Force-measuring clamps have been invented to facilitate and simplify the task of measuring the forces or pressures applied to clamped parts. There is a critical need to measure clamping forces or pressures in some applications — for example, while bonding sensors to substrates or while clamping any sensitive or delicate...

A report presents discussion of time-resolved measurements in optoelectronic microbioanalysis. Proposed microbioanalytical "laboratory-on-a-chip" devices for detection of microbes and toxic chemicals would include optoelectronic sensors and associated electronic circuits that would look...

The Literate Programming Extraction Engine is a Practical Extraction and Reporting Language- (PERL-) based computer program that facilitates and simplifies the implementation of a concept of self- documented literate programming in a fashion tailored to the typical needs of scientists. The...

The Automated Scheduling and Planning Environment (ASPEN) software system, aspects of which have been reported in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles, includes a subsystem that utilizes a portfolio of heuristic algorithms that work synergistically to solve problems. The nature of...

A program called "readstep" enables the I-DEAS™ computer- aided-design (CAD) software to automatically read Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP) files. (The STEP format is one of several used to transfer data between dissimilar CAD programs.) Prior to the development of...

An algorithm computes the direction of arrival (both azimuth and elevation angles) of a lightning-induced electromagnetic signal from differences among the times of arrival of the signal at four antennas in a Y-shaped array on the ground. In the original intended application of the...

A pre-operational annealing process is under investigation as a potential means of preventing a sudden reduction of ionic conductivity in a β"—alumina solid electrolyte (BASE) during use. On the basis of tests described below, the sudden reduction of ionic conductivity, followed by a slow...

A reactive-ion etching (RIE) process has been developed to enable the formation of holes with steep sidewalls in a layer of silicon dioxide that covers a silicon substrate. The holes in question are through the thickness of the SiO2 and are used to define silicon substrate areas to be...

A computer program provides a high-level C-language interface to electronics circuitry that controls a SpaceWire interface in a system based on a space qualified version of the ADSP-21020 digital signal processor (DSP). SpaceWire is a spacecraft-oriented standard for packet-switching data-communication...

Three computer programs have been written to preprocess digitized outputs of sensors during rocket-engine tests at Stennis Space Center (SSC). The programs apply exclusively to the SSC "E" test-stand complex and utilize the SSC file format. The programs are the following:

Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a suite of application programs that enables geographically dispersed users to monitor scientific payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). TReK provides local ground support services that can simultaneously receive, process, record, playback,...