Visualization of fMRI Network Data

Welcome to your Digital Edition of NASA Tech Briefs, Imaging Technology, and Photonics Tech Briefs Included in This March Edition: NASA Tech Briefs March 2015

www.techbriefs.com

Imaging Technology

Photnics Tech Briefs Photonics Solutions for the Design Engineer

Vol. 39 No. 3 March 2015

March 2015

The Hubble Space Telescope in a picture snapped by a Servicing Mission 4 crewmember just after the Space Shuttle Atlantis captured Hubble with its robotic arm on May 13, 2009, beginning the final mission to upgrade and repair the telescope. To learn more about Hubble’s incredible 25-year history, read the feature article beginning on page IIa. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

The Hubble Space Telescope

NASA VolcanoBot Maps Eruptions

25 Years of Discovery

2014 Product of the Year Winners Smart-Grid-Ready Instrumentation

Researcher Spotlight: Atom-Thick Material Offers 2D Imaging Possibilities 60

Enter the 2015 Create the Future Design Contest (see page 10) Photonics Tech Briefs

Synthetic Vision Systems Improve Pilots' Situational Awareness 65

Imaging Technology

Plus: Hubble Spinoff Technologies

3D Vision System Aids 560-Mile Piloted Drive 67

Customizing Visual 3D Optical Coatings Rice University graduate student Sidong Lei displays a three-pixel prototype made with atomically thin layers of copper, indium, and selenium atoms, or CIS. The new material developed at Rice shows promise for two-dimensional electronics. For more information, read the Researcher Spotlight interview on page 60. (Image Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

New Products 68

3D Volumetric Display Technology

Supplement to NASA Tech Briefs

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Infinite Designs, One Platform with the only complete system design environment

NI LabVIEW is the only comprehensive development environment with the

LabVIEW system design software offers unrivaled hardware integration and helps you program the way you think–graphically.

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>> Accelerate your system design productivity at ni.com/labview-platform

800 453 6202 ©2013 National Instruments. All rights reserved. LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 11215

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March 2015

Vol. 39 No. 3

www.techbriefs.com

NASA VolcanoBot Maps Eruptions

2014 Product of the Year Winners Smart-Grid-Ready Instrumentation Enter the 2015 Create the Future Design Contest (see page 10) Photonics Tech Briefs Imaging Technology

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What don’t we do for NASA? While space walks and Mars landings aren’t in our portfolio yet, EMCOR Government Services does cover a vast universe of Operations & Maintenance for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Below is just a sample of how we help NASA accomplish its important missions…

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When we merged the country’s three leading service bureaus into one, we created Stratasys Direct Manufacturing—a powerful resource for designers and engineers to challenge conventional approaches to manufacturing. We partner with ambitious companies like Mission Motors to provide the technological solutions they need to

a high-performance electric motorcycle, they turned to us to help manufacture the motorcycle’s complex integrated dashboard. Together, we produced a design that would have been impossible without our 3D printing and advanced manufacturing technologies. The freedom to create. The power of additive manufacturing. The power of together.

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push the boundaries of design and engineering. When Mission Motors set out to build

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PROJECT CLIENT

MISSION R

MISSION MOTORS PA R T S

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Learn how Stratasys is redefining manufacturing, download our recent white paper and explore more stories like Mission Motors. S T R ATA S Y S T O G E T H E R . C O M

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March 2015 • Vol. 39 No. 3

Contents Features

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Products of Tomorrow

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Smart-Grid-Ready Instrumentation

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Application Briefs

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NASA Spinoff: Vision Software Improves Screen Displays

Solutions 24 24 24 24 26 28 28 29 30

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Technology Focus: Data Acquisition Multivariate Time Series Search Capability to Identify Complex Patterns in Large Datasets NGDCS Linux Application for Imaging-Spectrometer Data Acquisition and Display Kepler Community Data Analysis Tools Detection of Carried and Dropped Objects in Surveillance Video Signal Processing Software for Remote Vital Sign Monitoring Visualization of fMRI Network Data Viewpoints Software for Visualization of Multivariate Data Controlling Fast Acquisition Hardware to Pre-Position a Satellite to Constrain Baseband Searches

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Electrical/Electronics Self-Diagnostic Accelerometer Field Programmable Gate Array Capacitively Coupled, High-Voltage Current Sensing for Extreme Environments E-Textile Interconnect

36 36 36 38

Power Generation & Storage Optical Fiber for Solar Cells Pumped Subsea Energy Storage Carbon Nanotube Tower-Based Supercapacitor

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Robotics, Automation & Control Hands-Free Control Interfaces for an Extravehicular Jetpack Artificial Immune System-Based Approach for Air Combat Maneuvering Rule-Based Analytic Asset Management for Space Exploration Systems (RAMSES)

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Departments 10 14 74 75

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Mechanical & Fluid Systems Design for Improving the Flatness of Solar Sails Reactionless Drive Tube Sampling Device and Deployment Nozzle Heat Flux Gauge Rotary-Hammer Core Sample Acquisition Tool

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Manufacturing & Prototyping Fabrication of Single-Mode, Distributed-Feedback, Interband Cascade Lasers

UpFront Who’s Who at NASA NASA’s Technology Transfer Program Advertisers Index

New for Design Engineers 70 72

Product Focus: Software New Products

Special Supplement Photonics Solutions for the Design Engineer March 2015

The Hubble Space Telescope in a picture snapped by a Servicing Mission 4 crewmember just after the Space Shuttle Atlantis captured Hubble with its robotic arm on May 13, 2009, beginning the final mission to upgrade and repair the telescope. To learn more about Hubble’s incredible 25-year history, read the feature article beginning on page IIa. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

1a – 14a Photonics Tech Briefs Follows page 38 in selected editions only.

