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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Wide-Range Temperature Sensors With High-Level Pulse Train Output
Two types of temperature sensors have been developed for wide-range temperature applications. The two sensors measure temperature in the range of –190 to +200 °C and utilize a thin-film platinum RTD (resistance temperature detector) as the temperature-sensing element. Other parts...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Wrap-Around Out-the-Window Sensor Fusion System
The Advanced Cockpit Evaluation System (ACES) includes communication, computing, and display subsystems, mounted in a van, that synthesize out-the-window views to approximate the views of the outside world as it would be seen from the cockpit of a crewed spacecraft, aircraft, or remote control of a...
Briefs: Software
Terminal Descent Sensor Simulation
Sulcata software simulates the operation of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) radar terminal descent sensor (TDS). The program models TDS radar antennas, RF hardware, and digital processing, as well as the physics of scattering from a coherent ground surface. This application is specific to this sensor and is...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A Robust Mechanical Sensing System for Unmanned Sea Surface Vehicles
The need for autonomous navigation and intelligent control of unmanned sea surface vehicles requires a mechanically robust sensing architecture that is watertight, durable, and insensitive to vibration and shock loading. The sensing system developed here comprises four black and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Some progress has been reported in continuing research on the use of anion-receptor compounds as electrolyte additives to increase the sustainable rates of discharge and, hence, the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Li/CFₓ Cells Optimized for Low-Temperature Operation
Several prior developments are combined.
Some developments reported in prior NASA Tech Briefs articles on primary electrochemical power cells containing lithium anodes and fluorinated carbonaceous (CFx) cathodes have been combined to yield a product line of cells optimized for...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A method of encoding and reading numbers incorporates some of the features of conventional optical bar coding and radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagging, but overcomes some of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Networks of passive radio beacons spanning moderate-sized terrain areas have been proposed to aid navigation of small robotic aircraft that would be used to explore Saturn’s moon...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Optical Injection Locking of a VCSEL in an OEO
Optical injection locking has been demonstrated to be effective as a means of stabilizing the wavelength of light emitted by a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) that is an active element in the frequency-control loop of an opto-electronic oscillator (OEO) designed to implement an atomic...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A superconducting hot-electron bolometer has been built and tested as a prototype of high-sensitivity, rapid-response detectors of submillimeter-wavelength radiation. There are diverse...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Measuring Multiple Resistances Using Single-Point Excitation
In a proposed method of determining the resistances of individual DC electrical devices (e.g., batteries or fuel-cell stacks containing multiple electrochemical cells) connected in a series or parallel string, no attempt would be made to perform direct measurements on individual devices....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Improved-Bandwidth Transimpedance Amplifier
The widest available operational amplifier, with the best voltage and current noise characteristics, is considered for transimpedance amplifier (TIA) applications where wide bandwidth is required to handle fast rising input signals (as for time-of-flight measurement cases). The added amplifier inside the...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Thin-Film Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
The development of thin-film solid oxide fuel cells (TFSOFCs) and a method of fabricating them have progressed to the prototype stage. A TFSOFC consists of the following:
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Novel Materials Containing Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Wrapped in Polymer Molecules
In this design, single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been coated in polymer molecules to create a new type of material that has low electrical conductivity, but still contains individual nanotubes, and small ropes of individual nanotubes, which are themselves...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Light-Curing Adhesive Repair Tapes
Adhesive tapes, the adhesive resins of which can be cured (and thereby rigidized) by exposure to ultraviolet and/or visible light, are being developed as repair patch materials. The tapes, including their resin components, consist entirely of solid, low-out-gassing, nonhazardous or minimally hazardous materials....
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Zinc Alloys for the Fabrication of Semiconductor Devices
ZnBeO and ZnCdSeO alloys have been disclosed as materials for the improvement in performance, function, and capability of semiconductor devices. The alloys can be used alone or in combination to form active photonic layers that can emit over a range of wavelength values.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The terms “inherently ducted propfan” (IDP) and “inherently ducted bi-prop” (IDBP) denote members of a proposed class of propfan engines that would be quieter and would weigh less than do other...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A small, lightweight, collapsible glove box enables its user to perform small experiments and other tasks. Originally intended for use aboard a space shuttle or the International Space Station (ISS),...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Steel Primer Chamber Assemblies for Dual Initiated Pyrovalves
A solution was developed to mitigate the potential risk of ignition failures and burn-through in aluminum primer chamber assemblies on pyrovalves. This was accomplished by changing the assembly material from aluminum to steel, and reconfiguration of flame channels to provide more direct...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Aerial Deployment and Inflation System for Mars Helium Balloons
A method is examined for safely deploying and inflating helium balloons for missions at Mars. The key for making it possible to deploy balloons that are light enough to be buoyant in the thin, Martian atmosphere is to mitigate the transient forces on the balloon that might tear it.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Radial Halbach magnetic bearings have been investigated as part of an effort to develop increasingly reliable non-contact bearings for future high-speed rotary machines that may be used in such applications as...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Voice Coil Percussive Mechanism Concept for Hammer Drill
A hammer drill design of a voice coil linear actuator, spring, linear bearings, and a hammer head was proposed. The voice coil actuator moves the hammer head to produce impact to the end of the drill bit. The spring is used to store energy on the retraction and to capture the rebound energy...
Briefs: Materials
It is now possible to grow silicon nanowires at chosen positions and orientations by a method that involves a combination of standard microfabrication processes. Because their...
Briefs: Materials
Palladium chloride films have been found to be useful as alternatives to the gold films heretofore used to detect airborne elemental mercury at concentrations of the order of parts per...
Briefs: Materials
Like the palladium chloride (PdCl2) films described in the immediately preceding article, gold nanowire sensors have been found to be useful for detecting airborne elemental mercury at...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Nanowire electron scattering spectroscopy (NESS) has been proposed as the basis of a class of ultra-small, ultra-low-power sensors that could be used to detect and identify chemical compounds present in...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A proposal has been made to develop devices that would generate spin-polarized electron currents characterized by polarization ratios having magnitudes in excess of 1. Heretofore, such...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A parameterized orthogonal tight-binding mathematical model of the quantum electronic structure of the bismuth telluride molecule has been devised for use in conjunction with a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An apparatus for extracting organic compounds from soils, sands, and other solid matrix materials utilizes water at subcritical temperature and pressure as a solvent. The apparatus,...
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