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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
On-Wafer Measurement of a Multi-Stage MMIC Amplifier With 10 dB of Gain at 475 GHz
JPL has measured and calibrated a WR2.2 waveguide wafer probe from GGB Industries in order to allow for measurement of circuits in the 325–500 GHz range. Circuits were measured, and one of the circuits exhibited 10 dB of gain at 475 GHz.
Briefs: Software
Software to Control and Monitor Gas Streams
This software package interfaces with various gas stream devices such as pressure transducers, flow meters, flow controllers, valves, and analyzers such as a mass spectrometer. The software provides excellent user interfacing with various windows that provide time-domain graphs, valve state buttons,...
Briefs: Information Technology
Anomaly Detection in Test Equipment via Sliding Mode Observers
Nonlinear observers were originally developed based on the ideas of variable structure control, and for the purpose of detecting disturbances in complex systems. In this anomaly detection application, these observers were designed for estimating the distributed state of fluid flow in a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Miniaturized Laser Heterodyne Radiometer (LHR) for Measurements of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmospheric Column
This passive laser heterodyne radiometer (LHR) instrument simultaneously measures multiple trace gases in the atmospheric column including carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), and resolves their concentrations at different altitudes....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Fast and Adaptive Lossless Onboard Hyperspectral Data Compression System
Modern hyperspectral imaging systems are able to acquire far more data than can be downlinked from a spacecraft. Onboard data compression helps to alleviate this problem, but requires a system capable of power efficiency and high throughput. Software solutions have limited...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Iridium Interfacial Stack — IrIS
Iridium Interfacial Stack (IrIS) is the sputter deposition of high-purity tantalum silicide (TaSi2-400 nm) / platinum (Pt-200 nm) / iridium (Ir-200 nm) / platinum (Pt- 200 nm) in an ultra-high vacuum system followed by a 600 ºC anneal in nitrogen for 30 minutes. IrIS simultaneously acts as both a bond metal and a...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Goldstone Solar System Radar Waveform Generator
Due to distances and relative motions among the transmitter, target object, and receiver, the time-base between any transmitted and received signal will undergo distortion. Pre-distortion of the transmitted signal to compensate for this time-base distortion allows reception of an undistorted signal....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Amplitude-Stabilized Oscillator for a Capacitance- Probe Electrometer
A multichannel electrometer voltmeter that employs a mechanical resonator maintained in sustained amplitude-stabilized oscillation has been developed for the space-based measurement of an Internal Electrostatic Discharge Monitor (IESDM) sensor. The IESDM is new sensor technology...
Briefs: Software
Histogrammatic Method for Determining Relative Abundance of Input Gas Pulse
To satisfy the Major Constituents Analysis (MCA) requirements for the Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor (VCAM), this software analyzes the relative abundance ratios for N2, O2, Ar, and CO2 as a function of time and constructs their best-estimate mean. A histogram is first...
Briefs: Software
Predictive Sea State Estimation for Automated Ride Control and Handling — PSSEARCH
PSSEARCH provides predictive sea state estimation, coupled with closedloop feedback control for automated ride control. It enables a manned or unmanned watercraft to determine the 3D map and sea state conditions in its vicinity in real time. Adaptive path-planning/...
Briefs: Software
LEGION: Lightweight Expandable Group of Independently Operating Nodes
LEGION is a lightweight C-language software library that enables distributed asynchronous data processing with a loosely coupled set of compute nodes. Loosely coupled means that a node can offer itself in service to a larger task at any time and can withdraw itself from service...
Briefs: Software
Real-Time Projection to Verify Plan Success During Execution
The Mission Data System provides a framework for modeling complex systems in terms of system behaviors and goals that express intent. Complex activity plans can be represented as goal networks that express the coordination of goals on different state variables of the system. Real-time...
Briefs: Software
Automated Performance Characterization of DSN System Frequency Stability Using Spacecraft Tracking Data
This software provides an automated capability to measure and qualify the frequency stability performance of the Deep Space Network (DSN) ground system, using daily spacecraft tracking data. The results help to verify if the DSN performance is...
Briefs: Software
Web-Based Customizable Viewer for Mars Network Overflight Opportunities
This software displays a full summary of information regarding the overflight opportunities between any set of lander and orbiter pairs that the user has access to view. The information display can be customized, allowing the user to choose which fields to view/hide and filter.