The Hubble Space Telescope 25 Years of Discovery

Plus: Hubble Spinoff Technologies Customizing Visual 3D Optical Coatings 3D Volumetric Display Technology

Supplement to NASA Tech Briefs

(Solutions continued on page 8)

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www.techbriefs.com

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THREE AIRCRAFT, A SINGLE MODEL, AND 80% COMMON CODE. THAT’S MODEL-BASED DESIGN. To develop the unprecedented threeversion F-35, engineers at Lockheed Martin created a common system model to simulate the avionics, propulsion, and other systems, and to automatically generate final flight code. The result: reusable designs, rapid implementation, and global teamwork. To learn more, visit mathworks.com/mbd

©2010 The MathWorks, Inc.

Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/-

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Contents

Product of the Month

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Developing Ceramic-Like Bulk Metallic Glass Gears

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Information Technology & Software Post-Flight Analysis Statistical Heating (PFlASH) Magnetic Sensitivity of a Ka-Band Isolator Measured Using the GRAIL Testbed Open-Source, Platform-Neutral BLAS Library JPL Unified Methodology Process (JUMP) Automated Evaluation Software (AES) Web Application A RESTful Web Service Connector for Phoenix Analysis Server

56 57 58 58 59 60 65 67 68

The AVE 2 strain measurement system from Instron (Norwood, MA) enables testing under multiple environmental conditions.

On the cover

Geologist Carolyn Parcheta of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA) developed the VolcanoBot, a robot that explores and measures the shape of volcanic fissures – cracks that erupt magma. Last spring, Parcheta and VolcanoBot explored a fissure in Mauna Ulu on Kilauea’s East Rift Zone in Hawaii. A smaller, more compact version, VolcanoBot 2, will return this month. Learn more about VolcanoBot in the Who’s Who at NASA interview with Carolyn on page 14. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Imaging Technology Researcher Spotlight: Atom-Thick Material Offers 2D Imaging Possibilities Synthetic Vision Systems Improve Pilots’ Situational Awareness 3D Vision System Aids 560-Mile Piloted Drive New Products

This document was prepared under the sponsorship of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Neither Associated Business Publications Co., Ltd. nor the United States Government nor any person acting on behalf of the United States Government assumes any liability resulting from the use of the information contained in this document, or warrants that such use will be free from privately owned rights. The U.S. Government does not endorse any commercial product, process, or activity identified in this publication.

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Permissions: Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by Associated Business Publications, provided that the flat fee of $3.00 per copy be paid directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (222 Rose Wood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923). For those organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. The fee code for users of the Transactional Reporting Service is: ISSN 0145-319X194 $3.00+ .00

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UP FRONT Editor’s Choice

Linda Bell Editorial Director

Readers Select 2014 Products of the Year

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technique creates bulk metallic glass (BMGs) gears with selected mechanical properties that are very similar to ceramics, such as high strength and resistance to wear, but without high melting temperatures. The technique has applications in bearings, gears, and gearboxes for automotive, spacecraft, and robotics. BMG gears can outperform commonly used aerospace gears. Find out more on page 53.

In December, we asked NASA Tech Briefs readers to select the one product from our 12 Products of the Month that you thought was the most significant new introduction to the design engineering community in 2014. Thanks to all of our readers who voted, and here are your winners for the 2014 NASA Tech Briefs’ Readers’ Choice Product of the Year: COMSOL Burlington, MA COMSOL Multiphysics® software version 5.0 features product updates, three new add-on products, and the new Application Builder that lets users build applications for use by engineering and manufacturing departments. For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/55587-124

NASA and Microsoft Collaboration Dewetron Wakefield, RI The TrendCorder series of instruments for basic data acquisition features intuitive, multitouch operation, enabling them to be operated 100% by touch, including alphanumeric entry, channel setup, and display configuration. For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/55587-125

NASA and Microsoft have teamed up to develop OnSight software that will enable scientists to work virtually on Mars using wearable technology called Microsoft HoloLens. OnSight uses holographic computing to overlay visual information and rover data into the user’s field of view. Members of the Curiosity mission team don a Microsoft HoloLens device that surrounds them with the images from the rover’s Martian field site. Learn more about NASA’s journey to Mars at www.nasa.gov/mars.

MSC Software Corp. Newport Beach, CA The MSC Apex™ computer-aided engineering (CAE) platform is a Computational Parts™-based CAE system that enables predictive product development in the earlier stages of design. Integrated solver methods allow users to interactively validate parts and subsystem models. For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/55587-126

Your Turn to Create the Future The 13th annual Create the Future Design Contest (www. createthefuturecontest.com), sponsored by COMSOL and Mouser Electronics, and produced by Tech Briefs Media Group, is open for entries. The contest recognizes outstanding innovaDESIGN CONTEST 2015 tions in product design worldwide, awarding a Grand Prize of $20,000 USD. There is no cost to enter. Entries can be submitted by individuals and/or teams in seven categories. Prizes will be awarded for each category, and for the ten most popular entries as voted on by site registrants. If you choose to post your entries on the contest site, they will be seen by business and technology leaders across the globe who could help bring your ideas to market. For complete information and the official entry form, go to www.createthefuturecontest. com. THE

Next Month in NTB The April issue will include a special preview of the SAE 2015 World Congress & Exhibition taking place in Detroit from April 21-23. Find out how this year’s theme, Leading Mobility Innovation, expresses the dawning of a new day in the automotive industry. Connect with NTB

linkedin.com/company/tech-briefs-media

facebook.com/NASATechBriefs 10

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The technologies NASA develops don’t just blast off into space. They also improve our lives here on Earth. Life-saving search-and-rescue tools, implantable medical devices, advances in commercial aircraft safety, increased accuracy in weather forecasting, and the miniature cameras in our cellphones are just some of the examples of NASA-developed technology used in products today. This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. If you are interested in licensing the technologies described here, use the contact information provided. To learn about more available technologies, visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at http://technology.nasa.gov.

