Sensors/​Data Acquisition

Access our comprehensive library of technical briefs on sensors and data acquisition, from engineering experts at NASA and government, university, and commercial laboratories.

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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Ultra-Sensitive Temperature Sensor
A temperature sensor with practically no effect at all on the temperature of the object measured has been created in the laboratory by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) and the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and is awaiting a patent for commercial production.
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
In London's St. Paul's Cathedral, a whisper can be heard far across the circular whispering gallery as the sound curves around the walls. Now, an optical whispering gallery mode resonator developed by Penn...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
A temperature sensor was developed that runs on 113 picowatts of power — about 10 billion times smaller than a Watt. The technology could enable devices that can be powered by harvesting energy from...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The market for smart security access systems is expected to grow rapidly, reaching nearly $10 billion by 2022. Today's smart security access systems mainly rely on traditional techniques...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed an inexpensive electrochemical sensing system that significantly improves the ability to rapidly and accurately detect heavy...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A low-cost sensor technology, called Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing (ChIMES), uses target response materials (TRMs) as actuators in magneto-elastic (M-E) sensors...
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Briefs: Automotive
A new approach to time-of-flight imaging that increases its depth resolution 1,000-fold has been presented by the MIT Camera Culture group. That type of resolution could make...
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Briefs: Government
Panoramic irradiators are commonly used to disinfect and sterilize products such as medical supplies, cosmetic raw materials, food, food containers, and medical supplies. The irradiators...
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Briefs: Medical
A new painless and minimally invasive microneedle technology can extract large volumes of pure interstitial fluid for further study. Developed at Sandia Labs and the University of New Mexico, the microneedles are a few...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Food allergies are extremely common. In the US, Federal regulations require packaged foods to disclose the presence of some of the most common allergens such as gluten, nuts, and milk products, which is...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Terahertz radiation — the band of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and visible light — has promising applications in medical and industrial imaging and chemical...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
A new, flexible, silicon-on-polymer chip was developed to augment new networked realities such as the Internet of Things. Typical silicon-based integrated circuits are brittle, rigid components packaged in a...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Inspired by brains, neural networks are composed of neurons (or nodes) and synapses, which are the connections between nodes. To train a neural network for a task, a neural network takes in a...
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Briefs: Medical
Currently, most 3D-printed organ models are made using hard plastics or rubbers. This limits their application for accurate prediction and replication of the organ’s physical behavior...
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Briefs: Materials
New graphene printing technology can produce electronic circuits that are low-cost, flexible, highly conductive, and water-repellent. Low-cost, inkjet-printed graphene can...
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Briefs: Propulsion
The SolidSense sensor platform measures all EPA-regulated gas emissions (nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons), in addition to ammonia, with high accuracy and sensitivity. The chip-scale gas...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Aerosol-to-Liquid Particle Extraction System (ALPES)
Agents that could be used in chemical and biological warfare tend to disperse widely in the air when released. Quickly collecting a concentrated sample of these agents is critical to detecting them before they reach harmful dose levels in the air. Also, methods of detection such as by polymerase...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
NASA Langley Research Center has developed a point sensor and piezoelectric actuator system to actively sense and reduce vibrations in flexible structures. The system uses a directional piezoelectric...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Sensor Detects Nuclear Weapon Solvent
A new sensor picks up signatures of tributyl phosphate, a solvent used to enrich uranium, including for use in a nuclear weapon. Enzymes can detect tributyl phosphate signatures, but the lifespan of the enzymes is too short to make them practical for sensors.
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Time of flight is an approach that gauges distance by measuring the time it takes light projected into a scene to bounce back to a sensor. In time-of-flight imaging, a short burst of light is fired into...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center have developed a solid-state humidity sensing element that offers ultra-high sensitivity across a wide range of humidity levels. The sensing element is...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Wind power has become an indispensable part of an environmentally friendly power supply. Therefore, it is important for this growth market that wind turbines become more efficient, more...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A chemical sensor prototype was developed that can detect single-fingerprint quantities of substances from a distance of more than 100 feet away, and could be shrunk to the size of a shoebox. The portable...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Fourier Transform Spectrometer System
NASA's Langley Research Center and Science Applications International Corporation have developed a method of processing data from Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) measurements that improves upon existing methods. This method is simpler, more accurate, faster, and less expensive than previous methods. It...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Conductive thread — embroidery thread that can carry an electrical current — often is combined with other types of electronics to create fabric that lights up or communicates. This thread...
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Briefs: Motion Control
Linear actuator manufacturers have a history of strong mechanical design expertise, which is the core of any linear actuation; however, giving motion to modern powered equipment goes beyond a...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A growing safety concern for pilots and aircraft passengers is laser strikes, or the aiming of high-power laser pointers at aircraft. To address the present lack of effective laser...
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Briefs: Lighting
Spectral images, which contain more color information than is obtainable with a typical camera, reveal characteristics of tissue and other biological samples that can't be seen by the...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Corrosion is a pervasive and expensive problem in applications ranging from construction to microelectronics. Corrosion has been widely studied in theories, and empirical studies exist for common materials,...
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