Tech Briefs

Electronics & Software

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: Electronics & Computers
Micro-Imagers for Spaceborne Cell-Growth Experiments
A document discusses selected aspects of a continuing effort to develop five micro-imagers for both still and video monitoring of cell cultures to be grown aboard the International Space Station. The approach taken in this effort is to modify and augment pre-existing electronic micro- cameras....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A recently conceived technique for determining the relative permittivity of a material sample at a given frequency is more nearly direct than are prior techniques that involve measurement of...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Figure 1 shows a single-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier in which the gain element is a double-heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) connected in common-base...
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Briefs: Information Technology
Methodology for Designing Fault-Protection Software
A document describes a methodology for designing fault-protection (FP) software for autonomous spacecraft. The methodology embodies and extends established engineering practices in the technical discipline of Fault Detection, Diagnosis, Mitigation, and Recovery; and has been successfully...
Briefs: Information Technology
Ground-Based Localization of Mars Rovers
The document discusses a procedure for localizing the Mars rovers in site frame, a locally defined reference frame on the Martian surface. MER onboard position within a site frame is estimated onboard and is based on wheel odometry. Odometry estimation of rover position is only reliable over relatively short...
Briefs: Software
Analyzing Power Supply and Demand on the ISS
Station Power and Energy Evaluation Determiner (SPEED) is a Java application program for analyzing the supply and demand aspects of the electrical power system of the International Space Station (ISS). SPEED can be executed on any computer that supports version 1.4 or a subsequent version of the Java...
Briefs: Software
X-Windows Information Sharing Protocol Widget Class
The X-Windows Information Sharing Protocol (ISP) Widget Class ("Class" is used here in the object-oriented -programming sense of the word) was devised to simplify the task of implementing ISP graphical-user-interface (GUI) computer programs. ISP programming tasks require many method calls to...
Briefs: Software
X-Windows Socket Widget Class
The X-Windows Socket Widget Class ("Class" is used here in the object-oriented -programming sense of the word) was devised to simplify the task of implementing network connections for graphical-user-interface (GUI) computer programs. UNIX Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) socket programming...
Briefs: Software
Simulating Humans as Integral Parts of Spacecraft Missions
The Collaborative-Virtual Environment Simulation Tool (C-VEST) software was developed for use in a NASA project entitled "3-D Interactive Digital Virtual Human." The project is oriented toward the use of a comprehensive suite of advanced software tools in computational simulations for the...
Briefs: Software
Processing Raman Spectra of High-Pressure Hydrogen Flames
The Raman Code automates the analysis of laser-Raman- spectroscopy data for diagnosis of combustion at high pressure. On the basis of the theory of molecular spectroscopy, the software calculates the rovibrational and pure rotational Raman spectra of H2, O2, N2, and H2O in hydrogen/air...
Briefs: Software
Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation
The Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation (MAPSS) is a graphical simulation environment designed for the development of advanced control algorithms and rapid testing of these algorithms on a generic computational model of a turbofan engine and its control system. MAPSS is a nonlinear, non-real- time...
Briefs: Software
Generic Environment for Simulating Launch Operations
GEM-FLO (A Generic Simulation Environment for Modeling Future Launch Operations) is a computer program that facilitates creation of discrete event simulation models of ground processes in which reusable or expendable launch vehicles (RLVs) are prepared for flight. GEM-FLO includes a component,...
Briefs: Software
Infrastructure for Rapid Development of Java GUI Programs
The Java Application Shell (JAS) is a software framework that accelerates the development of Java graphical-user-interface (GUI) application programs by enabling the reuse of common, proven GUI elements, as distinguished from writing custom code for GUI elements. JAS is a software...
Briefs: Software
DCS-Neural-Network Program for Aircraft Control and Testing
A computer program implements a dynamic-cell-structure (DCS) artificial neural network that can perform such tasks as learning selected aerodynamic characteristics of an airplane from windtunnel test data and computing realtime stability and control derivatives of the airplane for use in...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Modular, Microprocessor-Controlled Flash Lighting System
A microprocessor- controlled lighting system generates brief, precisely timed, high- intensity flashes of light for scientific imaging at frame rates up to about 1 kHz. The system includes an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are driven in synchronism with an externally generated...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Highly Efficient Multilayer Thermoelectric Devices
Multilayer thermoelectric devices now at the prototype stage of development exhibit a combination of desirable characteristics, including high figures of merit and high performance/cost ratios. These devices are capable of producing temperature differences of the order of 50 K in operation at or...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A method has been proposed for extracting information on the rate of rotation of an aircraft, spacecraft, or other body from differential Doppler shifts of Global Positioning System...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A digital video camera system has been qualified for use in flight on the NASA supersonic F-15B Research Testbed aircraft. This system is capable of very-high-speed color digital...
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Briefs: Software
Madsen Giersing, an Australian consulting engineering firm that specializes in marine engineering and construction solutions, was commissioned to design a new bulk liquids berth...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A system of electronic instrumentation, constituting the equivalent of a two-port vector network analyzer, has been developed for use in on-wafer measurement of key electrical characteristics...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
PVM Enhancement for Beowulf Multiple-Processor Nodes
A recent version of the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) computer program has been enhanced to enable use of multiple processors in a single node of a Beowulf system (a cluster of personal computers that runs the Linux operating system). A previous version of PVM had been enhanced by addition of a...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Programs for Testing Processor-in-Memory Computing Systems
The Multithreaded Microbenchmarks for Processor-InMemory (PIM) Compilers, Simulators, and Hardware are computer programs arranged in a series for use in testing the performances of PIM computing systems, including compilers, simulators, and hardware. The programs at the beginning of the...
Briefs: Information Technology
A new robust method of automated real-time diagnosis of faults in an aircraft engine or a similar complex system involves the use of a bank of Kalman filters. In order to be highly...
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Briefs: Information Technology
Conflict-Aware Scheduling Algorithm
A conflict-aware scheduling algorithm is being developed to help automate the allocation of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas and equipment that are used to communicate with interplanetary scientific spacecraft. The current approach for scheduling DSN ground resources seeks to provide an equitable...
Briefs: Software
Computing Isentropic Flow Properties of Air/ R-134a Mixtures
MACHRK is a computer program that calculates isentropic flow properties of mixtures of air and refrigerant R-134a (tetrafluoroethane), which are used in transonic aerodynamic testing in a wind tunnel at Langley Research Center. Given the total temperature, total pressure, static pressure,...
Briefs: Software
Java Mission Evaluation Workstation System
The Java Mission Evaluation Workstation System (JMEWS) is a collection of applications designed to retrieve, display, and analyze both real-time and recorded telemetry data. This software is currently being used by both the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) and the International Space Station (ISS) program....
Briefs: Software
Software for Automated Generation of Cartesian Meshes
Cart3D is a collection of computer programs for generating Cartesian meshes [for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and other applications] in volumes bounded by solid objects. Aspects of Cart3D at earlier stages of development were reported in "Robust and Efficient Generation of Cartesian...
Briefs: Software
Using a Quadtree Algorithm To Assess Line of Sight
A matched pair of computer algorithms determines whether line of sight (LOS) is obstructed by terrain. These algorithms were originally designed for use in conjunction with combat-simulation software in military training exercises, but could also be used for such commercial purposes as evaluating...
Briefs: Software
Optics Program Modified for Multithreaded Parallel Computing
A powerful high-performance computer program for simulating and analyzing adaptive and controlled optical systems has been developed by modifying the serial version of the Modeling and Analysis for Controlled Optical Systems (MACOS) program to impart capabilities for multithreaded...

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