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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Continuous-Integration Laser Energy Lidar Monitor
This circuit design implements an integrator intended to allow digitization of the energy output of a pulsed laser, or the energy of a received pulse of laser light. It integrates the output of a detector upon which the laser light is incident. The integration is performed constantly, either by...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
n-B-pi-p Superlattice Infrared Detector
A specially designed barrier (B) is inserted at the n-pi junction [where most G-R (generation-recombination) processes take place] in the standard n-pi-p structure to substantially reduce generation-recombination dark currents. The resulting n-B-pi-p structure also has reduced tunneling dark currents, thereby...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Monolithic, High-Speed Fiber-Optic Switching Array for Lidar
Current fiber switch technologies use mechanical means to redirect light beams, resulting in slow switch time, as well as poor reliability due to moving parts wearing out quickly at high speeds. A non-mechanical ability to switch laser output into one of multiple fibers within a fiber...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Radius of Curvature Measurement of Large Optics Using Interferometry and Laser Tracker
The determination of radius of curvature (ROC) of optics typically uses either a phase measuring interferometer on an adjustable stage to determine the position of the ROC and the optics surface under test. Alternatively, a spherometer or a profilometer are used...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Miniaturized Airborne Imaging Central Server System
In recent years, some remote-sensing applications require advanced airborne multi-sensor systems to provide high performance reflective and emissive spectral imaging measurement rapidly over large areas. The key or unique problem of characteristics is associated with a black box back-end system...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Creep Measurement Video Extensometer
Understanding material behavior under load is critical to the efficient and accurate design of advanced aircraft and spacecraft. Technologies such as the one disclosed here allow accurate creep measurements to be taken automatically, reducing error.
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
General Tool for Evaluating High-Contrast Coronagraphic Telescope Performance Error Budgets
The Coronagraph Performance Error Budget (CPEB) tool automates many of the key steps required to evaluate the scattered starlight contrast in the dark hole of a space-based coronagraph. The tool uses a Code V prescription of the optical train, and uses...
Briefs: Materials
Carbon Nanotubes on Titanium Substrates for Stray Light Suppression
A method has been developed for growing carbon nanotubes on a titanium substrate, which makes the nanotubes ten times blacker than the current state-of-the-art paints in the visible to near infrared. This will allow for significant improvement of stray light performance in...
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
CgWind is a new, high-fidelity simulation tool designed to meet the modeling requirements of advanced wind energy resources. These new resources, targeting 20% of the US...
Briefs: Energy
An enhanced thin-film silicon photovoltaic device with improved efficiency has been developed. Thin-film silicon solar cells suffer from low material absorption characteristics,...
Briefs: Energy
Heat load is reduced by more than half.
An active thermal control system architecture has been modified to include a regenerative heat exchanger (regenerator) inboard of...
Briefs: Energy
Multi-Mission Power Analysis Tool
Multi-Mission Power Analysis Tool (MMPAT) Version 2 simulates spacecraft power generation, use, and storage in order to support spacecraft design, mission planning, and spacecraft operations. It can simulate all major aspects of a spacecraft power subsystem. It is parametrically driven to reduce or eliminate the...
Briefs: Information Technology
Optimal Tuner Selection for Kalman-Filter-Based Aircraft Engine Performance Estimation
An emerging approach in the field of aircraft engine controls and system health management is the inclusion of real-time, onboard models for the inflight estimation of engine performance variations. This technology, typically based on Kalman-filter concepts,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Power-Combined GaN Amplifier With 2.28-W Output Power at 87 GHz
Future remote sensing instruments will require focal plane spectrometer arrays with higher resolution at high frequencies. One of the major components of spectrometers are the local oscillator (LO) signal sources that are used to drive mixers to down-convert received radio-frequency...
