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 reduced-complexity alternative to an optimum FQPSK-B Viterbi receiver has been invented. As described below, the reduction in complexity is achieved at the cost of only a small...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A multilayer patch antenna, similar to a Yagi antenna, surrounded by a metallic wall has been devised to satisfy requirements to fit within a specified size and shape and to generate a beam...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Standard induction motors, normally designed to run at base speeds between 850 to 3500 rpm, are not particularly well suited for low-speed operation, as their efficiency...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Power demand can be managed to reduce cost. The Ames Power Monitoring System (APMS) is a centralized system of power meters, computer hardware, and special-purpose software that collects and stores electrical...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A subsystem for the adaptive suppression of noise in a voice-communication system effects a high level of reduction of noise that enters the system through microphones. The subsystem...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Integrated arrays of microscopic solid-state batteries have been demonstrated in a continuing effort to develop microscopic sources of power and of voltage reference...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The figure shows one of four solid-state power amplifiers, each capable of generating an output power ≥240 mW over one of four overlapping frequency bands from 71 to 106 GHz. (The bands are...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A relatively inexpensive instrumentation system that includes units that are connected to thermocouples and that are parts of a radio-communication network has been developed to enable monitoring of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) analog binaural signal-processing circuits have been proposed for use in detecting and locating leaks that emit noise in the ultrasonic frequency...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The cascade back-propagation (CBP) algorithm is the basis of a conceptual design for accelerating learning in artificial neural networks. The neural networks would be implemented as analog...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A number of display systems primarily used in specialized areas such as aviation, space (NASA), and military/defense employ non-standard video signal...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Suitably patterned arrays (blocks) of quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) have been proposed as fault-tolerant universal logic gates. These block QCA gates could be used to realize the potential of QCA for...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A data-processor architecture that would incorporate elements of both conventional very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuitry and quantum- dot cellular automata (QCA) has been proposed to enable...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Electronic heat-transfer devices of a proposed type would exploit some of the quantum-wire-like, pseudo-superconducting properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes or, optionally, room- temperature-...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Signal-conditioning amplifier recorders (SCAmpRs) have been proposed as a means of simplifying and upgrading the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Ground Measurement System (GMS), which is a versatile...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
SpaceWire Driver Software for Special DSPs
A computer program provides a high-level C-language interface to electronics circuitry that controls a SpaceWire interface in a system based on a space qualified version of the ADSP-21020 digital signal processor (DSP). SpaceWire is a spacecraft-oriented standard for packet-switching data-communication...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Proposed integrated-circuit modules called "nanoconverters" would derive DC power from impinging electromagnetic beams having frequencies in the terahertz range. Nanoconverters are composed of microscopic...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Rotary electrical couplings based on induction (transformer action) rather than conduction between rotating and stationary circuitry have been invented. These couplings provide an alternative to slip...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) circuits for measuring spatially varying intensities of beams of low-energy charged particles have been developed. These circuits are intended especially...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Software for Remote Monitoring of Space-Station Payloads
Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a suite of application programs that enables geographically dispersed users to monitor scientific payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). TReK provides local ground support services that can simultaneously receive, process, record, playback,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Relating Downlink Data Products to Uplink Commands
An improved data-labeling system provides for automatic association of data products of an exploratory robot (downlink information) with previously transmitted commands (uplink information) that caused the robot to gather the data. Such association is essential to correct and timely analysis of the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Arrays of electrodes integrated with chip-scale packages and silicon-based integrated circuits have been proposed for use as medical electronic implants, including neuro-prosthetic...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The term "common/dependent pressure vessel" (C/DPV) denotes a proposed alternative configuration for a nickel-hydrogen battery. The C/DPV configuration is so named because it...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Capacitors capable of storing energy at high densities are being developed for use in pulse-power circuits in such diverse systems as defibrillators, particle-beam accelerators, microwave sources, and weapons....
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Eroding potentiometers have been devised for measuring the time-dependent positions of char fronts advancing through layers of insulating material subject to intense heating from one side. In the original application, the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Survivable Failure Data Recorders for Spacecraft
A spacecraft may be unable to communicate critical data associated with a serious or catastrophic failure. A brief report proposes a system, somewhat like a commercial aircraft "black box," for retrieving these data. A microspacecraft attached to the prime spacecraft would continually store recent...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A proposed integrated circuit based on quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) would function as a bit-serial adder. This circuit would serve as a prototype building block for demonstrating the feasibility of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Architectures that would exploit the distinct characteristics of quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) have been proposed for digital communication networks that connect advanced digital...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A radio receiver system that features enhanced capabilities for remote sensing by use of reflected Global Positioning System (GPS) signals has been developed. This system was designed...
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