Electrical/​Electronics

A document presents an update on the innovation reported in “Integrated Radial Probe Transition From MMIC to Waveguide” (NPO-43957), NASA Tech Briefs Vol. 31, No. 5 (May 2007), page 38. To recapitulate: To enable operation or testing of a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC), it is...

A document presents data from tests of a low-noise amplifier module operating in the frequency range from 290 to 340 GHz — said to be the highest-frequency low-noise, solid-state amplifier ever developed. The module comprised a three-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)...

A document discusses the use of saturating transformers in a matrix arrangement to address individual cells in a high-voltage battery. This arrangement is able to monitor and charge individual cells while limiting the complexity of circuitry in the battery. The arrangement...

A compact and flexible controller has been developed to provide MIL-STD-1553B Remote Terminal (RT) communications and supporting and related functions with minimal demand on the resources of the system in which the controller is to be installed. (MIL-STD-1553B is a military standard that encompasses a...

A previously developed video-oculography system has been enhanced for use in measuring vestibulo-ocular reflexes of a human subject in a centrifuge, motor vehicle, or other setting. The system as previously developed included a lightweight digital video camera mounted on goggles. The left eye was illuminated by an...

A miniature load sensor has been developed as a prototype of tactile sensors that could fit within fingertips of anthropomorphic robot hands. The sensor includes a force-and-torque transducer in the form of a spring instrumented with at least six semiconductor strain gauges. The strain-gauge...

The Advanced Cockpit Evaluation System (ACES) includes communication, computing, and display subsystems, mounted in a van, that synthesize out-the-window views to approximate the views of the outside world as it would be seen from the cockpit of a crewed spacecraft, aircraft, or remote control of a...

Several prior developments are combined. Some developments reported in prior NASA Tech Briefs articles on primary electrochemical power cells containing lithium anodes and fluorinated carbonaceous (CFx) cathodes have been combined to yield a product line of cells optimized for...

Optical injection locking has been demonstrated to be effective as a means of stabilizing the wavelength of light emitted by a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) that is an active element in the frequency-control loop of an opto-electronic oscillator (OEO) designed to implement an atomic...

In a proposed method of determining the resistances of individual DC electrical devices (e.g., batteries or fuel-cell stacks containing multiple electrochemical cells) connected in a series or parallel string, no attempt would be made to perform direct measurements on individual devices....

The widest available operational amplifier, with the best voltage and current noise characteristics, is considered for transimpedance amplifier (TIA) applications where wide bandwidth is required to handle fast rising input signals (as for time-of-flight measurement cases). The added amplifier inside the...

An inter-symbol guard time has been proposed as a means of synchronizing the symbol and slot clocks of an optical pulse-position modulation (PPM) receiver with the symbol and slot periods of an incoming optical PPM signal. (Such synchronization is necessary for correct identification of received...