Software

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

42
-1
240
30
Briefs: Aerospace
Space Habitability Observation Reporting Tool (iSHORT)
As documented by the Human Research Program, there is a need for tools to aid in assessing habitability in space vehicles/habitats. Currently, human factors and habitability feedback is collected during post-mission debriefs that may occur up to several months following the end of a mission....
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Geodesolver for the Geodesic Equation
NASA has a need to determine the distribution of dark matter around planets like Earth. Doing so necessitates the ability to repeatedly solve the geodesic equation in simulations of weakly interacting particles streaming through bodies described by a Schwarzschild metric. Geodesolver numerically solves the...
Briefs: Data Acquisition
The Fused Analytic Desktop Environment (FADE) provides analysts in information-driven fields with a range of analysis technologies — capable of handling ad-hoc data sources — integrated into a...
Feature Image
Briefs: Test & Measurement
The wetting behavior of a liquid on a solid surface is a phenomenon of significant practical importance. The angle of liquid-to-solid contact is important in areas such as adhesion,...
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
For emergencies involving radiation, decision-makers must have a means to swiftly assess the situation. Having analysis tools that can quickly and reliably make sense of radiation data is of the essence.
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Overt symptoms of many diseases often do not manifest until days after a person’s initial exposure to the causative pathogen, typically a virus or bacteria. By then, the disease may have...
Feature Image
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Crew time on the International Space Station (ISS) is extremely limited for any operations on science payloads. Autonomous science experiments in small, self-contained, cubical payloads are highly desirable...
Feature Image
Briefs: Aerospace
NASA Langley Research Center has developed a breakthrough technology called Safeguard that can alleviate hazards with unmanned aircraft (UA) flying beyond their authorized perimeters and into...
Feature Image
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Technique Measures Temperature of 2D Materials at the Atomic Level
Newly developed two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene — which consists of a single layer of carbon atoms — have the potential to replace traditional microprocessing chips based on silicon, which have reached the limit of how small they can get. But engineers have been...
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Electric vehicles are growing in popularity, and while they represent a cleaner alternative to fossil-fueled vehicles, their increased use may stress the grid if this growing load is left unmanaged. A need...
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Algorithms Analyze Images from Minimal Data
Smartphones and sensors have produced a treasure trove of pictures, many tagged with pertinent information identifying content. Using this vast database of cross-referenced images, convolutional neural networks and other machine learning methods have revolutionized the ability to quickly identify natural...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Anew grasp system with robotic hands works without previously knowing the characteristics of objects, learning by trial and error. The robot features two hands based on human hands in terms of...
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Detecting Unauthorized Device Access by Comparing Multiple Independent Spatial-Time Data Sets from Other Devices
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a method to collect suspicious data and analyze them without extensive costs. A common challenge in complex computer systems is the identification of unauthorized use, which can be...
Briefs: Information Technology
Selective Access and Editing in a Database
NASA has developed a method and system that provides selective access to different portions of a database by different subgroups of database users. In this system, two or more members of a given access subgroup can simultaneously edit a document accessible to each member. This database system provides...
Briefs: Software
Integrated Genomic and Proteomic Information Security Protocol
The evolving nature of the Internet will require continual advances in authentication and confidentiality protocols. Nature provides some clues as to how this can be accomplished in a distributed manner through molecular biology. Cryptography and molecular biology share certain aspects...
Briefs: Materials
NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a landing gear cavity modification that reduces noise produced during aircraft approach and landing. The modification is an innovative stretchable mesh...
Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Algorithm Boosts Speed of 3D Printers
A major drawback to 3D printing is the slow pace of the process, which ensures details are reproduced accurately. The pace of 3D printing is one of the factors that has prevented the technology from finding a broader audience. A new algorithm was developed that boosts the speed at which the printers operate.
Briefs: Software
The efficiency of computer chips has increased by using caches — small, local memory banks that store frequently used data and cut down on time- and...
Feature Image
Briefs: Test & Measurement
EOS MLS Level 2 Data Processing Software, Version 4
This software reads MLS Level 1 products — the Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) calibrated measurements of microwave radiance products and operational meteorological data — and produces a set of estimates of atmospheric temperature and composition. The software...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The NiceC Programming Language
NiceC is an improved version of ANSI C. It attempts to clean up C as much as possible using syntax translation. A type checker for NiceC is under development. The NiceC programming language is translated to, and fully compatible with, ordinary C. Thus it can be used as a drop-in replacement for C. The main benefits of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
APT Web Tool
Project planning data collected by the Analysis, Planning, and Tracking (APT) system during the planning cycle previously was available to users via an email request to a data administrator who would pull data from the database, format as requested, and respond via email. Access to the data was limited by the availability of the data...
Briefs: Software
Analyzing data piecemeal is usually uninformative. Analysts need tools to evaluate multiple pieces of data simultaneously that are related by a common thread. Identifying that...
Feature Image
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Sensor Detects Nuclear Weapon Solvent
A new sensor picks up signatures of tributyl phosphate, a solvent used to enrich uranium, including for use in a nuclear weapon. Enzymes can detect tributyl phosphate signatures, but the lifespan of the enzymes is too short to make them practical for sensors.
Briefs: Software
MorphoHawk Mathematic Morphology Software for Image and Data Analysis
Computers and automated systems have accelerated productivity and improved quality and reliability for nearly everything, and are destined to take on increasing roles as time moves on. One major limiting factor for automated systems is their inability to categorize and recognize...
Briefs: Software
Using 3D printers, researchers have created a metamaterial from cubic building blocks that responds to compression forces by a rotation. Usually, this can only be...
Feature Image
Briefs: Motion Control
Linear actuator manufacturers have a history of strong mechanical design expertise, which is the core of any linear actuation; however, giving motion to modern powered equipment goes beyond a...
Feature Image
Briefs: Software
Soil Moisture Active-Passive Project Spacecraft Flight Software
The Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) Project Spacecraft Flight Software controls all aspects of command and data handling (CDH) in the SMAP spacecraft. Required capabilities include uplink and command, telemetry and downlink, vehicle attitude control, science instrument control,...
Briefs: Software
Deterministic Annealing Clustering
This software partitions a dataset into clusters of data using the Deterministic Annealing algorithm, a more sophisticated clustering technique than usually available in scientific and commercial software. The results provided are deterministic, i.e. unique (within the machine precision tolerance), whereas results...
Briefs: Software
Researchers have developed a method to quickly and accurately identify people and cell lines from their DNA. The software could be used to flag mislabeled or contaminated cell lines in cancer...
Feature Image

Videos