Products of

Tomorrow ►

Guidance and Control for an Autonomous Soaring UAV

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Detecting and soaring in thermals enables UAVs to optimize flight performance, increase speed, extend flight duration and range, and reduce energy consumption. Although piloted gliders and low-powered aircraft have systems to detect thermals, a guidance and control system from Armstrong Flight Research Center is the first ever to be used by UAVs. Potential applications include remote sensing, surveillance, atmospheric research, firefighting, law enforcement, and border patrol. Contact: Armstrong Innovative Partnerships Office Phone: 661-276-3368 E-mail: [email protected]

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Hypoxia Detection and Warning System

An innovative oxygen warning system detects and prevents oxygen deprivation, or hypoxia. If oxygen partial pressure dips below a safe, predefined level, the sensor’s alarm and vibration are capable of arousing an individual who may have become impaired by symptoms of hypoxia such as drowsiness, slowed reaction times, and blackouts. The partial pressure warning system can be incorporated into virtually any commercial oxygen mask for use by pilots, firefighters, scuba divers, and mountain climbers. Contact: Johnson Space Center Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office Phone: 281-483-3809 E-mail: [email protected]

Enhanced Auditory Alert System

Auditory warning systems for human interfaces depend primarily upon signal loudness. By making an alert signal substantially louder than the measured background noise, one can insure that an alert signal will be detectable. However, if alert signal amplitude is too loud, the alert signal may produce a “startle effect” that hinders performance in some high stress situations. This Ames Research Center invention provides an alternative approach that uses spatial modulation to improve the detectability of an alert signal without substantially increasing the amplitude level of the alert signal. Uses include aviation, vehicles, ships, power plants, gaming, and loud industrial settings. Contact: Ames Technology Partnerships Division Phone: 1-855-NASA-BIZ (1-855-6272-249) http://technology.arc.nasa.gov.

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Refuse to Let Design Fall Flat

Proto Labs is the world’s fastest manufacturer of prototypes and low-volume parts. To help illustrate the design challenges encountered with injection molding, we created the Design Cube. See thin and thick sections, good and bad bosses, knit lines, sink and other elements that impact the moldability of parts.

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Who’s Who at NASA Carolyn Parcheta, NASA Postdoctoral Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA

NTB: With some of these fissure walls being a foot across, how is the robot designed to fit?

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geologist by training, Carolyn Parcheta had an idea in July of 2013 to develop a robot that explores and measures the shape of volcanic fissures. She worked with engineering teams at JPL to develop the VolcanoBot. In May 2014, the robot explored Mauna Ulu on Kilauea’s East Rift Zone in Hawaii. A smaller, more compact version, VolcanoBot 2, will return early this month. NASA Tech Briefs: Why are robots an effective way to explore volcanoes? Carolyn Parcheta: They can help scientists get into places that are too dangerous to otherwise take data. In this particular case, it’s not only dangerous; a lot of these fissures are too skinny for a human to fit into. They’re long and deep, but they’re just too thin.

Parcheta: We designed the robot to have half-foot-diameter wheels initially. The robot is now down to 4.5"-diameter wheels. The sensors ride along the axle inside a 3D-printed harness. There is a tail on the back side of the robot attached to a tether, and this helps to keep VolcanoBot facing downward in the fissure as it rolls along one of the walls. I picked the axle-style design in order to let the robot roll down either wall of the fissure. There was a possibility (which we confirmed) that the angle of the fissure into the ground reversed. NTB: Can you take me through the first Hawaii field test? Parcheta: The first test was five days long and started with testing VolcanoBot on the edge of a fissure, where we could still reach it and help it if needed. Once we got a feel for how the robot would perform when it would be out of our reach, we decided to make the first descent. We spent the first afternoon and the second day of the field test imaging one of 54 vents along the fissure. The vent is 8 meters long and 0.5-0.75 meters wide. Our third day involved some reconnaissance and testing at a lava tube on neighboring Mauna Loa’s southwest rift zone, and then we went back to Mauna Ulu for two days to partially map three other vents along the fissure and a nearby crack that looks similar to the fissure, but did not erupt lava. NTB: Why is this work so important? Parcheta: We are, for the first time ever, documenting essentially the conduit of a volcano, or a volcanic eruption. Knowing that geometry and the shape of the pathway allows us to understand the fluid dynamics of the eruption better. Once we understand that, we can more accurately understand the hazards on the surface and what’s causing those hazards. We can also take that technology and apply it to potential volcanic fissures on Mars or the Moon that look similar to terrestrial fissures, but we’re not quite sure if they are or not. Eventually, it could even go to [moons like] Europa or Enceladus that have these cracks with geysers or fissure-like geometries, and see what those are like as well. To learn more about VolcanoBot, read a full transcript of the interview, or listen to a downloadable podcast, visit www.techbriefs. com/podcast. NASA Tech Briefs, March 2015


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dSPACE MicroLabBox – Compact power in the lab Are you looking for a powerful development system for all kinds of laboratory tasks that takes up little space and comes at an attractive price? dSPACE MicroLabBox provides a Simulink®-programmable real-time processor with high computing power, combined with an FPGA and over 100 I/O interfaces. All this with a desk space no larger than a conventional laptop computer. MicroLabBox is the ideal solution for conveniently creating, optimizing and testing controllers in drive technology, robotics, medical engineering, and many other areas. MicroLabBox - your new all-in-one system for research and development.


