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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Diamond Smoothing Tools
Diamond smoothing tools have been proposed for use in conjunction with diamond cutting tools that are used in many finish-machining operations. Diamond machining (including finishing) is often used, for example, in fabrication of precise metal mirrors.
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A method of cleaning the mode spectra of whispering - gallery - mode (WGM) optical resonators has been devised to make such resonators more suitable for use as narrow-band optical filters....
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A device that includes a rectangular-waveguide / slot-antenna structure and permanent magnets has been devised as a means of generating a substantially uniform plasma over a relatively...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Large-Area Permanent-Magnet ECR Plasma Source
A 40-cm-diameter plasma device has been developed as a source of ions for material-processing and ion-thruster applications. Like the device described in the immediately preceding article, this device utilizes electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) excited by microwave power in a magnetic field to generate...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Broadband Achromatic Telecentric Lens
A new type of lens design features broadband achromatic performance as well as telecentricity, using a minimum number of spherical elements. With appropriate modifications, the lens design form can be tailored to cover the range of response of the focal-plane array, from Si (400–1,000 nm) to InGaAs...
Briefs: Information Technology
An improved correction has been developed to increase the accuracy with which certain formulations of computational fluid dynamics predict mixing in shear layers of hot jet flows. The...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Mars-Approach Navigation Using In Situ Orbiters
A document discusses the continuing development of a navigation system that would enable a spacecraft to approach Mars on a trajectory precise enough to enable the spacecraft to land within 1 km of a specified location on the Martian surface. This degree of accuracy would represent an...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Efficient Optimization of Low-Thrust Spacecraft Trajectories
A paper describes a computationally efficient method of optimizing trajectories of spacecraft driven by propulsion systems that generate low thrusts and, hence, must be operated for long times. A common goal in trajectory-optimization problems is to find minimum-time, minimum-fuel, or...
Briefs: Information Technology
A method of automated design of complex, modular robots involves an evolutionary process in which generative representations of designs are used. The term "generative representations" as...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Cylindrical Asymmetrical Capacitors for Use in Outer Space
A report proposes that cylindrical asymmetrical capacitors (CACs) be used to generate small thrusts for precise maneuvering of spacecraft on long missions. The report notes that it has been known for decades that when high voltages are applied to CACs in air, thrusts are generated — most...
Briefs: Information Technology
Protecting Against Faults in JPL Spacecraft
A paper discusses techniques for protecting against faults in spacecraft designed and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The paper addresses, more specifically, faultprotection requirements and techniques common to most JPL spacecraft (in contradistinction to unique, mission specific...
Briefs: Information Technology
An enhanced method of elliptic grid generation has been invented. Whereas prior methods require user input of certain grid parameters, this method provides for these parameters to be determined automatically.
Briefs: Information Technology
Automated Knowledge Discovery From Simulators
A computational method, SimLearn, has been devised to facilitate efficient knowledge discovery from simulators. Simulators are complex computer programs used in science and engineering to model diverse phenomena such as fluid flow, gravitational interactions, coupled mechanical systems, and nuclear,...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Algorithm Optimally Allocates Actuation of a Spacecraft
A report presents an algorithm that solves the following problem: Allocate the force and/or torque to be exerted by each thruster and reaction-wheel assembly on a spacecraft for best performance, defined as minimizing the error between (1) the total force and torque commanded by the spacecraft...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Accuracy, High-Dynamic-Range Phase-Measurement System
A digital phase meter has been designed to satisfy stringent requirements for measuring differences between phases of radiofrequency (RF) subcarrier signals modulated onto laser beams involved in the operation of a planned space-borne gravitational- wave-detecting heterodyne laser...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Multi-Antenna Radar Systems for Doppler Rain Measurements
