Magazine

The Automated Scheduling and Planning Environment (ASPEN) computer program has been updated to version 3.0. ASPEN as a whole (up to version 2.0) has been summarized, and selected aspects of ASPEN have been discussed in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles. Restated briefly, ASPEN is a modular, reconfigurable, application...

QPS Photronics (Montreal, QE, Canada) offers sensor arrays with 100 Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) in each array, with the total length of the fiber measuring 20 kilometers. Through a front-end switch matrix, 16 of these fiber arrays can be connected together to form a Star Network that contains a total of 1,600 sensors. This fiber...

Java EDR Display Interface (JEDI) is software for either local display or secure Internet distribution, to authorized clients, of image data acquired from cameras aboard spacecraft engaged in exploration of remote planets. ("EDR" signifies "experimental data record," which, in effect, signifies image...

Pump Design (PUMPDES) is a computer program for designing a rotating pump for liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, water, methane, or ethane. Using realistic properties of these fluids provided by another program called "GASPAK," this code performs a station-by-station, mean-line analysis along the pump flow...

Spectral Analysis Tool 6.2 is the latest version of a computer program that assists in analysis of interference between radio signals of the types most commonly used in Earth/spacecraft radio communications. [An earlier version was reported in "Software for Analyzing Earth/ Spacecraft Radio Interference"...

Lumenera Corp. (Ottawa, ON, Canada) has introduced the Lw290, a USB 2.0 digital camera based on the company’s 1080P HD sensor. The 16:9 HD format, 2.0-megapixel CMOS sensor provides 20 frames per second at full 1920×1080 resolution. Higher frame rates are available at lower resolution, with full sub-window control and live focusing...

Spectra-Physics, a Division of Newport Corp. (Tucson, AZ), has released a 900- to 980-nm diode laser platform based on epitaxial design. The diode laser platform provides CW power conversion efficiency to 71% for 940-nm single emitters (15°C case temperature). More than 68.5% peak PCE at 25°C may be achieved from...

The last of a four-part series on converting your invention into a revenue-generating business, this month’s article describes, from an operational viewpoint, the critical steps that an inventor needs to understand to raise investment money and convert their invention into a viable...