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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Coiled electric wires have been developed for use in electromagnets that operate at high temperatures. Examples of such electromagnets could include the actuators in magnetic bearings in advanced gas...
Briefs: Software
Software Generates Sequences of Operations for a Mars Rover
Automated Rover Sequence Generation (ARSG) is a prototype computer program for ground-based automatic generation of sequences of commands that can be used for a robotic exploratory vehicle (rover) on Mars. ARSG is based on the Automated Scheduling and Planning Environment (ASPEN) computer...
Briefs: Software
Web-Based Software Service Improves Space-Shuttle Processing
Human data-transfer from space-shuttle checkout systems to shuttle business systems is slow, error-prone, and expensive. The Operations and Maintenance Requirement Specification-Automated Buy Off System (OMRS-ABOS) is a software system that automatically transfers test-validation data...
Briefs: Software
Program Analyzes Current Signatures of Solenoid Valves
A computer program processes signal data in the instrument described in “Current- Signature Sensor for Diagnosing Solenoid Valves” (KSC-12152), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 9 (September 2001), page 30. Ten-bit samples of the electric current in a solenoid valve are acquired at a rate of...
Briefs: Software
Program Predicts Radiation Forces on a Satellite
A computer program predicts the radiation forces on the TOPEX/ Poseidon satellite at any point in its orbit around the Earth. The program performs a unified analysis of the thermal, radiative, power-generation, and orbital-mechanics aspects of operation because these aspects are inter- dependent: The...
Briefs: Software
OwWwL and AgentNation: Knowledge-Robot Software
OwWwL and Agent- Nation are Java- language computer programs that act together, quickly scanning Internet databases for relevant information, then organizing the infor- mation into a format suited to the user. OwWwL is a search- engine program that, like other such programs, includes a “spider”...
Briefs: Software
Application Fault Injector
Application Fault Injector (AFI) is a simple com- puter program for testing the fault tolerance of other programs. AFI is a library of subroutines designed to inject faults into memory, data structures, and registers. The library is modular, can easily be extended, and can easily be ported to different computer hardware...
Briefs: Materials
Progress has been achieved in continuing research directed toward increasing the wear resistance and enhancing the self- lubrication properties of chemical-vapor-deposited (CVD) diamond films....
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Water-Jet Accelerator for Launching a Spacecraft
A proposed ground- based apparatus would accelerate a spacecraft to speed of about mach 1, thus making it possible to increase the payload and/or reduce the cost of launching the space- craft into orbit. The apparatus would include a track along which the spacecraft would ride on a sled. Hundreds of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Modular, Highly Maintainable, and Flexible Control Software
Model Rocket Engine Software System (MRECS) is a system of control software that was originally intended for use in controlling rocket engines but is also applicable to almost any real-time, closed- loop process-control system — for example, the feedback control system of a robot. MRECS...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Low-plasticity burnishing (LPB) has been devel- oped as an affordable means of imparting residual compressive stresses to surface layers of metal parts (especially engine components) in order to increase their fatigue...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
System for Detecting Hazardous Gases at Multiple Locations
The Hazardous Gas Detection System 2000 (HGDS 2000) is the latest in a series of instrumentation systems for detecting gases leaking from a space shuttle on a launch pad. The HGDS is a fully redundant system that includes analog and digital electronic control circuitry and a sub- system for...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A relatively simple and inexpensive method of fabricating a temperature-compensation element for high- temperature strain gauges has been devised. This element, connected in the...
Briefs: Information Technology
Windowed revocation is a technique for the revocation of the digital certificates that provide assurance of the auth- enticity and integrity of public encryption keys and associated...
Briefs: Software
Mechanical Event Simulation for MEMS Design
This report examines the simulation of the dynamic behavior of a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) optical switch in order to meet the Telcordia telecommunication industry standards for shock. The setup of the finite element model of the telecommunications device is discussed in detail, along with a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Narrowband Tunable Optical Filter Using Fiber Bragg Gratings
Research at Langley Research Center has developed a special fiber- Bragg grating optical filter for use in aircraft or spaceborne differential absorption lidar (DIAL) systems for measuring water vapor in the atmosphere of the Earth. The filter is an optical fiber containing two Bragg...
Briefs: Information Technology
Technical Background of Special Bus-Driver Software
A short report discusses the technical background of, and the need for, special bus-driver software for part of a test-bed computer system that is to be used in experimentation for development of advanced avionics. The system features a scalable, fault-tolerant, distributed architecture that...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Special gimbal mechanisms and algorithms that implement decentralized compliant control have been developed for use in research on the sensors, the actuators, and the design and functional...
Briefs: Motion Control
Magnetostrictive Motor and Circuits for Robotic Applications
A magnetostrictive motor and its drive circuit and control system have been designed to be especially suitable for robotic applications in which there are requirements for precise, high-force linear actuators. The motor includes a laminated armature made of the magnetostrictive alloy...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An electronic system that includes a capacitive proximity sensor is under development as a prototype of instrumentation systems for real-time monitoring of vibrations of turbine blades...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
System Locates Buried Objects Marked by Electromagnetic Tags
A relatively inexpensive, lightweight, durable, easy-to-operate radio-frequency (RF) instrument has been developed, along with special electromagnetic tags, for use in detecting buried objects to which the tags are attached. Each tag comprises a dipole antenna (basically, two collinear...
Briefs: Materials
Flexible, compact, hermetically sealed piezoceramic actuators with robust electrical leads have been developed for use in actively controlling aerostructures to suppress noise, vibration, and flutter on...
Briefs: Software
Software for Turbo Decoding on Digital Signal Processors
Software for decoding turbo codes that have been adopted as standard by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems is being developed along with hardware built around integrated-circuit digital signal processors (DSPs) that execute the software. The software enables reliable...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Fiber-Optic Liquid-Level Sensors
Liquid-level-measuring systems based on fiber-optics are under development as compact, lightweight alternatives to systems based on float gauges and other conventional sensors. For liquids that pose explosion hazards, fiber-optic sensors are inherently safer because they do not include electrical connections inside...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A scheme for organizing and controlling sensor webs is based on artificial neural networks. [Sensor webs were described in “Sensor Webs” (NPO-20616), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 23, No. 10...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Efforts are underway to develop compact, lightweight electro-mechanical actuators based on electroactive polymers (EAPs). An actuator of this type is denoted an electroactive-polymer...
Briefs: Software
Software for Automation of Real-Time Agents
Closed Loop Execution and Recovery (CLEaR) is an artificial-intelligence computer program under devel- opment designed for automated command sequence generation, execution, monitoring, and recovery. As a component of the Deep Space Network’s (DSN’s) prototype Common Automation Engine (CAE), CLEaR...
Briefs: Software
GUI Program for Planning Paths of Rovers
The Path Planning Graphical User Interface is a computer program that, as its name indi- cates, generates a graphical user interface (GUI) for software that plans paths for robotic vehicles (rovers) to be used in exploration of remote planets. This GUI program is designed for use in conjunction with the A*...
Briefs: Software
Software for Modeling Biochemical Reactions
Cellerator is a computer program that auto- matically generates and solves differential equations for complex sets of chemical reac- tions like those in living cells. Cellerator provides a mathematical and computational infra- structure for char- acterizing reaction pathways and the interactions between...
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