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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Small Microprocessor for ASIC or FPGA Implementation
A small microprocessor, suitable for use in applications in which high reliability is required, was designed to be implemented in either an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The design is based on commercial microprocessor architecture,...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Source-Coupled, N-Channel, JFET-Based Digital Logic Gate Structure Using Resistive Level Shifters
A circuit topography is used to create usable, digital logic gates using N (negatively doped) channel junction field effect transistors (JFETs), load resistors, level shifting resistors, and supply rails whose values are based on the DC parametric...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Monitoring Digital Closed-Loop Feedback Systems
A technique of monitoring digital closed-loop feedback systems has been conceived. The basic idea is to obtain information on the performances of closed-loop feedback circuits in such systems to aid in the determination of the functionality and integrity of the circuits and of performance margins.
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Evaluation of the Reflection Coefficient of Microstrip Elements for Reflectarray Antennas
Basis functions were studied and identified that provide efficient and accurate solutions for the induced patch currents and the reflection phase in microstrip reflectarrays. The integral equation of an infinite array of microstrip elements in the form of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Smaller (volume, mass, power) electronics for a Ka-band (36 GHz) radar interferometer were required. To reduce size and achieve better control over RF-phase versus temperature, fully hybrid electronics...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Radiation-Tolerant, SpaceWire-Compatible Switching Fabric
Current and future near-Earth and deep space exploration programs and space defense programs require the development of robust intra-spacecraft serial data transfer electronics that must be reconfigurable, fault-tolerant, and have the ability to operate effectively for long periods of time...
Briefs: Software
MASCOT — MATLAB Stability and Control Toolbox
MASCOT software was created to provide the conceptual aircraft designer accurate predictions of air vehicle stability and control characteristics. The code takes as input mass property data in the form of an inertia tensor, aerodynamic loading data, and propulsion (i.e. thrust) loading data. Using...
Briefs: Software
MIRO Continuum Calibration for Asteroid Mode
MIRO (Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter) is a lightweight, uncooled, dual-frequency heterodyne radiometer. The MIRO encountered asteroid Steins in 2008, and during the flyby, MIRO used the Asteroid Mode to measure the emission spectrum of Steins. The Asteroid Mode is one of the seven modes of...
Briefs: Software
GOATS Image Projection Component
When doing mission analysis and design of an imaging system in orbit around the Earth, answering the fundamental question of imaging performance requires an understanding of the image products that will be produced by the imaging system. At the highest level, this understanding can be gained by a first-principles...
Briefs: Software
Coded Modulation in C and MATLAB
This software, written separately in C and MATLAB as stand-alone packages with equivalent functionality, implements encoders and decoders for a set of nine error-correcting codes and modulators and demodulators for five modulation types. The software can be used as a single program to simulate the performance of...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Low-Dead-Volume Inlet for Vacuum Chamber
Gas introduction from near-ambient pressures to high vacuum traditionally is accomplished either by multi-stage differential pumping that allows for very rapid response, or by a capillary method that allows for a simple, single-stage introduction, but which often has a delayed response. Another means to...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Infrared-Bolometer Arrays With Reflective Backshorts
Integrated circuits that incorporate square arrays of superconducting-transition-edge bolometers with optically reflective backshorts are being developed for use in image sensors in the spectral range from far infrared to millimeter wavelengths. To maximize the optical efficiency (and, thus,...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Method for Selective Cleaning of Mold Release From Composite Honeycomb Surfaces
Honeycomb structures are commonly employed as load- and force-bearing structures as they are structurally strong and lightweight. These structures include many aircraft and spacecraft surfaces, including aircraft wings and fuselages, spacecraft pressure vessels, and...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Thermal Control Method for High-Current Wire Bundles by Injecting a Thermally Conductive Filler
A procedure was developed to inject thermal filler material (a paste-like substance) inside the power wire bundle coming from solar arrays. This substance fills in voids between wires, which enhances the heat path and reduces wire temperature. This leads...
Briefs: Materials
Commercialization of LARC™-SI Polyimide Technology
LARC™-SI, Langley Research Center-Soluble Imide, was developed in 1992, with the first patent issuing in 1997, and then subsequent patents issued in 1998 and 2000. Currently, this polymer has been successfully licensed by NASA, and has generated revenues, at the time of this reporting, in...