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Smart-Grid-Ready Instrumentation

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he term “smart grid” is an umbrella term used to refer to new technologies that aim to address today’s electrical power grid challenges. At a high level, these technologies address challenges associated with grid reliability and reactive maintenance, renewables integration, and disturbance detection. One way to help address these challenges is to push decision-making and intelligence closer to the grid, embedded within flexible instrumentation to achieve faster response times, better bandwidth utilization, and functionality field upgrades that will keep field instruments up-to-date with the latest algorithms and methodologies to monitor and protect the grid.

Critical Components There is no silver bullet when it comes to smart grid implementation, and it is likely to be an ongoing global effort for years to come that will require multiple iterations with constantly evolving requirements. On one side, standalone traditional instruments such as reclosers, power-quality meters, transient recorders, and phasor measurement units (PMUs) are robust, standards-based, and embedded, but are designed to perform one or more specific/fixed tasks defined by the vendor (i.e. the user generally cannot extend or customize them). In addition, special tech-

nologies and costly components must be developed to build these instruments, making them very expensive and slow to adapt. On the other side, the rapid adoption of the PC in the past 30 years catalyzed a revolution in instrumentation for test, measurement, and automation. Computers are powerful, opensource, I/O expandable, and programmable, but not robust and not embedded enough for field deployment. One major development resulting from the ubiquity of the PC is the concept of virtual instrumentation, which offers several benefits to engineers and scientists who require increased productivity, accuracy, and performance. Virtual instrumentation bridges traditional instrumentation, with computers offering the best of both worlds: measurement and quality, embedded processing power, reliability and robustness, open-source programmability, and fieldupgradability. Virtual instrumentation is the foundation for smart-grid-ready instrumentation. Engineers and scientists working on smart grid applications where needs and requirements change very quickly need flexibility to create their own solutions. Virtual instruments, by virtue of being PC-based, inherently take advantage of the benefits from the latest technology incorporated into off-the-shelf PCs, and they can be adapted via soft-

ware and plug-in hardware to meet particular application needs without having to replace the entire device. While software tools provide the programming environment to customize the functionality of a smart-grid-ready instrument, there is a need for an added layer of robustness and reliability that a standard off-the-shelf PC cannot offer. One of the most empowering technologies that adds this required level of reliability, robustness, and performance is the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).

FPGAs At the highest level, FPGAs are reprogrammable silicon chips. Using prebuilt logic blocks and programmable routing resources, you can configure these chips to implement custom hardware functionality without ever having to pick up a breadboard or soldering iron. You develop digital computing tasks in software and compile them down to a configuration file or bitstream that contains information on how the components should be wired together. In addition, FPGAs are completely reconfigurable and instantly take on a brand new “personality” when you recompile a different configuration of circuitry. In the past, FPGA technology was only available to engineers with a deep understanding of digital hardware design. The rise of high-

Figure 1: Graphical FPGA design translated to independent parts of an FPGA.

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Embedded Instrumentation level design tools, however, is changing the rules of FPGA programming, with new technologies that convert graphical block diagrams or even C code into digital hardware circuitry (Figure 1). FPGA chip adoption across all industries is driven by the fact that FPGAs

combine the best parts of ASICs and processor-based systems. FPGAs provide hardware-timed speed and reliability, but they do not require high volumes to justify the large upfront expense of custom ASIC design. Reprogrammable silicon also has the same flexibility of soft-

Figure 2: Sequential vs. parallel implementation of a tap filter utilizing an FPGA with 2,016 DSP slices at 600 million samples per second (MSPS).

Figure 3: Moore’s Law comparing FPGA and CPU performance.

Figure 4: Processor + FPGA combined architecture.

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ware running on a processor-based system, but is not limited by the number of processing cores available. Unlike processors, FPGAs are truly parallel in nature so different processing operations do not have to compete for the same resources. Each independent processing task is assigned to a dedicated section of the chip, and can function autonomously without any influence from other logic blocks. As a result, the performance of one part of the application is not affected when additional processing is added (Figure 2). FPGA circuitry is truly a “hard” implementation of program execution. Processor-based systems often involve several layers of abstraction to help schedule tasks and share resources among multiple processes. The driver layer controls hardware resources and the operating system manages memory and processor bandwidth. For any given processor core, only one instruction can execute at a time, and processor-based systems are continually at risk of timecritical tasks pre-empting one another. FPGAs, which do not use operating systems, minimize reliability concerns with true parallel execution and deterministic hardware dedicated to every task. Taking advantage of hardware parallelism, FPGAs exceed the computing power of computer processors and digital signal processors (DSPs) by breaking the paradigm of sequential execution and accomplishing more per clock cycle. Moore’s law has driven the processing capabilities of microprocessors, and multicore architectures on those chips continue to push this curve higher. BDTI, a noted analyst and benchmarking firm, released benchmarks showing how FPGAs can deliver many times the processing power per dollar of a DSP solution in some applications. Controlling inputs and outputs (I/O) at the hardware level provides faster response times and specialized functionality to closely match application requirements (Figure 3). The incredible parallel processing of an FPGA has enabled it to scale at a similar rate, while optimized for different types of calculations. The best architectures take advantage of both these technologies (Figure 4). As mentioned earlier, FPGA chips are field-upgradable and do not require the time and expense involved with ASIC redesign. Digital communication protocols, for example, have specifications that can change over time, and ASICbased interfaces may cause maintenance

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Aitech has been building mission-critical embedded computing solutions for the defense and space industries since 1983. Now you can have the same sophisticated latest generation technology in your industrial application. And we’ll support your product’s lifecycle for 12 years... or more! To find out how rugged and affordable Aitech embedded products can be, call: 888.248.3248, email sales @ rugged.com, or visit www.rugged.com. Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/55587-760

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Embedded Instrumentation and forward compatibility challenges. Being reconfigurable, FPGA chips are able to keep up with future modifications that might be necessary. As a product or system matures, you can make functional enhancements without spending time redesigning hardware or modifying the board layout.

