-1
11340
30
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The pixelated array detector (PAD) is a planar array of complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) charge-collecting electrodes and readout circuitry for measuring the electric charges...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Forward-scattering particle-image velocimetry (FSPIV) is a technique for measuring velocities in microscopic flow fields as thin liquid films. As in other particle-image-velocimetry (PIV)...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Dc-to-dc power-converter modules that operate with input potentials from 60 to 140 V and generate various output potentials up to 15 V are undergoing development. Designed specifically for...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A telescopic imaging system that includes an optomechanical scanning subsystem is undergoing development. The system is designed for use in scientific observation of the Earth from aboard...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An M-JPEG video compression system has been modified to satisfy the unique requirements of space-based applications. ["M-JPEG" signifies the still-image-data-compression method of...
Briefs: Information Technology
No-shift universal trellis-coded quantization (NSUTCQ) is an image-data-compression/decompression algorithm designed to be especially useful in telemedicine. Like some other...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter Spectrometers
Spectrometers are used for applications such as chemical analysis, remote sensing, environmental measuring, and optical measurements. Most spectrometers utilize prisms and gratings, where the dispersion of light depends upon the angle and rotation of the grating. But gratings and other moving parts are...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A proposed technique for color filtering in a liquid-crystal or other flat-panel display device would make it possible to brighten the display without increasing the amount of light...
Briefs: Motion Control
The heat-driven pulse pump has been invented in an effort to satisfy a need for pumps that can circulate heat-transfer fluids at low flow rates with high reliability over long operational lifetimes. The heat-driven pulse...
Briefs: Information Technology
Software for Scanning, Storing, and Retrieving Images
An application program for scanning and storage of images and for retrieval of the images via the World Wide Web has been written in the Java programming language to be portable to any computer and operating system that support the Java Virtual Machine 1.02. The program can be run on one...
Briefs: Motion Control
An improved magnetostrictively actuated pump has been developed to satisfy a need for a small, low-pressure, high-flow-rate fluid pump that contains few moving parts and can run reliably for long periods without...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Wireless Information Network
A wireless information network (WIN) is undergoing development for use by workers at locations scattered across Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This WIN could be a prototype of a larger network that would serve all of NASA; by logical extension, it could also be a prototype of commercial WINs. By use of a combination of...
Briefs: Materials
An improved method of fabricating electrodes for fuel cells includes the use of sputtering to deposit thin layers of catalytic electrode metals. Previously, catalytic electrode metals...
Briefs: Motion Control
The figure depicts a proposed miniature, electrically actuated, one-time-opening isolation valve that would be made mostly of silicon, by use of micromachining techniques. Isolation valves...
Briefs: Software
Software for Environmental Monitoring in a Large Facility
Four computer programs enable the nearly real-time distribution, analysis, and display of data on temperature, relative humidity, and particle fallout measured by sensors in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) and the Launch Pad Payload Changeout Room (PCR) at Kennedy Space Center. The...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Circuit Detects Pyrolysis of Polyimide Insulation on Wires
An electronic circuit has been designed as a prototype of a device that determines whether critical electrical systems have been compromised because of pyrolysis of polyimide-insulated wires. This circuit can be modified to prevent further pyrolysis and to check for indications of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improved thermoelectric converter units (TCUs) and radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that contain them have been undergoing development for use as small, lightweight...
Briefs: Software
Software for Parallel Adaptive Refinement of Meshes
A software library has been developed for adaptive refinement of unstructured (that is, irregular) tetrahedral or triangular meshes that define two- or three-dimensional coordinates or volume elements used in parallel (that is, multiprocessor) finite-element or finite-volume computations. This...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A 3D Navier-Stokes CFD Code for Analysis of Turbomachinery
The ADPAC software is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code for analysis of flows in turbomachines. The outstanding feature of ADPAC is the ability to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for complex three-dimensional (3D) flow fields that include multiple flow paths, and the modeling of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Ion-Mobility Spectrometric Determination of Hydrazines
Hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine, and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine can be detected and measured at concentrations as low as 10 parts per billion in the presence of ammonia at concentrations as high as 10 parts per million (greater than the odor threshold concentration of ammonia,...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A laser-light-scattering method that includes cross-correlation processing of photodetector output signals has been devised for use in measuring the Brownian motions, and thereby...
Briefs: Materials
Improved formulations and processes have been invented for manufacturing ceramic fibers that exhibit structural stability and retain tensile strength at temperatures up to 1,200 °C,...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A six-legged robot resembling an insect and a legless segmented robot resembling a worm (see figure) have been proposed as prototypes of biomorphic explorers small, mobile, exploratory robots that...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Robot Would Inspect Hanging Cables
A proposed automated apparatus would travel along a hanging cable, optically inspecting it all around. The proposal was made to eliminate lowering human inspectors in baskets along emergency-egress slidewires at Kennedy Space Center launch pads. The apparatus would include a motor drive system, a video camera...
Briefs: Materials
Tailoring Fiber/Matrix Interfaces Through Kirkendall Defects
In a proposed method of tailoring some of the mechanical properties of metal-matrix, oxide-matrix, and ceramic-matrix composite materials, Kirkendall defects (microscopic pores as described below) would be introduced into thin interfacial layers between the fibers and the matrices. This...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A spectrometer/radiometer now undergoing development is designed to be used aboard a spacecraft to measure the heights of cloud tops on Earth. The spectrometer/radiometer performs...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Low-Energy Interplanetary Transfers Using Lagrangian Points
A paper summarizes early findings from a continuing study of the dynamics of the transport and distribution of matter within the Solar system. In the study, the stable and unstable manifolds of the periodic and quasi-periodic orbits around the Lagrangian points L1 and L2 of the Sun/planet...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Computer Program for Analysis of Convective Heat Transfer
Glenn-HT is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computer code for the analysis of three-dimensional flow and convective heat transfer in a gas turbine. Glenn-HT has been evolving during the past few years at Glenn Research Center, and at least 35 technical papers relative to this code have...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A watchdog timer and reset control circuit has been designed for use with a microprocessor or microcontroller (hereafter "microcontroller" for short) that would otherwise lack the protection afforded by...
Top Stories
Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
2025 Holiday Gift Guide for Engineers: Tech, Tools, and Gadgets
INSIDER: Research Lab
Scientists Create Superconducting Semiconductor Material
Blog: Software
Quiz: Materials
Blog: Aerospace
Tech Briefs Wrapped 2025: Top 10 Technology Stories
Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
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
