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Briefs: Information Technology
A method of smoothing and edge detection in digitized images involves the use of a Gaussian smoothing filter that is adaptive in the sense that the filter scale varies with the estimated...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Gimbaled Injectors for Testing Spacecraft Thrusters
A report proposes an assembly of gimbaled valve/nozzle subassemblies for use in injecting either a propellant fluid (e.g., monomethyl hydrazine) or a propellant-simulating fluid (e.g., water) into the combustion chamber of a spacecraft thruster during hot-fire or cold testing, respectively. The...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Hybrid Imaging Technology
"Hybrid imaging technology" (HIT) is the name of a discipline in which the advancement of electronic image sensors is pursued via hybridization of charge-coupled-device (CCD) and complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) circuitry. The guiding principle of HIT is to combine CCD and CMOS components into units that...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An improved array of microcalorimeters has been devised for use as photon detectors in an x-ray spectrometer for astrophysical research. The spectrometer will be used to measure the spectra of...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
High-Speed Image Detectors With Subelectron Noise Floors
Parallel ultra-low-noise hybrid detectors (PHUDs) are developmental image-detector devices for use in low-power, scientific-grade video cameras. The hybrid nature of a PHUD lies in the incorporation of both charge-coupled-device (CCD) image-detection circuitry and complementary metal...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) have long been recognized as the detector of choice for very weak light detection. The high gain of the PMT, in excess of 10 ×106, makes it a useful...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Accelerations of One Airplane in Wake Vortices of Another
Accelerations of one airplane encountering a vortex or pair of vortices in the wake of another airplane were computed in a parametric study. The approach taken in the study was to systematically investigate the effects of progressively more nearly complete descriptions of the interaction of...
Briefs: Information Technology
Automation Language for Managing Operations
Automation Language for Managing Operations (ALMO) is a computer program that assists a human operator at a central control station in monitoring and controlling a complex equipment system that includes multiple subsystems connected in a digital communication network. Still undergoing development, ALMO is...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An improved method of closed-loop synchronization of a radio receiver with the phase of a carrier signal modulated by Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK) has been proposed....
Briefs: Software
A computer program provides capabilities for numerical simulation and analysis of the thermodynamic performance of aircraft or automotive gas turbine engines. The program was developed...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The prismatic phase shifter is a novel device that can be used to control the phase of a coherent beam of light. Phase shifting is becoming an integral function of most modern interferometric systems. Phase shifting can...
Briefs: Information Technology
A method to detect and to characterize the type of nonlinear dynamics in an aeroelastic system involves the utilization of information from wavelet processing of measurement data....
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Miniature ring-orbitron getter ion pumps have been proposed for supplying high vacuums to advanced scientific instruments expected to be developed in the next few years. Examples of such...
Briefs: Materials
Rechargeable lithium-ion electrochemical cells that contain anodes made from a mixture of graphite and carbon black have been found to perform better than do similar cells that contain anodes made...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Using Rayleigh Scattering To Measure Spacecraft Attitude
Two reports describe a Rayleigh-scattering attitude sensor (RSAS) - an optoelectronic instrument for determining the orientation of a spacecraft. An RSAS comprises a telescope/video-camera/image-digitizer combination that is mounted on the spacecraft and that captures images of the limb of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Diagnosing Gas-Turbine-Like Combustion by Use of PLIF
A report describes experiments in which planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of hydroxyl radicals was used to study the structures of flames in burner test rigs (a flame-tube combustor and a sector combustor) under conditions like those in combustors of aviation gas-turbine engines. The PLIF...
Briefs: Software
Automotive interior noise has become a critical consideration for manufacturers. Many studies have shown that interior noise in a vehicle has a major impact on the customer's perception of...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A regenerable, low-power air-purification system has been proposed for (1) removing toxic gases from solid-waste-incinerator exhaust and/or (2) removing trace contaminants from breathable air....
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The tool shown in the figure is a drill guide that can adapt to a curved or flat surface. The main function of the adaptable drill guide is to keep the axis of a drill perpendicular to the surface at the location of the...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Conservatism in Deterministic Structural Analysis
A paper discusses the excessive conservatism that has long been suspected to exist, because of the use of conventional (deterministic) safety factors, in the analysis and design of quasi-static structures. The origin of this conservatism is identified as a violation of statistical error-propagation...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Precise Closed-Loop Temperature-Control System
A control system that includes a single thermal source has been designed to afford precise control of the temperature of a fluid flowing in a closed-loop system. Similar control systems could make it possible to increase production levels and to reduce risks in industrial situations in which...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Lithium-Based Primary Cells for Low-Temperature Operation
A report describes an experimental study of the low-temperature electrical characteristics of commercial Li/MnO2, Li/CFx, Li/SO2, Li/SOCl2, and Li/BCX primary electrochemical cells. These high-energy-density cells are under consideration for use as lightweight, compact electric-power sources...
Briefs: Materials
A computational methodology for predicting the initiation and propagation of failures in laminated matrix/fiber composite-material structures has been developed. The methodology follows...
Briefs: Information Technology
Mechanical System Design/Analysis Tool (MSAT) is a user-friendly software system that facilitates and accelerates the processes of synthesizing and analyzing designs of mechanical systems. MSAT is...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Experiments on Vibration and Noise in Fuselages
A paper summarizes a continuing program of vibro-acoustic testing of two aircraft fuselage structures: (1) a 12-ft (3.7-m)-long generic aluminum test-bed cylinder that contains stiffening rings and stringers and (2) the 40-ft (12.2-m)-long fuselage of a 10-passenger turboprop airplane, made of...
Briefs: Information Technology
Development of Flight Software for Small Explorer Spacecraft
A report describes a continuing program of development of flight software for the attitude-control system (ACS) and the command-and-data-handling (C&DH) system of a prototype standard spacecraft of the Small Explorer (SMEX)-Lite class. Both the C&DH and ACS parts of the software...
Briefs: Materials
Program Predicts Uncertainties in Properties of CMCs
Probabilistic Ceramic Matrix Composite Analyzer (PCEMCAN) is a user-friendly computer program that predicts uncertainties in the mechanical and thermal properties of ceramic-matrix composite (CMC) materials. These materials are candidates for fabrication of structural components that will be...
Briefs: Materials
Electrodialysis has been shown to be an effective means for removing ammonium ions from wastewater without use of consumable chemicals and without adding other substances to the treated...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A variable-frequency, three-phase, sine-wave generator circuit has been designed for use as a source of polyphase excitation in studies of the propagation of traveling waves in plasmas. This circuit, combined...
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