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Briefs: Aerospace
Paraffin-Actuated Heat Switch for Mars Surface Applications
Missions to the surface of Mars pose unique thermal-control challenges to rover and lander systems. With diurnal temperature changes greater than 100 °C, the presence of a Mars atmosphere, and limited power for night-time heating, the thermal-control engineer is faced with a fundamental...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The figure depicts the basic optical layouts for (1) conventional laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and (2) a newer method of LDV based partly on the use of two optical fibers. Whereas...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Stabilization and Registration of Sequential Video Images
A computational process converts a sequence of digitized video images of the same scene into stabilized, coregistered images of an area of interest within the scene. The process corrects for motion of the area of interest or of the camera (as manifested by rotation, translation, and/or...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Focal-plane arrays of quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) featuring adjacent pixels sensitive to different colors have been proposed. An array of this type would make it...
Briefs: Information Technology
The Complexity of the Diagnosis Problem
A report presents a study of the complexity of an algorithm that performs model-based diagnosis of a complex hardware system. [In model-based diagnosis, an algorithm detects logical inconsistencies between observational data and a description (mathematical model) of the system.] In the study, the problem of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Design Concepts for the ISS TransHab Module
Twelve reports present concepts for the design of structural and functional systems, subsystems, and components of the proposed TransHab module — an inflatable, lightweight habitation module that would be used by crewmembers of the International Space Station and would serve as a prototype of habitation...
Briefs: Research Lab
Characteristics of Supercritical Transitional Mixing Layers
This report describes a study of threedimensional, temporal mixing layers between different fluids initially flowing at different velocities under supercritical conditions. The study involved direct numerical simulations by use of a validated mathematical model of high-pressurefluid...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Infrared CO2 Sensor With Built-In Calibration Chambers
A proposed infrared CO2 sensor, operated in conjunction with suitable readout, data-processing, and control circuitry, could be calibrated repeatedly during operation to compensate for changes in sensor response induced by such phenomena as aging and changes in temperature. The sensor would...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Solid-State Potentiometric CO Sensor
A solid-state sensor was developed that measures the concentrations of one or more gases of interest in a mixture of gases. This simple solid-state sensor produces a voltage signal that is sensitive to CO concentration from percent to ppm (parts per million) levels. It was intended originally for use in...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A relatively inexpensive Sun sensor for determining the absolute heading of planetary rovers to within ± 3° using a monochrome charge-coupled device (CCD) camera is presented. The...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A method of designing improved monolithic planar arrays of superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) for use as photodetectors has been conceived. These arrays would be suitable for...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Development of Cognitive Sensors
A technical report enunciates the concept of a hierarchy of sensor classes (meaning transducers, associated circuitry, and embedded software) that have different levels of intelligence, and discusses issues pertaining to the development of sensors of the highest level of intelligence, called cognitive. The other...
Briefs: Power
A “smart” back-gate driver circuit has been proposed to enable the operation, at voltages higher than were previously possible, of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal...
Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
A method of estimating the pointing error of an offset-conic-section reflector antenna equipped to receive in both right circular polarization (RCP) and left circular polarization (LCP)...
Briefs: Software
Advanced Fatigue-Crack-Growth and Fracture-Mechanics Program
The NASGRO 3.0 computer program is an advanced version of a program used by NASA and the European Space Agency for fracture-control analysis of space-system structures and other hardware. The prior version, NASA/FLAGRO 2.0, was described in “Updated Fatigue-Crack-Growth and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Software for Sequencing Spacecraft Actions
SEQ_GEN is a component of the Sequence Subsystem computer program, which assists in generating a sequence of commands to be executed by a control computer aboard a spacecraft to perform scientific observations and supporting engineering actions in response to requests by numerous users. SEQ_GEN assists a...
Briefs: Software
Program Distributes and Tracks Organizational Memoranda
Closed Loop Accounting Management System (CLAMS) is a computer program for Web-based distribution and tracking of memoranda within an organization. An item for distribution is entered by a user who has administrative access. The item is assigned to affected users, to whom e-mail messages are...
Briefs: Materials
A device based on the transport of water through a membrane to a vacuum has been developed for dehumidifying a stream of air in the life-support system of a spacecraft or space suit. The device...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A mount has been devised to satisfy a requirement to suspend a highly precise, flat, circular, low-thermal-expansion glass mirror in a horizontal plane with its reflective side down...
Briefs: Medical
In an advanced method of administering drugs to target sites in human bodies, the drugs in liquid form are contained in microcapsules that are injected, and then, by exposing the target...
Briefs: Research Lab
Combinatorial Drug Design Augmented by Information Theory
A proposed method of designing antiviral drugs provides for the utilization of combinatorial-chemistry techniques that have been used previously for this purpose, in conjunction with applicable principles of information theory. In its information-theoretic aspect, the method can be...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An optical absorbance cell that offers a selection of multiple optical path lengths has been developed as part of a portable spectrometric instrument that measures absorption spectra of small samples...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A mathematical model has been developed for use in analyzing the dynamics of an isothermal, non-chemically-reacting mixture of particles in a bubbling fluidized bed. Although the model...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
High-throughput, non-imaging, secondary concentrating optics that utilize refraction and total internal reflection are undergoing development for use in conjunction with advanced...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Cold Flow Calorimeter
The cold flow calorimeter is an apparatus for measuring a possibly rapidly varying heat-transfer coefficient on a surface. The cold flow calorimeter includes (1) a small strain gauge bonded to a small, thin steel shim that is placed on the surface of interest and (2) a circuit that controls the electric power supplied to the...
Briefs: Information Technology
The Continuous Hazard Tracking and Failure Prediction Methodology (CHTFPM) is a proactive methodology for gathering and analyzing information about a system in order to prevent accidents...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A method of estimating and correcting for the effect of polarization leakage on the response of a heterodyne optical interferometer has been devised. In a typical application in which a...
Briefs: Information Technology
An efficient artificial-intelligence-type algorithm for the propagation of temporal constraints has been devised for incorporation into software that performs scheduling and...
Briefs: Information Technology
Continuous Activity Scheduling Planning Execution and Replanning (CASPER) is a computer program for automated planning of interdependent activities within a system subject to requirements,...
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