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Briefs: Motion Control
A product line of improved electrohydraulic linear actuators has been developed. These actuators are designed especially for use in actuating valves in rocket-engine test facilities. They are also...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
NASA's Strategic Plan for the Aerospace Technology Enterprise includes ambitious objectives focused on affordable air travel, reduced emissions, and expanded aviation-system capacity. NASA Dryden Flight Research...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Intelligent fasteners with embedded microprocessors remotely controlled by wireless tools or a data network can advance the speed, flexibility, flow, and cost...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Provisions for specification of hazards faced by a robotic vehicle (rover) equipped with a rocker-bogie suspension, for prediction of collisions between the vehicle and the hazards, and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Wavy-planform rotor blades for helicopters have been investigated for the first time in an effort to reduce noise. Two of the main sources of helicopter noise are blade/vortex interaction (BVI)...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Expandable Purge Chambers Would Protect Cryogenic Fittings
Expandable ice-prevention and cleanliness-preservation (EIP-CP) chambers have been proposed to prevent the accumulation of ice or airborne particles on quick-disconnect (QD) fittings, or on ducts or tubes that contain cryogenic fluids. In the original application for which the EIP-CP...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An assembly of sensors, denoted an electronic tongue, is undergoing development as a prototype of compact devices for use in measuring concentrations of contaminants in water. Thus...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A two-frequency, polarimetric, spaceborne synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) system has been proposed for measuring the moisture content of soil as a function of depth, even in the presence of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A modular wireless data-acquisition and control system, now in operation at Kennedy Space Center, offers high performance at relatively low cost. The system includes a central station and a...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A microwave-based system has been developed as a means of detecting ice on aircraft surfaces, with enough sensitivity to provide a warning before the ice accretes to a dangerous thickness. The...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A recently developed routing algorithm for broadcasting in an ad hoc wireless communication network takes account of, and exploits, the spatial relationships among the locations of nodes, in addition...
Briefs: Materials
Semiconductor electronic devices and circuits based on silicon carbide (SiC) are being developed for use in high-temperature, high-power, and/or high-radiation conditions under which devices...
Briefs: Materials
Nonlinear Thermoelastic Model for SMAs and SMA Hybrid
A constitutive mathematical model has been developed that predicts the nonlinear thermomechanical behaviors of shape-memory alloys (SMAs) and of shape- memory-alloy hybrid composite (SMAHC) structures, which are composite-material structures that contain embedded SMA actuators. SMAHC structures...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Two-Finger EKG Method of Detecting Evasive Responses
A system based on acquisition and processing of electrocardiographic (EKG) signals from two fingers has been proposed as a means of determining whether a person is answering questions evasively. The system — in effect, a "lie detector" of sorts, would be used to gauge prospective...
Briefs: Materials
One of the major challenges for NASA's next-generation reusable-launch-vehicle (RLV) program is the design of a cryogenic lightweight composite fuel tank....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Tailoring Ion-Thruster Grid Apertures for Greater Efficiency
A report proposes tailoring the diameters of the apertures in the accelerator grid of an ion thruster to reduce the open grid area through which un-ionized propellant gas can escape. The result would be a reduction in the loss of propellant gas and a corresponding increase in propellant...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Lidar for Guidance of a Spacecraft or Exploratory Robot
A report describes the Laser Mapper (LAMP) — a lightweight, compact, low-power lidar system under development for guidance of a spacecraft or exploratory robotic vehicle (rover) at Mars or another planet. The LAMP is intended especially for use during rendezvous of two spacecraft in orbit,...
Briefs: Materials
Formulations for Stronger Solid Oxide Fuel-Cell Electrolytes
Tests have shown that modification of chemical compositions can increase the strengths and fracture toughnesses of solid oxide fuel-cell (SOFC) electrolytes. Heretofore, these solid electrolytes have been made of yttria- stabilized zirconia, which is highly conductive for oxygen ions at...
Briefs: Software
Simulation Testing of Embedded Flight Software
Virtual Real Time (VRT) is a computer program for testing embedded flight software by computational simulation in a workstation, in contradistinction to testing it in its target central processing unit (CPU). The disadvantages of testing in the target CPU include the need for an expensive test bed, the...
Briefs: Software
Updated System-Availibility and Resource-Allocation Program
A second version of the Availability, Cost and Resource Allocation (ACARA) computer program has become available. The first version was reported in "System-Availability and Resource- Allocation Program" (LEW-15713), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 19, No. 8 (August 1995), page 54. To recapitulate:...
Briefs: Software
Software for Fault-Tolerant Matrix Multiplication
Formal Linear Algebra Recovery Environment is a computer program for high-performance, fault-tolerant matrix multiplication. The program is based on an extension of the prior theory and practice of fault-tolerant matrix·matrix multiplication of the form C = AB. This extension provides low-overhead...
Briefs: Software
Routines for Computing Pressure Drops in Venturis
A set of computer- program routines has been developed for calculating pressure drops and recoveries of flows through standard venturis, nozzle venturis, and orifices. Relative to prior methods used for such calculations, the method implemented by these routines offers greater accuracy because it...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Miniature blimps are under development as robots for use in exploring the thick, cold, nitrogen atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan. Similar blimps can also be used for surveillance and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Hybrid Automotive Engine Using Ethanol-Burning Miller Cycle
A proposed hybrid (internal-combustion/ electric) automotive engine system would include as its internal-combustion subsystem, a modified Miller-cycle engine with regenerative air preheating and with autoignition like that of a Diesel engine. The fuel would be ethanol and would be burned...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Sonar-beam-steering devices of the proposed type would contain no moving parts and would be considerably smaller and less power-hungry, relative to conventional multiple-beam sonar arrays. The...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The StarLight Space Interferometer
Two papers describe the StarLight space interferometer — a Michelson interferometer that would be implemented by two spacecraft flying in formation. The StarLight formation flying interferometer project has been testing and demonstrating engineering concepts for a new generation of space interferometers that...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The term "champagne heat pump" denotes a developmental heat pump that exploits a cycle of absorption and desorption of carbon dioxide in an alcohol or other organic liquid. Whereas most heat pumps in common use in the United...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Two condensers designed for use in dissipating heat carried by working fluids feature two-phase, self-adjusting configurations such that their working lengths automatically vary to suit their input power levels and/or...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Sensor for Monitoring Nanodevice-Fabrication Plasmas
The term "plasma process diagnostics" (PPD) refers to a spectroscopic technique and sensing hardware that have been proposed for monitoring plasma processes used to fabricate electronic devices that feature sizes as small as several nanometers. Nanometer dimensions are characteristic of the...
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