Electronics & Software

This software addresses the issue of underwater localization of unmanned vehicles and the inherent drift in their onboard sensors. The software gives a 2 to 3 factor of improvement over the state-of-the-art underwater localization algorithms.

There have been many developments of mine or metal detectors based on ground penetrating radar techniques, usually in handheld or rover-mounted devices. In most mine or metal detector applications, conditions are in a stationary mode and detection speed is not an important factor.

High-power batteries generally consist of a series connection of many cells or cell banks. In order to maintain high performance over battery life, it is desirable to keep the state of charge of all the cell banks equal. A method provides individual charging for battery cells in a large, high-voltage...

In this innovation, a digital downconverter has been created that produces a large (16 or greater) number of output channels of smaller bandwidths. Additionally, this design has the flexibility to tune each channel independently to anywhere in the input bandwidth to...

NASA’s future exploration missions focus on the manned exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond, which will rely heavily on the development of a reliable communications infrastructure from planetary surface-to-surface, surface-to-orbit, and back to Earth. Flexible...

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the most efficient photocatalyst for organic oxidative degradation. TiO2 is effective not only in aqueous solution, but also in nonaqueous solvents and in the gas phase. It is photostable, biologically and chemically inert, and non-toxic. Low-energy UV light...

The SynGenics Optimization System (SynOptSys) software application optimizes a product with respect to multiple, competing criteria using statistical Design of Experiments, Response-Surface Methodology, and the Desirability Optimization Methodology. The user is not required to be skilled in the underlying...

This grid generation script creates unstructured CFD grids for rapid thermal protection system (TPS) damage aeroheating assessments. The existing manual solution is cumbersome, open to errors, and slow.

The radEq software module allows Loci-CHEM to be applied to flow velocities where surface radiation due to heating from compression and friction becomes significant. The module adds a radiation equilibrium boundary condition to the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code to produce accurate results. The...

SOA allows scientists to plan spacecraft observations. It facilitates the identification of geometrically interesting times in a spacecraft’s orbit that a user can use to plan observations or instrument-driven spacecraft maneuvers. These observations can then be visualized multiple ways in both two-...

Net-centric networking environments are often faced with limited resources and must utilize bandwidth as efficiently as possible. In networking environments that span wide areas, the data transmission has to be efficient without any redundant or exuberant metadata.

A chance-constrained dynamic programming algorithm was developed that is capable of making optimal sequential decisions within a user-specified risk bound. This work handles stochastic uncertainties over multiple stages in the CEMAT (Combined EDL-Mobility Analyses...

Geospatial data servers that support Web-based geospatial client applications such as Google Earth and NASA World Wind must listen to data requests, access appropriate stored data, and compile a data response to the requesting client application. This...

A set of automated planning algorithms is the current operations baseline approach for the Intelligent Payload Module (IPM) of the proposed Hyper spectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) mission. For this operations concept, there are only local...

NASA’s vision for an intelligent engine will be realized with the development of a truly distributed control system featuring highly reliable, modular, and dependable components capable of both surviving the harsh engine operating environment and decentralized functionality. A set...

A navigation technology known as LiAISON (Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit Navigation) has been known to produce very impressive navigation results for scenarios involving two or more cooperative satellites near the Moon, such that at least one satellite must be in an orbit...

Development of the DeCoM comes from the requirement of analyzing the performance of a condenser. A component of a loop heat pipe (LHP), the condenser, is interfaced with the radiator in order to reject heat. DeCoM simulates the condenser, with certain input parameters. Systems Improved Numerical Differencing Analyzer...

The flight software (FSW) math library is a collection of reusable math components that provides typical math utilities required by spacecraft flight software. These utilities are intended to increase flight software quality reusability and maintainability by providing a set of consistent, well-documented, and tested...

High-performance computing (HPC) programming has become increasingly difficult with the advent of hybrid supercomputers consisting of multicore CPUs and accelerator boards such as the GPU. Manual tuning of software to achieve high performance on this type of machine has been performed by...

A report describes a model that estimates the orientation of the backup reaction wheel using the reaction wheel spin rates telemetry from a spacecraft. Attitude control via the reaction wheel assembly (RWA) onboard a spacecraft uses...

University of California, San Diego engineers have developed new image processing techniques for rapid exploration and characterization of fires by small, Segway-like robotic vehicles.

Today we are pleased to have a guest blog on embedded device security from Alan Grau, president of Icon Labs. In July of 2011, Bloomberg Business Week’s cover story was ”Cyber Weapons: The New Arms Race.” Media reports of cyber-attacks by China on military targets and military contractors are frequent and...

Norwegian research scientists will contribute to realizing the concept of storing electricity at the bottom of the sea. The energy will be stored with the help of high water pressure. The idea of an underwater pumped hydroelectric power plant may sound like Jules Verne fiction, but then it was...