Use of multiple-antenna radar systems aboard moving high-altitude platforms has been proposed for measuring rainfall. The platforms contemplated in the proposal would be primarily spacecraft, but, in principle, the proposal could also apply to aircraft. The problem of measuring rainfall...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An apparatus has been designed and built for testing the effects, on moderatesized objects, of cushioned decelerations having magnitudes ranging up to several hundred g [where g = normal Earth gravitational...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
A compact, high-dynamic-range, electronically tunable vector measurement system that operates in the frequency range from ≈560 to ≈635 GHz has been developed as a prototype of vector...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A modular architecture has been conceived for the design of radiation-monitoring instruments used aboard spacecraft and in planetary-exploration settings. This architecture reflects...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Smart Data Node in the Sky
A document discusses the physical and engineering principles affecting the design of the Smart Data Node in the Sky (SDNITS) — a proposed Earthorbiting satellite for relaying scientific data from other Earth-orbiting satellites to one or more ground station(s). The basic concept of the SDNITS is similar to that of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Pseudo-Waypoint Guidance for Proximity Spacecraft Maneuvers
A paper describes algorithms for guidance and control (G&C) of a spacecraft maneuvering near a planet, moon, asteroid, comet, or other small astronomical body. The algorithms were developed following a model- predictive-control approach along with a convexification of the governing...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Update on Controlling Herds of Cooperative Robots
A document presents further information on the subject matter of “Controlling Herds of Cooperative Robots” (NPO-40723), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 30, No. 4 (April 2006), page 81. To recapitulate: A methodology for controlling a herd of cooperative and autonomous mobile robots exploring the surface...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Simulation and Testing of Maneuvering of a Planetary Rover
A report discusses the development of a computational model of a Mars Explorer Rover maneuvering across terrain under varying conditions. The model is used to increase understanding of the rover dynamics. Increased understanding is helpful in planning further tests and in extending the...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
An improved design has been devised for on-chip-circuitry for measuring the delay through a chain of combinational logic elements in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A very-large-scale- integrated-circuit (VLSI) turbo decoder has been designed to serve as a compact, high-throughput, low-power, lightweight decoder core of a receiver in a data-communication system. In a typical...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A program to develop an autonomous radio receiver compatible with a variety of digital communication schemes is underway. The proposed receiver, to be implemented largely in software, would configure...
Briefs: Software
Resource Selection and Ranking
Surfer is an extensible framework for selecting and ranking grid resources. A resource is defined as anything that needs selecting such as compute resources, storage resources, and data resources. The user specifies the set of resource types desired, the constraints that must hold over all the resources, and the...
Briefs: Software
Accident/Mishap Investigation System
InvestigationOrganizer (IO) is a Webbased collaborative information system that integrates the generic functionality of a database, a document repository, a semantic hypermedia browser, and a rulebased inference system with specialized modeling and visualization functionality to support accident/mishap...
Briefs: Medical
Simplified Identification of mRNA or DNA in Whole Cells
A recently invented method of detecting a selected messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence offers two important advantages over prior such methods: it is simpler and can be implemented by means of compact equipment. The simplification and miniaturization...
Top Stories
Blog: Design
A Stretchable OLED that Can Maintain Most of Its Luminescence
INSIDER: Design
Advancing All-Solid-State Batteries
Blog: Power
My Opinion: We Need More Power Soon — Is Nuclear the Answer?
Blog: Energy
Batteries that Can Withstand the Cold
Quiz: Power
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
Microscopic Swimming Machines that Can Sense, Respond to Surroundings
Webcasts
On-Demand Webinars: Electronics & Computers
Advantages of Smart Power Distribution Unit Design for Automotive &...
Upcoming Webinars: Unmanned Systems
Quiet, Please: NVH Improvement Opportunities in the Early Design...
Upcoming Webinars: AR/AI
From Spreadsheets to Insights: Fast Data Analysis Without Complex...
Upcoming Webinars: Defense
Cooling a New Generation of Aerospace and Defense Embedded...
Upcoming Webinars: Software
Beyond AI-Copy-Paste Engineering: Advanced AI-Integration Success...
Upcoming Webinars: Energy