Solution Implementation

Figure 5: Dataflow programming example.

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Distributed systems such as PMUs or distributed intelligence is not a novel concept. For mathematicians, it may be farming out computing tasks to a computer grid. Facilities managers may imagine wireless sensor networks monitoring the health of a building. These examples share a fundamental theme — a distributed system is any system that uses multiple processors/nodes to solve a problem. Because of the tremendous cost and performance improvements in FPGA technology, and its applications to build smart-grid-ready instrumentation, power engineers are finding more effective ways to meet smart grid application challenges by adding more computing engines/nodes to smart grid systems. Distributed intelligence promotes optimum network response times and bandwidth utilization, allows unprecedented amounts of data and grid control operations to be seamlessly managed through the system without clogging wireless networks, and enhances reliability through decentralized coordination instead of through the imposition of hierarchical control via a central SCADA system. However, designing multiple computing engines into a smart grid control system, and later managing those systems, has not been as easy as engineers might hope. Developing distributed systems introduces an entirely new set of programming challenges that traditional tools do not properly address. For instance, in a sensor network, wireless sensors are selforganizing units that organically connect to other sensors in the vicinity to build a communication fabric. In another example, grid monitoring systems feature remotely distributed headless reclosers, power quality meters, circuit breakers, and PMUs that monitor and control different grid conditions while logging data to SCADA databases. The challenges engineers and scientists face in developing distributed systems include: (1) programming applications that take advantage of multiple processors/nodes based on the same or mixed architectures; (2) sharing data efficiently among multiple processors/nodes

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that are either directly connected on a single PCB or box, or remotely connected on a network; (3) coordinating all nodes as a single system, including the timing and synchronization between nodes; (4) integrating different types of I/O such as high-speed digital, analog waveforms, and phasor measurements; and (5) incorporating additional services to the data shared between nodes such as logging, alarming, remote viewing, and integration with enterprise SCADA systems.

Graphical System Design The graphical system design approach addresses programming challenges by providing the tools to program dissimilar nodes from a single development environment using a block diagram approach engineers and scientists are familiar with (Figure 5). Engineers can then develop code to run on computing devices ranging from desktop PCs, embedded controllers, FPGAs, and DSPs utilizing the same development environment. The ability of one tool to transcend the boundaries of node functionality dramatically reduces the complexity and increases the efficiency of distributed application development.

Communication and Data Transfer Distributed systems also require various forms of communication and data sharing. Addressing communication needs between functionally different nodes is challenging. While various standards and protocols exist for communication, one protocol cannot usually meet all of an engineer’s needs, and each protocol has a different API. This forces engineers designing distributed systems to use multiple communication protocols to complete the entire system. For deterministic data transfer between nodes, engineers are often forced to use complex and sometimes expensive solutions. In addition, any communication protocol or system an engineer uses also must integrate with existing enterprise SCADA systems. One way to address these often competing needs is to abstract the specific transport layer and protocol. By doing this, engineers can use multiple protocols under the hood, unify the code development, and dramatically save development time.

Synchronizing Across Multiple Nodes

tion and synchronization across intelligent nodes of a network. For many grid control systems, the interface to the external system is through I/O — sensors, actuators, or direct electronic signals. Traditional instruments connected through GPIB, USB, or Ethernet to a computer can be considered a node on a distributed system because the instruments provide in-box processing and analysis using a processor. However, the system developer may not have direct access to the inner workings of a traditional instrument, making it difficult to optimize the performance of the instrument within the context of an entire system. Through virtual instrumentation platforms, engineers have more options for synchronization and control. FPGAbased reconfigurable I/O devices integrate with dedicated circuitry to synchronize multiple devices to act as one for distributed and high-channel-count applications. This article was contributed by National Instruments, Austin, TX. For more information, visit http://info.hotims.com/55587121.

Another important component of many distributed systems is coordina-

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APPLICATION BRIEFS System Concept Studies Will Aid NASA in Asteroid Redirect Mission SSL 1300 commercial satellite bus Space Systems/Loral Palo Alto, CA 650-852-4000 www.sslmda.com

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ASA continues to advance the journey to Mars through progress on the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), which will test a number of new capabilities needed for future human expeditions to deep space, including to Mars. This includes advanced Solar Electric Propulsion — an efficient way to move heavy cargo using solar power, which could help pre-position cargo for future human missions to the Red Planet. As part of ARM, a robotic spacecraft will rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid and redirect an asteroid mass to a stable orbit around the Moon. Astronauts will explore the asteroid mass in the 2020s, helping test modern spaceflight capabilities like new spacesuits and sample return techniques. Astronauts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston have already begun to practice the capabilities needed for the mission. Agency officials are studying two robotic capture concepts for the robotic spacecraft that will rendezvous with the asteroid. One option would use an inflatable mechanism to capture an entire small asteroid. Another option would use robotic arms to retrieve a boulder from a much larger asteroid. NASA centers across the country are advancing and testing technologies for both concepts. NASA expects to select a concept for the mission in early 2015. Space Systems/Loral (SSL) was selected by NASA to study the system concepts and key technologies. One study examines using robotic technology from MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), and one that examines adapting commercial spacecraft for the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle. SSL and MDA will work with Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corp. on the Autonomous Boulder Liberation Equipment study. The

