Briefs: Information Technology
A proposed technique of bistatic radar altimetry would utilize information available in Global Positioning System (GPS) signals reflected from the ocean surface. The signals would be...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A method of determining the attitude of a vehicle equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver with multiple nonaligned antennas has been invented. As used here, “nonaligned...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A portable instrumentation system that includes an airborne and a ground-based subsystem acquires multispectral image data over swaths of terrain ranging in width from about 1/2 to 1 km. The...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Software and electronic hardware are being developed to provide cockpit guidance and camera control for an air-to-air schlieren photography system that is to be used to take...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Integrated Environmental Monitoring Instrument
A miniature, battery-powered, semiautonomous environmental monitoring instrument contains advanced meteorological sensors, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for determining its position, radio-communication circuitry, and a controller that performs measurement, control, and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improvements in a Fast Transient-Voltage Recorder
Some improvements have been made in an instrument designed expressly for recording lightning-induced transient voltages on power and signal cables. The instrument as it existed prior to the improvements was described in "Fast Transient-Voltage Recorder" (KSC-11991), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 23,...
Briefs: Software
Software for Real-Time Transfer of GPS Data Over the Open Internet
Real-Time Net Transfer (RTNT) software allows for efficient and reliable transport of raw, GPS (Global Positioning System) observables over the open Internet. Efficiency is achieved by editing and compressing the GPS observables at the remote site, and by using User Datagram...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Airfield Wind Advisory Systems for General Aviation
An Airfield Wind Advisory System (AWAS) includes a self-contained weather station, located at an airfield, that measures speed and direction of the wind, the temperature, the barometric pressure, and the humidity. This ground station digitizes these measurements and transmits the measurement...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Black Jack GPS Receiver
The Black Jack (BJ) receiver is the revolutionary flight Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver developed by NASA to fill future needs for orbit-based GPS science. These range from a receiver to determine precise (1-cm radial accuracy goal for JASON-1) orbits, to missions using the GPS signals for remote sensing of the...
Briefs: Software
Generating Maps of the Ionosphere From GPS Measurements
The Global Ionospheric Monitoring and Forecasting System (GIMSYS) computer program generates global maps of the total electron content (TEC) (electron density integrated over all altitude) of the ionosphere, maps of ionospheric irregularities, and related data byproducts. The maps are...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A compact two-axis scanning-mirror assembly (see figure) has been developed for use as part of a laser rangefinder on a robotic vehicle. The assembly is designed to enable scanning of the laser...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Automatic Bias Compensation in GPS Receivers
A technique of automatic bias compensation has been devised to correct errors caused by variations among electronic components in Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers that use the coarse/acquisition (C/A) GPS code. Even though there are large government and commercial markets for such GPS...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An improved Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, which processes an encrypted P-code signal without knowledge of the encryption code (denoted here as A-codeless mode), includes an auxiliary antenna...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Low-Power, Sparse-Sampling GPS Receiver
The term "microGPS" denotes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver design concept that combines relatively simple, lightweight, low-power-consumption hardware with portable, efficient software. The power demand of a microGPS receiver can be made low because it is designed to sample sparsely; that is,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The NASA Dryden DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory (see Figure 1) performs research around the globe, recently in support of the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE). This...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A data system generates information on the position and orientation of a pointing instrument (e.g., a telescope or a laser) that could be mounted on a moving platform (e.g., an aircraft) and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Development of a Range-Safety Smart System
Range Safety Officers (RSOs) are used by NASA and other government agencies to assure protection of life and property during launch operations. The current decision-making system used by the RSOs at NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) and the National Ranges, including the Eastern Range (ER) and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Acoustic Navigation Aid for Autonomous Miners
Miners today use externally powered machines designed to be used by a single operator, the autonomous miner. Many companies offer computer-operated mining equipment that can be used for both high wall and underground applications. Programmable logic controls with ring laser gyroscopes and...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A research project now underway addresses the concept of utilizing stratospheric mountain waves to soar to high altitudes in sailplanes. Stratospheric mountain waves are mountain waves...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Special-purpose, "intelligent," computer-controlled, highly miniaturized radio transceivers have been proposed for use in monitoring critical and/or valuable pieces of equipment....
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Electrobiotic sensors have been proposed for detecting toxic substances in a variety of environments. Electrobiotic sensors would be inexpensive, compact units that would be easy to use and could be deployed...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Using Narrow-Band Data Links in Locating Lightning Strikes
A method of preprocessing lightning-measurement waveforms has been devised to reduce the bandwidth needed to transmit data for computing the locations of lightning strikes. The method is used in a system in which electric fields and electric-field derivatives induced by lightning are...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A proposed Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor would give information on approximate attitude as well as on position. Unlike other GPS-based attitude sensors, this attitude sensor would not depend on...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Perseus B remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) has achieved a record altitude for a single-engine, propeller-driven airplane of 60,260 ft (18,367 m) on June 27, 1998. The Perseus B is one of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Development of Circuitry for Wristband Radio Transponders
A document proposes the development of several alternative types of electronic circuits for wristband transponders for the system described in "Person-Locator System Based on Wristband Radio Transponders" (NPO-19280) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 19, No. 12 (December 1995), page 40. To...
Briefs: Information Technology
A procedure for determining the location of an instrumentation platform on natural terrain is based on a concept of maximum-likelihood matching of two range maps: (1) a local range...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A developmental electronic system that includes Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers is designed to track the relative position and velocity to two airplanes in real time. In...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Credit-card-sized electronic transponders have been proposed for use in tracking cargo anywhere on Earth. A transponder would be carried on a cargo container, where it would act as a "smart tag." The...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A "smart" video camera, called the "GI-Eye," generates digital image data that are automatically tagged with georegistration meta-data to indicate the precise position and attitude of the...
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