Tech Briefs

Electronics & Software

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

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Briefs: Software
Close-Call Action Log Form

“Close Call Action Log Form” (“CCALF”) is the name of both a computer program and a Web-based service provided by the program for creating an enhanced database of close calls (in the colloquial sense of mishaps that were avoided by small margins) assigned to the Center Operations Directorate (COD) at Johnson...

Briefs: Software
Enhanced, Partially Redundant Emergency Notification System

The Johnson Space Center Emergency Notification System (JENS) software utilizes pre-existing computation and communication infrastructure to augment a prior variable-tone, siren-based, outdoor alarm system, in order to enhance the ability to give notice of emergencies to employees...

Briefs: Software
Architecture for Verifiable Software
Verifiable MDS Architecture (VMA) is a software architecture that facilitates the construction of highly verifiable flight software for NASA's Mission Data System (MDS), especially for smaller missions subject to cost constraints. More specifically, the purpose served by VMA is to facilitate aggressive...
Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
Java Radar Analysis Tool

Java Radar Analysis Tool (JRAT) is a computer program for analyzing two dimensional (2D) scatter plots derived from radar returns showing pieces of the disintegrating Space Shuttle Columbia. JRAT can also be applied to similar plots representing radar returns showing aviation accidents, and to scatter plots in general....

Briefs: Software
Control Software for a High-Performance Telerobot

A computer program for controlling a high-performance, force-reflecting telerobot has been developed. The goal in designing a telerobot-control system is to make the velocity of the slave match the master velocity, and the environmental force on the master match the force on the slave....

Briefs: Software
Tool for Sizing Analysis of the Advanced Life Support System

Advanced Life Support Sizing Analysis Tool (ALSSAT) is a computer model for sizing and analyzing designs of environmental- control and life support systems (ECLSS) for spacecraft and surface habitats involved in the exploration of Mars and Moon. It performs conceptual designs of...

Briefs: Software
Self-Organizing-Map Program for Analyzing Multivariate Data

SOM_VIS is a computer program for analysis and display of multidimensional sets of Earth-image data typified by the data acquired by the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer [MISR (a spaceborne instrument)]. In SOM_VIS, an enhanced self-organizing-map (SOM) algorithm is first used to...

Briefs: Software
Solving Nonlinear Euler Equations With Arbitrary Accuracy
A computer program that efficiently solves the time-dependent, nonlinear Euler equations in two dimensions to an arbitrarily high order of accuracy has been developed. The program implements a modified form of a prior arbitrary- accuracy simulation algorithm that is a member of the class of...
Briefs: Software
Automated Synthesis of Long Communication Delays for Testing
Planetary-Ohio Network Emulator (p- ONE) is a computer program for local laboratory testing of high bandwidth data communication systems subject to long delays in propagation over interplanetary distances. p-ONE is installed on a personal computer connected to two bidirectional Ethernet...
Briefs: Software
Tool for Viewing Faults Under Terrain
Multi Surface Light Table (MSLT) is an interactive software tool that was developed in support of the QuakeSim project, which has created an earthquake fault database and a set of earthquake simulation software tools. MSLT visualizes the three-dimensional geometries of faults embedded below the terrain and...
Briefs: Software
Fitting Nonlinear Curves by Use of Optimization Techniques

MULTIVAR is a FORTRAN 77 computer program that fits one of the members of a set of six multivariable mathematical models (five of which are nonlinear) to a multivariable set of data. The inputs to MULTIVAR include the data for the independent and dependent variables plus the user’s...

Briefs: Software
Conservative Patch Algorithm and Mesh Sequencing for PAB3D

A mesh-sequencing algorithm and a conservative patched-grid-interface algorithm (hereafter “Patch Algorithm”) have been incorporated into the PAB3D code, which is a computer program that solves the Navier-Stokes equations for the simulation of subsonic, transonic, or supersonic flows...

Briefs: Software
Astronomer's Proposal Tool

Astronomer’s Proposal Tool (APT) is a computer program that assists astronomers in preparing their Phase 1 and Phase 2 Hubble Space Telescope science programs. APT is a successor to the Remote Proposal Submission System 2 (RPS2) program, which has been rendered obsolete by more recent advances in computer software...