This concept image shows an astronaut preparing to take samples from the captured asteroid after it has been relocated to a stable orbit in the Earth-Moon system. (NASA)

companies will collaborate to demonstrate the robotic placement and handling of excavation and capture tools to remove a boulder from the surface of an asteroid. For the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle study, SSL will examine how to adapt commercial spacecraft, and will define system concepts that leverage SSL’s commercial satellite bus, the SSL 1300. The agency has identified three asteroids that could be good candidates for each capture option so far and anticipates finding one or two per year for each option. Efforts to identify good candidates for the mission are also helping augment NASA’s existing work to survey near-Earth objects and identify those that could threaten Earth. For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/55587-116

Data Recorders Prepare Orion for Splashdown Test Data recorders and software Diversified Technical Systems (DTS) Seal Beach, CA 562-493-0158 www.dtsweb.com

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t’s no simple task to travel 3,600 miles into space, blaze back through Earth’s atmosphere at 20,000 mph with temperatures approaching 4,000 °F, and then splash-land into the Pacific Ocean. That’s why NASA spent three years dropping 22

In a series of splashdown tests, NASA dropped the Orion mockup capsule into a special test pool to recreate the splashdown anticipated for the capsule’s inaugural test flight.

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Prepare to be SHOCKED...

the 18,000-pound mockup of the Orion space capsule into a special test pool wired with hundreds of sensors, strain gauges, and accelerometers to measure stresses and structural integrity, as well as the safety of future astronauts onboard. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. In a series of splashdown tests at the Hydro Impact Basin at Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, NASA relied on DTS data recorders and software to capture the action as they simulated different water landing scenarios that Orion could face when it splashed down into the Pacific on its inaugural test flight last December.

Following more than four hours in Earth’s orbit, Orion descended under three massive main parachutes and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. (NASA)

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The data recording systems are small and lightweight enough to fit onboard and run autonomously during testing. The black-box-type recorders are miniature data recorders designed specifically to survive harsh impacts (like crashing and blasting). Following a perfect launch and more than four hours in Earth’s orbit, Orion descended under three massive main parachutes and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles southwest of San Diego. During the unmanned test, Orion traveled twice through the Van Allen belt, where it experienced periods of intense radiation, and reached an altitude of 3,600 miles above Earth. For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/55587-115

+1 401-284-3750 www.dewamerica.com [email protected] NASA Tech Briefs, March 2015


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Technology Focus: Data Acquisition Multivariate Time Series Search Capability to Identify Complex Patterns in Large Datasets Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California

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here exist many datasets that can be viewed as multivariate time series, such as the daily high temperature at a locality, sensor recordings in diagnostic systems and scientific data, and music and video recordings. These time series reside in large repositories, and there is often a need to search for particular time series exhibiting certain types of behaviors. Many current approaches to time series search are too slow on large repositories, or constrain the range of possible queries. The Multivariate Time Series Search Capability indexes and efficiently searches a large collection of multivari-

ate time series to rapidly and accurately respond to queries for potentially complex behaviors. It eliminates the need to wade through large numbers of irrelevant results, or miss highly pertinent ones by combining high precision with high recall. The user can specify a desired time series over multiple variables and allowable ranges over selected variables. The software quickly returns a list of time series within a large multivariate time series database, within the specified range from the query. The software searches for multivariate time series subsequences with arbitrary time shifts

between the variables and a guarantee to return all possible matches. Current algorithms only allow some of this functionality. This work was done by Santanu Das, Nikunj Oza, and Ashok Srivastava of Ames Research Center; Kanishka Bhaduri of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies; and Qiang Zhu of Mission Critical Technologies. The software is hosted at: http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/ opensource/projects/mts-search/. NASA invites companies to inquire about partnering opportunities. Contact the Ames Technology Partnerships Office at 1-855-627-2249 or [email protected]. Refer to ARC-16452-1.

NGDCS Linux Application for Imaging-Spectrometer Data Acquisition and Display NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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simple method of controlling recording and display of imaging spectrometer data in (airborne) flight was needed. Existing commercial packages were overly complicated, and sometimes difficult to operate in a bouncing plane. The software also was required to keep up with the imaging data rate, while still running on commodity hardware and a desktop operating system. Finally, the software needed to be as robust as possible — repeating a flight because of lost data is sometimes impossible, and always expensive.

This software displays and records imaging and navigational data from a connected JPL-developed imaging spectrometer with corresponding electronics. It allows user manipulation of imagery in real time (e.g., stretching) and monitors resource utilization and temperature. The software provides a wide variety of user-customizable settings, and provides a user interface to attached devices (e.g., shutter, onboard calibrator, attached environmental control system, etc.). Software maintains a log of user activities, with an annotation capability. It also displays plots of naviga-

tion data and provides optional display of run-time diagnostics. The software runs on Linux, which is unusual for real-time image acquisition applications. The user interface is implemented using a multi-platform, opensource library (gtkmm). This work was done by Alan S. Mazer of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, contact [email protected]. This software is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Dan Broderick at [email protected]. Refer to NPO-49461.

Kepler Community Data Analysis Tools Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California

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series of scripts stitch together existing open-source Python modules for the purpose of displaying, cleaning, and measuring photometric properties within public Kepler data.

