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
Noncoherent DTTLs for Symbol Synchronization
Noncoherent data-transition tracking loops (DTTLs) have been proposed for use as symbol synchronizers in digital communication receivers. [Communication- receiver subsystems that can perform their assigned functions in the absence of synchronization with the phases of their carrier signals ("carrier...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
This method uses a magnetic-fieldresponse contact sensor that is designed to identify surface contact and motion between contact locations. The sensor has three components: (1)...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A magnetic field response sensor is designed to measure displacement or rotation rate without a physical connection to a power source, microprocessor, data acquisition equipment, or...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The upper part of the figure illustrates the major functional blocks of a direction-sensitive analog tachometer circuit based on the use of an unexcited two-phase brushless dc motor as a rotation...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
VCO PLL Frequency Synthesizers for Spacecraft Transponders
Two documents discuss a breadboard version of advanced transponders that, when fully developed, would be installed on future spacecraft to fly in deep space. These transponders will be required to be capable of operation on any deepspace-communications uplink frequency channel between 7,145...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Wide Tuning Capability for Spacecraft Transponders
A document presents additional information on the means of implementing a capability for wide tuning of microwave receiver and transmitter frequencies in the development reported in the immediately preceding article, "VCO PLL Frequency Synthesizers for Spacecraft Transponders" (NPO-42909). The...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Two simple position or displacement sensors based on inductance-capacitance resonant circuits have been conceived. These sensors are both powered and interrogated without use of wires and...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A new sensor (see figure) provides an absolute position measurement. The figure presents a schematic view of a motorized linear- translation stage that contains, at each end, an electronic...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A printed, folded, Hilbert-curve fractal microwave antenna has been designed and built to offer advantages of compactness and low mass, relative to other antennas designed for the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Panoramic detection systems (PDSs) are developmental video monitoring and image-data processing systems that, as their name indicates, acquire panoramic views. More specifically, a PDS acquires images...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Electronic circuitry has been developed to serve as an interface between an electronic tongue and digital input/output boards in a laptop computer that is used to control the tongue and...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An inexpensive wall clock has been devised for displaying solar time or sidereal time as it would be perceived on a planet other than the Earth, or for displaying sidereal time on the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An efficient arrangement of four switches has been conceived for coupling, to four output ports, the output powers of any subset of four devices that are members of a redundant set of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A lightweight reflectarray antenna that would enable simultaneous operation at frequencies near 7.115 GHz and frequencies near 32 GHz is undergoing development. More precisely, what is being...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The figure is a simplified diagram of a relatively inexpensive controller for a DiCon VX (or equivalent) fiber-optic switch — an electromechanically actuated switch for optically connecting one...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A microrectenna that would operate at a frequency of 2.5 THz has been designed and partially fabricated. The circuit is intended to be a prototype of an extremely compact device that...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A polarimetric radiometer that operates at a frequency of 40 GHz has been designed and built as a prototype of multiple identical units that could be arranged in a planar array for scientific...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A window for a high-sensitivity microwave receiving system allows microwave radiation to pass through to a cryogenically cooled microwave feed system in a vacuum chamber, while keeping ambient air out of the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Photonic local oscillators and modulators that include whispering-gallery- mode (WGM) optical resonators have been proposed as power-efficient devices for generating and detecting radiation at...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The upper part of the figure depicts an aperture-coupled L-band antenna comprising patterned metal conductor films supported on two thin polyimide membranes separated by an air gap. In this antenna,...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Focal-plane arrays of semiconductor quantum-dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) are being developed as superior alternatives to prior infrared imagers, including imagers based on HgCdTe...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A proposed laser-based instrument would quickly measure the approximate distance and approximate direction to the closest target within its field of view. The instrument would not contain any...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A miniature L-band transceiver that operates at a carrier frequency of 1.25 GHz has been developed as part of a generic radar electronics module (REM) that would constitute one unit in an array of many...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The device shown in the figure exploits cathodoluminescence to generate intense light in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum. This device is suitable for use as a source of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A system of electronic hardware and software, now undergoing development, automatically estimates the location of a robotic land vehicle in an urban environment using a somewhat...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Theoretical analysis and some experiments have demonstrated that silicon-on-insulator (SOI) 4-gate transistors of the type known as G4FETs could be efficiently used for...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An architecture, and a method of utilizing the architecture, have been proposed to enable error-free operation of a data bus that includes, and is connected to, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) circuits and...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Nanocomposite Photoelectrochemical Cells
Improved, solid-state photoelectrochemical cells for converting solar radiation to electricity have been proposed. (In general, photoelectrochemical cells convert incident light to electricity through electrochemical reactions.) It is predicted that in comparison with state-of-the-art photoelectrochemical...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Whenever a data acquisition (DAQ) system is moved from the controlled environment of the laboratory to validation testing or the manufacturing floor,...
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