Briefs: Materials
Novel Low-Density Ablators Containing Hyperbranched Poly(azomethine)s
An ablative composite is low-density (0.25 to 0.40 g/cm3), easy to fabricate, and superior to the current state-of-the-art ablator (phenolic impregnated carbon ablator, PICA) in terms of decomposition temperature, char yield, and mechanical strength. Initial ablative testing with...
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
A spectroelectrochemical instrument has been developed for measuring the total organic carbon (TOC) content of an aqueous solution. Measurements of TOC are frequently performed in environmental,...
Briefs: Medical
Hydrofocusing Bioreactor Produces Anti-Cancer Alkaloids
A methodology for growing three-dimensional plant tissue models in a hydrodynamic focusing bioreactor (HFB) has been developed. The methodology is expected to be widely applicable, both on Earth and in outer space, as a means of growing plant cells and aggregates thereof under controlled...
Briefs: Medical
A Miniaturized Video System for Monitoring Drosophila Behavior
Long-term spaceflight may induce a variety of harmful effects in astronauts, resulting in altered motor and cognitive behavior. The stresses experienced by humans in space — most significantly weightlessness (microgravity) and cosmic radiation — are difficult to accurately simulate...
Briefs: Information Technology
Evolutionary Computational Methods for Identifying Emergent Behavior in Autonomous Systems
A technique based on Evolutionary Computational Methods (ECMs) was developed that allows for the automated optimization of complex computationally modeled systems, such as autonomous systems. The primary technology, which enables the ECM to find optimal...
Briefs: Information Technology
Sampling Theorem in Terms of the Bandwidth and Sampling Interval
An approach has been developed for interpolating non-uniformly sampled data, with applications in signal and image reconstruction. This innovation generalizes the Whittaker-Shannon sampling theorem by emphasizing two assumptions explicitly (definition of a band-limited function and...
Briefs: Information Technology
Spatial Query for Planetary Data
Science investigators need to quickly and effectively assess past observations of specific locations on a planetary surface. This innovation involves a location-based search technology that was adapted and applied to planetary science data to support a spatial query capability for mission operations software.
Briefs: Information Technology
Optimal Padding for the Two-Dimensional Fast Fourier
One-dimensional Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operations work fastest on grids whose size is divisible by a power of two. Because of this, padding grids (that are not already sized to a power of two) so that their size is the next highest power of two can speed up operations. While this works well...
Briefs: Information Technology
Safe Onboard Guidance and Control Under Probabilistic Uncertainty
An algorithm was developed that determines the fuel-optimal spacecraft guidance trajectory that takes into account uncertainty, in order to guarantee that mission safety constraints are satisfied with the required probability. The algorithm uses convex optimization to solve for the...
Briefs: Information Technology
Hidden Statistics of Schrödinger Equation
Work was carried out in determination of the mathematical origin of randomness in quantum mechanics and creating a hidden statistics of Schrödinger equation; i.e., to expose the transitional stochastic process as a “bridge” to the quantum world. The governing equations of hidden statistics would...
Briefs: Information Technology
Higher Order Mode Coupling in Feed Waveguide of a Planar Slot Array Antenna
A simple technique was developed to account for the higher order mode coupling between adjacent coupling slots in the feed waveguide of a planar slot array. The method uses an equation relating the slot impedance to the slot voltage and a reaction integral involving the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Wireless Orbiter Hang-Angle Inclinometer System
A document describes a system to reliably gather the hang-angle inclination of the orbiter. The system comprises a wireless handheld master station (which contains the main station software) and a wireless remote station (which contains the inclinometer sensors, the RF transceivers, and the remote...
Briefs: Information Technology
Meteoroid/Orbital Debris Shield Engineering Development Practice and Procedure
A document describes a series of models created for the determination of the probability of survival of critical spacecraft components from particle strike damage caused by hyper-velocity impact of meteoroids and/or orbital debris. These models were integrated with both...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Internal Electrostatic Discharge Monitor — IESDM
A document discusses an innovation designed to effectively monitor dielectric charging in spacecraft components to measure the potential for discharge in order to prevent damage from internal electrostatic discharge (IESD). High-energy electrons penetrate the structural materials and shielding of a...
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