Electronics & Software

Scandate cathodes are able to produce about 20 times the emission of conventional all-tungsten cathodes at the same temperature. Conversely, they operate at about 200 °C lower temperature for the same emission. Scandate cathodes have been studied since at least the 1960s. Between...

This innovation uses an active materials-based force-amplified mechanism and advanced piezoelectric materials for more efficient energy harvesting from mechanical shock and vibration. The harvested energy is stored in rechargeable batteries. The hybrid force/stress...

Battery health monitoring is an emerging technology field that seeks to predict the remaining useful life (RUL) of battery systems before they run out of charge. Such predictive measures require interpretation of large amounts of battery status data within a Bayesian prognostic framework.

A high-rate GMSK (Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying) modulator was developed for space operation. Currently, multi-user modems are under development, and the GMSK modulator provides a way of packing more users within a space environment, especially for Mars exploration.

The NASA Experiment Designer (NED) is a client-server application that enables end-to-end support for driving long-running scientific computer simulations such as climate and weather models. The tool provides a friendly, single point of entry for configuring parameters associated...

This software was designed to automate delivery of tasking requests to a central queue, enabling integrated observation scenarios across multiple assets. It is a JAVA code application that enables machine-to-machine access between a client platform and the Campaign Manager application program interface (API) to...

This library provides an abstraction layer that an end user can access, interpolate, and perform fieldline integration for space weather simulation data. Normally, accessing and interpolating space weather simulation data requires knowledge of...

Lossless data compression has been employed in space to reduce communication bandwidth requirements for onboard storage for more than 15 years. A widely used space compression standard is the recommendation published by the Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems (CCSDS). The standard describes a simple,...

This software implements the protocols described in the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) publication CCSDS 735.1-B-1. The purpose of the protocols is to enable the exchange of messages among a group of applications. The protocols provide several mechanisms for message...

Advanced remote-sensing instruments in recent years often employ multiple wavelengths for maximal science return. Many of them comprise hundreds to over a thousand spectral bands. These instruments multiply the data volume and stress the communication bandwidth. With previously deployed space...

This innovation consists of the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request (TASAR) concept and the associated Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) software. TASAR is intended to enable pilots to discover trajectory improvement opportunities while en route that will result in...

Module::Build::Database was developed as part of the Atmospheric Composition Processing System, which works with the Science Investigator-Led Processing System for the Ozone Monitoring Instrument. The technology allows the user to distribute changes to the schema in a database alongside software that relies on the database.

Different types of information are used to help aircraft maintain separation standards. At the lowest level, information is needed to indicate if separation standards will be violated in the near future, called a conflict. Once a conflict is detected, then conflict resolution information may be used...

A data-dependent algorithm was developed for estimating symbol signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with a non-integral number of samples per symbol. The classical split symbol SNR estimator algorithm was adapted to incorporate the whole symbol by removing the data polarity.

A paper describes a process for imposing safety constraints on a spacecraft trajectory design. The conventional process has the ACS (Attitude Control System) team define geometric constraints, then the NAV (Navigation) team produces a compliant thrust direction...

A document describes a design optimization method for determining optimal shapes for vehicles with mid-range lift-to-drag ratios that are entering or re-entering planetary atmospheres. The design space includes consideration of hypersonic aerothermodynamic properties (for minimizing heating)...

A document discusses a method for simple and efficient numerical integration (quadrature) of integrals characterized by a near-hypersingularity. Near-hypersingular integrals arise in gradients of Newton-type potentials when the fields at a desired observation point are close to the source. The...