Application Briefs

Projected-Capacitive Touch Sensing Technology

Projected-capacitive (PCAP) touch sensing technology is rapidly evolving to meet the advanced user-interface needs of modern applications. Popular consumer products that use multitouch and gestures...

NASA-Funded Research Converts Waste Heat to Electricity

Scientists have long attempted to convert the enormous amounts of waste heat generated by power plants, data centers, and cars into electricity via thermoelectric power generators (TEPGs)....

Software Tool Analyzes C/C++ Code

GrammaTech, a software developer specializing in software assurance tools and cybersecurity technology, received an award from NASA to prototype a specification editing and discovery tool (SPEEDY) for C/C++...

LED Fixtures Brighten Up Allentown Parking Authority

Green Tech Energy Services, working in conjunction with its client, the Allentown Parking Authority, needed lighting fixtures in a multi-level parking garage in Allentown, Pennsylvania. They...

LED Lighting Masters the Art of In-Flight Calm

Aboard a state-of-the-art aircraft might be the last place you would think of yourself enjoying a warm “candlelit” dinner, followed by a good night’s sleep under a starry night sky. The truth...

Spacesuit Simulator Meets NASA Training Needs

Aurora Flight Sciences delivered a completed Space Suit Simulator (S3) to NASA following the successful completion of a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) effort.

Video Wall Improves Collaboration

The renovated Payload Operations Integration Center, part of the Huntsville, AL-based Marshall Space Flight Center, features a new video wall. The wall includes a 2 × 12 array of monitors that uses RGB...

Thrusters Support GOES-R Satellite Series

Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp company, has shipped the first set of four solar electric propulsion thrusters to Lockheed Martin at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Lockheed Martin will...

Handling Delicate Materials

Special care needs to be taken when handling delicate materials used in medical applications. Small diameters provide increased flexibility needed for long-flex-life applications such as cardiac catheter wires. Many...

Using CVD Diamond to Cool Hot Devices

Increasing power densities and decreasing transistor dimensions are hallmarks of many of today’s semiconductor devices, including high-voltage power transistors, laser diodes, and RF power amplifiers. GaN...

Fault Management Modeling Improves Spacecraft Operability

Ridgetop Group has been selected for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from NASA. Under the agreement, Ridgetop will develop an advanced system that mitigates faults...

LED Tube Lamp Brightens Auburn SuperMall With 50% Less Energy

Aleddra LED Lighting, a business unit of Lightel Technologies, Inc., recently partnered with management at the Auburn SuperMall in Auburn, WA to improve the quality of light...

Lighting Company Retrofits Headquarters With Edge-Lit Light Guide Technology

Global Lighting Technologies, a manufacturer of LEDbased, edge-lit light guide solutions for general illumination applications, has retrofitted its North American...

Plymouth (U.K.) City Council Switches to Solid-State Lighting

Plessey is working closely with Plymouth City Council in the U.K. to help achieve the Council's ambitious carbon reduction strategy for all their managed buildings and...

Solar Sail Will Demonstrate “Propellant-less Propulsion”

The Sunjammer Mission team — including NASA, lead contractor L’Garde, Space Services Holdings (SSHI), and Micro Aerospace Solutions — is preparing to launch Sunjammer, the...

Pet Foods Facility Anticipates Less Than Two Year Payback with LED Lighting

The new 300,000 square foot Diamond Pet Foods facility in Ripon, Calif. went online in May 2012 with more than 500 high-efficiency, Class II Div 2 LED fixtures by...

NASA’s Next Rover Features 3D-Printed Parts

The Desert RATS (Research and Technology Studies) Space Exploration Rover has roamed the Arizona desert, maneuvering the terrain as the wind and temperatures swing from one extreme to another. NASA...

Motors Power NASA’s Interactive Humanoid Tour Guide

RoboThespian is a programmable, interactive humanoid robot designed to communicate, interact, and entertain. First developed in 2006 by Cornish company Engineered Arts, RoboThespian stands...

Data Management to Support Assembly and Integration of Orion

MEI Technologies is part of the ARES Technical Services Corp. team performing work at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Program...

Couplings Synchronize Motion in Pipe Bending System

Pines Technology’s (Westlake, OH) Model 250 Heavy Duty CNC bender is a powerful automatic precision system for fast, repeatable bending of tube and pipe up to 10" in diameter. Providing fast...

Thermal Management Technologies Keep Satellite Cool

NASA’s Landsat 8 Earth-observation satellite, part of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), launched into orbit on February 11, 2013. The satellite is intended to monitor...

LIDAR System Enables Global Mapping of Carbon Sources

As a step toward taking active global measurements from space, ITT Exelis and NASA Langley Research Center completed a flight campaign that calculated carbon dioxide over various surfaces...

New Smart Lighting Sensor Solution Can Help Enable Smart Cities

Libelium recently announced the availability of a new smart lighting solution for Smart Cities deployments based on the modular Waspmote Plug & Sense! wireless sensor network...

Using Adaptive Optics to Perform Deep-Tissue Cell Imaging

In biological imaging, the object of interest is not always in plain sight. This is especially true when performing microscopy of cells buried deep within tissues. The tissues covering...

LED Technology Shines Light on Bay Bridge as Sustainable Art

Fulfilling the brainchild of Ben Davis, chairman of Illuminate the Arts (ITA) and the vision of acclaimed artist Leo Villareal, The Bay Lights, a new LED lighting system that was...

New LED Streetlight Design Curbs Light Pollution

Streetlights illuminate the night, shining upon roadways and sidewalks across the world, but these ubiquitous elements of the urban environment are notoriously inefficient and major contributors...

Battery Pack Powers NASA Rocket Launch

Quallion, a developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion storage systems, assisted in the launch of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Pegasus® rocket, which carried NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Array...

Radioisotope System Keeps Mars Rover Moving

The instruments aboard NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory “Curiosity” rover receive their power from a radioisotope system assembled and tested at Idaho National Laboratory. The Multi- Mission...

Cryogenic Turbines Aid NASA’s Morpheus Lander

Turbines, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of turbine flow metering technology, has assisted NASA with its Morpheus Lander project. Project Morpheus, a vertical testbed, demonstrates new...