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Briefs: Software
Systems Engineering Education and Development (SEED) Web Application
This application serves as Web-based management of the Systems Engi - neering Education and Development (SEED) program, and enables the SEED Program Manager to track and manage the applications and assignments. In the past, the handling of the applications and assignments was...
Briefs: Information Technology
Hammer 1.0
Many software applications have scripting needs including those based on the Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) framework. In GMSEC, a user may want to automate the actions to take when a sequence of events occurs. Ideally, the scripting solution should allow the use of a familiar programming language and avoid unnecessary...
Briefs: Software
Extended Testability Analysis (ETA) Tool V8.0
An assessment of a system’s safety requirements is required early in the design process when cost and time impacts are minimal. These requirements include fault detection, failure isolation, and failure recovery. Systems engineering groups at NASA have been exploring model-based products to better...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Lunar Regolith Simulant Sample Collection Mechanism for Remote Operation in a Thermal Vacuum Chamber
The Sample Capture Mechanism (SCM) is a remotely actuated, spring-driven mechanism designed to remotely capture and seal a 15-mL sample in less than 1 second. It was used to capture a 10-g sample of simulated regolith dispensed from a drill in a...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
NASA’s Johnson Space Center innovators have designed a Robotic Inspection System that is capable of surveying deep sea structures such as oil platform storage cells/tanks and pipelines in order to determine the...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), in collaboration with General Motors (GM) and Oceaneering, have designed a state-of-the-art, highly dexterous, humanoid robot: Robonaut 2 (R2). R2’s...
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Vessel Sealing Device for Robotic Devices
Invasive surgical procedures are essential for addressing various medical conditions. When possible, minimally invasive procedures are preferred, but these technologies are often limited in scope and complexity. These limitations are due in part to mobility restrictions from the use of rigid tools in small...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Improved Two-Step Replication Process for Producing Precision Optical Mirrors
Production of precision optical mirrors by replication requires molds or mandrels of the complementary shape. For example, replicating a concave mirror requires a convex mandrel. Convex shapes are difficult to fabricate and test since they do not focus light. Convex...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
NASA’s Langley Research Center has made a breakthrough improvement in laser frequency modulation. Frequency modulation technology has been used for surface mapping...
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Articles: Aerospace
SpaceCube Processors Next-generation spacecraft instruments are capable of producing data at rates of 108 to 1011 bits per second, and both their instrument designs and...
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Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Technology often takes circuitous paths. A magnetron developed for precision bombing during World War II led to the microwave oven, and a battery-powered drill created for collecting samples...
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
Over the last 15 years, breakthroughs in the manufacture and processing of diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) have established diamond as an excellent substrate material for...
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
At NASA’s White Sands Test Facility, Donald Henderson and his team spend much of their days shooting projectiles at 15,700 miles per hour....
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Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
When ambient light hits displays, it causes unwanted reflections, which adversely affects readability. This is a nuisance for users; however, it can be prevented with optical adhesives.
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Application Briefs: Medical
Even university researchers play Xbox from time to time. Not all mechanical engineers, however, have the idea to use the popular gaming console’s camera to assist doctors in...
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Articles: Defense
The 2016 Create the Future Design Contest — sponsored by COMSOL, Mouser Electronics, and Tech Briefs Media Group (publishers of NASA Tech Briefs) — recognized innovation in product design in seven...
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Articles: Green Design & Manufacturing
HYLIION - HYBRID TECHNOLOGY FOR SEMI-TRAILERS AND THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY Thomas Healy, RF Culbertson, AJ Emanuele, Morgan Culbertson, Wilson Sa, Pam Culbertson, Chad Saylor, Len Kulbacki,...
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Articles: Green Design & Manufacturing
Krishan Arora, Mike Baker, Glenn Barber, Peter Brett, Ross Dewhurst, Melvyn Dover, John Gamston, Steven Goodier, Annie Leeson, Vincent Panel, Ben Russell, Alessandra...
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Articles: Defense
FLASH® BAINITE — HIGH PERFORMANCE ARMOR Gary Cola, Flash Bainite, Washington, MI The Flash® Bainite Process is a rapid heat treating process for creating steel that is...
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Articles: Electronics & Computers
1,000X BETTER DATA COMPRESSION AND REAL-TIME DECODING OF HIGH-RESOLUTION MAPS Shaun McWherter, Mark Skoog, and Jamie Willhite, NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards,...
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Articles: Medical
SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY BASED SAFETY LATCH Nicholas W. Pinto, Suresh Gopalakrishnan, Chandra S. Namuduri, Nancy L. Johnson, and Mark Vann General Motors, Warren,...
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Articles: Medical
CONTINUOUS WEARABLE BLOOD PRESSURE MONITOR Sean Connell, Kyle Miller, Jay Pandit, and Jung-En Wu Bold Diagnostics, Evanston, IL Bold Diagnostics has developed a blood pressure...
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Articles: Medical
MIFOLD Jon Sumroy, Carfoldio, Ltd., Ra’anana, Israel The mifold Grab-and-Go booster seat for children aged 4-12 is more than ten times smaller than a regular...
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Articles: Energy
DESOLENATOR — WATER FROM SUNSHINE William Janssen, Desolenator, London, UK The Desolenator is a water-purification technology that decontaminates water from...
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Who's Who: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Edward Chow leads the development of AUDREY, the Assistant for Understanding Data through Reasoning, Extraction, and sYnthesis. The artificial-intelligence system...
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Products: Software
National Instruments, Austin, TX, announced LabVIEW 2016 system design software that introduces new channel wires to simplify complex communication between parallel sections of code. Available on both desktop and real-time...
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Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Network-connected devices provide many opportunities to improve and enrich people’s lives, but the “Internet of Things” has a range of definitions. A consumer’s experience with the “IoT” may be a...
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Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
NASA engineer Allen Parker and a team at Armstrong Flight Research Center have developed a fiber-optic-based sensing technology that accurately pinpoints and measures liquid levels....
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Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A NASA-developed fiber optic sensor provides the kind of detailed feedback that could guide the direction of flexible wings and other next-generation aerospace parts. The multi-core fiber (MCF)...
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