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Briefs: Materials
Aerogels for Thermal Insulation of Thermoelectric Devices
Silica aerogels have been shown to be attractive for use as thermal insulation materials for thermoelectric devices. It is desirable to thermally insulate the legs of thermoelectric devices to suppress lateral heat leaks that degrade thermal efficiency. Aerogels offer not only high thermal...
Briefs: Materials
Several recently formulated nickelbase superalloys have been developed with excellent high-temperature creep resistance, at lower densities than those of currently used nickel-base...
Briefs: Materials
Wire-Mesh-Based Sorber for Removing Contaminants From Air
A paper discusses an experimental regenerable sorber for removing CO2 and trace components — principally, volatile organic compounds, halocarbons, and NH3 — from spacecraft cabin air. This regenerable sorber is a prototype of what is intended to be a lightweight alternative to...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A technique for real-time estimation of stability and control derivatives (derivatives of moment coefficients with respect to control-surface deflection angles) was used to support a...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A flight test on an F-15 airplane was performed to evaluate the utility of prescribed simultaneous independent surface excitations (PreSISE) for real-time estimation of flight-control...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A tool makes it possible to couple a torque wrench to an externally knurled, internally threaded, round cable connector. The purpose served by the tool is to facilitate the tightening...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Controlling Attitude of a Solar-Sail Spacecraft Using Vanes
A paper discusses a concept for controlling the attitude and thrust vector of a three-axis stabilized Solar Sail spacecraft using only four single degree of freedom articulated spar-tip vanes. The vanes, at the corners of the sail, would be turned to commanded angles about the diagonals of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Sensors for Using Times of Flight To Measure Flow Velocities
Thin-film sensors for measuring flow velocities in terms of times of flight are undergoing development. These sensors are very small and can be mounted flush with surfaces of airfoils, ducts, and other objects along which one might need to measure flows. Alternatively or in addition,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Using Satellite Data in Weather Forecasting: I
The GOES Product Generation System (GPGS) is a set of computer codes and scripts that enable the assimilation of real-time Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data into regional weather forecasting mathematical models. The GPGS can be used to derive such geophysical parameters as...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A family of proposed miniature sources of power would exploit the direct conversion of the kinetic energy of a particles into electricity. In addition to having long operational lives,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An instrumentation system has been developed for studying interactions between a glacier or ice sheet and the underlying rock and/or soil. Prior borehole imaging systems have been used in well-drilling and mineral-exploration...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) optical resonators can be designed to exhibit continuous spectra over wide wavelength bands (in effect, white-light spectra), with ultrahigh values of the...
Briefs: Nanotechnology
Carbon-Nanotube Schottky Diodes
Schottky diodes based on semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes are being developed as essential components of the next generation of submillimeter-wave sensors and sources. Initial performance predictions have shown that the performance characteristics of these devices can exceed those of the state-of-the-art...
Briefs: Software
Coordinating an Autonomous Earth- Observing Sensorweb
A system of software has been developed to coordinate the operation of an autonomous Earth-observing sensorweb. Sensorwebs are collections of sensor units scattered over large regions to gather data on spatial and temporal patterns of physical, chemical, or biological phenomena in those regions....
Briefs: Software
Using Dissimilarity Metrics to Identify Interesting Designs
A computer program helps to blend the power of automated-search software, which is able to generate large numbers of design solutions, with the insight of expert designers, who are able to identify preferred designs but do not have time to examine all the solutions. From among the many...
Briefs: Software
X-Windows PVT Widget Class
The X-Windows Process Validation Table (PVT) Widget Class ("Class" is used here in the object oriented programming sense of the word) was devised to simplify the task of implementing network registration services for Information Sharing Protocol (ISP) graphical user interface (GUI) computer programs. Heretofore, ISP PVT...
Briefs: Software
Shuttle Data Center File- Processing Tool in Java
A Java-language computer program has been written to facilitate mining of data in files in the Shuttle Data Center (SDC) archives. This program can be executed on a variety of workstations or via Web-browser programs. This program is partly similar to prior C-language programs used for the same...
Briefs: Software
Statistical Evaluation of Utilization of the ISS
PayLoad Utilization Modeler (PLUM) is a statistical-modeling computer program used to evaluate the effectiveness of utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) in terms of the number of research facilities that can be operated within a specified interval of time. PLUM is designed to balance...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
These units would offer long life and high energy-conversion efficiency.
A family of proposed miniature sources of power would exploit the direct conversion of the kinetic energy of a...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
An electrochemical cell for making corrosion measurements has been designed to prevent or reduce crevice corrosion, which is a common source of error in prior such cells. In a typical...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Shapes different from the traditional ones have been proposed for face worm gears and for conical and cylindrical worms that mesh with them. The proposed shapes are based on the concept of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Research on microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonators dates back to the mid-1960s, but MEMS timing references are only now being introduced commercially. In this time, two...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The term “virtual feel” denotes a type of capaciflector (an advanced capacitive proximity sensor) and a methodology for designing and using a sensor of this type to guide a robot in manipulating a tool (e.g., a...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A measurement- acquisition system uses magnetic fields to power sensors and to acquire measurements from sensors. The system alleviates many shortcomings of traditional measurement...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Miniature Housings for Electronics With Standard Interfaces
be secured to a mating carrier by use of screws or epoxy; this mounting scheme helps the housings and their contents to withstand severe vibrations and ensures thermal conduction for dissipation of heat generated during operation of the contained circuitry. The circuits contained in the...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A proposed noninvasive method of monitoring the cure path and the state of cure of an epoxy or other resin involves measurement of the concentration(s) of one or more compound(s) in the...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
An effort is underway to develop processes for making templates that could be used as deposition molds and etching masks in the fabrication of devices containing arrays of nanowires...
Briefs: Information Technology
A method of processing the digitized output of a charge-coupled device (CCD) image detector has been devised to enable reduction of the error in computed centroid of the image of a...
Briefs: Information Technology
An improved method of processing information for autonomous navigation of a robotic vehicle across rough terrain involves the integration of terrain maps into a reactive navigation...
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