Electronics & Software

A document presents equations for scoring rules in a diagnostic and/or prognostic artificial-intelligence software system of the rule-based inference- engine type. The equations define a set of metrics that characterize the evaluation of a rule when data required for the antecedence clause(s) of the...

A document describes the proposed addition of a radar function to the Autonomous Formation Flying Sensor, making possible coarse relative-position control to prevent collisions in the event of failure of one of the spacecraft. According to the proposal, in addition to tracking GPS-like...

PixelLearn is an integrated user-interface computer program for classifying pixels in scientific images. Heretofore, training a machine-learning algorithm to classify pixels in images has been tedious and difficult. PixelLearn provides a graphical user interface that makes it faster and more intuitive, leading to more interactive...

The NASA/Air Force Spacecraft Charging System Analyzer Program (Nascap-2K) is a comprehensive update, revision, and extension of several NASA and Air Force codes for predicting electrical charging of spacecraft. Nascap-2K integrates the capabilities and models included in four independent programs:...

Osculating/Mean Orbital Element Conversion (C version) (OSMEANC) is a C-language computer program that performs precise conversions between osculating and mean classical orbital elements. OSMEANC can be used for precise design of spacecraft missions and maneuvers and precise calculation of...

A computer program, designed to assist in the development and debugging of other software, generates a two-dimensional (2D) representation of a possibly complex ndimensional (where n is an integer >2) data structure or abstract rank-n object in that other software. The nature of the 2D...

A prototype hybrid terrain database is being developed in conjunction with other databases and with hardware and software that constitute subsystems of aerospace cockpit display systems (known in the art as synthetic vision systems) that generate images to increase pilots’ situation awareness and eliminate poor visibility...

Power User Interface 5.0 (PUI) is a system of middleware that is an alternative to the computer program described in the immediately preceding article. Written for PUI enables expedited ordering of data granules on the basis of specific granule-identifying information that the users already know or can assemble. PUI also...

Monolithic focal-plane arrays of photodetectors capable of imaging the same scenes simultaneously in multiple wavelength bands in the visible and infrared spectral regions have been proposed. In prior visible/infrared imaging systems, it has been standard practice to use separate optical...

An algorithm processes cloud-physics data gathered in situ by an aircraft, along with reflectivity data gathered by ground-based radar, to determine whether the aircraft is inside or outside a cloud at a given time. A cloud edge is deemed to be detected when the in/out state changes, subject to a...

Quantum resonance would be exploited in a proposed quantum-computing approach to the solution of combinatorial optimization problems. In quantum computing in general, one takes advantage of the fact that an algorithm cannot be decoupled from the physical effects available to implement it....

A document presents a concept for run-time implementation of other concepts embodied in the Chapel programming language. (Now undergoing development, Chapel is intended to become a standard language for parallel computing that would surpass older such languages in both computational performance...

Semiconductor bolometers that are capable of detecting electromagnetic radiation over most or all of the infrared spectrum and that give background-limited performance at operating temperatures from 20 to 300 K have been invented. The term "background-limited performance" as applied to a...

Embedded software has been developed specifically for controlling an Advanced Video Guidance Sensor (AVGS). [As described in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles, a Video Guidance Sensor is an optoelectronic system that provides guidance for automated docking of two vehicles (space-craft in...

The Earth Observing System Data Gateway (EDG) software provides a "one-stop-shopping" standard interface for exploring and ordering Earth-science data stored at geographically distributed sites. EDG enables a user to do the following:

Mercury Shopping Cart Interface (MSCI) is a reusable component of the Power User Interface 5.0 (PUI) program described in the immediately preceding article. MSCI is a means of encapsulating the logic and information needed to describe an orderable item consistent with Mercury Shopping Cart service protocol. Designed to be used...

The Cassini Archive Tracking System (CATS) is a computer program that enables tracking of scientific data transfers from originators to the Planetary Data System (PDS) archives. Without CATS, there is no systematic means of locating products in the archive process or ensuring their completeness. By keeping a database...

Simplex is a computer program that calculates locations and displacements of subterranean faults from data on Earth-surface deformations. The calculation involves inversion of a forward model (given a point source representing a fault, a forward model calculates the surface deformations) for...

An electronic communication and control system has been developed as a prototype of advanced means of automatically modifying the switching of traffic lights to give priority to emergency vehicles. This system could be used alternatively or in addition to other emergency...

Street intersections that are equipped with traffic lights would also be equipped with means for generating audible announcements of approaching emergency vehicles, according to a proposal. The means to generate the announcements would be implemented in the intersection-based subsystems of...

An upgrade to the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) science receiver (VSR) — a radio receiver used in NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) — is currently being implemented. The current VSR samples standard DSN intermediate frequency (IF) signals at 256 MHz and after digital...