Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Iris DSN-Compatible, CubeSat-Compatible Transponder
No CubeSat-compatible, Deep Space Network (DSN)-compatible communications and navigation transponder exists at the time of this reporting. In order for CubeSats and other small spacecraft to go into deep space, a DSN-compatible capability is needed.
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Modern avionics permit user interfaces on spacecraft to be performed on computer screens instead of with physical controls. This saves a great...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Avionics/Electronics Box Rail Mount System
There is limited space available to install numerous avionics boxes with the caveat that each box is a line replacement unit (LRU). Access to enable the removal of the boxes is limited, and it is critical that no tools and/or loose parts exist to ensure that no damage is done to aft-located components....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Multi-Frequency, THz Quantum Cascade Laser Source
Interest in the use of THz detectors outside the laboratory for space, atmospheric, and terrestrial applications has grown immensely in the past half-century. Of particular interest in recent years is the development of the quantum cascade laser (QCL) as a THz frequency source.
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Dual I²C and SPI Slave Core for FPGA and ASIC Implementations
The I2C/SPI Verilog core consists of a combined register transfer logic (RTL) Verilog code for a general-purpose I2C and serial-to-parallel interface (SPI) slave for implementations targeting field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application specific...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Semiconductor Nanomembrane-Based Flight Sensors and Arrays
There are two broad classes of methods for measuring skin friction (or wall shear): indirect and direct. The direct methods generally employ a movable element of the actual surface surrounded by a very small gap and connected to some type of flexure. One then measures the displacement of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Automated Break-Out Box for Use with Low-Cost Spacecraft Integration and Test
Electrical checkout and testing is a critical part of the overall space integration and test flow. Verifying proper harness and connector signal interfaces is key to ensuring component health and overall system functionality. Break-out boxes (BOBs) are used to give...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Radiation-Hardened 10BASE-T Ethernet Physical Interface (PHY)
The EXPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC) system was built by NASA Goddard for installation on the International Space Station (ISS). Four ELC systems are on ISS. Each ELC site includes two data nodes. The ELC requirements call for a radiation-hardened 10BASE-T Ethernet interface at each...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
This radiation-hardened, compact, low-power, quad 12-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) incorporates science-driven features...
Briefs: Communications
Confidence Intervals for the Bit Error Rate of Coded Communications Systems
The bit error rate (BER) is a wellunderstood metric for measuring communications system performance. When a system is not amenable to analytical performance analysis, a Monte Carlo simulation is often used to determine the performance. In such simulations, it is...
Briefs: Communications
Final High-Fidelity Down-Conversion Source for Secure Communications Using On-Demand Single Photons
Secure communication over long distances requires robust encryption. While current encryption algorithms exist using classical methods, there are no unconditionally secure methods of distributing encryption keys classically. However, by exploiting...
Briefs: Communications
Space Telecommunications Radio System Memory Test Application
This software provides a portable, flexible memory testing application meeting the NASA Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) specification. As an STRS-compliant application, the tester application is portable to any STRS-compliant hardware/software platform. Thanks to...
Briefs: Communications
Functional Enhancements to the FPGA Implementation of the Advanced Orbiting System Data Link Protocol
Dynamic frame sizing was added to the existing AOS Packet Service FPGA implementation. This capability provides in-flight system calibration functionality, allowing the spacecraft and ground station the means to optimize a communication link by...
Briefs: Communications
Communication System and Method Over High-Latency, Low-Bandwidth Networks
In high-latency, low-bandwidth networks such as those employed when communicating with an extraterrestrial object via wireless communication over hundreds or thousands of miles, it may be difficult or expensive to communicate large quantities of information in a reliable...
Briefs: Communications
CASH: Framework for Streamlined, Daily Updates
Secure, efficient, and effective communication is critical for the multinational Cassini mission to Saturn. Cassini teams share information through the use of internal Web pages. The challenge was to develop dynamic Web pages that did not require special understanding of HTML complexities and the...
Briefs: Communications
SCaN Optical Link Budget Tool
In response to the requirements of the Space-Based Relay Study (SBRS) undertaken by NASA in 2013, as well as the Integrated Radio and Optical Communications (iROC) project being conducted by NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) beginning in 2012, a calculation procedure was required to rapidly assess the operation of...
Briefs: Information Technology
Automated Generation of Failure Modes and Effects Document from a Simple SysML Model
This software queries a model of system in the MagicDraw program and uses that information to create an Excel spreadsheet that represents a basic FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis). It automates the generation of an FMEA; the user only has to open...
Briefs: Information Technology
Space Network Access System (SNAS)
SNAS is a single, universally accessible, standards-based, full-featured customer interface for performing Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) planning, scheduling, and real-time service monitoring and control. It consolidates functionality of multiple legacy customer interface systems into a...
Briefs: Information Technology
Educational Software for OctaSat Nanosatellite Training Kit
Nanosatellites are very small satellites that can conduct various space missions using microelectronics, primarily in near-Earth orbits. Aerospace engineering students need to learn about the working principles and control of nanosatellites. However, the cost of an actual nanosatellite...
Briefs: Information Technology
NASA App
The NASA App showcases a huge collection of the latest NASA content in a mobile optimized format, including images, videos on-demand, NASA Television, mission information, news and feature stories, tweets, ISS sighting opportunities, satellite tracking, Third Rock Radio, featured educational content, and much more for iOS and Android...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Program to Categorize and Count Observations Performed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
CreateMEPReport.pl software is designed to read through a description of observations scheduled to be taken by the instruments onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft to categorize the observations, and then present totals for the...
Briefs: Software
Anomaly Detection in Large Sets of High-Dimensional Symbol Sequences (sequenceMiner)
SequenceMiner was developed to address the problem of detecting and describing anomalies in large sets of high-dimensional symbol sequences. sequenceMiner works by performing unsupervised clustering (grouping) of sequences using the normalized longest common...
Briefs: Information Technology
Time-Scaled Activity Diagram Simulator
The Time-Scaled Activity Diagram Simulator software simulates and animates time-tagged events as an overlay on activity and internal block diagrams in MagicDraw as a plugin application. “Events” are quite generic and include atomic actions, compound actions, signal and message exchanges, invocations,...
Briefs: Information Technology
General-Use Nodal Network Solver (GUNNS)
Crewed space vehicle training has always required highfidelity models of vehicle systems. Many of these systems, particularly of the “flow” variety, benefit from modeling the system as a whole, rather than relying only on the interactions between individual components. In general, system properties...
Briefs: Software
Modularized SIR-to-NetCDF Conversion Command-Line Tool
This innovation reads in a proprietary formatted binary data format known as Scatterometer Image Reconstruction (SIR), and converts these data files to netCDF-classic format. This software is provided as a command-line tool for Linux/UNIX-based systems, and includes built-in regression...
News: Energy
Researchers at the University of Washington and Microsoft Research developed HyperCam, a lower-cost hyperspectral camera that uses both visible and invisible near-infrared light to “see”...
INSIDER: Energy
Tractor beams are mysterious rays that can grab and lift objects. Now, researchers have built a working tractor beam that uses high-amplitude sound waves to generate an acoustic...
INSIDER: Aerospace
Tow tractors, pushback tractors, tankers, luggage carts, air cargo, and catering vehicles crowd airport aprons. Poor weather conditions impede work on the apron even more. Researchers at the...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
New Tool Guides Infrastructure Recovery After Disasters
A new computerized tool guides stakeholders in preparing for, and recovering from, natural and man-made disasters such as the cyclones in India that knocked out swaths of the Indian Railways Network. The method, developed by Northeastern University researchers, guides stakeholders in the...
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