Briefs: Software
Chimera Grid Tools

Chimera Grid Tools (CGT) is a software package for performing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis utilizing the Chimera-overset-grid method. For modeling flows with viscosity about geometrically complex bodies in relative motion, the Chimera-overset-grid method is among the most computationally cost-effective methods...

Briefs: Software
Program Predicts Time Courses of Human/Computer Interactions

CPM X is a computer program that predicts sequences of, and amounts of time taken by, routine actions performed by a skilled person performing a task. Unlike programs that simulate the interaction of the person with the task environment, CPM X predicts the time course of events as...

Briefs: Software
Tool for Ranking Research Options

Tool for Research Enhancement Decision Support (TREDS) is a computer program developed to assist managers in ranking options for research aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It could likely also be adapted to perform similar decision support functions in industrial and academic settings. TREDS provides...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Highly reliable, high-speed, unidirectional serial data-communication subsystems have been proposed to be installed in an upgrade of the computing systems aboard the space...

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Briefs: Information Technology
Predicting Numbers of Problems in Development of Software

A method has been formulated to enable prediction of the amount of work that remains to be performed in developing flight software for a spacecraft. The basic concept embodied in the method is that of using an idealized curve (specifically, the Weibull function) to interpolate from (1)...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Improved optoelectronic pattern recognition encoders that measure rotary and linear 1-dimensional positions at conversion rates (numbers of readings per unit time) exceeding 20 kHz have...

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers

A multiple-bit differential-detection method has been proposed for the reception of radio signals modulated with offset quadrature phase-shift keying (offset QPSK or OQPSK). The method is also...

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Some Improvements in H-PDLCs

Some improvements have been made in the formulation of holographically formed polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (H-PDLCs) and in the fabrication of devices made from these materials, with resulting improvements in performance. H-PDLCs are essentially volume Bragg gratings. Devices made from HPDLCs function as...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Laser System for Precise, Unambiguous Range Measurements

The Modulation Sideband Technology for Absolute Range (MSTAR) architecture is the basis of design of a proposed laser-based heterodyne interferometer that could measure a range (distance) as great as 100 km with a precision and resolution of the order of 1 nm. Simple optical...

Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs

A low-temperature process for fabricating flexible, ohmic contacts for use in organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) has been developed. Typical drainsource contact materials used...

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Briefs: Information Technology
Improved Compression of Wavelet-Transformed Images

A recently developed data-compression method is an adaptive technique for coding quantized wavelet-transformed data, nominally as part of a complete image-data compressor. Unlike some other approaches, this method admits a simple implementation and does not rely on the use of large code...

Briefs: Software
Best-Fit Conic Approximation of Spacecraft Trajectory

A computer program calculates a best conic fit of a given spacecraft trajectory. Spacecraft trajectories are often propagated as conics onboard. The conic-section parameters as a result of the best-conic-fit are uplinked to computers aboard the spacecraft for use in updating predictions of...

Briefs: Software
Distributing Data From Desktop to Hand-Held Computers

A system of server and client software formats and redistributes data from commercially available desktop to commercially available hand-held computers via both wired and wireless networks. This software is an inexpensive means of enabling engineers and technicians to gain access to current...

Briefs: Software
SQL-RAMS

SQL-RAMS (where "SQL" signifies Structured Query Language and "RAMS" signifies Rocketdyne Automated Management System) is a successor to the legacy version of RAMS — a computer program used to manage all work, nonconformance, corrective action, and configuration management on rocket engines and ground support equipment at Stennis...

Briefs: Software
Control Program for an Optical-Calibration Robot

A computer program provides semiautomatic control of a moveable robot used to perform optical calibration of videocamera-based optoelectronic sensor systems that will be used to guide automated rendezvous maneuvers of spacecraft.

Briefs: Software
GUI for Computational Simulation of a Propellant Mixer

Control Panel is a computer program that generates a graphical user interface (GUI) for computational simulation of a rocket- test-stand propellant mixer in which gaseous hydrogen (GH2) is injected into flowing liquid hydrogen (LH2) to obtain a combined flow having desired thermodynamic...

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