Tech Briefs

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A comprehensive library of technical briefs from engineering experts at NASA and major government, university, and commercial laboratories covering all aspects of innovations in electronics, software, photonics, imaging, motion control, automation, sensors, test, materials, manufacturing, mechanical, and mechatronics.

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Briefs: Materials

Theoretical calculations verified by experiments have shown that suitably designed ribbons made of alumina can serve as low-loss dielectric waveguides for electromagnetic radiation at...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Software for Generating Mosaics of Astronomical Images

Software is being developed to "stitch" together multiple astronomical images of small, adjacent patches of the sky into a single mosaic image of a large portion of the sky. These mosaics make data from large areas of the sky readily available for efficient viewing of many types of...

Briefs: Motion Control
Advanced, Lightweight, Low-Power-Consumption Actuator Brake

An advanced, lightweight, low-power consumption brake has been developed to satisfy NASA's special requirements for use on actuators during spaceflight. This brake can increase the stopping, holding, and parking ability of a spacecraft while reducing its electrical power consumption....

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A new design for a complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) snapshot imaging device of the photodiode-based, active-pixel-sensor (APS) type calls for features to prevent...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Miniature high-resolution optical-absorption sensors for detecting trace amounts of chemical species of interest in gas and liquid samples are undergoing development. The transducer in...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A proposed optoelectronic apparatus would perform the combined functions of a confocal microscope and a Raman spectrometer. It would be used to acquire Raman-spectral-image and/or...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A method of coarse alignment has been proposed for a primary telescope mirror that comprises multiple segments mounted on actuators that can be used to tilt and translate the segments to...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Experiments have shown that a highly oblate microspheroid made of low-dielectric-loss silica glass can function as a high-performance optical resonator. The shape of this resonator (see...

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Thin, initially transparent films made of variants of a polymeric cation-exchange material have been found to be useful for facilitating the luminescence detection and...

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Briefs: Motion Control

A method of computing the speed at which to command an autonomous robotic vehicle to travel over rough terrain has been devised. The method amounts to a robotic implementation of the...

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Briefs: Motion Control

A method of estimating the state of contact between (1) the wheels of a robotic vehicle equipped with a rocker-bogey suspension and (2) the ground has been devised. The contact-state...

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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Extensive redundancy is designed into aircraft flight-control systems to ensure a low probability of failure. During recent years, however, major failures of flight-control systems...

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Briefs: Information Technology

A technique of partial subtractive dither has been developed to improve the performance of any of a variety of near-lossless data-compression algorithms. The technique may be applicable...

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Briefs: Information Technology
Software for Preprocessing of Raw SAR Data

The SAR Processing System Raw Data Processor (SPS RDS) computer program is used in the Alaska SAR Facility (ASF) to scan and decode raw data that have been downlinked from the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS), the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS), and the RADARSAT (a Canadian...

Briefs: Information Technology
Software for Locating Heterogeneous Data in Different Places

The Object Oriented Data Technology group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing software for locating data — especially scientific data — stored in various formats on heterogeneous computer systems at different locations. The software is intended to exploit and extend...

Briefs: Information Technology

A method to predict the onset of a limit cycle for an aeroelastic testbed has been developed. The prediction is based on wavelet processing of measurement data that have been recorded under various...

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Briefs: Materials

In an extension of the concept reported in the preceding article, catalytic flow-through chemical reactors of a proposed type would contain catalyst-coated microtubes, possibly in combination...

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Briefs: Materials

Metal-supported catalyst beds with improved thermal and flow characteristics for promoting endothermic chemical reactions are undergoing development. In the proposed original...

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Briefs: Materials

In catalytic flow-through chemical reactors being explored for space vehicle applications, the catalysts would be supported on the surfaces of wires, instead of on particles, as are typically used...

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Briefs: Software
Software Models Spacecraft Dynamics and Space Environment

The Spacecraft Control Toolbox (SCT) helps design control systems and attitude estimators, analyze station-keeping requirements, generate fuel and pointing budgets, and analyze spacecraft dynamics. The SCT provides a comprehensive set of over five hundred functions including:

Briefs: Software
Web-Based Software for Distributed Planning

The RecDel System is a low-cost software application that helps different groups of a complex project negotiate interfaces between interdependent schedules. The RecDel system is based on a concept of distributed planning, wherein the cognizant persons retain control over, and responsibility for, their...

Briefs: Software
Software for Detecting Tones in Beacon Monitoring

A software package for use in a ground receiving station detects a beacon-monitor tone transmitted by a spacecraft. To recapitulate from previous NASA Tech Briefs articles on beacon monitoring: An onboard computer processes data from onboard sensors to summarize the condition of the spacecraft...

Briefs: Software
Automated Real-Time Spacecraft Navigation System

The Automated Real-Time Spacecraft Navigation (ARTSN) system is a prototype of a class of software systems for automated navigation and monitoring of spacecraft from stations on the Earth. The system processes radio metric tracking data (principally, range and Doppler measurements) in real time to...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

An arc-welding technique for repair of a directionally solidified (DS) nickel-base superalloy article (e.g., a turbine blade or vane) has been devised. The technique equally is...

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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Updated Multidisciplinary Optical-System-Analysis Software

Version 5.0 of the Integrated Modeling of Optical Systems (IMOS) software has been released. A previous version was described in "Software for Multidisciplinary Analysis of Optical Systems" (NPO-20536), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 24, No. 11 (November 2000), page 36. In both versions, IMOS...

Briefs: Physical Sciences

A field-reversed configuration (FRC) has been proposed for a magnetic mirror — a solenoidal electromagnet configured and operated in such a way as to effect at least partial...

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Briefs: Aerospace

The NASA Dryden DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory (see Figure 1) performs research around the globe, recently in support of the SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE). This...

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Briefs: Test & Measurement

Figure 1 depicts an apparatus that simultaneously and synchronously records magnified ordinary top-view video images and laser-shadowgraph video images of a sessile...

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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing in Optical Communication

A document in the form of lecture slides outlines a program of development of capabilities for acquisition of signals, tracking of signal sources, and pointing of transmitters and receivers in deep-space optical communications. Topics addressed on the first few slides include the...

Webcasts

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On-Demand Webinars: Defense

From Data to Decision: How AI Enhances Warfighter Readiness

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Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

April Battery & Electrification Summit

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Upcoming Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Tech Update: 3D Printing for Transportation in 2024

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Upcoming Webinars: Materials

Unleashing Epoxy's Potential: Ensuring Hermetic Sealing in Modern...

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Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement

Building an Automotive EMC Test Plan

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Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace

The Moon and Beyond from a Thermal Perspective

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