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: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Virtually all businesses and industries are vulnerable to electric power disturbances such as outages, sags, swells, and harmonics. These problems are less of an...
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Briefs: Information Technology
An algorithm computes the velocity of wind from the readings of an instrument like the one described in "Three-Dimensional Venturi Sensor for Measuring Extreme Winds"...
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Briefs: Information Technology
Feature-Identification and Data-Compression Software
A report discusses the continuing development of Windows Interface for Nominal Displacement Selection (WINDS), a computer program for automated analysis of images of the Sun and planets acquired by scientific instruments aboard spacecraft. WINDS is intended to afford capabilities for...
Briefs: Information Technology
Masked proportional routing is an improved procedure for choosing links between adjacent nodes of a network for the purpose of transporting an entity from a source node (“A”) to a destination node (“B”). The...
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Briefs: Software
Software for Automated Testing of Mission-Control Displays
MCC Display Cert Tool is a set of software tools for automated testing of computer terminal displays in spacecraft mission-control centers, including those of the space shuttle and the International Space Station. This software makes it possible to perform tests that are more thorough, take...
Briefs: Software
WinPlot
WinPlot is a powerful desktop graphical analysis tool that allows the user to generate displays of unrestrictive amounts of data. It is designed to operate on a Windows 98/NT/2000 based desktop platform. WinPlot was developed to fulfill the need for fast and easily managed graphical displays of NASA test articles and facilities with extreme...
Briefs: Software
Software for Autonomous Spacecraft Maneuvers
The AutoCon computer programs facilitate and accelerate the planning and execution of orbital control maneuvers of spacecraft while analyzing and resolving mission constraints. AutoCon-F is executed aboard spacecraft, enabling the spacecraft to plan and execute maneuvers autonomously; AutoCon-G is...
Briefs: Software
Software Assists in Responding to Anomalous Conditions
(FIDO) is a computer program that reduces the need for a large and costly team of engineers and/or technicians to monitor the state of a spacecraft and associated ground systems and respond to anomalies. FIDO includes artificial-intelligence components that imitate the reasoning of human...
Briefs: Software
Program Analyzes Radar Altimeter Data
A computer program has been written to perform several analyses of radar altimeter data. The program was designed to improve on previous methods of analysis of altimeter engineering data by (1) facilitating and accelerating the analysis of large amounts of data in a more direct manner and (2) improving the...
Briefs: Software
Format for Interchange and Display of 3D Terrain Data
Visible Scalable Terrain (ViSTa) is a software format for production, interchange, and display of three-dimensional (3D) terrain data acquired by stereoscopic cameras of robotic vision systems. ViSTa is designed to support scalability of data, accuracy of displayed terrain images, and optimal...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Tests of Multibeam Scintillation Mitigation on Laser Uplinks
A report presents additional details about parts of the program of research and development that is the topic of the immediately preceding article. The report em- phasizes those aspects of the program that pertain to the use of multiple uplink laser beams in a ground-to-spacecraft optical...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Research and Development in Optical Communications
A report in the form of lecture slides summarizes the optical-communications program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and describes the JPL Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (OCTL) and its role in the program. The purpose of the program is to develop equipment and techniques for...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improved Timing Scheme for Spaceborne Precipitation Radar
An improved timing scheme has been conceived for operation of a scanning satellite-borne rain-measuring radar system.The scheme allows a real- time-generated solution,which is required for auto targeting. The current timing scheme used in radar satellites involves pre-computing a solution...
Briefs: Transportation
Strobe-enhanced traffic signals have been developed to aid in the preemption of road intersections for emergency vehicles. The strobe-enhanced traffic signals can be incorporated into...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An improved method of locating small breaches in insulation on electrical wires combines aspects of the prior dielectric withstand voltage (DWV) and time-domain reflectometry (TDR)...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The mini bus interface card (miniBIC) is the first four-channel electronic circuit board that conforms to MIL-STD-1553 and to the electrical-foot- print portion of PC/104. [MIL-STD- 1553 is a...
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Briefs: Information Technology
Artificial neural networks that would utilize the cascade error projection (CEP) algorithm have been proposed as means of autonomous, real-time, adaptive color segmentation of images that...
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Briefs: Information Technology
Smiths Aerospace, a leading trans-Atlantic aerospace equipment manufacturer, has grown dramatically in recent years through a combination of strategic acquisitions...
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Briefs: Information Technology
When it comes to building a digital signal processing (DSP) board, it is important not to neglect the requirements of the application code — the code that actually acquires and processes data to...
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Briefs: Energy
Treated Carbon Nanofibers for Storing Energy in Aqueous KOH
A surface treatment has been found to enhance the performances of carbon nanofibers as electrode materials for electrochemical capacitors in which aqueous solutions of potassium hydroxide are used as the electrolytes. In the treatment, sulfonic acid groups are attached to edge plane sites...
Briefs: Software
Controlling Distributed Planning
A system of software implements an extended version of an approach, denoted shared activity coordination (SHAC), to the interleaving of planning and the exchange of plan information among organizations devoted to different missions that normally communicate infrequently except that they need to collaborate on joint...
Briefs: Software
Activity-Centric Approach to Distributed Programming
The first phase of an effort to develop a NASA version of the Cybele software system has been completed. To give meaning to even a highly abbreviated summary of the modifications to be embodied in the NASA version, it is necessary to present the following background information on Cybele:
Briefs: Software
Initial Processing of Infrared Spectral Data
The Atmospheric Infrared Spectrometer (AIRS) Science Processing System is a collection of computer programs, denoted product generation executives (PGEs), for processing the readings of the AIRS suite of infrared and microwave instruments orbiting the Earth aboard NASA 's Aqua spacecraft. Following from...
Briefs: Software
Verifying Diagnostic Software
Livingstone PathFinder (LPF) is a simulation-based computer program for verifying autonomous diagnostic software. LPF is designed especially to be applied to NASA's Livingstone computer program, which implements a qualitative-model-based algorithm that diagnoses faults in a complex automated system (e.g.,an exploratory...
Briefs: Software
Neuropsychological Testing of Astronauts
The Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows (WinSCAT) is a computer program that administers a battery of five timed neuro-cognitive tests.WinSCAT was developed to give astronauts an objective and automated means of assessing their cognitive functioning during space flight, as compared with their...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Infrared (IR) detectors characterized by a combination of (1) high-quantum-efficiency photoexcitation of inter-valence-subband transitions of charge carriers and (2) high-mobility...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Compact transducer arrays that measure spatial distributions of force or pressure have been demonstrated as prototypes of tactile sensors to be mounted on fingers and palms of dexterous robot hands. The...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An effort is underway to develop improved biosensors of a type based on ion channels in biomimetic membranes. These sensors are microfabricated from silicon and other materials compatible with silicon. As...
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Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
An improved suspended-patch antenna has been designed to operate at a frequency of about 23 GHz with linear polarization and to be one of four identical antennas in a rectangular array. The...
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