Articles: Motion Control
Fundamentally, a servo system can perform no more accurately than the accuracy of the feedback device controlling it. In addition, errors in speed or position can be introduced into the system by...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
While charge-coupled device (CCD) and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors perform similar functions — collecting light (photons) and converting those...
Articles: Propulsion
Worldwide an estimated 185 million people use a wheelchair daily. A company based in Auckland, New Zealand, has developed an innovative robotic technology that helps people with mobility...
Articles: Materials
In the winter of 2009, Washington, DC workers faced the prospect of a difficult commute due to record-setting snowfall. But thousands of the city’s Metrorail riders found the public transportation...
Articles: Aerospace
On August 5, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, landed in Gale Crater in a perfectly executed procedure originally referred to as “7 Minutes of Terror.” A year into its two-year...
Articles: Energy
Organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology has been rapidly growing in performance and popularity over the past few years and is expected to become a major PV technology within the next decade. Here’s why.
Articles: Lighting
The key circuit elements in an LED lamp are the LEDs, the optics, the casing (including heat-sinking) and the driver. The driver now represents anywhere from 10% to 40% of total bulb cost, so selecting the...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Building on the success of Curiosity’s landing, NASA has announced plans for the next robotic science rover, which is set to launch in 2020. The proposed 2020 rover mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration...
Articles: Imaging
Today’s cameras are cheaper, smaller, and more capable than ever before. Without breaking the budget, a company manager who needs products inspected can buy a camera, quickly code in commands to...
Articles: Electronics & Computers
Product reliability is an absolute must for manufacturers to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. As customers demand ever-increasing levels of performance at lower...
Articles: Lighting
Organic is a term more often associated with vegetables than lighting systems, but some LED manufacturers are now incorporating organic molecules into their products to meet specific...
Articles: Aerospace
Long-duration spaceflight poses many hazards to the health of a space exploration crew, including physiological deconditioning of the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems due to...
Articles: Software
A frequency selective surface that acts as an RF filter and helps reduce the radar cross-section of antennas consists of a pattern of geometrical objects. There are literally thousands of...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
As early as 25 years ago, industrial system integrators saw the great potential that the Windows operating system brought to PCs. They saw the possibility of using the...
Articles: Motion Control
The proliferation of electronic control and electronic power conversion into a variety of industries (e.g., energy generation, industrial motor drives and control,...
Articles: Semiconductors & ICs
Part 1 of this article, which appeared in the August 2013 issue of NASA Tech Briefs, dealt with ON-state characterization of high power semiconductors (link to...
Articles: Green Design & Manufacturing
At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in the mid-1990s, Mike Johnson assisted the scientists who were developing technology to convert urine into drinking water. The research conducted by the...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
NASA funds more atmospheric research by far than any other government agency or private concern internationally. More than 100 different instruments have been developed and flown in support of...
Articles: Photonics/Optics
Imagine a CCD camera operating on a long exposure and seeing only 1 electron per pixel every 16 minutes. That equates to dark current of less than 0.000001 electrons/pixel/sec. Imagine the same camera...
Articles: Lighting
LED tube lights, designed as replacements for T8/T10/T12 fluorescent bulbs, represent a significant portion of the growing commercial LED lighting market. According to the United States...
Articles: Information Technology
NASA Airborne Science operates a fleet of aircraft in conjunction with orbiting satellites for Earth observations. In 2004, NASA started planning missions to employ constellations of instruments...
Articles: Lighting
The beginning of the 21st century finds optoelectronics being one of the key disciplines on technological development. Substantial progress in computer technology, communication, imaging, illumination...
Articles: Materials
More than two decades ago, NASA started looking for a new way to keep astronauts comfortable in their space gloves. During a spacewalk, temperatures can range between 250 °F and -250 °F. One...
Articles: Imaging
Machine vision has become indispensable in today’s highly automated manufacturing environments, which rely on accurate in spec tion to ensure high product quality and high process...
Articles: Imaging
The pixel-scale patterning of optical filters directly onto sensors has the potential to drastically simplify and scale down the cost of real-time multispectral imaging....
Articles: Aerospace
NASA and its industry partners are developing a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability with the goal of achieving safe, reliable, and cost-effective access to and from low-Earth orbit and the...
Articles: Imaging
NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, remain one of the Agency’s greatest achievements in exploration. On Earth, these robots are best known for their stunning...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
Top Stories
Videos: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Stratolaunch Approaches Hypersonic Speeds in First Talon-A Flight
Blog: Automotive
A Hack to Trick Automotive Radar
Blog: Medical
3D Ice Printing Artificial Blood Vessels
Blog: Power
Tesla Valve-Inspired Design Could Improve the Performance of Rotating...
Podcasts: RF & Microwave Electronics
Countering Illegally Operated Drones at Airports, Stadiums, and Prisons
Blog: Energy
Fast-Charging Li Battery Could Make ‘Range Anxiety’ a Thing of the Past
Question of the Week
Blog: Artificial Intelligence: Meet Human Intelligence
Webcasts
On-Demand Webinars: Defense
From Data to Decision: How AI Enhances Warfighter Readiness
Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace
April Battery & Electrification Summit
Upcoming Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Tech Update: 3D Printing for Transportation in 2024
Upcoming Webinars: Materials
Unleashing Epoxy's Potential: Ensuring Hermetic Sealing in Modern...
Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement
Building an Automotive EMC Test Plan