Stories
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Briefs: Aerospace
In the summer of 2001, the Helios prototype solar-powered uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) [a lightweight, remotely piloted airplane] was deployed to the Pacific Missile Range Facility...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A method of reducing the noise generated by a tilt-rotor aircraft during descent involves active control of the blade pitch of the rotors. This method is related to prior such noise-...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Columnar-vortex generators (CVG) have been proposed as means to increase the safety of takeoffs and landings of aircraft on aircraft or helicopter carriers and other ships at sea....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A microwave-based system has been developed as a means of detecting ice on aircraft surfaces, with enough sensitivity to provide a warning before the ice accretes to a dangerous thickness. The...
Briefs: Materials
Semiconductor electronic devices and circuits based on silicon carbide (SiC) are being developed for use in high-temperature, high-power, and/or high-radiation conditions under which devices...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Wavy-planform rotor blades for helicopters have been investigated for the first time in an effort to reduce noise. Two of the main sources of helicopter noise are blade/vortex interaction (BVI)...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
NASA's Strategic Plan for the Aerospace Technology Enterprise includes ambitious objectives focused on affordable air travel, reduced emissions, and expanded aviation-system capacity. NASA Dryden Flight Research...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Miniature blimps are under development as robots for use in exploring the thick, cold, nitrogen atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan. Similar blimps can also be used for surveillance and...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A versatile electronic timing-and-control unit, denoted a rotorcraft strobe controller, has been developed for use in controlling stroboscopes, lasers, video cameras, and other instruments...
Briefs: Information Technology
The figure schematically illustrates a method and procedure for automated monitoring of an asset, as well as a hardware-and- software system that implements the method and procedure. As used...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The flight-test community routinely spends considerable time and money to determine a range of flight conditions, called a flight envelope, within which an aircraft is safe to fly. The cost...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Aerostructures Test Wing (ATW) was an apparatus used in a flight experiment during a program of research on aeroelastic instabilities. The ATW experiment was performed to study a specific instability known as...
Briefs: Software
Predicting Accumulations of Ice on Aerodynamic Surfaces
LEWICE is a computer program that predicts the accumulation of ice on two-dimensional aerodynamic surfaces under conditions representative of the flight of an aircraft through an icing cloud. The software first calculates the airflow surrounding the body of interest, then uses the airflow to...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Designers of deep submersibles are reluctant to use conventional shafts and seals to penetrate the hulls of deep submersible, pressure vessels fearing seal...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Network Extender for MIL-STD-1553 Bus
An extender system for MIL-STD-1553 buses transparently couples bus components at multiple developer sites. The bus network extender is a relatively inexpensive system that minimizes the time and cost of integration of avionic systems by providing a convenient mechanism for early testing without the need to...
Briefs: Aerospace
The F-15 Advanced Controls Technology for Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE) airplane (see figure) was the test bed for a flight test of an intelligent flight control system (IFCS). This IFCS...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Engineers at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center have received a patent on an emergency flight-control method implemented by a propulsion-controlled aircraft (PCA) system. Utilizing the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A device that generates an alarm when the partial pressure of oxygen decreases to less than a preset level has been developed to help prevent hypoxia in a pilot or other crewmember of a...
Briefs: Information Technology
Aerothermoelasticity comprises those aspects of the dynamics of an aircraft that are caused by flexibility and heating during flight. The concept of aerothermoelasticity is particularly...
Briefs: Information Technology
An automatic method to schedule maintenance and repair of complex systems is produced based on a computational structure called the Informed Maintenance Grid (IMG). This method provides solutions to...
Briefs: Materials
An improved, lightweight design has been proposed for super-pressure balloons used to carry scientific instruments at high altitudes in the atmosphere of Earth for times as long as 100 days. [A...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The measurement of local flow angle is critical in many fluid-dynamic applications, including the aerodynamic flight testing of new aircraft and flight systems. Flight researchers at NASA Dryden...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A proposed instrumented robotic vehicle called an "aerover" would fly, roll along the ground, and/or float on bodies of liquid, as needed. The aerover would combine features of an aerobot (a robotic...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Survivable Failure Data Recorders for Spacecraft
A spacecraft may be unable to communicate critical data associated with a serious or catastrophic failure. A brief report proposes a system, somewhat like a commercial aircraft "black box," for retrieving these data. A microspacecraft attached to the prime spacecraft would continually store recent...
Briefs: Information Technology
A new method of robust, autonomous real-time diagnosis of a time-varying complex system (e.g., a spacecraft, an advanced aircraft, or a process-control system) is presented here. It is based...
Briefs: Software
Software for Mobile Data-Communication Networks
Mobile Router is operating system code residing in a network router allowing the router to provide mobile-ipv4 functionality for any attached nodes. Mobile Router enables the entire network to roam. It is no longer necessary for every node in the network to run mobile Internet Protocol (IP) software...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
User’s Guide for ENSAERO
A report summarizes the development, applications, and procedures for use of ENSAERO, a computer program for simulating aeroelastic phenomena (e.g., wing flutter) of aircraft and spacecraft. ENSAERO computes aeroelastic responses by simultaneously numerically integrating Euler and/or Navier-Stokes equations of airflow and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
System Would Detect Aircraft to Turn Off Upward-Aimed Laser
An electronic system based on long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) sensors is being developed to detect aircraft flying near an upward-aimed, high-power laser beam. In the intended application, the system would alert a human laser operator and/or generate a signal to turn off the laser whenever...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A table-top experiment on formation alignment of three air-levitated robotic vehicles has been performed to demonstrate the feasibility of a more general concept of controlling multiple...
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INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
NASA's Space Computing Breakthrough Powers Future Missions
Quiz: Manned Systems
How Much Do You Know About Aircraft Safety?
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
This New Quantum Sensor Measures 3D Direction of RF Electromagnetic Fields
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Brain-Inspired Memristors Could Slash AI Energy Use by 70 Percent
Webcasts
Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping
From Spec to Scale: High-Precision Grinding Strategies for Tight-Tolerance...
Editorial Webinars: Defense
High-Speed Connectivity for Next Generation Aerospace & Defense Systems
Webinars: Electronics & Computers
Electronics Digital Twins: From Concept to Scalable Platform
Webinars: Software
Architecting the Future: Why Systems Engineering is the Backbone of SDVs
Webinars: Automotive
Engineering Fluid Conveyance Systems for Alternative Fuel On-Highway Vehicles
Editorial Webinars: Materials
Next-Generation Materials for Medical Devices: From Smart Polymers to...
