Briefs: Software
A software package that has been designed to allow authentication for determining if the rover(s) is/are within a set of boundaries or a specific area to access critical geospatial information by using GPS signal structures as a means to authenticate mobile devices into a network wirelessly and in real-time has been...
Briefs: Software
The Maneuver Automation Software (MAS) automates the process of generating commands for maneuvers to keep the spacecraft of the Cassini-Huygens mission on a predetermined prime mission trajectory. Before MAS became available, a team of approximately 10 members had to work about two weeks to design, test, and implement...
Briefs: Software
Event Driven Messaging with Role-Based Subscriptions (EDM-RBS) is a framework integrated into the Service Management Database (SMDB) to allow for role-based and subscription-based delivery of synchronous and asynchronous messages over JMS (Java Messaging Service), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer...
Briefs: Software
A computer program estimates the relative position and orientation of two structures from measurements, made by use of electronic cameras and laser range finders on one structure, of distances and angular positions of fiducial objects on the other structure. The program was written...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A process has been developed for fabricating membranes of a perfluoropolyether (PFPE) and integrating them into valves and pumps in “laboratory-on-a-chip” microfluidic devices. Membranes of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) [PTFE] and poly(dimethylsilane) [PDMS] have been considered for this...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A process has been developed for fabricating perfluoropolyether (PFPE) membranes that contain microscopic holes of precise sizes at precise locations. The membranes are to be incorporated into “laboratory-on-a-chip” microfluidic devices to be used in performing capillary electrophoresis.
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The term “precision linear actuator, direct drive” (“PLADD”) refers to a robust linear actuator designed to be capable of repeatedly performing, over a lifetime of the order of 5 to 10...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A mechanical fitting and relatively simple and safe method of installing it on the metal case of a battery have been devised to provide access to the interior of the battery to perform inspection and/or to measure such internal conditions as temperature and pressure. A metal boss or stud having an...
Briefs: Materials
Polyimide-PEO copolymers (“PEO” signifies polyethylene oxide) that have branched rod-coil molecular structures and that can be cured into film form at room temperature...
Briefs: Materials
Several metal alloys have shown promise as improved catalysts for catalytic thermal decomposition of hydrocarbon gases to produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Heretofore almost every experiment on the production of carbon nanotubes by this method has involved the use of iron, nickel, or cobalt as...
Briefs: Materials
Amorphous silk fibroin has shown promise as a polymeric material derivable from natural sources for making membranes for use in removing CO2 from mixed-gas streams. For most applications of silk fibroin, for purposes other than gas separation, this material is used in its highly crystalline,...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
In a recently invented class of piezoelectric diaphragm pumps, the electrode patterns on the piezoelectric diaphragms are configured so that the electric fields in the diaphragms have...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An experimental combination of an off-the-shelf valved pulsejet combustor and an aerodynamically optimized ejector has shown promise as a prototype of improved combustors for gas turbine...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Extremely lightweight, compact, non-invasive, rugged, relatively inexpensive strain- gauge transducers have been developed for use in measuring pressures of fluids in tubes. These gauges were...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A modified scheme for electron-beam (E-beam) writing used in the fabrication of convex or concave diffraction gratings makes it possible to suppress the ghost diffraction heretofore...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A mathematical model, and software to implement the model, have been devised to enable numerical simulation of the transport of electric charge in, and the resulting electrical performance...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Compounds having compositions of Mo3Sb7–xTex (where x = 1.5 or 1.6) have been investigated as candidate thermoelectric materials. These compounds are members of a class of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
In a proposed alternative to previous approaches to making hot-shoe contacts to the legs of thermoelectric devices, one relies on differential thermal expansion to increase contact...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Several techniques for manipulating neutral atoms (more precisely, ultracold clouds of neutral atoms) in chip-based magnetic traps and atomic waveguides have been demonstrated. Such traps...
Briefs: Information Technology
A physical principle (more precisely, a principle that incorporates mathematical models used in physics) has been conceived as the basis of a method of generating randomness in Monte Carlo simulations. The principle eliminates the need for conventional random-number generators.
Briefs: Information Technology
A computational method and system based on a hybrid of an artificial neural network (NN) and a support vector machine (SVM) (see figure) has been conceived as a means of maximizing or...
Briefs: Information Technology
The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) requires a broadband VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) correlator to process data routinely taken as part of the VLBI source Catalogue Maintenance and...
Briefs: Information Technology
A recently invented speech-recognition method applies to words that are articulated by means of the tongue and throat muscles but are otherwise not voiced or, at most, are spoken sotto...
Briefs: Information Technology
In this innovation, the retrieval of stored items from an exponentially large, unsorted database is performed by quantum-inspired resonance using polynomial resources due to quantum-like superposition effect. The model is represented by a modified Madelung equation in which the quantum potential...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A report presents a study addressing the question of which large-eddy simulation (LES) equations are appropriate for modeling the flow of evaporating drops of a multicomponent liquid in a gas (e.g., a spray of kerosene or diesel fuel in air). The LES equations are obtained from the direct...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A report presents the concept of a machine aboard the space shuttle that would cut oversized thermal-tile blanks to precise sizes and shapes needed to replace tiles that were damaged or lost during ascent to orbit. The machine would include a computer-controlled jigsaw enclosed in a clear...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A document describes a conceptual transportation system that would support exploratory visits by humans to locations dispersed across the surface of the Moon and provide transport of humans and cargo to sustain one or more permanent Lunar outpost. The system architecture reflects...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A document discusses a component of a laser metrology system designed to measure displacements along the line of sight with precision on the order of a tenth the diameter of an atom. This component, the phasemeter, measures the relative phase of two electrical signals and transfers...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Three documents provide information on a digital processing unit (DPU) for the planned Aquarius mission, in which a radiometer aboard a spacecraft orbiting Earth is to measure radiometric temperatures from which data on sea-surface salinity are to be deduced. The DPU is the interface between the radiometer and an...