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Briefs: Software
Control Program for an Optical-Calibration Robot
A computer program provides semiautomatic control of a moveable robot used to perform optical calibration of videocamera-based optoelectronic sensor systems that will be used to guide automated rendezvous maneuvers of spacecraft.
Briefs: Software
GUI for Computational Simulation of a Propellant Mixer
Control Panel is a computer program that generates a graphical user interface (GUI) for computational simulation of a rocket- test-stand propellant mixer in which gaseous hydrogen (GH2) is injected into flowing liquid hydrogen (LH2) to obtain a combined flow having desired thermodynamic...
Briefs: Software
Computing Thermal Effects of Cavitation in Cryogenic Liquids
A computer program implements a numerical model of thermal effects of cavitation in cryogenic fluids. The model and program were developed for use in designing and predicting the performances of turbopumps for cryogenic fluids. Prior numerical models used for this purpose do not account...
Briefs: Software
Doclet To Synthesize UML
The RoseDoclet computer program extends the capability of Java doclet software to automatically synthesize Unified Modeling Language (UML) content from Java language source code. [Doclets are Java-language programs that use the doclet application programming interface (API) to specify the content and format of the output of...
Briefs: Software
Full Multigrid Flow Solver
FMG3D (full multigrid 3 dimensions) is a pilot computer program that solves equations of fluid flow using a finite difference representation on a structured grid. Infrastructure exists for three dimensions but the current implementation treats only two dimensions. Written in Fortran 90, FMG3D takes advantage of the...
Briefs: Software
Virtual Machine Language
Virtual Machine Language (VML) is a mission-independent, reusable software system for programming for spacecraft operations. Features of VML include a rich set of data types, named functions, parameters, IF and WHILE control structures, polymorphism, and on-the-fly creation of spacecraft commands from calculated values....
Briefs: Software
Two-Dimensional Ffowcs Williams/Hawkings Equation Solver
FWH2D is a Fortran 90 computer program that solves a two-dimensional (2D) version of the equation, derived by J. E. Ffowcs Williams and D. L. Hawkings, for sound generated by turbulent flow. FWH2D was developed especially for estimating noise generated by airflows around such approximately 2D...
Briefs: Software
AutoChem
AutoChem is a suite of Fortran 90 computer programs for the modeling of kinetic reaction systems. AutoChem performs automatic code generation, symbolic differentiation, analysis, and documentation. It produces a documented stand-alone system for the modeling and assimilation of atmospheric chemistry. Given databases of chemical reactions...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improved optoelectronic pattern recognition encoders that measure rotary and linear 1-dimensional positions at conversion rates (numbers of readings per unit time) exceeding 20 kHz have...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A multiple-bit differential-detection method has been proposed for the reception of radio signals modulated with offset quadrature phase-shift keying (offset QPSK or OQPSK). The method is also...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Some Improvements in H-PDLCs
Some improvements have been made in the formulation of holographically formed polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (H-PDLCs) and in the fabrication of devices made from these materials, with resulting improvements in performance. H-PDLCs are essentially volume Bragg gratings. Devices made from HPDLCs function as...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Laser System for Precise, Unambiguous Range Measurements
The Modulation Sideband Technology for Absolute Range (MSTAR) architecture is the basis of design of a proposed laser-based heterodyne interferometer that could measure a range (distance) as great as 100 km with a precision and resolution of the order of 1 nm. Simple optical interferometers...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Feedback control of the penetration force applied to a pin tool in friction stir welding has been found to be a robust and reliable means for controlling the depth of penetration of the tool....
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A low-temperature process for fabricating flexible, ohmic contacts for use in organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) has been developed. Typical drainsource contact materials used...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A special-purpose tool has been developed for measuring the depths of defects on an O-ring seal surface. The surface lies in a specially shaped ringlike fitting, called a “capture feature...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Stability-Augmentation Devices for Miniature Aircraft
Non-aerodynamic mechanical devices are under consideration as means to augment the stability of miniature autonomous and remotely controlled aircraft. Such aircraft can be used for diverse purposes, including military reconnaissance, radio communications, and safety-related monitoring of wide...
Briefs: Information Technology
Predicting Numbers of Problems in Development of Software
A method has been formulated to enable prediction of the amount of work that remains to be performed in developing flight software for a spacecraft. The basic concept embodied in the method is that of using an idealized curve (specifically, the Weibull function) to interpolate from (1) the...
Briefs: Information Technology
Improved Compression of Wavelet-Transformed Images
A recently developed data-compression method is an adaptive technique for coding quantized wavelet-transformed data, nominally as part of a complete image-data compressor. Unlike some other approaches, this method admits a simple implementation and does not rely on the use of large code tables.
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An optical communications terminal (OCT) is being developed to enable transmission of data at a rate as high as 2.5 Gb/s, from an aircraft or spacecraft to a ground station. In addition to...
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Briefs: Materials
Making Activated Carbon for Storing Gas
Solid disks of microporous activated carbon, produced by a method that enables optimization of pore structure, have been investigated as means of storing gas (especially hydrogen for use as a fuel) at relatively low pressure through adsorption on pore surfaces. For hydrogen and other gases of practical...
Briefs: Materials
Comparative tests have been performed to evaluate the corrosion-prevention capabilities of an experimental paint of the type described in "Water-Borne,...
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Briefs: Materials
A sol-gel process has been developed as a superior alternative to a prior process for making platinum-ruthenium alloy catalysts for electro-oxidation of methanol in fuel cells. The starting...
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Briefs: Aerospace
Stellar Gyroscope for Determining Attitude of a Spacecraft
A paper introduces the concept of a stellar gyroscope, currently at an early stage of development, for determining the attitude or spin axis, and spin rate of a spacecraft. Like star trackers, which are commercially available, a stellar gyroscope would capture and process images of stars to...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The figure depicts the planned Actuated Hybrid Mirror Telescope (AHMT), which is intended to demonstrate a new approach to the design and construction of wide-aperture spaceborne telescopes for astronomy and...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
A proposed thermoelectric device would exploit natural temperature differences between air and soil to harvest small amounts of electric energy. Because the air/soil temperature difference...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A broadband phase-contrast wave-front sensor has been proposed as a real-time wave-front sensor in an adaptive-optics system. The proposed sensor would offer an alternative to the Shack-Hartmann...
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Briefs: Medical
Chamber for Growing and Observing Fungi
Unlike prior fungus growing apparatuses, this chamber makes it possible to examine a fungus culture without disrupting it. Partly resembling a small picture frame, the chamber includes a metal plate having a rectangular through the thickness opening with recesses for a top and a bottom cover glass, an inlet...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Chemical sensors based on optical ring resonators are undergoing development. A ring resonator according to this concept is a closed-circuit dielectric optical waveguide. The outermost layer of this...
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Briefs: Medical
A prototype of an electroporation system for sterilizing wastewater or drinking water has been developed. In electroporation, applied electric fields cause transient and/or permanent changes in the...
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