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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Small-Bolt Torque-Tension Tester
Current torque-tension measurement techniques involve using load washers as the force measuring transducer. The disadvantage of load washers is that they are too large to be used with fasteners smaller than about size #8. The device described here measures the torque-tension relationship for fasteners as small as...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Apparatus Measures Thermal Conductance Through a Thin Sample From Cryogenic to Room Temperature
An apparatus allows the measurement of the thermal conductance across a thin sample clamped between metal plates, including thermal boundary resistances. It allows in-situ variation of the clamping force from zero to 30 lb (133.4 N), and variation of the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A proposed method of stabilizing microwave and millimeter-wave oscillators calls for the use of feedback in optoelectronic delay lines characterized by high values of the resonance quality...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Integrated Spacesuit Audio System Enhances Speech Quality and Reduces Noise
A new approach has been proposed for increasing astronaut comfort and speech capture. Currently, the special design of a spacesuit forms an extreme acoustic environment making it difficult to capture clear speech without compromising comfort. The current system, called...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A small, segmented microstrip patch antenna integrated with an X-band feedback oscillator on a high- permittivity substrate has been built and tested (see Figure 1). The oscillator antenna is powered by...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A bilateral subtraction filter has been implemented as a hardware module in the form of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). In general, a bilateral subtraction filter is a key...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Lattice-Matched Semiconductor Layers on Single Crystalline Sapphire Substrate
SiGe is an important semiconductor alloy for high-speed field effect transistors (FETs), high-temperature thermoelectric devices, photovoltaic solar cells, and photon detectors. The growth of SiGe layer is difficult because SiGe alloys have different lattice constants...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Discrete Fourier Transform Analysis in a Complex Vector Space
Alternative computational strategies for the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) have been developed using analysis of geometric manifolds. This approach provides a general framework for performing DFT calculations, and suggests a more efficient implementation of the DFT for applications...
Briefs: Materials
Self-Assembling, Flexible, Pre-Ceramic Composite Preforms
In this innovation, light weight, high temperature, compact aerospace structures with increased design options are made possible by using self-assembling, flexible, pre-ceramic composite materials. These materials are comprised of either ceramic or carbon fiber performs, which are...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Miniature scroll pumps have been proposed as roughing pumps (low-vacuum pumps) for miniature scientific instruments (e.g., portable mass spectrometers and gas analyzers) that depend on vacuum. The...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Light-driven polymeric bimorph actuators are being developed as alternatives to prior electrically and optically driven actuators in advanced, highly miniaturized devices and systems exemplified by...
Briefs: Information Technology
Guaranteeing Failsafe Operation of Extended-Scene Shack-Hartmann Wavefront Sensor Algorithm
A Shack-Hartmann sensor (SHS) is an optical instrument consisting of a lenslet array and a camera. It is widely used for wavefront sensing in optical testing and astronomical adaptive optics. The camera is placed at the focal point of the lenslet array and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
T-slide linear actuators use gear bearing differential epicyclical transmissions (GBDETs) to directly drive a linear rack, which, in turn, performs the actuation. Conventional systems use a rotary power source in...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Cloud Water Content Sensor for Sounding Balloons and Small UAVs
A lightweight, battery-powered sensor was developed for measuring cloud water content, which is the amount of liquid or solid water present in a cloud, generally expressed as grams of water per cubic meter. This sensor has near-zero power consumption and can be flown on standard...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Pixelized Device Control Actuators for Large Adaptive Optics
A fully integrated, compact, adaptive space optic mirror assembly has been developed, incorporating new advances in ultralight, high- performance composite mirrors. The composite mirrors use Q-switch matrix architecture- based pixelized control (PMN-PT) actuators, which achieve high-...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Three-stage monolithic millimeter-wave integrated-circuit (MMIC) amplifiers capable of providing useful amounts of gain over the frequency range from 120 to 180 GHz have been developed as prototype...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Closely following the development reported in the article, "Low-Noise MMIC Amplifiers for 120 to 180 GHz" (NPO-42783), three new monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Some logic circuits have been built and demonstrated to work substantially as intended, all as part of a continuing effort to exploit the high degrees of design flexibility and functionality of the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
It is possible to synthesize a voltage-controlled negative-differential-resistance (NDR) device or circuit by use of a pair of complementary G4FETs (four-gate field-effect...
Briefs: Materials
Mercuric Iodide Anticoincidence Shield for Gamma-Ray Spectrometer
A film-growth process was developed for polycrystalline mercuric iodide that creates cost-effective, large-area detectors for high-energy charged-particle detection. A material, called a barrier film, is introduced onto the substrate before the normal mercuric iodide film growth...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An improved method of designing complexly shaped inflatable shells to be assembled from gores was conceived for original application to the inflatable outer shell of a developmental...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Electrically variable or programmable capacitors based on the unique properties of thin perovskite films are undergoing development. These capacitors show promise of overcoming two...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Vector modulators are used to impose baseband modulation on RF signals, but non- ideal behavior limits the overall performance. The non-ideal behavior of the vector modulator is compensated...
Briefs: Materials
Using Ozone To Clean and Passivate Oxygen-Handling Hardware
A proposed method of cleaning, passivating, and verifying the cleanliness of oxygen-handling hardware would extend the established art of cleaning by use of ozone. As used here, “cleaning” signifies ridding all exposed surfaces of combustible (in particular, carbon-based) contaminants....
Briefs: Materials
Two-Piece Screens for Decontaminating Granular Material
Two-piece screens have been designed specifically for use in filtering a granular material to remove contaminant particles that are significantly wider or longer than are the desired granules. In the original application for which the two-piece screens were conceived, the granular material is...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Rectangular-waveguide inserts that are made of non-ferromagnetic metals and are sized and shaped to function as notch filters have been conceived as reference standards for use in the...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Ultra-Large Solar Sail
UltraSail is a next- generation ultra-large (km2 class) sail system. Analysis of the launch, deployment, stabilization, and control of these sails shows that high-payload-mass fractions for interplanetary and deep-space missions are possible. UltraSail combines propulsion and control systems developed for formation- flying...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Teamed Robots for Exploration and Science in Steep Areas (TRESSA) is a system of three autonomous mobile robots that cooperate with each other to enable scientific exploration of steep...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Assemblies of tanks having shapes that conform to each other and/or conform to other proximate objects have been investigated for use in storing fuels and oxidizers in small available spaces in upper stages of...
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