” and “HDF-EOS 5” are defined in the immediately preceding article.) Without...