Electronics & Software

Energy-related subsystems in modern aircraft are more tightly coupled with less design margin. These subsystems include thermal management subsystems, vehicle electric power generation and distribution, aircraft engines, and flight control. Tighter coupling, lower design...

A new modeling approach is based on the concept of large eddy simulation (LES) within which the large scales are computed and the small scales are modeled. The new approach is expected to retain the fidelity of the physics while also being computationally efficient. Typically, only...

Fast iterative algorithms are often used for solving Method of Moments (MoM) systems, having a large number of unknowns, to determine current distribution and other parameters. The most commonly used fast methods include the fast multipole method (FMM), the...

The Modified Gerchberg-Saxton (MGS) algorithm is an image-based wavefront-sensing method that can turn any science instrument focal plane into a wavefront sensor. MGS characterizes optical systems by estimating the wavefront errors in the exit pupil using only intensity images of a star or other point source...

A slight deviation from Newtonian dynamics can lead to new effects associated with the concept of physical intelligence. Non-Newtonian effects such as deviation from classical thermodynamic as well as quantum-like properties have been analyzed.

A solution has been developed to the challenges of computation of derivatives with respect to geometry, which is not straightforward because these are not typically direct inputs to the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver. To overcome these...

Lighter-than-air vehicles such as hot-air balloons have been proposed for exploring Saturn’s moon Titan, as well as other bodies with significant atmospheres. For these vehicles to navigate effectively, it is critical to incorporate the effects of surrounding...

The integration of human space applications risk projection models of organ dose and acute radiation risk has been a key problem. NASA has developed an organ dose projection model using the BRYNTRN with SUM DOSE computer codes, and a probabilistic model of Acute...

A report discusses using the Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) light airplane as an observation platform on Mars in order to gather data. It would have to survive insertion into the atmosphere, fly long enough to meet science objectives, and provide a stable platform.

Three documents discuss the Sustainable Objective Valuation and Attainability (SOVA) algorithm and software as used to plan tasks (principally, scientific observations and associated maneuvers) for the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite. SOVA is a means of managing risk in a...

Significant improvements have been made in the instrument originally described in a prior NASA Tech Briefs article: “Improved Speed and Functionality of a 580-GHz Imaging Radar” (NPO-45156), Vol. 34, No. 7 (July 2010), p. 51. First, the wideband YIG oscillator has been replaced...

The Interplanetary Overlay Networking Protocol Accelerator (IONAC) described previously in “The Interplanetary Overlay Networking Protocol Accelerator” (NPO-45584), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 10, (October 2008) p. 106 provides functions that implement the Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) bundle protocol. New missions that require...

This work describes the development of a large Ka Band Slot Array for the Glacier and Land Ice Surface Topography Interferometer (GLISTIN), a proposed spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar for topographic mapping of ice sheets and glaciers. GLISTIN will collect ice...

This innovation can be run as a standalone network application on any computer in a networked environment. This design can be configured to control one or more routers (one instance per router), and can also be configured to listen to a policy server over the network to receive new...

HEMT-based receiver arrays with excellent noise and scalability are already starting to be manufactured at 100 GHz, but the advances in technology should make it possible to develop receiver modules with even greater operation frequency up to 200 GHz. A prototype...

Coupling between two waveguide-fed planar slot arrays has been investigated using full-wave analysis. The analysis employs the method-of-moments solution to the pertinent coupled integral equa- tions for the aperture electric field of all slots. In order to compute coupling between two arrays, the input...

A method has been designed for using multiple independent stations to discriminate fast transient radio sources from local anomalies, such as antenna noise or radio frequency interference (RFI). This can improve the sensitivity of incoherent detection for geographically separated stations such...

Break-out boxes (BOBs) are necessary for all electrical inte- gration/cable checkouts and troubleshooting. Because the price of a BOB is high, and no work can be done without one, often the procedure stops, simply waiting for a BOB. A less expensive BOB would take less time in the integration, testing, and troubleshooting...