NASA Tech Briefs - March 2009 - Vol. 33 No. 3

Features

• Application Briefs

  Supercomputer Aids NASA’s Journey to the Moon and Mars

  Radiation Detection Hardware Part of Living With a Star Experiment

  Imaging Technique Improves Quality Control of Pharmaceuticals

• Who's Who

  Dr. Drake Deming, Senior Scientist, Solar System Exploration Division, Goddard Space Flight Center

• Articles

  Lithium-Ion Batteries Fuel the Future of Automotive Design

  Life-Saving CPR Device Wins Create The Future Design Contest

  Making the Move to Digital in Machine Vision

Tech Briefs

• Bio-Medical

  Continuous-Flow System Produces Medical-Grade Water

  Discrimination of Spore-Forming Bacilli Using spoIVA

• Physical Sciences

  Improved Instrument for Detecting Water and Ice in Soil

  Real-Time Detection of Dust Devils From Pressure Readings

  nBn Infrared Detector Containing Graded Absorption Layer

  Ultra-Broad-Band Optical Parametric Amplifier or Oscillator

  Atomic References for Measuring Small Accelerations

  Enhancing SERS by Means of Supramolecular Charge Transfer

  Particle-Image Velocimeter Having Large Depth of Field

  Improved Signal Chains for Readout of CMOS Imagers

  Improving 3D Wavelet-Based Compression of Hyperspectral Images

• Manufacturing & Prototyping

  Alternative Packaging for Back-Illuminated Imagers

  Diamond Machining of an Off-Axis Biconic Aspherical Mirror

  Laser Ablation Increases PEM/Catalyst Interfacial Area

• Software

  DSN Data Visualization Suite

  Symbolic Processing Combined With Model-Based Reasoning

  Spreadsheets for Analyzing and Optimizing Space Missions

  Processing Ocean Images To Detect Large Drift Nets

• Materials

  Polyimide/Glass Composite High-Temperature Insulation

  Damage Detection and Self-Repair in Inflatable/Deployable Structures

  Nanocomposite Strain Gauges Having Small TCRs

• Information Sciences

  Determining Surface Roughness in Urban Areas Using Lidar Data

  Presentation Extensions of the SOAP

  Error-Rate Bounds for Coded PPM on a Poisson Channel

  Biomorphic Multi-Agent Architecture for Persistent Computing

  Using Covariance Analysis To Assess Pointing Performance

• Mechanics & Machinery

  Quick-Connect Windowed Non-Stick Penetrator Tips for Rapid Sampling

  Prediction of B-Pillar Failure in Automobile Bodies

  Modeling Unsteady Cavitation and Dynamic Loads in Turbopumps

• Electronics & Computers

  Hamming and Accumulator Codes Concatenated With MPSK or QAM

  Hardware Implementation of Serially Concatenated PPM Decoder

  Biasable Subharmonic Membrane Mixer for 520 to 600 GHz

  Wide-Angle-Scanning Reflectarray Antennas Actuated by MEMS

  SOI CMOS Imager With Suppression of Cross-Talk

Products

• Gold Series Panel PCs

  Video Recording Server

  HDTV Network Security Camera

  Thermal Imaging Camera

  CMOS Image Sensor

  Motorized Zoom Lens

  Open-Frame Monitors

  CCD Image Sensors

  Network IP Camera

  Gigabit Ethernet Cameras

• Products

  3D Stacked IC Technology (Esc Booth # 1535)

  On-Chip Debug Solutions (Esc Booth #1840)

  SMP Virtual Machine (Esc Booth #1610)

  Touchscreen Controller ICs (Esc Booth # 316)

  Bluetooth Modules (ESC Booth #1809)

  Reference Design Platform (ESC Booth #626)

  Micro-ATX Motherboard (ESC Booth #1940)

  Qseven Computer Module (ESC Booth #1223)

  STD Bus x86-Based SBC (ESC Booth #435)

  AC/DC Switching Power Supply (ESC Booth #1028 )

• Applications

  Real-Time Data Distribution for Industrial Automation Systems

• Articles

  Increasing System Flexibility Using FPGAs

  StackableUSB™ Adapting PC Technology to the Embedded Market

  Using Virtualization to Secure Mobile Device Designs