Electrical/​Electronics

Access our comprehensive library of electrical and electronics technical briefs from engineering experts at NASA and major government, university, and commercial laboratories.

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A system that includes sensors and data-acquisition, wireless data- communication, and data-processing subsystems has been developed as a means of both real-time and historical tracking of information...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An architecture for autonomous operation of an aerobot (i.e., a robotic blimp) to be used in scientific exploration of planets and moons in the Solar system with an atmosphere (such as Titan and Venus) is...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The figure depicts a traveling-wave ruby maser that has been designed (though not yet implemented in hardware) to serve as a low-noise amplifier for reception of weak radio signals in the frequency band of 31.8...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A system of electronic hardware and software for synchronizing recordings from multiple, physically separated video cameras is being developed, primarily for use in multiple-look-...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The figure shows a dual-beam, dual- polarization Ku-band antenna, the reflector of which comprises an assembly of small reflectarrays arranged in a piecewise-planar approximation of a parabolic...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Reducing Interference in ATC Voice Communication
Three methods have been proposed to be developed to enable reduction of the types of interference that often occur among voice-communication radio signals involved in air-traffic control (ATC). For historical reasons and for compatibility with some navigation systems, control towers and aircraft use...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
FPGA-Based Networked Phasemeter for a Heterodyne Interferometer
A document discusses a component of a laser metrology system designed to measure displacements along the line of sight with precision on the order of a tenth the diameter of an atom. This component, the phasemeter, measures the relative phase of two electrical signals and transfers...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Aquarius Digital Processing Unit
Three documents provide information on a digital processing unit (DPU) for the planned Aquarius mission, in which a radiometer aboard a spacecraft orbiting Earth is to measure radiometric temperatures from which data on sea-surface salinity are to be deduced. The DPU is the interface between the radiometer and an...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The growth of wireless instrumentation technology has provided new ways to apply temperature measurement sensors, combined with personal computers, to collect, tabulate, and analyze data. For complex,...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A digital receiver in a 1.26-GHz spaceborne radar scatterometer now undergoing development includes a module for detecting radio-frequency interference (RFI) that could contam-inate...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A monolithic silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal oxide/ semiconductor (CMOS) image-detecting integrated circuit of the active-pixel-sensor type, now undergoing development, is designed...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
In a proposed coding-and-modulation scheme, a high-rate binary data stream would be processed as follows:
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A prototype decoder for a serially concatenated pulse position modulation (SCPPM) code has been implemented in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). At the time of this reporting,...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The figure shows a biasable subharmonic mixer designed to operate in the frequency range from 520 to 600 GHz. This mixer is a prototype of low-power mixers needed for development of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An effort to develop large-aperture, wide-angle-scanning reflectarray antennas for microwave radar and communication systems is underway. In an antenna of this type as envisioned,...
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Briefs: Materials
Lightweight composites of RP46 polyimide and glass fibers have been found to be useful as extraordinarily fire-resistant electrical-insulation materials. RP46 is a polyimide of the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
In-Phase Power-Combined Frequency Tripler at 300 GHz
This design starts with commercial 85- to 115-GHz sources that are amplified to as much as 250 mW using power amplifiers developed for the Herschel Space Observatory. The frequency is then tripled using a novel waveguide GaAs Schottky diode frequency tripler. This planar diode produces 26 mW at...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An improved design for the backshell of a connector for a shielded, multiple-wire cable reduces the size of the backshell, relative to traditional designs of backshells of otherwise...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The figure is a block diagram of a proposed system of portable illuminated signs, electronic monitoring equipment, and radio-communication equipment for preventing (or taking corrective...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The figure depicts salient features of the optical layout of a desktop-scale virtual-reality system that is specialized for simulating a glove-box work space. The system generates stereoscopic left-...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The Radio Frequency Health Node (RFHN) wireless sensor system differs from other wireless sensor systems in ways originally intended to enhance utility as an instrumentation system for a...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The frequency-multiplier submillimeter spectrometer (FMSS) is a laboratory apparatus for far-infrared molecular spectroscopy, embodying several advances over prior such apparatuses. The most...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A breadboard version of a transmitter for radio communication at a carrier frequency of 32 GHz (which is in the Ka band) utilizes a vector modulator operating at a carrier frequency of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A circuit that can function as a phase switch, frequency mixer, or frequency multiplier operates over a broad frequency range in the vicinity of 100 GHz. Among the most notable...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
SiC Optically Modulated Field-Effect Transistor
An optically modulated field-effect transistor (OFET) based on a silicon carbide junction field-effect transistor (JFET) is under study as, potentially, a prototype of devices that could be useful for detecting ultraviolet light. The SiC OFET is an experimental device that is one of several devices,...
Briefs: Materials
A proposed system for exploiting the ocean thermal gradient to generate power would be based on the thawing-expansion/ freezing-contraction behavior of a wax or perhaps another suitable phase-change...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A proposed metrology system would be incorporated into a proposed telescope that would include focusing optics on a rigid bench connected via a deployable mast to another rigid bench...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Crystalline whispering gallery mode resonators (CWGMRs) made of crystals with axial symmetry have ordinary and extraordinary families of optical modes. These modes have substantially...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Spatial Modulation Improves Performance in CTIS
Suitably formulated spatial modulation of a scene imaged by a computed-tomography imaging spectrometer (CTIS) has been found to be useful as a means of improving the imaging performance of the CTIS. As used here, “spatial modulation” signifies the imposition of additional, artificial structure on...

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