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Briefs: Materials
An electrometer developed for measuring the triboelectric responses of soils on Mars is also potentially useful on Earth for identifying some materials via their triboelectric responses. In...
Briefs: Communications
"Laser-based adaptive wavelength division multiplexing and code division multiplexing" (LAWDM-CDM) is the name of a method that has been proposed to increase security, signal-to-noise...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A magnetically suspended, motor-driven light-chopping wheel has been developed as an alternative to a traditional light-chopping wheel suspended on ball bearings. This chopper (see figure) is...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A video camera has been integrated with a tracking pedestal (see figure) for tracking of aircraft and spacecraft. The camera is of a high-definition (1,280 × 720 pixels),...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A proposed lightweight, micromachined, multiaxis-steerable mirror would have mesoscopic dimensions. Its steering function would involve mesoscopic positional excursions of its support points and would be...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A fluid coupling has been developed for use in securing a vascular outflow graft (cannula) to the outlet of a surgically implanted NASA/DeBakey heart assist pump. The design of the coupling can also be adapted...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Small, instrumented, expendable robotic aircraft and projectiles have been proposed for use in scouting for targeted new sites by providing closeup images with ~10-cm resolution, covering...
Briefs: Motion Control
Firmware for a Small Motion- Control Processor
A C-language computer program implemented as firmware controls the operations of a microprocessor on a 3-by- 1-inch (approximately 76-by-25-mm) motion-control circuit board denoted a widget board. The firmware implements a serial communication interface according to the inter integrated circuit bus...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Gear bearings are conceptual mechanical components so named because they function as gears and as roller and/or thrust bearings. Gear bearings will be essential components of the next generation of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An improved linear dynamometer has been developed for testing linear alternators that are to be used to convert mechanical power to electrical power in free-piston Stirlingcycle engines....
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A small, lightweight, low-power instrument, denoted a proton-transferreaction/ ion-mobility spectrometer (PTR-IMS) has been developed for detecting airborne organic compounds at...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Quantum Mechanics of Harmonic Oscillator in External Fields
A report presents a theoretical study of a harmonic oscillator in homogeneous or nonhomogeneous externally applied electric and/or gravitational fields. The standard quantum-mechanical formalism for a simple harmonic oscillator, starting with the Hamiltonian and the associated creation and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Algorithms for Collision Avoidant Formation Flying
A report discusses algorithms for realtime planning of translation paths of multiple spacecraft flying in formation. The algorithm takes account of requirements to avoid collisions while operating within resource constraints (e.g., not calling for an acceleration greater than maximum possible) and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Integrated Colloid Thrusters for Microspacecraft
A report proposes the development of a microfabricated, integrated colloid thruster as a prototype of devices for propulsion and control of the attitudes of microspacecraft. (In a colloid thruster, a beam of positively charged, microscopic droplets is extracted electrohydrodynamically from a column...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
PCI Bridge to Instruments and Telecommunication Systems
A report describes a prototype system interface assembly (SIA) that performs the functions of a compact, radiation-hard application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to be built subsequently. The SIA ASIC would be installed in a spacecraft, where it would function as a peripheralcomponent...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Effect of Gravitation on Noninteracting Trapped Fermions
A report presents a theoretical study of the thermodynamics of an ultralow-temperature gas of fermions that interact with a gravitational field and with an externally imposed trapping potential but not with each other. The gravitational field is taken to define the z axis and the trapping...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Improvements in a Piezoelectrically Actuated Microvalve
A report discusses the continuing development of a normally closed, piezoelectrically actuated valve fabricated mostly by micromachining of silicon. The design and operation of the microvalve as described in the instant report are basically the same as those of the version described in...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Low-Energy Transfer From Near-Earth to Near-Moon Orbit
A report presents a theoretical approach to designing a low-energy transfer of a spacecraft from an orbit around the Earth to ballistic capture into an orbit around the Moon. The approach is based partly on the one presented in “Low-Energy Interplanetary Transfers Using Lagrangian Points”...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Improved electrochemical systems for generating ozone (in gaseous form and/or dissolved in water) have been invented for use in disinfection and in industrial processes in which the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
An optical system that utilizes visible light at nearly perpendicular incidence has been invented for use in testing the surface figures of nominally axisymmetric (paraboloidal,...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Making Digital Composite Images for Technical Illustration
A method of generating three-dimensional composite digital images can serve multiple purposes in technical illustration. The method was devised to accelerate and facilitate the design of new electric lights and receptacles for large buildings, and can just as well be applied to the design,...
Briefs: Imaging
A portable instrument denoted a phase-retrieval camera (PRC) is designed to enable the testing of large, lightweight optics in the presence of vibrations and atmospheric turbulence. The development of...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The liquid-crystal phase-shifting shearing interferometer is a common-path interferometer based partly on a lateral-shear-plate interferometer. It bears a partial similarity to the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The figure schematically depicts an apparatus for measuring strain at only one designated location on a structure. The apparatus is a fiber-optic phase-locked loop, wherein strain in...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The efficiencies and thus the brightnesses of flat-panel projectors based on liquid-crystal devices (LCDs) and digital mirror devices (DMDs) would be increased by the combination of a...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Multi-Screen-Image- and Catalog-Viewing Program
A computer program enables the single- or multi-screen display of multispectral, multiresolution images — especially astronomical ones — stored as sets of data that range upward in size from hundreds of gigabytes. In cases of multi-screen displays, the software synchronizes the screens so that...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Software Automates Processing of SAR Image Data
The Automated SAR Image Processor (ASIP) computer program increases the efficiency of production of scientifically useful imagery from raw synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) image data. In the absence of ASIP, the processing of SAR data is a labor-intensive task, often involving supporting personnel, that...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An all-digital demodulator has been developed for receiving radio signals with multigigahertz carrier frequencies phase-modulated with digital data signals at bit rates of hundreds of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Reusable Software for Autonomous Diagnosis of Complex Systems
A software system designed to provide a purely signal-based diagnosis of virtually any time-varying system has been developed. This software is part of an overall concept called “Beacon-based Exception Analysis for Multimissions,” or BEAM. This concept provides for real-time...
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Webcasts
Upcoming Webinars: AR/AI
The Real Impact of AR and AI in the Industrial Equipment Industry
Upcoming Webinars: Motion Control
Next-Generation Linear and Rotary Stages: When Ultra Precision...
Upcoming Webinars: Energy
Hydrogen Engines Are Heating Up for Heavy Duty
Podcasts: Medical
How Wearables Are Enhancing Smart Drug Delivery
Podcasts: Power
SAE Automotive Podcast: Solid-State Batteries
Podcasts: Power
