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Briefs: Physical Sciences
GaAs QWIP Array Containing More Than a Million Pixels
A 1,024 × 1,024-pixel array of quantumwell infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) has been built on a 1.8 × 1.8-cm GaAs chip. In tests, the array was found to perform well in detecting images at wavelengths from 8 to 9 μm in operation at temperatures between 60 and 70 K. The largest-format QWIP...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Progress has been made in continuing efforts to develop optical flight-control and navigation sensors for miniature robotic aircraft. The designs of these sensors are inspired by the...
Briefs: Software
Data-Acquisition Software for PSP/TSP Wind-Tunnel Cameras
Wing-Viewer is a computer program for acquisition and reduction of image data acquired by any of five different scientific grade commercial electronic cameras used at Langley Research center to observe wind-tunnel models coated with pressure or temperature-sensitive paints (PSP/TSP).
Briefs: Software
Grid Visualization Tool
The Grid Visualization Tool (GVT) is a computer program for displaying the path of a mobile robotic explorer (rover) on a terrain map. The GVT reads a map-data file in either portable graymap (PGM) or portable pixmap (PPM) format, representing a gray-scale or color map image, respectively.
Briefs: Software
Updated Chemical Kinetics and Sensitivity Analysis Code
An updated version of the General Chemical Kinetics and Sensitivity Analysis (LSENS) computer code has become available. A prior version of LSENS was described in “Program Helps to Determine Chemical-Reaction Mechanisms” (LEW-15758), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 19, No. 5 (May 1995), page 66. To...
Briefs: Software
Avionics System Architecture Tool
Avionics System Architecture Tool (ASAT) is a computer program intended for use during the avionics-system-architecture- design phase of the process of designing a spacecraft for a specific mission.
Briefs: Software
Predicting Flutter and Forced Response in Turbomachinery
TURBO-AE is a computer code that enables detailed, highfidelity modeling of aeroelastic and unsteady aerodynamic characteristics for prediction of flutter, forced response, and bladerow interaction effects in turbomachinery.
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A prototype optoelectronic system measures the three dimensional relative coordinates of objects of interest or of targets affixed to objects of interest in a workspace. The system includes a...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Portable Airborne Laser System Measures Forest-Canopy Height
The Portable Airborne Laser System (PALS) is a combination of laser ranging, video imaging, positioning, and data-processing subsystems designed for measuring the heights of forest canopies along linear transects from tens to thousands of kilometers long. Unlike prior laser ranging...
Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics
Inexpensive, lightweight array antennas on flexible substrates are under development to satisfy a need for large-aperture antennas that can be stored compactly during transport and deployed to full size...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Integrated circuits that exploit optical flow to sense motions of computer mice on or near surfaces (“optical mouse chips”) are used as navigation sensors in a class of small flying robots now...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A micromachining process for the fabrication of vibratory microgyroscopes from silicon wafers, and aspects of the microgyroscope design that are inextricably linked with the fabrication...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Two Heat-Transfer Improvements for Gas Liquefiers
Two improvements in heat-transfer design have been investigated with a view toward increasing the efficiency of refrigerators used to liquefy gases. The improvements could contribute to the development of relatively inexpensive, portable oxygen liquefiers for medical use.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
System Regulates the Water Contents of Fuel-Cell Streams
An assembly of devices provides for both humidification of the reactant gas streams of a fuel cell and removal of the product water (the water generated by operation of the fuel cell). The assembly includes externally-sensing forward-pressure regulators that supply reactant gases (fuel and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Five-Axis, Three-Magnetic-Bearing Dynamic Spin Rig is an apparatus for vibration testing of turbomachine blades in a vacuum at rotational speeds from 0 to 40,000 rpm. This rig (see figure)...
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A modification in a method of automated evolutionary synthesis of voltage controlled multifunctional logic circuits makes it possible to synthesize more circuits in less time. Prior to the...
Briefs: Imaging
N-Type d Doping of High-Purity Silicon Imaging Arrays
A process for n-type (electron-donor) delta (d) doping has shown promise as a means of modifying back-illuminated image detectors made from n-doped high-purity silicon to enable them to detect high-energy photons (ultraviolet and x-rays) and low-energy charged particles (electrons and ions)....
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Lifting Mechanism for the Mars Explorer Rover
A report discusses the design of a rover lift mechanism (RLM) — a major subsystem of each of the Mars Exploration Rover vehicles, which were landed on Mars in January 2004. The RLM had to satisfy requirements to (1) be foldable as part of an extremely dense packing arrangement and (2) be capable...
Briefs: Materials
Nonflammable, Hydrophobic Aerogel Composites for Insulation
Aerogel composites that are both nonflammable and hydrophobic have been developed for use as lightweight thermal- insulation materials for cryogenic systems. Aerogels are well known in the industry for their effectiveness as thermal insulators under cryogenic conditions, but the treatments...
Briefs: Materials
Advanced Ablative Insulators and Methods of Making Them
Advanced ablative (more specifically, charring) materials that provide temporary protection against high temperatures, and advanced methods of designing and manufacturing insulators based on these materials, are undergoing development. These materials and methods were conceived in an effort to...
Briefs: Materials
Two perfluoroalkanesulfonic acids and perfluoroalkanesulfonimides have shown promise as anodecoating materials for improving the performances of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs)....
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Internal heating is a key issue for vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), a semiconductor micro laser diode that emits light in a cylindrical...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Optical-Electrical-Optical (OEO) wavelength translation (WT) based on small-form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers is meeting with increased...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A standalone, handheld, through-wall radar unit is under development to provide three-dimensional feedback on the location and movement of people inside buildings. Applications include military...
Briefs: Materials
Polyimides of a recently developed type have an attractive combination of properties, including low solar absorptivity (manifested as low color) when cast into thin films, resistance to atomic...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Internal heating is a key issue for vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), a semiconductor microlaser diode that emits light in a cylindrical beam vertically from the surface of a fabricated...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A broadband external-cavity diode laser (ECDL) has been invented for use in spectroscopic surveys preparatory to optical detection of gases. Heretofore, commercially available ECDLs have been designed, in...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Solar photovoltaic cells would be designed to exploit photonic-bandgap (PBG) materials to enhance their energy- conversion efficiencies, according to a proposal. Whereas the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A method of determining the position and attitude of a body equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver includes an accounting for the location of the nonunique phase...
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