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Briefs: Information Technology
Simulator for a Self-Stabilizing Synchronization Protocol for Arbitrary Digraphs
This work was conducted to create a means of simulating and visualizing the behavior of a self-stabilizing distributed clock synchronization protocol developed at LaRC (Langley Research Center). The protocol has many applications including projects that directly...
Briefs: Software
Testing Encapsulation of Internet, DTN, and LTP Traffic over AOS Space Data Link Protocol
The CCSDS ENCAP Over AOS Over UDP software engine encapsulates live Internet Protocol (IP), DTN Bundle Protocol (BP), or Licklider Transport Protocol (LTP) traffic over a Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS)-compliant Encapsulation Ser vice...
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The technologies NASA develops don’t just blast off into space. They also improve our lives here on Earth. Life-saving search-and-rescue tools, implantable medical devices, advances in commercial aircraft safety,...
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Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
“Over the years, I’ve asked people, ‘If you had a robot, what would you want it to do for you?’” said Rob Ambrose, principal investigator for NASA’s Game Changing Development Program and chief of the...
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Application Briefs: Aerospace
Proto Labs, Inc. Maple Plain, MN 877-479-3680 www.protolabs.com University student Mel Du was searching for a source to manufacture metal parts for a student research challenge project he was...
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Articles: Materials
NASA Technology The world is made out of bad concrete and rusty steel, and corrosion is the primary cause of deterioration of our infrastructure,” says Bob Walde, vice president of...
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Products: Aerospace
Tecplot, Bellevue, WA, announced Tecplot 360 EX 2016 Release 2 computational fluid dynamics (CFD) post-processing software with SZL technology. An updated FEA data loader supports data files from Abaqus 6.14, ANSYS 16.2,...
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Briefs: Imaging
Smartphone Video Guidance Sensor
The need arose to apply the state determination algorithms developed for the Advanced Video Guidance Sensor autonomous rendezvous and docking (AR&D) sensor onto a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), smartphone-based platform to create a lower-mass, lower-cost sensor for small satellite and CubeSat applications....
Briefs: Imaging
A Smooth-Walled Feedhorn with Sub-30-dB Cross-Polarization Over a 30-Percent Bandwidth
The focus of this research was the design, optimization, and measurement of a monotonically profiled, smooth-walled scalar feedhorn with a diffraction-limited ~14° FWHM (full width at half maximum). It is an easier-to-manufacture, smooth-walled feed that...
Briefs: Imaging
Partially Transparent Circular Mask to Suppress Narrowband Laser Light
The evolved Laser Interferometry Space Antenna (eLISA) is the implementation of the original Laser Interferometry Space Antenna (LISA) concept that will be proposed for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) L.3 Cosmic Visions opportunity. The eLISA observatory uses lasers to range...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Characterizing Richness of Previously Unmapped Terrain and Estimating its Impact on Navigation Performance using 3D Range Sensors in Flight
Landers to large planetary bodies such as Mars typically use a secondary reconnaissance spacecraft to generate high-fidelity 3D terrain maps that are subsequently used for landing site selection and creating...
Briefs: Imaging
Measurements of the cosmic micro wave background are a powerful probe of the early universe. Part-per-million fluctuations in the intensity of background trace the initial...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A Novel Orbiting Cloud Imager System for IR/UV/X-Ray Bands
Typically, the cost of a spaceborne imaging system is driven by the size and mass of the primary aperture. Innovative solutions for imagers that are less complex and are lightweight are very desirable. Currently, telescopes such as JWST and ATLAST are very expensive and very complex.
Articles: Imaging
The Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) is part of a proposed NASA mission to find potentially hazardous asteroids. In a Q&A with Photonics & Imaging Technology, NEOCam principal...
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Articles: Imaging
High-definition digital projectors based on Texas Instruments’ DLP® technology are widely known for being used in more than 90% of the world’s digital movie theaters. However, DLP chips...
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Articles: Imaging
Thanks to a combination of high-quality optics and advanced digital imaging technology, today’s newest digital microscopes provide efficient solutions to a...
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Application Briefs: Imaging
Today’s robots easily execute “pick-and-place” tasks: finding an object in one specified location and bringing it to another. But what if there are obstacles in a robot’s way? And what if...
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Application Briefs: Imaging
The “always-true” use case for 360º vision systems is to avoid blind spots. Blind spots are a byproduct of conventional cameras. They have a limited field of view and they only see in the direction...
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INSIDER: Aerospace
A college student who won a NASA design challenge recently had the tool he designed 3D-printed on the Additive Manufacturing Facility on the International Space Station. The Multipurpose...
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INSIDER: Materials
The present-day chemical industry is based on oil. Many chemical products – from plastics through to detergents and solvents, to medication and crop protection products – have their origins...
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INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Researchers have found a way to make personalized medicine cheaper and easier through a tablet fabrication system that 3D prints a myriad of pills in just one tablet. While there are existing...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers have developed a method of combating virtual reality (VR) sickness that can be applied to consumer head-worn VR displays such as the Sony PlayStation VR. The approach dynamically, yet...
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INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart developed a motion system that is compliant and can be integrated in robots thanks to its space-saving design....
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INSIDER: Motion Control
Researchers have devised a novel way to help keep a driverless vehicle under control as it maneuvers at the edge of its handling limits. The new technology is being tested by...
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INSIDER: Materials
Researchers Keep Hydrogels Hydrated
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a way to prevent hydrogels from dehydrating. The water-based technique could lead to longer-lasting contact lenses, stretchy microfluidic devices, flexible bioelectronics, and even artificial skin.
INSIDER: Materials
3D-Printed Polymer Turns Methane to Methanol
By combining biology and 3D printing, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have created a reactor that continuously produces methanol from methane at room temperature and pressure.
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
Researchers Test Galaxy-Seeking Robots
A telescope project from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will use a planned array of 5,000 galaxy-seeking robots to produce a 3D map of the universe. Dubbed ProtoDESI, the scaled-down, 10-robot system will help scientists achieve the pinpoint accuracy needed to...
Question of the Week
Will VR be the new way to watch sports?
This week's Question: Fox Sports offered virtual-reality streams from last week's U.S. Open, a major golf championship in Oakmont, PA. Sports fans who owned the right devices could watch the golf event on the television while using VR for enhancements: game recaps, highlights of a particular play, features,...

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