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Briefs: Software
Simulator of Space Communication Networks
Multimission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE) is a suite of software tools that simulates the behaviors of communication networks to be used in space exploration, and predict the performance of established and emerging space communication protocols and services....
Briefs: Software
Contour Error Map Algorithm
The contour error map (CEM) algorithm and the software that implements the algorithm are means of quantifying correlations between sets of time-varying data that are binarized and registered on spatial grids.
Briefs: Software
Quadratic Programming for Allocating Control Effort
A computer program calculates an optimal allocation of control effort in a system that includes redundant control actuators.
Briefs: Software
Range Process Simulation Tool
Range Process Simulation Tool (RPST) is a computer program that assists managers in rapidly predicting and quantitatively assessing the operational effects of proposed technological additions to, and/or upgrades of, complex facilities and engineering systems such as the Eastern Test Range. Originally designed for...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A method of recognizing or classifying patterns is based on an artificial immune system (AIS), which includes an algorithm and a computational model of nonlinear dynamics inspired by the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An advanced communication system has been proposed for transmitting and receiving coded digital data conveyed as a form of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) on orthogonal...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Performance Satellite/ Terrestrial-Network Gateway
A gateway has been developed to enable digital communication between (1) the high-rate receiving equipment at NASA’s White Sands complex and (2) a standard terrestrial digital communication network at data rates up to 622 Mb/s. The design of this gateway can also be adapted for use in...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A waveguide feed has been designed to provide specified illumination patterns for a dual-reflector antenna in two wavelength bands: 8 to 9 GHz and 30 to 40 GHz. The feed (see figure) has a...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The Internet Voice Distribution System (IVoDS) is a voice-communication system that comprises mainly computer hardware and software. The IVoDS was developed to supplement and eventually...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Magnetic-Flux-Compensated Voltage Divider
A magnetic-flux-compensated voltage divider circuit has been proposed for use in measuring the true potential across a component that is exposed to large, rapidly varying electric currents like those produced by lightning strikes. An example of such a component is a lightning arrester, which is typically...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A portable electron-beam free-form fabrication (EB F3) system, now undergoing development, is intended to afford a capability for manufacturing metal parts in nearly net sizes and shapes.
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Advanced packaging techniques are the key to utilizing state-of-the-art microelectronic devices. The flip-chip method has become a cost-effective means of erasing many...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A stripline to microstrip transition has been incorporated into a multilayer circuit board that supports a distributed solid-state microwave power amplifier, for the purpose of...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Have you ever seen a piece of spaceflight hardware? When you do, you will notice some letters and numbers etched or inscribed on it. All NASA parts have identification,...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A hyperspectral imaging system of high spectral and spatial resolution that incorporates several innovative features has been developed to incorporate a focal-plane scanner (U.S. Patent 6,166,373). This...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Solid-Phase Extraction of Polar Compounds From Water
A solid-phase extraction (SPE) process has been developed for removing alcohols, carboxylic acids, aldehydes, ketones, amines, and other polar organic compounds from water. This process can be either a subprocess of a water-reclamation process or a means of extracting organic compounds from water...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The Mars Electrostatics Chamber (MEC) is an environmental chamber designed primarily to create atmospheric conditions like those at the surface of Mars to support experiments on electrostatic...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
A multistage system has been proposed for cooling a circulating fluid that is subject to intermittent intense heating. The system would be both flexible and redundant in that it could...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Laser gauges have been developed to satisfy requirements specific to monitoring the amplitude of the motion of an optical path- length modulator that is part of an astronomical...
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Briefs: Materials
Anhydrous Proton-Conducting Membranes for Fuel Cells
Polymeric electrolyte membranes that do not depend on water for conduction of protons are undergoing development for use in fuel cells. Prior polymeric electrolyte fuel-cell membranes (e.g., those that contain perfluorosulfonic acid) depend on water and must be limited to operation below a...
Briefs: Materials
Glass Frit Filters for Collecting Metal
Filter disks made of glass frit have been found to be effective as means of high throughput collection of metal oxide particles, ranging in size from a few to a few hundred nanometers, produced in gas phase condensation reactors. In a typical application, a filter is placed downstream of the reactor and a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Recent advances in fiber technology have enabled a dramatic increase in the power delivered from fiber based amplifiers and lasers. This is particularly true at the 1060-nm...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
A family of iron-nickel and ironnickel- cobalt alloys made using metal injection technology (MIT) has been designed to match the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Multiband dipole antennas based on hexagonal and pentagonal fractals have been analyzed by computational simulations and functionally demonstrated in experiments on prototypes. These antennas...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A method for dividing the power of an electronic signal rich in harmonics involves the use of an improved divider topology. A divider designed with this topology could be used, for example, to...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-power fiber lasers (HPFLs) would be made from photonic band gap (PBG) materials, according to the proposal. Such lasers would be scalable in the sense that a large number of fiber...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A remote alarm circuit provides visible and audible signals to indicate that there is little unused space left on magnetic and optical tracks on disks used to record voice signals in...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Quantifying Traversability of Terrain for a Mobile Robot
A document presents an updated discussion on a method of autonomous navigation for a robotic vehicle navigating across rough terrain. The method at an earlier stage of development was described in “Navigating a Mobile Robot Across Terrain Using Fuzzy Logic” (NPO-21199), NASA Tech Briefs,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Software-Reconfigurable Processors for Spacecraft
A report presents an overview of an architecture for a software-reconfigurable network data processor for a spacecraft engaged in scientific exploration. When executed on suitable electronic hardware, the software performs the functions of a physical layer (in effect, acts as a software radio in...