Briefs: Aerospace
Lateral Kevlar Suspension Device (LKSD)
The Lateral Kevlar Suspension Device (LKSD) is made up of a support ring that has three spring-loaded tension assemblies equally spaced around the support ring. Connected to these tension assemblies is a band that supports a separate ring capable of holding a cylindrical shaped load.
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Chip Converts Wasted Heat to Usable Energy
Car engines, laptop computers, cellphones, and refrigerators all heat up with overuse. That heat can be captured and turned into energy using a method that produces electricity from heat. The technology uses a silicon chip, also known as a “device,” that converts more thermal radiation into...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
3D Printing of Magnetic Liquid Droplets
Systems such as magnetic data storage devices and MRI body scan machines rely on magnets made from solid materials. Now, using a modified 3D printer, scientists have made magnetic devices from...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Tiny “Walking” Motor Moves in Discrete Mechanical Steps
A set of five tiny fundamental parts can be assembled into a wide variety of functional devices including a tiny “walking” motor that can move back and forth across a surface or...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
High-Speed 3D Printer for High-Performance Plastics
3D printers that build small parts layer by layer from melted plastic can take up to an hour to produce a pocket-sized piece. This process is far too slow for the mass-production of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Lightweight Exosuit Combines Robotics and Functional Apparel
Between walking and running, human gaits can cover a wide range of speeds; for example, at low speeds, the metabolic rate of walking is lower than that of running in a slow jog....
Briefs: Software
System for Incorporating a Physiological Self-Regulation Challenge into Parcourse/Orienteering Type Games and Simulations
Although biofeedback is an effective treatment for various physiological problems and can be used to optimize physiological functioning in many ways, the benefits can only be attained through a number of training sessions,...
Briefs: Transportation
Software Applications for the Control and Management of the Amine Swingbed Experiment
The Swingbed software applications provide for the control, command, fault detection, fault recovery, and telemetry monitoring aspects of the Amine Swingbed experiment. These software components are the Swingbed Loader Computer Software Configuration Item...
Briefs: Materials
Atomically Thin Heat Shield Protects Electronic Devices
Excess heat given off by smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices contributes to malfunctions and, in extreme cases, can even cause lithium batteries to explode. To guard...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Immersion Precipitation 3D Printing for Porous Structures
Materials with controlled porosity have found diverse applications in separation, catalysis, energy storage, sensors and actuators, tissue engineering, and drug delivery. Multiple...
Briefs: Energy
Wireless Transceiver Quadruples Speed of 5G
A new wireless transceiver was developed that boosts radio frequencies into 100-gigahertz territory, which is quadruple the speed of the upcoming 5G, or fifth-generation, wireless communications...
Briefs: Materials
Invisible Tags Write, Read, and Erase Using Light
A method was developed that enables information to be contained in simple plastic foils with a thickness of less than 50 μm, which is thinner than a human hair. Organic luminescent molecules...
Briefs: Software
Dynamic Microstructures Move by Light and Temperature
3D printing via direct laser writing involves a computer-controlled focused laser beam that acts as a pen and creates the desired structure in the printer ink — a photoresist. In this...
News: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Lightweight Sensing and Control System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Monitoring
A new sensing and control system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) allows for semi-autonomous flight. Pilots need not leave the ground to conduct routine monitoring and surveillance quickly and cost-effectively. Such systems are particularly useful during long flight...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Manufacturing Process for Aluminum Alloys
An advanced manufacturing process was developed to produce nano-structured rods and tubes directly from high-performance aluminum alloy powder in a single step. Using a Solid Phase Processing...
Briefs: Energy
Rose-Inspired Device Collects and Purifies Water
A new device, inspired by a rose, inexpensively collects and purifies water. The device is a new approach to solar steaming for water production — a technique that uses energy from sunlight...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
New Airplane Wing Assembled from Tiny Identical Pieces
A radically new kind of airplane wing, assembled from hundreds of tiny identical pieces, can change shape to control the plane’s flight, and could provide a significant boost in...
Briefs: Defense
Technique Locates Robots and Humans in GPS-Challenged Environments
An algorithm enables localization of humans and robots in areas where GPS is unavailable. The Army needs to be able to localize agents operating in physically complex, unknown, and infrastructure-poor environments. This capability is critical to help find dismounted soldiers and...
Briefs: Medical
3D-Printed Liquid Lab-on-a-Chip
Researchers have 3D-printed an all-liquid device that, with the click of a button, can be repeatedly reconfigured on demand to serve a wide range of applications from making battery materials to screening drug...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Ultrathin Transistors for Faster Computer Chips
For decades, microchip transistors have become smaller, faster, and cheaper; however, miniaturization has reached a natural limit, as completely new problems arise when a length scale of only a...
Briefs: Aerospace
Aircraft Vertical Takeoff and Landing
NASA’s Langley Research Center developed an inexpensive, long-endurance, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It is capable of flying for 24 hours, landing in a 50 × 50...
Briefs: Materials
Compact, Lightweight, CMC-Based Acoustic Liner
In the wake of recent developments that have reduced fan and jet noise contributions to overall jet-engine noise, aircraft designers are turning their attention toward reducing engine core...
Briefs: Aerospace
Neural Lander Uses AI to Land Drones Smoothly
Landing multi-rotor drones smoothly is difficult. Complex turbulence is created by the airflow from each rotor bouncing off the ground during a descent. This turbulence is not well understood nor is it easy to compensate for, particularly for autonomous drones. That is why takeoff and landing are...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Structure Deformation Calculation Program for Structural Shape Monitoring
Researchers at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center are pioneering shape-sensing technologies that seek to maximize structural integrity and efficiency. A new and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Smartphone App Programs Robots
A smartphone app was developed that allows a user to easily program any robot to perform a mundane activity such as picking up parts from one area and delivering them to another. The app, called VRa, uses...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
High-Sensitivity, Low-Noise MEMS Accelerometer
A high-sensitivity and low-noise MEMS accelerometer was developed using multi-layer metal structures composed of multiple metal layers. The accelerometer achieves 1 μG level resolution that has...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Miniature Stretchable Pump
Soft robots have a distinct advantage over rigid robots: they can adapt to complex environments, handle fragile objects, and interact safely with humans. Made from silicone, rubber, or other stretchable polymers,...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Automated System Generates Robotic Parts
An automated system designs and 3D-prints complex robotic parts that are optimized according to an enormous number of specifications. The system fabricates actuators — devices that mechanically...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Magnetic Metamaterial Amplifies MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create images of organs and tissues in the human body, helping doctors diagnose potential problems or diseases. Doctors use MRI to...
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