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Briefs: Physical Sciences
A previously developed quality/flow meter has been redesigned to improve its performance as a device for measuring the quality (but not the flow) of two-phase (liquid + vapor) oxygen or...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Ellipsoidal Collecting Horns for Ultrasonic Leak Detectors
Ellipsoidal reflectors have been proposed as collecting horns for ultrasonic leak detectors. Exploiting the classical focusing characteristics of ellipsoids, these reflectors would facilitate and enhance the detection of leaks in situations in which it is possible to bring leak-detecting...
Briefs: Information Technology
Flash Automated Updating of Software in Multiple Computers
Program and data files in the Unified Control Modules (UCMs) of the Operational Television system at Kennedy Space Center are updated rapidly and automatically in a scheme that exploits unique features of the UCM design. Each UCM includes a VersaModule Eurocard (VME) chassis, in which are...
Briefs: Information Technology
Algorithm Plans Motion of Robot With Limited Field of View
The RoverBug algorithm plans the motion of a robotic vehicle (rover) equipped with a CCD (charge-coupled device) camera or comparable sensor that has a limited field of view. The algorithm produces locally optimal (shortest-distance) paths across unbounded, previously unknown terrain;...
Briefs: Information Technology
Product Attributes Database
Product Attributes Database (PAD) is a computer program that enables a team of engineers, managers, and administrators involved in a product-development project to collaborate more effectively. PAD serves as a single, network-accessible repository for all essential parametric information (the data- base) that...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Simulating the Structural Behavior of Laminated Glass
This report investigates the strength of archi- tectural laminated glass and the viability of its use for window glass in commercial buildings. Some researchers recommend that the structural behavior of laminated glass (typically consisting of two glass layers and a plasticized PVB [polyvinyl...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Synchronizing Attitudes and Maneuvers of Multiple Spacecraft
A report discusses the problem of controlling the maneuvers of multiple spacecraft flying in formation and, more specifically, making the entire formation rotate about a given axis and synchronizing the rotations of the individual spacecraft with the rotation of the formation. Such...
Briefs: Materials
Lightweight Solar Sail for a Spacecraft Flying Near the Sun
A report proposes a high-temperature- resistant solar sail with an areal mass density less than 1 g/m2, for a spacecraft that would approach the Sun to within a distance of 0.2 astronomical unit (≈3 × 107 km). The sail would be made in multiple segments of a carbon microtruss fabric...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A proposed lightweight, micromachined winch would have microscopic structural details and mesoscopic overall dimensions and would be capable of generating bidirectional macro- scopic motion...
Briefs: Motion Control
Hardware and decentralized-control algorithms have been developed during continued research on the sensors, the actuators, and the design and functional requirements for systems of...
Briefs: Motion Control
Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pumps have been investigated in theoretical and experimental studies. In general, EHD pumps contain no moving parts. They generate pressure gradients and/or flows in...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Process for Rapid Prototyping in Ceramic-Matrix Composites
The ceramic-composite advanced tow-placement (CCATP) process is a means of laying down continuous-fiber-reinforced, ceramic-matrix composite (CMC) materials in patterned layers to form objects that could have complex three-dimensional shapes. The CCATP process is a member of the growing...
Briefs: Information Technology
Initialized Fractional Calculus
The fractional calculus (which admits of integrals and derivatives of non-integer order) dates back almost to the origin of the better-known ordinary (integer-order) calculus, but thus far has been treated more as a mathematical curiosity than as a scientific and engineering tool. Increasingly many physical processes...
Briefs: Materials
Some changes have been made in the fabrication of PSSA/ PVDF-based membrane/electrode assemblies for direct methanol fuel cells. The effect of the changes is to improve the electrochemical...
Briefs: Software
Software for Capturing Software-Design Rationale
Better Elicitation and Communication of Arguments Underlying Software Engineering (BECAUSE) is a computer program that records and codifies the rationale that underlies decisions made in the course of developing software. To minimize the additional sensory, cognitive, and motor demands upon the...
Briefs: Software
Software for Scientific Exploration by Multiple Rovers
Multi-Rover Integrated Science Understanding System (MISUS) is a computer program designed to coordinate the activities of multiple small, instrumented robotic vehicles (rovers) engaged in autonomous scientific exploration of the surface of Mars. MISUS includes a component that utilizes...
Briefs: Software
Software Accelerates and Standardizes Procurement by NASA
Virtual Procurement Office (VPO) is a Web-based application program designed for use by procurement professionals throughout NASA. Prior to the development of VPO, each of the 700+ NASA procurement pro- fessionals had to spend much time searching numerous locations on-line and off-line for...
Briefs: Software
Software for Managing a Health and Environmental Database
Health and Environ- mental Resource System (HERS) is a relational-database computer program with a graphical user interface that assists members of an envi- ronmental health organization in the collection, analysis,
and reporting of data pertaining to industrial hygiene, radiation health,...
Briefs: Software
GUI Software for Managing Router Configuration Files
Cisco IOS Manager (CIOSMAN) is a computer program that generates a graphical user interface for managing configuration files for an Internet-Protocol router. [In this context, “IOS” signifies the Cisco Internet- working Operating System and “router” signifies a system of computer-network...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Making Audible Alarms More Noticeable in Noisy Environments
An improved method of generating audible alarms has been invented for stressful environments in which there may be consid- erable background noise and where the intended recipients of the alarms also need to pay att- ention to sounds other than the alarms. An aircraft cockpit is a typical...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Clamps for Testing Cable Shields and Connector Shells
Connector test clamps (CTCs) are clamping electrical connectors designed for use in testing electrical continuity from the backshell of a connector at one end of a shielded electrical cable, through the cable shield, to the backshell at the other end of the cable. CTCs increase the reliability...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
During development and production, cell phones and other portable devices must be tested and calibrated with a power source that accurately simulates battery...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A mid-infrared wave-number range has been identified as being useful for laser measurements of CO and CO2 gases that contain various combinations of isotopes of C and O. The isotopic...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The figure schematically depicts two proposed alternative versions of an instrument that amounts, in effect, to a compact, lightweight optoelectronic microscope that contains no lenses...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The figure depicts the laboratory setup of an optical-fiber-coupled microsphere laser with an output in the 1.55-µm wavelength band used in some communication systems. This laser offers...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A conceptually simple, effective scheme for reliable, high-power pumping of neodymium:yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) lasers (and perhaps also other solid-state lasers) has been devised. Heretofore, it has been common...
Briefs: Information Technology
Methods and Software for Mining Data in Context
The Perilog methods and software provide a suite of data-mining tools. Perilog retrieves and organizes data from any sequence of terms that are contextually associated (e.g., text, music, genetic sequences). Perilog data mining includes: (1) keyterm-in-context search; (2) flexible, model-based phrase...
Briefs: Information Technology
Beacon-Based Exception Analysis for Multimissions
BEAM is a method of real-time, automated analysis and diagnosis applicable to a broad class of complex electromechanical systems, including spacecraft, aircraft, and process-control systems. Some aspects of its operation were described in “Reusable Software for Autonomous Diagnosis of Complex...
Briefs: Information Technology
A generalized data processor, proposed for use in the reception of binaryphase-shift-keyed (BPSK) radio signals, provides preliminary estimates of the block and convolutionally encoded...
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