Defense

Military Optics Technology

The demand for innovative solutions to enhance the safety of military personnel is continually on the rise. This includes the need to improve the performance of military vehicles and aircraft, in terms of both safety...

Real-Time Airborne Particle Analyzer

Particle analysis is useful for determining chemical compositions in a wide range of disciplines, from ascertaining the source of a petroleum sample to duplicating a fragrance. The technique is appealing to...

3D-Printed Device Produces Nanofiber Meshes

Nanofibers are useful for any application that benefits from a high ratio of surface area to volume, such as solar cells that maximize exposure to sunlight, or fuel cell electrodes that catalyze...

Army Research Laboratory

In October 1992, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) was activated, consolidating the seven corporate labs of the Laboratory Command (LABCOM) with other Army research elements to form a centralized laboratory...

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories — headquartered in Albuquerque, MN, with a principal lab in Livermore, CA — is operated and managed by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC (a wholly owned...

Sharks on a Plane? Skin Scales Lift Aircraft Design

To improve a flying vehicle, sometimes you have to turn to a reliable model that has been operating for hundreds of millions of years.

The MITRE Corporation

The MITRE Corporation was chartered in 1958 as a private, not-for-profit organization to provide engineering and technical guidance for the federal government. Today, with locations in McLean, VA and Bedford, MA, MITRE...

Facility Focus: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory

The explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb in August 1949, followed by the Soviet development of bombers that could traverse the Arctic Circle, created a...

Radar Sees Through Walls – By Seeking Symmetry

Using a narrow band of microwave frequencies, researchers at Duke University found a new way to see on the other side of the wall.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA, has been operated by Battelle and its predecessors since the lab’s inception in 1965. For more than 50...

Products of Tomorrow

This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.

Sound-Off: With High-Speed Data, How Important is Signal Integrity?

Modern avionics are highly dependent on reliable connectivity — and reliable interconnection systems. As data rates inevitably improve to address greater military...

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was created with a national sense of urgency in February 1958 amidst one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Cold War and the...

Ruck Dock Load Carriage Connector System

Soldiers, civilians engaged in activities such as hiking, and public safety personnel engaged in search and rescue missions all require reliable systems for the effective carriage of necessary equipment....

Machine Vision System

A number of instruments have been built to obtain range images — a two-dimensional array of numbers that gives the depth of a scene along many directions from a central point in the instrument. Instead of measuring the...

Military Sensor Inspires Instrument to Search for Life on Mars

A sensing technique used by the U.S. military currently to remotely monitor the air to detect potentially life-threatening chemicals, toxins, and pathogens has inspired a new...

2016 Create the Future Design Contest

The 2016 Create the Future Design Contest — sponsored by COMSOL, Mouser Electronics, and Tech Briefs Media Group (publishers of NASA Tech Briefs) — recognized innovation in product design in seven...

2016 Create the Future Contest: Aerospace & Defense Category Winner

FLASH® BAINITE — HIGH PERFORMANCE ARMOR Gary Cola, Flash Bainite, Washington, MI The Flash® Bainite Process is a rapid heat treating process for creating steel that is...

Optics Breakthrough Could Revamp Night Vision

A breakthrough by an Australian collaboration of researchers could make infrared technology easy-to-use and cheap, potentially saving millions of dollars in defense and other areas using sensing...

New device prevents damage while securing tubes

The U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research has developed a novel device for securing medical tubes and catheters intubated within a patient that will prevent damage to the incisors as well as...

The Future of Exploration Starts With 3D Printing

Last year, engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, tested an additive manufacturing process that is being used to make some of the parts for NASA’s new rocket,...

Self-Test Kit Warns Soldiers of Biological Exposure

The U.S. Army’s newly developed biological self-test kit can quickly identify the presence of a pathogen of concern such as ricin, anthrax, or plague, and automatically send the result to...

2015 Create the Future Design Contest: Aerospace & Defense Category Winner

N5 Filo (First-In-Last-Out): An Ultra-Small, Low-Cost Hazardous Gas Detector Using Novel Chip-Scale Chemical Sensor Technology Abhishek Motayed, Ratan Debnath, Baomei...

Modern CMOS Cameras as Replacements for CCD Cameras

Many users of CCD sensors are asking about the advantages of the latest CMOS sensors, particularly if they have been using CCD-based cameras. The two sensor technologies, a comparison of the...

Assisted Steering for Efficient Turning of Electric Vehicles

Scientists are developing a new assisted steering concept for electric vehicles. In conventional vehicles, the internal combustion engine not only accelerates the car, but also...

New CMOS Device Could Cut Costs of Night Vision, Thermal Imaging

Engineers at The University of Texas at Dallas have created semiconductor technology that could make night vision and thermal imaging affordable for everyday use.

Scientists Unlock Secrets of Super Solar Power Perovskites

The best hope for cheap, super-efficient solar power is a remarkable family of crystalline materials called hybrid perovskites. In just five years of development, hybrid perovskite...