The intent of these tools is to provide convenience to the Kepler science community, and to increase cost efficiency for the project. With 500+ users in the community, an open-source

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development provides the best resource for sharing tools, while minimizing cost and duplicated effort. The open-source resources used are PyFITS for reading and writing public data

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Data Acquisition in FITS standard format, Matplotlib for plotting public data, Numpy for handling numerical arrays, and Scipy for algebraic operations on public data. The purpose and method of each existing tool is documented currently on the Kepler Guest

Observer Office development Web site at http://keplergo.arc.nasa.gov/PyKE.shtml. This work was done by Martin Still and Thomas Barclay of the Bay Area Environmental Research Center for Ames Research Center.

NASA invites companies to inquire about partnering opportunities. Contact the Ames Technology Partnerships Office at 1-855-6272249 or [email protected]. Refer to ARC-16805-1.

Detection of Carried and Dropped Objects in Surveillance Video This software analyzes a video input stream and automatically detects carried and dropped objects in near-real-time. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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ARPA’s Mind’s Eye Program aims to develop a smart camera surveillance system that can autonomously monitor a scene and report back human-readable text descriptions of activities that occur in the video. An important aspect is whether objects are brought into the scene, exchanged between persons, left behind, picked up, etc. While some objects can be detected with an objectspecific recognizer, many others are not well suited for this type of approach. For example, a carried object may be too small relative to the resolution of the camera to be easily identifiable, or an unusual object, such as an improvised explosive device, may be too rare or unique in its appearance to have a dedicated recognizer. Hence, a generic object detection capability, which can locate objects without a specific model of what to look for, is used. This approach can detect objects even when partially occluded or overlapping with humans in the scene. The first step in the generic object detection algorithm is to learn a model of the scene background. New video frames are then compared against the background model; regions that deviate from the background model are identified as foreground regions. Separately, a human detection and pose estimation algorithm is applied to each video frame to directly locate humans based on appearance, yielding a set of 2D skeletons and associated likelihood scores. The 2D skeletons are upgraded into full 3D pose estimates through a nonlinear optimization procedure. The posed 3D humanoid model can then be projected through a camera model to give a predicted silhouette in the image plane for each detected person. Regions of the

(Left) Posed 3D articulated humanoid models. Each body part is assigned a different color for illustration purposes. (Right) The projected silhouettes from the 3D models are overlaid as a set of blue dots on the detected foreground regions.

foreground that are not explained by the humanoid projections are labeled as potential objects. Temporal analysis (tracking) can be used to disambiguate real objects from false alarms resulting from imperfect frame-by-frame pose estimation. This work was done by Michael C. Burl, Russell L. Knight, and Kimberly K. Furuya of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion

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Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Information Technology & Software category. The software used in this innovation is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Dan Broderick at [email protected]. Refer to NPO-48851.

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Data Acquisition

Signal Processing Software for Remote Vital Sign Monitoring NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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his software provides the processing for a non-contact system that remotely estimates the heart rate and respiration rate of individuals as they carry on daily activities, and also enables detection of heart and respiration rate through walls. Prior attempts have been made using microwave Doppler radar techniques to

estimate heart rate and respiration remotely. However, such techniques lacked advanced signal processing to effectively “deconvolve” the heart rate and respiration signals from human body motions from the Doppler signal reflections. Therefore, competing approaches have only been successful in estimating

heart rate or respiration when the individual is completely stationary. This software remotely estimates human vital signs, such as heart rate and respiration rate, from microwave reflections from humans using high-frequency, narrow-band microwave (18 to 30 GHz). The signal processing algorithms implemented in this system allow estimation of heart rate and respiration rate from microwave reflection from the torso of an individual. It uses novel signal processing and advanced machine learning techniques to detect unique heart signatures, even in the presence of natural body motions such as moderate breathing or fidgeting. This technique can be used to monitor the vital signs of astronauts on the International Space Station, during long space missions to the Moon or Mars, and during spacewalks, when using contact electrocardiogram and respiration belts is cumbersome and interferes with the activities of astronauts. This work was done by Ashit Talukder and Steven P. Monacos of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Information Technology & Software category. This software is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Dan Broderick at [email protected]. Refer to NPO-47243.

Visualization of fMRI Network Data NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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unctional connections within the brain can be revealed through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which shows simultaneous activations of blood flow in the brain during response tests. However, fMRI specialists currently do not have a tool for visualizing the complex data that comes from fMRI scans. They work with correlation matrices that table what functional region connections exist, but they have no corresponding visualization. NASA Tech Briefs, March 2015


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FMReye is a graph network visualization tool that relies on a technique developed in computer science to support the process of interactive exploration. Using the “brushing” technique, the user can examine the same data from multiple perspectives, and multiple levels of abstraction at the same time. The Web application loads a correlation matrix of fMRI data and demonstrates three levels of abstraction within a multi-view display. The first level is the exploratory view, which is a representative 3D rotatable model of the connections between functional regions. Anatomical landmarks provide the contextual clues for spatial orientation. The second level is a view for intuiting meaningful data at a glance. The benefit of this view is to create the ability for sensemaking. This view flattens networks onto a single plane, like the spokes on a bicycle hub, so just the interactions are summarized, and extraneous information is abstracted away. The third level is a way to schematize data. It recognizes nodes according to their functional groupings. Each functional region gets plotted into an atlas of regional groups around a circle, and connections can be viewed according to their categorical relations. Having the three views appear simultaneously lets users investigate one inquiry about the brain from multiple levels of abstraction. Since the tool is online, any interested individual can access the site and view previously uploaded data or post their own information. This work was done by Scott Davidoff and Hillary Mushkin of Caltech; Margaret Hendrie of the Art Center College of Design; Abdelwahab Bourai of Carnegie Mellon; Sarah Churng of the University of Washington; and Conrad Egan of the University of Texas at Austin for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Information Technology & Software category. This software is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Dan Broderick at [email protected]. Refer to NPO-49385.

