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
A prototype mixer designed for operation at input frequencies near 2.5 THz incorporates a planar Schottky-barrier diode and a radio-frequency (RF) filter that are parts of an integrated circuit...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Reflective flat-panel color display devices based on surface plasmons are undergoing development. Heretofore, no reflective flat-panel color display devices have been available. The active...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Surface-plasmon tunable filters (SPTFs) have been proposed for use in generating scrolling colors on the faces of liquid-crystal display (LCD) devices. In comparison with a conventional...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The Desktop Satellite Data Processor (DSDP) is a prototype computer system for processing telemetry data received from, and command data to be transmitted to, a spacecraft in orbit around the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Luneberg Lenses Made of Open-Cell Polyurethane Foams
A Luneberg lens is a microwave lens consisting of a series of concentric shells of differing dielectric constants. The highest dielectric constant, or refractive index, resides at the core and the lowest, at the outer shell. Microwaves passing through this arrangement of shells are focused in the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A class of developmental photonic temperature-measuring systems is based on the use of miniature, fiber-optic-coupled Fabry-Perot interferometers as temperature transducers. These systems are intended...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Integrated-circuit image sensors of a proposed type would be capable of operation in either the wavelength band of 0.5 to 2.5 *m, the wavelength band of 2.8 to 5.8 *m, or both bands simultaneously. Called...
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Briefs: Software
Program Simulates Performance of a Hybrid Automobile
The Hybrid Electric Vehicle Analysis (HEVA) computer program numerically simulates the performance of an automotive vehicle -- especially a hybrid vehicle. A vehicle is said to be hybrid if (1) it contains an energy-storage device (a battery, flywheel, or ultra-capacitor) that is charged with...
Briefs: Information Technology
An algorithm that processes bursts of data generated by scan-mode synthetic-aperture radar (scanSAR) offers some advantages over older scanSAR algorithms. With relatively high computational...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The Multi-Board Module (MBM) scheme has been conceived to provide a cost-effective way to combine digital electronic circuits into dense, lightweight packages, within which high-speed signals...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improved pulsed inductive plasma accelerators are undergoing development for use as long-life thrusters for propulsion of spacecraft on interplanetary missions and for maneuvering of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A concept for obtaining high energy-conversion efficiency in a solar photovoltaic system involves (1) concentration and spectral dispersion of sunlight and (2) use of several types of solar...
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Briefs: Information Technology
The SPEEDES Qheap: A Priority-Queue Data Structure
The Synchronous Parallel Environment for Emulation and Discrete-Event Simulation (SPEEDES) is now using a new general-purpose priority queue data structure called the SPEEDES Qheap for managing its set of pending events in ascending time order. Empirical studies have shown this data structure to...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An Internet-based software system, called the "Web Interface for Telescience" (WITS), enables geographically dispersed scientists to participate in scientific exploration of remote planets by use of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Eight-Channel WDM Fiber-Optic Data-Communication System
A proposed wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) optical communication system would feature a single optical fiber carrying eight channels of digital data signals. In the original application, the signal in each channel would be a serial digital video-camera output, but the system could just...
Briefs: Software
Generic Graphical-User-Interface Program for FORTRAN Input
The NLEDIT computer program implements a generic graphical user interface for the preprocessing of FORTRAN namelist input files. The interface consists of a menu system, a message window, a help system, and data-entry forms. A form is generated for each namelist. The form includes an input...
Briefs: Software
When developing the guidance system of a missile, it is necessary to know the resonant frequencies and mode shapes of the missile in flight. Simulating the free vibration condition in the laboratory,...
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Briefs: Information Technology
The Multiple Object Orbital Dynamics Simulation (MOODS) computer program is a general, extensible, easily modifiable, and reusable software system for use in simulating the dynamics of...
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Briefs: Information Technology
Software for Qualitative Flow-Path Modeling of Systems
A computer program called "the explicit global-modeling tool" implements a dynamic method of operation by which researchers can (1) determine global flow-path changes that occur during computational simulations of the behaviors of engineering systems; (2) analyze both normal and faulty...
Briefs: Software
Software for Analysis and Design of Turbomachinery Seals
Several computer programs, denoted collectively as the "CFD Seal Analysis Industrial Codes," have been developed to enable rapid parametric analyses and optimization of designs of a variety of turbomachinery seals. These programs could be used to design the seals that will be needed in future...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) that are designed to exploit transitions between bound and quasi-bound electron quantum states and that incorporate random reflectors are undergoing...
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Briefs: Information Technology
Knowledge-Based Reasoning Tool for Diagnosing a Complex Flow System
This program is designed as a real-time aid to analyze system health. The Propulsion Advisory Tool (PAT) is a knowledge-based computer program that monitors real-time data from more than 300 sensors in the space shuttle Main Propulsion System (MPS). The thermal conditions within...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Tracks for the guidance of magnetic bubbles propagating in the input and output lines of Vertical-Bloch-Line memory devices can be made in the form of ridges instead of in the traditional form of...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
"Free-Space Optical Communications Analysis Software" (FOCAS) is the name of a spreadsheet computer program for analysis of direct-detection (as distinguished from...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Most current radar scanning antennas utilize mechanical scanning, relying on a gimbal, motor, and gear arrangements to physically rotate/elevate the antenna. This technique is slow, gravity-sensitive, and...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A technique for adjusting the resonance frequency of a single-mode round cylindrical microwave cavity has been proposed to maximize the transfer of power from a magnetron to one or more...
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Briefs: Software
Program Computes Flightpaths From Point Radar Sightings
A computer program estimates great-circle-arc (GARC) flightpaths of multiple aircraft, given time-tagged point locations from radar sightings of the aircraft. The problem of generating such estimates is called a "clustering" problem, and is solved in this instance by use of a neural-network...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Sponsored by a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract, MetroLaser, Inc., has developed a novel, compact and low-cost laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) under the...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Micromachined Photodiode/Bolometer Arrays
Micromachined planar arrays of detectors that could operate either as photodiodes or as bolometers have been proposed for use in detecting photons in applications in which broad spectral responses are required. The availability of either of the two modes would enable operation throughout the spectrum, from...

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