Features

Articles

-1
960
30
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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.

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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,...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
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....

Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Feature Image
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...

Feature Image
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
When airline passengers travel in coach class, expectations are fairly low with regard to comfort. For example, most seats only offer two positions: straight for takeoff and landing, and a slight recline for the journey. Coach seats are relatively simple and lightweight structures compared to their more sophisticated counterparts in business class, first class, and super first class. Whereas a coach seat weighs approximately 100 pounds, seats in higher classes weigh 200 to 300 pounds each, depending on their features.
Feature Image

Webcasts

Feature Image
On-Demand Webinars: Defense

From Data to Decision: How AI Enhances Warfighter Readiness

Feature Image
Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

April Battery & Electrification Summit

Feature Image
Upcoming Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Tech Update: 3D Printing for Transportation in 2024

Feature Image
Upcoming Webinars: Materials

Unleashing Epoxy's Potential: Ensuring Hermetic Sealing in Modern...

Feature Image
Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement

Building an Automotive EMC Test Plan

Feature Image
Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

The Moon and Beyond from a Thermal Perspective

Videos