Manufacturing

Production control

Stories

119
2652
0
30
30
Articles: Electronics & Computers
SpaceCube Processors Next-generation spacecraft instruments are capable of producing data at rates of 108 to 1011 bits per second, and both their instrument designs and...
Feature Image
Briefs: Aerospace
Aeronautical Data Link and Radar Simulator (ADRS)
Air traffic management research needs to adequately address all players, including flight crews, air traffic controllers/managers, and airline dispatchers. Interactions between the different stakeholders are crucial elements for the viability of a given concept. A simulation capable of addressing...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
NASA engineer Allen Parker and a team at Armstrong Flight Research Center have developed a fiber-optic-based sensing technology that accurately pinpoints and measures liquid levels....
Feature Image
Briefs: Test & Measurement
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed an innovative magnetic and Raman-based method for macroscopic process control during...
Feature Image
Briefs: Software
Self-Stabilizing, Byzantine-Fault-Tolerant Clock Synchronization System and Method
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a portfolio of technologies regarding clock synchronization in distributed systems. Distributed synchronous systems that need to provide globally coordinated operations require each component (node) in the system to be...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Sampling and Control Circuit Board for an Inertial Measurement Unit
Scientists at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed a circuit board that serves as a control and sampling interface to an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The circuit board provides sampling and communication abilities that allow the IMU to be sampled at precise intervals....
Briefs: Medical
Computer-Controlled Solid-State Lighting Assembly to Emulate Diurnal Cycle and Improve Circadian Rhythm Control
The Lighting System to Improve Circadian Rhythm Control was designed and built to help regulate the sleep cycles of astronauts working on the International Space Station (ISS) and during long-duration spaceflight. In space, the lack of a...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Intelligent Displacement Sensor Deployment Using MTConnect Protocol over Ethernet
Quality measurements for design validation and certification requirements sometimes require hundreds or thousands of sensors and actuators. Maintaining such a complex system is difficult, especially over an extended time period and inevitable personnel changes. Many...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
NASA Technologist Mahmooda Sultana has been leading the development of tiny graphene sensors. Because of the material’s extreme sensitivity, graphene-based sensors have a wide range of possible...
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
One of the most common causes of electronics failure is moisture. Because water and electronics do not mix well, several strategies exist to protect mission-critical components from...
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
For many years, stencil printing has been the standard method of depositing solder paste on surface mount assembly printed circuit boards (PCBs). It has provided a durable method of applying solder...
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Non-Intrusive, On-Line, Simultaneous Multi-Species Impurity Monitor for Hydrogen Gas
In testing hydrogen-fueled engines, the purity of the hydrogen fuel is important. Hydrogen may become contaminated with nitrogen (N2), argon (Ar), or oxygen (O2), thereby making the hydrogen unusable for engine testing at Stennis Space Center (SSC). Therefore, for...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Mars Science Laboratory Flight Software for Autonomous Drilling
One of the goals of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is to collect powderized samples from the interior of rocks and deliver them to onboard science instruments. This goal is achieved using the algorithms and software that control the drill hardware to produce a system that...
Articles: Test & Measurement
One important requirement for instruments like oscilloscopes is the ability to detect and trigger on an event of interest within a stream of unsuspicious signals fast and reliably. The quicker a specific...
Feature Image
Articles: Aerospace
Wireless technology is growing rapidly, now encompassing consumer-grade devices as well as industrial-grade products used in utility meter reading (AMR/AMI), wireless mesh networks, system...
Feature Image
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
As more manufacturing facilities and distribution centers discover the benefits of robotic material handling solutions, the decision of how best to control the robot must be made. While...
Feature Image
Briefs: Information Technology
Habitat Demonstration Unit Core Avionics Software
The Habitat Demonstration Unit Core Avionics Software (HDU-CAS) is designed to provide the required functionality for an engineering prototype of a highly autonomous space habitat element, and to provide an opportunity for new software technologies to be tested in an environment that provides that...
Briefs: Software
The motivation for this research is the fact that, for a variety of reasons, networks and their existing authentication and confidentiality infrastructure are becoming more...
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Fourier Transform Spectrometer on Autonomous Self-Healing Hardware Platform
The autonomous self-healing (eDNA) hardware platform is a reconfigurable field-programmable gate-array (FPGA)-type platform developed by Technical University of Denmark (patent: WO/2010/060923). It is capable of autonomously reconfiguring itself in case a fault is detected...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers are used in most automatic process control applications in industry today to regulate flow, temperature, pressure, level, and many other...
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Solar technologies use the sun’s energy to provide heat, light, hot water, electricity, and even cooling, for homes, businesses, and industry. Despite sunlight’s significant potential for supplying...
Feature Image
Articles: Photonics/Optics
Since it was first proposed in 1975, the fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) has steadily improved in performance and manufacturability. Now a mainstream, high-volume manufactured product with...
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
For aircraft system certification, a huge amount of testing is required to guarantee safe, robust, and error-free behavior under all operating and environmental conditions. Typically, these tests on the...
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
As the demands of traceability and compliance are put on manufacturers, using a laser provides permanent marking of a variety of information, including 2D bar codes, serial...
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
At the GF6 six-speed, front-wheel transmission line at General Motors Powertrain in Toledo, OH, a new front-wheel-drive transmission line for smaller, more fuel-efficient...
Feature Image
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The LVDT linear position sensor can operate successfully over a wide range of temperatures, depending upon its design and the application in which it is operating. While...
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Previously, it was difficult to fabricate deformable mirrors made by piezoelectric actuators. This is because numerous actuators need to be precisely assembled to control the surface shape of...
Feature Image
Articles: Electronics & Computers
iPecs Pro Clinical Prosthetic Alignment and Assessment Tool Michael Leydet, Richard Harrington, Alan Hutchenreuther, Vinay Bharadwaj, Chuck Krapf, Michael Link, Megan Toscas, Steven...
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
High-Powered, Ultrasonically Assisted Thermal Stir Welding
This method is a solid-state weld process capable of joining metallic alloys without melting. The weld workpieces to be joined by thermal stir welding (TSW) are drawn, by heavy forces, between containment plates past the TSW stir tool that then causes joining of the weld workpiece.

Videos