Briefs: Electronics & Computers
SpaceWire Driver Software for Special DSPs
A computer program provides a high-level C-language interface to electronics circuitry that controls a SpaceWire interface in a system based on a space qualified version of the ADSP-21020 digital signal processor (DSP). SpaceWire is a spacecraft-oriented standard for packet-switching data-communication...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Nanoconverters for Powering Nanodevices
Proposed integrated-circuit modules called "nanoconverters" would derive DC power from impinging electromagnetic beams having frequencies in the terahertz range. Nanoconverters are composed of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Contactless Rotary Electrical Couplings
Rotary electrical couplings based on induction (transformer action) rather than conduction between rotating and stationary circuitry have been invented. These couplings provide an alternative to slip...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
MOS Circuitry Would Detect Low-Energy Charged Particles
Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) circuits for measuring spatially varying intensities of beams of low-energy charged particles have been developed. These circuits are intended especially...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Software for Remote Monitoring of Space-Station Payloads
Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a suite of application programs that enables geographically dispersed users to monitor scientific payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). TReK provides local ground support services that can simultaneously receive, process, record,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Relating Downlink Data Products to Uplink Commands
An improved data-labeling system provides for automatic association of data products of an exploratory robot (downlink information) with previously transmitted commands (uplink information) that caused the robot to gather the data. Such association is essential to correct and timely analysis of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Accurate Spring Testing
Virtually all spring manufacturers must test their products with some kind of load testing machine. Testing ensures that the product is produced and shipped within the customer's specifications. Or does it? Disputes...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Compliant Gripper for a Robotic Manipulator
The figure depicts a prototype of a robotic-manipulator gripping device that includes two passive compliant fingers, suitable for picking up and manipulating objects that have irregular shapes...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Hybrid Aerial/Rover Vehicle
A proposed instrumented robotic vehicle called an "aerover" would fly, roll along the ground, and/or float on bodies of liquid, as needed. The aerover would combine features of an aerobot (a robotic...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Tool For Friction Stir Tack Welding of Aluminum Alloys
A small friction-stir- welding tool has been developed for use in tack welding of aluminum-alloy workpieces. It is necessary to tack-weld the workpieces in order to hold them together...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Improving Plating by Use of Intense Acoustic Beams
An improved method of selective plating of metals and possibly other materials involves the use of directed high-intensity acoustic beams. The beams, typically in the ultrasonic frequency...
Briefs: Information Technology
Integrated Formulation of Beacon-Based Exception Analysis for Multimissions
Further work on beacon-based exception analysis for multimissions (BEAM), a method of real-time, automated diagnosis of a complex electromechanical systems, has...
Briefs: Information Technology
Self-Supervised Dynamical Systems
Some progress has been made in a continuing effort to develop mathematical models of the behaviors of multi- agent systems known in biology, economics, and sociology (e.g., systems ranging from single or a few biomolecules to many interacting higher organisms). This effort at an earlier stage was reported in...
Briefs: Information Technology
Software for Better Documentation of Other Software
The Literate Programming Extraction Engine is a Practical Extraction and Reporting Language- (PERL-) based computer program that facilitates and simplifies the implementation of a concept of self- documented literate programming in a fashion tailored to the typical needs of scientists. The...
Briefs: Information Technology
Using a Portfolio of Algorithms for Planning and Scheduling
The Automated Scheduling and Planning Environment (ASPEN) software system, aspects of which have been reported in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles, includes a subsystem that utilizes a portfolio of heuristic algorithms that work synergistically to solve problems. The nature of...
Briefs: Information Technology
Software for Automated Reading of STEP Files by I-DEAS™
A program called "readstep" enables the I-DEAS ™ computer- aided-design (CAD) software to automatically read Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP) files. (The STEP format is one of several used to transfer data between dissimilar CAD programs.) Prior to the...
Briefs: Information Technology
P-Code-Enhanced Encryption-Mode Processing of GPS Signals
A method of processing signals in a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver has been invented to enable the receiver to recover some of the information that is otherwise lost when...
Briefs: Information Technology
Determining Direction of Arrival at a Y-Shaped Antenna Array
An algorithm computes the direction of arrival (both azimuth and elevation angles) of a lightning-induced electromagnetic signal from differences among the times of arrival of the signal at four antennas in a Y-shaped array on the ground. In the original intended application of the...
Briefs: Information Technology
Efficient Processing of Data for Locating Lightning Strikes
Two algorithms have been devised to increase the efficiency of processing of data in lightning detection and ranging (LDAR) systems so as to enable the accurate location of...
Briefs: Materials
Annealing Would Improve β" — Alumina Solid Electrolyte
A pre-operational annealing process is under investigation as a potential means of preventing a sudden reduction of ionic conductivity in a β"—alumina solid electrolyte (BASE) during use. On the basis of tests described below, the sudden reduction of ionic conductivity, followed by a...
Briefs: Materials
Low-Power RIE of SiO₂ in CHF₃ To Obtain Steep Sidewalls
A reactive-ion etching (RIE) process has been developed to enable the formation of holes with steep sidewalls in a layer of silicon dioxide that covers a silicon substrate. The holes in question are through the thickness of the SiO2 and are used to define silicon substrate...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Docking Fixture and Mechanism for a Protective Suit
A suitlock assembly that comprises a docking fixture and mechanism has been invented to facilitate and accelerate donning and doffing of a sealed protective suit and/or to enable ingress...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Solution-Adaptive Program for Computing 2D/Axi Viscous Flow
A computer program solves the Navier- Stokes equations governing the flow of a viscous, compressible fluid in an axisymmetric or two-dimensional (2D) setting. To obtain solutions more accurate than those generated by prior such programs that utilize regular and/or fixed computational...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Thermo-Electron Ballistic Coolers or Heaters
Electronic heat-transfer devices of a proposed type would exploit some of the quantum-wire-like, pseudo-superconducting properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes or, optionally, room-...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Proton Collimators for Fusion Reactors
Proton collimators have been proposed for incorporation into inertial- electrostatic- confinement (IEC) fusion reactors. Such reactors have been envisioned as thrusters and sources of electric power for...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Floating Probe Assembly for Measuring Temperature of Water
A floating apparatus denoted a temperature probe aquatic suspension system (TPASS) has been developed for measuring the temperature of an ocean, lake, or other natural body of water...
Briefs: Software
Software for Preprocessing Data From Rocket-Engine Tests
Three computer programs have been written to preprocess digitized outputs of sensors during rocket-engine tests at Stennis Space Center (SSC). The programs apply exclusively to the SSC "E" test-stand complex and utilize the SSC file format. The programs are the following:
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Optoelectronic Apparatus Measures Glucose Noninvasively
An optoelectronic apparatus has been invented as a noninvasive means of measuring the concentration of glucose in the human body. The apparatus performs polarimetric and interferometric...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Optoelectronic System for Measuring Heights Above a Floor
An optoelectronic system has been developed for measuring heights, above a floor, of designated points on a large object. In the original application for which the system was...
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