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Briefs: Medical
Biochips containing arrays of nanoelectrodes based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are being developed as means of ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of specific...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The figure is a simplified depiction of a proposed Fourier telescope for imaging in hard-x rays and γ rays. This instrument would contain only one pair of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A bidirectional pressure-regulator system has been devised for use in a regenerative fuel cell system. The bidirectional pressure- regulator acts as a back-pressure regulator as gas flows through the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Neon as a Buffer Gas for a Mercury-Ion Clock
One aspect of the topic of "Compact, Highly Stable Ion Clock" (NPO-43075), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 5 (May 2008), page 63, is examined in more detail. To recapitulate: A developmental miniature mercury-ion clock has stability comparable to that of a hydrogen-maser clock. The ion-handling components...
Briefs: Information Technology
Lossless, Multi-Spectral Data Compressor for Improved Compression for Pushbroom-Type Instruments
A low-complexity lossless algorithm for compression of multispectral data has been developed that takes into account pushbroom-type multispectral imagers' properties in order to make the file compression more effective. These types of imagers use a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A prism window has been devised for use, with an autocollimator, in aligning optical components that are (1) required to be oriented parallel to each other and/or at a specified angle of incidence with respect...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
NbₓTi₁₋ₓN Superconducting-Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors
Superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) in which NbxTi1–xN (where xerve as the superconducting materials have shown promise as superior alternatives to previously developed SNSPDs in which NbN films serve as the superconducting materials. SNSPDs have potential...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Miniature incandescent lamps of a special type have been invented to satisfy a need for compact, rapid-response, rugged, broadband, power-efficient, fiber-optic-coupled light sources for...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
This work represents a radical simplification in the design of the optical head needed for high-precision laser ranging applications. The optical head is now a single fiber-optic collimator with...
Briefs: Information Technology
An improved method of computing positions of objects from digitized images acquired by two or more cameras (see figure) has been developed for use in tracking debris shed by a spacecraft...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A charge-control unit was developed as part of a program to validate Li-ion cells packaged together in batteries for aerospace use. The lithium-ion cell charge- control unit will be useful to...
Briefs: Information Technology
Reduced-Order Kalman Filtering for Processing Relative Measurements
A study in Kalman-filter theory has led to a method of processing relative measurements to estimate the current state of a physical system, using less computation than has previously been thought necessary. As used here, "relative measurements" signifies measurements that yield...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The figure schematically depicts a lidar system for measuring optical properties of clouds and aerosols at three wavelengths. The system is designed to be operated aboard the NASA...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Spaceborne Processor Array
A Spaceborne Processor Array in Multifunctional Structure (SPAMS) can lower the total mass of the electronic and structural overhead of spacecraft, resulting in reduced launch costs, while increasing the science return through dynamic onboard computing. SPAMS integrates the multifunctional structure (MFS) and the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) would be used for commercial product activation, according to a proposal. The concept of RFID is not new: RFID systems are widely used in commerce for tracking such...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A chromatic modulator has been proposed to enable the separate detection of the red, green, and blue (RGB) color components of the same scene by a single charge- coupled device (CCD),...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An improved self-validating thermocouple (SVT) instrumentation system not only acquires readings from a thermocouple but is also capable of detecting deterioration and a variety of discrete faults...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The cup cylindrical waveguide antenna (CCWA) is a short backfire microwave antenna capable of simultaneously supporting the transmission or reception of two distinct signals having opposite circular...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
To help satisfy a need for high-density logic circuits insensitive to radiation, it has been proposed to realize inverse majority gates as microscopic vacuum electronic devices. In comparison with...
Briefs: Information Technology
Aerobraking Maneuver (ABM) Report Generator
abmREPORT Version 3.1 is a Perl script that extracts vital summarization information from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) aerobraking ABM build process. This information facilitates sequence reviews, and provides a high-level summarization of the sequence for mission management.
Briefs: Information Technology
ABM Drag_Pass Report Generator
dragREPORT software was developed in parallel with abmREPORT, which is described in the preceding article. Both programs were built on the capabilities created during that process. This tool generates a drag_pass report that summarizes vital information from the MRO aerobreaking drag_pass build process to facilitate...
Briefs: Information Technology
Transformation of OODT CAS To Perform Larger Tasks
A computer program denoted OODT CAS has been transformed to enable performance of larger tasks that involve greatly increased data volumes and increasingly intensive processing of data on heterogeneous, geographically dispersed computers. Prior to the transformation, OODT CAS (also alternatively...
Briefs: Information Technology
Visualization Component of Vehicle Health Decision Support System
The visualization front-end of a Decision Support System (DSS) also includes an analysis engine linked to vehicle telemetry, and a database of learned models for known behaviors. Because the display is graphical rather than text-based, the summarization it provides has a greater...
Briefs: Information Technology
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Uplink Analysis Tool
This software analyzes Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) orbital geometry with respect to Mars Exploration Rover (MER) contact windows, and is the first tool of its kind designed specifically to support MRO-MER interface coordination. Prior to this automated tool, this analysis was done manually with...
Briefs: Information Technology
G-Guidance Interface Design for Small Body Mission Simulation
The G-Guidance software implements a guidance and control (G&C) algorithm for small-body, autonomous proximity operations, developed under the Small Body GN&C task at JPL. The software is written in Matlab and interfaces with G-OPT, a JPL-developed optimization package written in...
Briefs: Information Technology
DSN Scheduling Engine
The DSN (Deep Space Network) Scheduling Engine targets all space missions that use DSN services. It allows clients to issue scheduling, conflict identification, conflict resolution, and status requests in XML over a Java Message Service interface. The scheduling requests may include new requirements that represent a set of...
Briefs: Information Technology
Replacement Sequence of Events Generator
The soeWINDOW program automates the generation of an ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations)- compliant sub-RSOE (Replacement Sequence of Events) by extracting a specified temporal window from an RSOE while maintaining page header information. RSOEs contain a significant amount of information that...
Briefs: Information Technology
Force-Control Algorithm for Surface Sampling
A G-FCON algorithm is designed for small-body surface sampling. It has a linearization component and a feedback component to enhance performance. The algorithm regulates the contact force between the tip of a robotic arm attached to a spacecraft and a surface during sampling. The control algorithm is...
Briefs: Information Technology
Problem Reporting System
The Problem Reporting System (PRS) is a Web application, running on two Web servers (load-balanced) and two database servers (RAID-5), which establishes a system for submission, editing, and sharing of reports to manage risk assessment of anomalies identified in NASA's flight projects. PRS consolidates diverse anomaly-...
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