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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Process for Rapid Prototyping in Ceramic-Matrix Composites

The ceramic-composite advanced tow- placement (CCATP) process is a means of laying down continuous-fiber-reinforced, ceramic-matrix composite (CMC) materials in patterned layers to form objects that could have complex three-dimensional shapes. The CCATP process is a member of the growing...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

A technique of thermocompressive gold-to-gold diffusion bonding at relatively low temperature has been devised to provide stable, uniform, strong bonds between struc- tural...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences

Improved electrical resistance heaters for preventing the accumulation of ice on aircraft surfaces are undergoing development. The primary intended market for these heaters is that of...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Regulating Pressure-Volume Control of a Gas Blanketing Liquid R-124

A system for storing and circulating a refrigerant liquid [R- 124 (chloro- tetrafluoroethane)] includes a reservoir and a subsystem that regulates the pressure of nitrogen gas in the head space of the reservoir. The purpose of the pressurization is to prevent cavitation in a...

Briefs: Physical Sciences

A previously developed quality/flow meter has been redesigned to improve its performance as a device for measuring the quality (but not the flow) of two-phase (liquid + vapor) oxygen or...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Ellipsoidal Collecting Horns for Ultrasonic Leak Detectors

Ellipsoidal reflectors have been proposed as collecting horns for ultrasonic leak detectors. Exploiting the classical focusing characteristics of ellipsoids, these reflectors would facilitate and enhance the detection of leaks in situations in which it is possible to bring leak-detecting...

Briefs: Information Technology
Flash Automated Updating of Software in Multiple Computers

Program and data files in the Unified Control Modules (UCMs) of the Operational Television system at Kennedy Space Center are updated rapidly and automatically in a scheme that exploits unique features of the UCM design. Each UCM includes a VersaModule Eurocard (VME) chassis, in which...

Briefs: Information Technology
Algorithm Plans Motion of Robot With Limited Field of View

The RoverBug algorithm plans the motion of a robotic vehicle (rover) equipped with a CCD (charge-coupled device) camera or comparable sensor that has a limited field of view. The algorithm produces locally optimal (shortest-distance) paths across unbounded, previously unknown terrain;...

Briefs: Information Technology
Product Attributes Database

Product Attributes Database (PAD) is a computer program that enables a team of engineers, managers, and administrators involved in a product-development project to collaborate more effectively. PAD serves as a single, network-accessible repository for all essential parametric information (the data- base) that...

Briefs: Test & Measurement
Simulating the Structural Behavior of Laminated Glass

This report investigates the strength of archi- tectural laminated glass and the viability of its use for window glass in commercial buildings. Some researchers recommend that the structural behavior of laminated glass (typically consisting of two glass layers and a plasticized PVB [polyvinyl...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Synchronizing Attitudes and Maneuvers of Multiple Spacecraft

A report discusses the problem of controlling the maneuvers of multiple spacecraft flying in formation and, more specifically, making the entire formation rotate about a given axis and synchronizing the rotations of the individual spacecraft with the rotation of the formation. Such...

Briefs: Materials
Lightweight Solar Sail for a Spacecraft Flying Near the Sun

A report proposes a high-temperature- resistant solar sail with an areal mass density less than 1 g/m2, for a spacecraft that would approach the Sun to within a distance of 0.2 astronomical unit (≈3 × 107 km). The sail would be made in multiple segments of a...

Briefs: Motion Control

A proposed lightweight, micromachined winch would have microscopic structural details and mesoscopic overall dimensions and would be capable of generating bidirectional macro- scopic...

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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Hardware and decentralized-control algorithms have been developed during continued research on the sensors, the actuators, and the design and functional requirements for systems of...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pumps have been investigated in theoretical and experimental studies. In general, EHD pumps contain no moving parts. They generate pressure gradients and/or flows in...

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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Process for Rapid Prototyping in Ceramic-Matrix Composites

The ceramic-composite advanced tow-placement (CCATP) process is a means of laying down continuous-fiber-reinforced, ceramic-matrix composite (CMC) materials in patterned layers to form objects that could have complex three-dimensional shapes. The CCATP process is a member of the growing...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

An improved and expanded method of stereo imaging velocimetry (SIV) for diagnosing three-dimensional flows of gases, liquids, and other fluids involves the use of standard charge-coupled-device...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Infrared Fiber-Optic Endoscope

A proposed infrared transmitting fiber-optic endoscope, which would partly resemble a visible-light fiber-optic endoscope, instrument could be used to perform thermal imaging in harsh environments and/or confined spaces in a variety of situations in aerospace, industrial, automotive, and medical settings.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Fiber-Optic Probe Uses Evanescent Waves To Sense Biofilm

A compact instrument includes a fiber-optic probe that utilizes the evanescent-wave interaction to measure the accumulation of a biofilm. This instrument is a prototype of instruments that could be used to effect continuous monitoring and provide early warning of biofilms associated with...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Fiber-optic couplers for spherical, toroidal, and other, similarly shaped microscopic optical resonators that operate in whispering-gallery (WG) modes would be fabricated with integral...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A proposed radiometric instrument denoted the spotlight radiometer (SLR) would operate in a frequency band centered at ≈557 GHz and would scan in a conical or circular pattern. The SLR was conceived for use in...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A design for an unobscured, large-aperture but otherwise compact laser-beam expander relies solely on spherical reflecting and refracting surfaces, yet provides a...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics

An unconventional and highly effective technique has been devised to reduce cyclic errors that arise in the operation of a displacement-measuring heterodyne optical interferometer....

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Briefs: Materials

Some changes have been made in the fabrication of PSSA/ PVDF-based membrane/electrode assemblies for direct methanol fuel cells. The effect of the changes is to improve the...

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Briefs: Software
Software for Capturing Software-Design Rationale

Better Elicitation and Communication of Arguments Underlying Software Engineering (BECAUSE) is a computer program that records and codifies the rationale that underlies decisions made in the course of developing software. To minimize the additional sensory, cognitive, and motor demands upon the...

Briefs: Software
Software for Scientific Exploration by Multiple Rovers

Multi-Rover Integrated Science Understanding System (MISUS) is a computer program designed to coordinate the activities of multiple small, instrumented robotic vehicles (rovers) engaged in autonomous scientific exploration of the surface of Mars. MISUS includes a component that utilizes...

Briefs: Software
Software Accelerates and Standardizes Procurement by NASA

Virtual Procurement Office (VPO) is a Web-based application program designed for use by procurement professionals throughout NASA. Prior to the development of VPO, each of the 700+ NASA procurement pro- fessionals had to spend much time searching numerous locations on-line and off-line...

Briefs: Software
Software for Managing a Health and Environmental Database

Health and Environ- mental Resource System (HERS) is a relational-database computer program with a graphical user interface that assists members of an envi- ronmental health organization in the collection, analysis,

and reporting of data pertaining to industrial hygiene, radiation...

Briefs: Software
GUI Software for Managing Router Configuration Files

Cisco IOS Manager (CIOSMAN) is a computer program that generates a graphical user interface for managing configuration files for an Internet-Protocol router. [In this context, “IOS” signifies the Cisco Internet- working Operating System and “router” signifies a system of...

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