Briefs: Information Technology
Airborne Radar Interferometric Repeat-Pass Processing
Earth science research often requires crustal deformation measurements at a variety of time scales, from seconds to decades. Although satellites have been used for repeat-track interferometric (RTI) synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) mapping for close to 20 years, RTI is much more difficult to...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A Space Environment Monitor (SEM) subsystem architecture has been developed and demonstrated that can benefit future spacecraft by providing (1) real-time knowledge of the spacecraft...
Briefs: Software
Wallops Ship Surveillance System
Approved as a Wallops control center backup system, the Wallops Ship Surveillance Software is a day-of-launch risk analysis tool for spaceport activities. The system calculates impact probabilities and displays ship locations relative to boundary lines. It enables rapid analysis of possible flight paths to preclude...
Briefs: Software
Guidance, Navigation, and Control Program
The Rendezvous and Proximity Operations Program (RPOP) is realtime guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) domain piloting-aid software that provides 3D Orbiter graphics and runs on the Space Shuttle’s Criticality-3 Payload and General Support Computer (PGSC) in the crew cockpit. This software...
Briefs: Software
Source Lines Counter (SLiC) Version 4.0
Source Lines Counter (SLiC) is a software utility designed to measure software source code size using logical source statements and other common measures for 22 of the programming languages commonly used at NASA and the aerospace industry. Such metrics can be used in a wide variety of applications, from...
Briefs: Software
Single-Frame Terrain Mapping Software for Robotic Vehicles
This software is a component in an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) perception system that builds compact, single-frame terrain maps for distribution to other systems, such as a world model or an operator control unit, over a local area network (LAN). Each cell in the map encodes an elevation...
Briefs: Software
Auto Draw From Excel Input Files
The design process often involves the use of Excel files during project development. To facilitate communications of the information in the Excel files, drawings are often generated. During the design process, the Excel files are updated often to reflect new input. The problem is that the drawings often lag the...
Briefs: Software
Observation Scheduling System
Software has been designed to schedule remote sensing with the Earth Observing One spacecraft. The software attempts to satisfy as many observation requests as possible considering each against spacecraft operation constraints such as data volume, thermal, pointing maneuvers, and others. More complex constraints such...
Briefs: Software
CFDP for Interplanetary Overlay Network
The CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) File Delivery Protocol for Interplanetary Overlay Network (CFDP-ION) is an implementation of CFDP that uses ION’s DTN (delay tolerant networking) implementation as its UT (unit-data transfer) layer. Because the DTN protocols effect automatic,...
Briefs: Software
X-Windows Widget for Image Display
XvicImage is a high-performance X-Windows (Motif-compliant) user interface widget for displaying images. It handles all aspects of low-level image display. The fully Motif-compliant image display widget handles the following tasks:
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
MMIC Replacement for Gunn Diode Oscillators
An all-solid-state replacement for high-frequency Gunn diode oscillators (GDOs) has been proposed for use in NASA’s millimeter- and submillimeter-wave sensing instruments. Highly developed microwave oscillators are used to achieve a low-noise and highly stable reference signal in the 10–40-GHz band....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Binary-Signal Recovery
Binary communication through long cables, opto-isolators, isolating transformers, or repeaters can become distorted in characteristic ways. The usual solution is to slow the communication rate, change to a different method, or improve the communication media. It would help if the characteristic distortions could be...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Volumetric 3D Display System With Static Screen
Current display technology has relied on flat, 2D screens that cannot truly convey the third dimension of visual information: depth. In contrast to conventional visualization that is primarily based on 2D flat screens, the volumetric 3D display possesses a true 3D display volume, and places physically...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Feature Acquisition With Imbalanced Training Data
This work considers cost-sensitive feature acquisition that attempts to classify a candidate datapoint from incomplete information. In this task, an agent acquires features of the datapoint using one or more costly diagnostic tests, and eventually ascribes a classification label. A cost function...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Carbon Nanotube-Based Structural Health Monitoring Sensors
Carbon nanotube (CNT)-based sensors for structural health monitoring (SHM) can be embedded in structures of all geometries to monitor conditions both inside and at the surface of the structure to continuously sense changes. These CNTs can be manipulated into specific orientations to create...
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