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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Suitably patterned arrays (blocks) of quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) have been proposed as fault-tolerant universal logic gates. These block QCA gates could be used to realize the potential of QCA for...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A data-processor architecture that would incorporate elements of both conventional very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuitry and quantum- dot cellular automata (QCA) has been proposed to enable...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Custom Software for Infrared Camera Image Acquisition and Control
Infrared cameras based on hybrid focal-plane array sensors are unlike consumer video products such as camcorders. They are complicated imaging devices that output very large amounts of digital image data at high speeds, require multiple levels of camera control, and produce imagery...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Brushlike arrays of carbon nanotubes embedded in microstrip waveguides provide highly efficient (high-Q) mechanical resonators that will enable ultra-miniature radio-frequency (RF)...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Optical-Quality Thin Polymer Membranes
A method of fabricating both curved and flat thin polymer membranes of optical quality has been developed. The method was originally intended to enable the fabrication of lightweight membrane imaging and interferometric optics, possibly with apertures multiple meters wide, for use in scientific instruments...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Electromechanical resonators of a proposed type would comprise single carbon nanotubes suspended between electrodes (see Figure 1). Depending on the nanotube length, diameter, and...
Briefs: Software
Software for Viewing Landsat Mosaic Images
A Windows-based computer program has been written to enable novice users (especially educators and students) to view images of large areas of the Earth (e.g., the continental United States) generated from image data acquired in the Landsat observations performed circa the year 1990. The large-area images...
Briefs: Software
Updated Integrated Mission Program
Integrated Mission Program (IMP) is a computer program for simulating spacecraft missions around the Earth, Moon, Mars, and/or other large bodies. IMP solves the differential equations of motion by use of a Runge-Kutta numerical-integration algorithm. Users control missions through selection from a large menu of...
Briefs: Software
Software for Sharing and Management of Information
DIAMS is a set of computer programs that implements a system of collaborative agents that serve multiple, geographically distributed users communicating via the Internet. DIAMS provides a user interface as a Java applet that runs on each user’s computer and that works within the context of the...
Briefs: Software
Update on Integrated Optical Design Analyzer
Updated information on the Integrated Optical Design Analyzer (IODA) computer program has become available. IODA was described in “Software for Multidisciplinary Concurrent Optical Design” (MFS-31452), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 10 (October 2001), page 8a. To recapitulate: IODA facilitates...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A method of manufacturing regular arrays of precisely sized, shaped, positioned, and oriented carbon nanotubes has been proposed. Arrays of carbon nanotubes could prove useful in such...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Folded horns have been conceived as alternatives to straight horns used as resonators and strain amplifiers in power ultrasonic systems. Such systems are used for cleaning, welding,...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An experiment and calculation have demonstrated the feasibility of a technique of compact storage of paraboloidal mirrors made of thin composite-material (multiple layers of carbon...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A modification of a pressure-actuated joint has been proposed to improve its pressure actuation in such a manner as to reduce the potential for leakage of the pressurizing fluid. The specific joint for which the...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Force-Measuring Clamps
Force-measuring clamps have been invented to facilitate and simplify the task of measuring the forces or pressures applied to clamped parts. There is a critical need to measure clamping forces or pressures in some applications — for example, while bonding sensors to substrates or while clamping any sensitive or delicate...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A Seat Track Attach Mechanism (SAM) is a multiple-use clamping device intended for use in mounting various objects on the standard seat tracks used on the International Space Station (ISS)....
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A relatively simple, manually operated tool enables precise bending (typically, within ±1/2° of the specified bend angle) of a metal tube located in a confined space, with a minimum...
Briefs: Medical
Time-Resolved Measurements in Optoelectronic Microbioanalysis
A report presents discussion of time-resolved measurements in optoelectronic microbioanalysis. Proposed microbioanalytical "laboratory-on-a-chip" devices for detection of microbes and toxic chemicals would include optoelectronic sensors and associated electronic circuits that would look...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A precision piezoelectric positioning system with high-bandwidth and high-power enables a new class of precision machining called Vibration Assisted Machining. The actuator and...
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 development of...
Briefs: Information Technology
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 GPS...
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
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 lightning...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
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- temperature-...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
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
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 at...
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 slow...
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