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Products: Photonics/Optics
The Caliber™ scanning probe microscope (SPM) from Veeco Instruments (Woodbury, NY) can perform various SPM research and industrial applications on samples of differing sizes. The SPM’s open-platform, closed-loop...
Briefs: Imaging
Phase Sensor for Aligning a Segmented Telescope Mirror
A phase sensor has been developed for use in aligning a segmented telescope mirror to within a fraction of a wavelength in piston. (As used here, "piston" signifies displacement of a mirror segment along the optical axis of the telescope.) Such precise alignment is necessary in order to realize...
Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Precision temperature data loggers Veriteq Instruments Richmond, BC, Canada 604-273-6850 www.veriteq.com
Articles: Photonics/Optics
The measurement of gases associated with industrial processing/emissions monitoring has become increasingly important as the need to improve efficiencies in process control has increased, and...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
“One-Stop Shopping” for Ocean Remote-Sensing and Model Data
OurOcean Portal 2.0 (http:// ourocean.jpl.nasa.gov) is a software system designed to enable users to easily gain access to ocean observation data, both remote-sensing and in-situ, configure and run an Ocean Model with observation data assimilated on a remote computer, and visualize...
Application Briefs: Imaging
Charge coupled device (CCD) image sensors e2v Technologies Elmsford, NY 914-593-6841 www.e2v.com
Articles: Test & Measurement
In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of NASA Tech Briefs, our features in 2006 highlight a different technology category each month, tracing the past 30 years of the technology, and continuing with a glimpse...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Experiments have shown the stability enhancement of polymeric sensing films on mixing the polymer with colloidal filler particles (submicron-sized) of carbon black, silver, titanium...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
The figure is a simplified schematic diagram of a tilt-sensing unequal-path interferometer set up to measure the orientation of the normal vector of one surface of a cube mounted on a...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
A molecular Rayleigh scattering based air density measurement system was built in a large nozzle and engine component test facility for surveying supersonic plumes from...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Mechanical CAD (computer-aided design) programs have become very sophisticated during the past few years. Unfortunately, there is still a portion of the engineering spectrum that cannot be...
Who's Who: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Using high-tech remote sensing methods, a collection of artifacts has been unearthed at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, MS. The objects uncovered during...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) — autonomous or remotely controlled pilotless aircraft — have been recently thrust into the spotlight for military applications, for homeland security, and...
Who's Who: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Weather forecasters in the middle of the United States are making better local predictions for pilots thanks to an airborne sensor being tested by NASA's...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Dielectric Heaters for Testing Spacecraft Nuclear Reactors
Like the electrical-resistance heaters used heretofore for such testing, the dielectric heaters would be inserted in the reactors in place of nuclear fuel rods. A typical heater according to the proposal would consist of a rod of lossy dielectric material sized and shaped like a fuel rod...
Application Briefs: Test & Measurement
Science instruments Southwest Research Institute San Antonio, TX 210-684-5111 www.swri.org
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A vision system that includes a specially designed video camera and an image-data-processing computer is under development as a prototype of robotic systems for visual inspection of the interior...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Shuttle-Data-Tape XML Translator
JSDTImport is a computer program for translating native Shuttle Data Tape (SDT) files from American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format into databases in other formats. JSDTImport solves the problem of organizing the SDT content, affording flexibility to enable users to choose how to store the...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Lightweight, flexible probes have been developed for measuring temperatures at multiple locations in tanks that contain possibly pressurized cryogenic fluids. If the fluid in a given tank...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A broadband phase-contrast wave-front sensor has been proposed as a real-time wave-front sensor in an adaptive-optics system. The proposed sensor would offer an alternative to the Shack-Hartmann...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Portable Airborne Laser System Measures Forest-Canopy Height
The Portable Airborne Laser System (PALS) is a combination of laser ranging, video imaging, positioning, and data-processing subsystems designed for measuring the heights of forest canopies along linear transects from tens to thousands of kilometers long. Unlike prior laser ranging...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Integrated circuits that exploit optical flow to sense motions of computer mice on or near surfaces (“optical mouse chips”) are used as navigation sensors in a class of small flying robots now...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Have you ever seen a piece of spaceflight hardware? When you do, you will notice some letters and numbers etched or inscribed on it. All NASA parts have identification,...
Briefs: Imaging
A hyperspectral imaging system of high spectral and spatial resolution that incorporates several innovative features has been developed to incorporate a focal-plane scanner (U.S. Patent 6,166,373). This...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Optical Sensing of Combustion Instabilities in Gas Turbines
In a continuing program of research and development, a system has been demonstrated that makes high-speed measurements of thermal infrared radiance from gas-turbine engine exhaust streams. When a gas-turbine engine is operated under conditions that minimize the emission of pollutants,...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Wheel Electrometer System
The electrodes of this electrometer are embedded in a wheel of an exploratory robotic vehicle, utilizing the wheel motion to bring the electrodes into proximity or contact with the soil. Each electrode resides in one of two types of sensor modules: electric-field (ELF) or triboelectric (TRIBO). In either type, what is...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Cryogenic High-Sensitivity Magnetometer
A proposed magnetometer for use in a cryogenic environment would be sensitive enough to measure a magnetic-flux density as small as a picogauss (10-16 Tesla). In contrast, a typical conventional flux-gate magnetometer cannot measure a magnetic-flux density smaller that about 1 microgauss (10-10 Tesla).
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Aircraft and other vehicles are often kept in service beyond their original design lives. As they age, they become susceptible to system malfunctions and fatigue. Unlike future aircraft...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A technique has been devised for measuring the relative humidity levels in the protective helium/water vapor atmosphere in which the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and...
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