Briefs: Medical
A team of researchers led by the University of Colorado has determined that carbon-fiber composites, which are stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum, can be easily and cost-effectively recycled...
Features: Electronics & Computers
Two years ago, in Medical Design Briefs, Derek Hunt offered some insight into the benefits of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology in the miniaturization of medical devices. CMOS has been around for decades and aside from the size benefits which will be discussed shortly, the...
Features: Medical
Imagine yourself as an engineering manager at a decent-sized medical device company. You have a team of engineers working with you who know their jobs pretty well. They’re a good mix of...
Briefs: Materials
NASA has developed a unique and robust multifunctional material called 3-Dimensional Multifunctional Ablative (3DMAT) Thermal Protection System (TPS) that meets both the structural and...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Many future space vehicles, planetary bases, and mining operations will be too large and heavy to launch on a single rocket. Instead, component parts would need to be launched on multiple...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A durable gripper tool was designed for use by RoboSimian robots intended for use in disaster scenarios that demand high-force, robust manipulation. The resulting Cam Hand fills a previously unaddressed niche that emphasizes grip...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
As CubeSats take on increased functionality, including larger solar arrays for increased power demands and large antennas for science and communications needs, the requirements for...
Briefs: Software
There is an association between High-Intensity Long-Duration Continuous AE (HILDCAA) activity intervals and the acceleration of relativistic >1 MeV electrons in the magnetosphere. All of the HILDCAAs that occurred in solar cycle 23 (SC23) from 1995 to 2008 led to the acceleration of...
Briefs: Software
For formation flying, rendezvous and docking, and proximity operations with small bodies of the solar system, spacecraft require simultaneous translational and rotational agility. The necessary agility is generally provided by combinations of multiple small thrusters and torque-only actuators. To use these...
Briefs: Software
This technology is a method for registration of terrain models created using stereovision on a planetary rover. Most 3D model registration approaches use some variant of iterated closest point (ICP), which minimizes a norm based on the distances between corresponding points on an arbitrary 3D surface where closest points...
Briefs: Software
Traditional error budgets that characterize pointing capability in terms of a single radial angle lack sufficient information to support analysis of pointing error in terms of distance along a nearby surface.
Briefs: Software
Traceable Automation with Remote Display and Interruptible Scheduler (TARDIS) is a software set designed for use in ground operations. TARDIS is a multi-mission automation framework that supports seamless integration of manual and automatic processing. It was...
Briefs: Software
The JPF Core System is a framework to analyze and verify Java bytecode programs. The major component of JPF core is an extensible and runtime-configurable virtual machine (VM) that can be customized with runtime components such as specific instruction sets and plug-ins to observe program execution. The JPF core can...
Briefs: Software
Single-Doppler retrieval of low-level, two-dimensional winds is desired to compare ground radar wind retrievals to satellite scatterometer wind retrievals. This needs to be integrated within the growing collection of open-source radar tools maintained by the Python Atmospheric/Ocean Sciences (PyAOS)...
Briefs: Software
Prior space missions have not routinely used onboard decision-making. The Autonomous Sciencecraft (ASE), flying onboard the Earth Observing One spacecraft, has been flying autonomous agent software for the past decade that enables it to analyze acquired imagery onboard, and use that analysis to...
Briefs: Software
libSPRITE is a set of software libraries used in the development of software applications. The libraries provide components for encoding engineering units, math functions, a task scheduler built on top of pthreads, a publish/subscribe data distribution system, and a Lua scripting language interface.
Briefs: Software
Spacecraft design is inherently difficult due to the complexity of the systems involved and the expense of testing hardware in a realistic environment. The number and cost of flight tests can be reduced by performing extensive simulation and analysis studies to understand vehicle...
Briefs: Software
The ability to read complicated Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) files in MATLAB was required for analyzing data from the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) cryovac test campaign for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project.This software was written to fill that specific need, but...
Briefs: Software
The Space Station Research Explorer provides current information on International Space Station (ISS) experiments, facilities, and research results through video, photos, interactive media, and in-depth descriptions on iOS and Android devices.
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Radio telescopes that employ arrays of many antennas are in operation, and ever-larger ones are being designed and proposed. Signals from the antennas are combined by cross-correlation. While the cost of most components of the telescope is proportional to the...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The objective of this innovation was to develop a methodology of fabricating thermopile detectors using standard semiconductor fabrication techniques. The goal was to develop a fabrication process that minimized the roughening of the Si legs during patterning of the metallic couples, and to...
Products: Motion Control
The RoadRunner SoftStep R213S microstepping motor drive from Testra Corp. (Tempe, AZ) features an onboard processor that treats the input steps as small vector moves, and chains them together with 250 or 256 microsteps per regular...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-temperature electronic integrated circuits have been demonstrated in silicon carbide (SiC) depletion mode MESFETs. This process is only capable of producing depletion mode n-channel MESFET transistors. With only this type of transistor, designing a logic gate is a challenge. A previous logic gate design that can be...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
ALM Positioners (Rock Island, IL) released the Model MHL1P 10,000-pound-capacity single-column positioner that features 68.5" vertical travel in 35 seconds; a pendant-controlled, 4-HP, column-mounted hydraulic unit for lifting and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Microwave power transmission using rectenna technology has attracted a strong interest in conjunction with wireless electric power delivery to infrastructure and subjects located at a remote place. A typical rectenna, which is a major...
Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions (Waterbury, CT) introduced the WGS Wide Guide Screw linear slide that utilizes a screw-driven carriage. Length and speed are not limited by critical screw speed, allowing high RPM, linear speed, and...
Briefs: Materials
This work focused on enhancing catalyst activity and durability by developing a method to control size, dispersion, and exposure. Existing nanocatalysts are typically fabricated in bulk or powder form. There are monolithic catalysts, but they rely on meso-porous materials as supports. Bulk nanocatalysts suffer...
Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Novotechnik U.S. (Southborough, MA) introduced the RSX-7900 Series angle sensors that provide up to IP69K ingress protection and ISO13849 PL-d safety compliance in a non-contacting design. The sensors are available in six standard...
Articles: Power
World endurance racing at Le Mans is no longer only about who finishes first after a grueling 24 hours, but also about winning with the greatest energy efficiency. For 2016, the Federation...