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Graphene Transparent Conductive Electrodes for Next- Generation Microshutter Arrays
Graphene is a single atomic layer of graphite. It is optically transparent and has high electron mobility, and thus has great potential to make transparent conductive electrodes. This invention contributes towards the development of graphene transparent conductive...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Fabrication of a Cryogenic Terahertz Emitter for Bolometer Focal Plane Calibrations
A fabrication process is reported for prototype emitters of THz radiation, which operate cryogenically, and should provide a fast, stable blackbody source suitable for characterization of THz devices. The fabrication has been demonstrated and, at the time of this...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Fabrication of an Absorber-Coupled MKID Detector
Absorber-coupled microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) arrays were developed for submillimeter and farinfrared astronomy. These sensors comprise arrays of lambda/2 stepped microwave impedance resonators patterned on a 1.5-mm-thick silicon membrane, which is optimized for optical coupling. The...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Long-Life, Lightweight, Multi-Roller Traction Drives for Planetary Vehicle Surface Exploration
NASA’s initiative for Lunar and Martian exploration will require long lived, robust drive systems for manned vehicles that must operate in hostile environments. The operation of these mechanical drives will pose a problem because of the existing extreme...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Digital Architecture for a Trace Gas Sensor Platform
A digital architecture has been implemented for a trace gas sensor platform, as a companion to standard analog control electronics, which accommodates optical absorption whose fractional absorbance equivalent would result in excess error if assumed to be linear. In cases where the absorption...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Gas Composition Sensing Using Carbon Nanotube Arrays
This innovation is a lightweight, small sensor for inert gases that consumes a relatively small amount of power and provides measurements that are as accurate as conventional approaches. The sensing approach is based on generating an electrical discharge and measuring the specific gas breakdown...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Computational Ghost Imaging for Remote Sensing
This work relates to the generic problem of remote active imaging; that is, a source illuminates a target of interest and a receiver collects the scattered light off the target to obtain an image. Conventional imaging systems consist of an imaging lens and a high-resolution detector array [e.g., a CCD...
Briefs: Software
Dispersed Fringe Sensing Analysis — DFSA
Dispersed Fringe Sensing (DFS) is a technique for measuring and phasing segmented telescope mirrors using a dispersed broadband light image. DFS is capable of breaking the monochromatic light ambiguity, measuring ab solute piston errors between segments of large segmented primary mirrors to tens of...
Briefs: Information Technology
Model-Based Method for Sensor Validation
Fault detection, diagnosis, and prognosis are essential tasks in the operation of autonomous spacecraft, instruments, and in situ platforms. One of NASA’s key mission requirements is robust state estimation. Sensing, using a wide range of sensors and sensor fusion approaches, plays a central role in robust...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Indium Tin Oxide Resistor-Based Nitric Oxide Microsensors
A sensitive resistor-based NO microsensor, with a wide detection range and a low detection limit, has been developed. Semiconductor microfabrication techniques were used to create a sensor that has a simple, robust structure with a sensing area of 1.10 × 0.99 mm. A Pt interdigitated...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Sensor for Boundary Shear Stress in Fluid Flow
The formation of scour patterns at bridge piers is driven by the forces at the boundary of the water flow. In most experimental scour studies, indirect processes have been applied to estimate the shear stress using measured velocity profiles. The estimations are based on theoretical models and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Qualification of Engineering Camera for Long-Duration Deep Space Missions
Qualification and verification of advanced electronic packaging and interconnect technologies, and various other types of hardware elements for the Mars Exploration Rover’s Spirit and Opportunity (MER)/Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) flight projects, has been performed to...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Remotely Powered Reconfigurable Receiver for Extreme Environment Sensing Platforms
Wireless sensors connected in a local network offer revolutionary exploration capabilities, but the current solutions do not work in extreme environments of low temperatures (200K) and low to moderate radiation levels (<50 krad). These sensors (temperature,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Bump Bonding Using Metal-Coated Carbon Nanotubes
Bump bonding hybridization techniques use arrays of indium bumps to electrically and mechanically join two chips together. Surface-tension issues limit bump sizes to roughly as wide as they are high. Pitches are limited to 50 microns with bumps only 8–14 microns high on each wafer. A new process...
Briefs: Software
'In Situ' Mosaic Brightness Correction
In situ missions typically have pointable, mast-mounted cameras, which are capable of taking panoramic mosaics comprised of many individual frames. These frames are mosaicked together. While the mosaic software applies radiometric correction to the images, in many cases brightness/contrast seams still exist...
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