Test & Measurement

Instrumentation

Explore a range of technical briefs and articles on advanced instrumentation. Find the latest applications that design engineers are using to meet their design challenges.

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Articles: Photonics/Optics
On April 24, 1990, something happened that forever altered mankind’s view of the universe. It was on that day that the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.
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Products: Electronics & Computers
Keithley Instruments, Cleveland, OH, introduced the Model 2460 SourceMeter® Source Measure Unit (SMU) instrument with a capacitive touchscreen graphical user interface. It offers power sourcing up to 105V, 7A DC/7A...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Guarded Flat Plate Insulation Test Cryostat
The guarded flat plate insulation test cryostat (Cryostat-500) is a boil-off calorimeter comprising a flat-bottom test apparatus for measuring the absolute thermal performance of an insulation test article. Typical dimensions allow accepting test specimens 200 mm in diameter by up to 30 mm thick. The test...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
A Continuous-Flow, Microfluidic, Microwave-Assisted Chemical Reactor
In industrial synthetic chemistry laboratories, reactions are generally carried out using batch-mode methodologies, stepwise reactions, and purifications to generate a final product. Each step has an associated yield of both the reaction itself and of the final purification that...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Data acquisition plays a critical role in improving vehicle component performance and overall system reliability. Measuring engine parameters, including...
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Articles: Information Technology
NASA Airborne Science operates a fleet of aircraft in conjunction with orbiting satellites for Earth observations. In 2004, NASA started planning missions to employ constellations of instruments...
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Articles: Test & Measurement
Many of us believe that if we don’t have ground loops we don’t need to isolate analog I/O signals. Yet there are five very real – and very different – reasons to isolate every one of your analog...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
The shapes of waveforms generated by commercially available analytical separation devices, such as some types of mass spectrometers and differential mobility spectrometers are, in general, inadequate...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
An alternative approach to apertureless near- field optical spectroscopy involving an atomic-force microscope (AFM) entails less complexity of equipment than does a prior approach. The...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Hyperspectral Fluorescence and Reflectance Imaging Instrument
The system is a single hyperspectral imaging instrument that has the unique capability to acquire both fluorescence and reflectance high-spatial-resolution data that is inherently spatially and spectrally registered. Potential uses of this instrument include plant stress monitoring,...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
A system that comprises optical and electronic subsystems has been developed as an infrastructure for a spectroradiometer that measures time- dependent spectral radiance of the daylight sky,...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
The ultra-stable beacon source (USBS) provides a laser-beam output with a very low angular jitter and can be used as an absolute angular reference to simulate a beacon in the...
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Articles: Aerospace
Fly-by-Wireless: A Less-Wire and Wireless Revolution for Aerospace Vehicle Architectures
Every ounce of weight brought to the lunar surface costs 40 to 60 times that in fuel needed at liftoff from the Earth. Part of that weight penalty is due to wires, but the cost of wires is much more than weight. Wired connectivity drives up the price of design...
Application Briefs: Test & Measurement
Science instruments Southwest Research Institute San Antonio, TX 210-684-5111 www.swri.org
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Low-Power, Zero-Vibration Sorption Coolers
A report discusses three designs of proposed low-power, zero-vibration coolers for infrared instruments planned to be flown aboard spacecraft to perform astrophysical observations far from Earth. The designs take advantage of the radiative precooling available in the projected deep-space operational...
Briefs: Materials
Efforts are under way to develop a technique of noncontact acousto-ultrasonic testing in which (1) a pulsed laser beam excites ultrasonic waves in a plate specimen and (2) the ultrasonic...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
A proposed miniature turbomolecular pump would be a prototype of high-vacuum sources for a forthcoming generation of miniature, portable mass spectrometers and other scientific instruments. The...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Sponsored by a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract, MetroLaser, Inc., has developed a novel, compact and low-cost laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) under the...
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