Viewpoints Software for Visualization of Multivariate Data Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California

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iewpoints software allows interactive visualization of multivariate data using a variety of standard techniques. The software is built exclusively from high-performance, cross-platform, open-source, standards-compliant languages, libraries, and components. The techniques included are: 1. Linked two-dimensional and three-dimensional scatterplots with dynamic brushing. 2. Marginal histograms with dynamically adjustable bin size. 3. Standard normalizations such as minmax, rank, logarithmic, sigmoidal, and Gaussian. Viewpoints may be used with extremely large data sets. Viewpoints can be downloaded at: http://www.assembla.com/ wiki/show/viewpoints/downloads. This work was done by Creon Levit of Ames Research Center and Paul Gazis of SETI Institute. NASA invites companies to inquire about partnering opportunities. Contact the Ames Technology Partnerships Office at 1-855-627-2249 or ARC-TechTransfer@ mail.nasa.gov. Refer to ARC-16019-1.

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Data Acquisition

Controlling Fast Acquisition Hardware to Pre-Position a Satellite to Constrain Baseband Searches The primary use of this algorithm is in the acquisition of satellites under the conditions where almanac, ephemeris, and position data may not be available. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

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hen adapting GPS sensor technology from an aviation environment to a space environment, the search window for a satellite’s frequency and code phase is greatly increased. This problem is also magnified

when multiple antennas are used. A new algorithm is required to meet the demands of acquiring satellites in a space environment. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center developed Fast Acquisition hardware

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capable of taking a snapshot of the GPS RF spectrum and calculating a precise position of a single satellite. This effectively reduces the search window to a tiny fraction of its entirety. The position can then be fed to the traditional aviation method and be found very quickly, as several searches over the complete search window can he completed in less than one second. The new invention creates an algorithm to optimize use of the Fast Acquisition hardware. This algorithm also optimizes the use of the tracking channels based on data returned from the Fast Acquisition hardware. In order to optimize the hardware, the algorithm breaks down a search for a single satellite into smaller, more manageable searches that the hardware is capable of handling. The algorithm searches across multiple antennas and must also account for the destructive interference and loss of power during a navigation bit transition in Weak Mode operation. The primary use of this algorithm is in the acquisition of satellites under the conditions where almanac, ephemeris, and position data may not be available. This algorithm, in conjunction with the Fast Acquisition hardware, can be used to very quickly scan the entire sky for every satellite’s Doppler frequency and code phase in a fraction of the time it would take a traditional GPS. These results can then be passed to the baseband for initializing of tracking channels. A secondary use of this algorithm is when the sensor has been fully initialized or has a valid navigation solution. Both of these conditions refer to when the sensor knows where it is (or thinks it knows) and has a list of satellites that are visible, with their approximate frequency and code phase. The sensor can use this information to constrain frequency that the Fast Acquisition hardware has to search, resulting in reduced search time. This use is exceptionally valuable when using the Fast Acquisition hardware’s weak mode. This work was done by Stephen Vickers and Mike Vukas of Honeywell International, Inc. for Johnson Space Center. For further information, contact the JSC Technology Transfer Office at (281) 483-3809. MSC-25772-1

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Technical Notes

The Avago Advantage Avago Optocouplers in Intrinsic Safety Applications Introduction

IEC 60079-11 Intrinsic Safety

The IECEx is a certification system which verifies compliance with IEC international standards relating to equipment for use in explosive atmospheres. The safety requirement for equipment under IECEx is based on the description in the international standards IEC 60079 series (Table 1). IEC 60079-11 specifies the construction and testing of intrinsically safe apparatus intended for use in an explosive atmosphere and for associated apparatus, which is intended for connection to intrinsically safe circuits which enter such atmospheres.

The basic principle of IEC 60079-11 to achieve intrinsic safety is for the energy in the power circuit to be limited preventing unusually high temperatures, ignition sparks or electric arcs that create ignition energy required to cause and explosion. To limit the energy (power), a fuse or resistor in series (current limiting) and a zener diode in parallel (voltage limiting) should be implemented. IEC 60079-11 requires separation of conductive parts between intrinsically safe and non- intrinsically safe circuits. From Table 2 IEC 60079-11, General Safety Requirements including clearance, creepage distances and separations, there are different requirements of separation distance through insulation structures. The casting compound in column 3 refers to compounds such as epoxy resin while examples of solid insulation in column 4 are polyester film and silicone. Avago optocouplers include internal clearance, or distance through insulation (DTI), as part of the insulation and safety related specifications. Using optical technology for galvanic isolation, the DTI forms the straight-line distance thickness between the LED emitter and the detector within the optocoupler. The optocoupler’s DTI is able to meet the separation distance requirements of gas zone classification 0 to 2, depend on voltage level of protection.

Table 1. Type of IEC 60079-x standards Number

Title

Number

Title

60079-0

General requirements

60079-7

Increased safety 'e'

60079-1

Flameproof enclosures 'd'

60079-11

Intrinsic safety 'i'

60079-2

Pressurized enclosures 'p'

60079-13

Pressurized room 'p'

60079-5

Powder filling 'q'

60079-15

Type of protection 'n'

60079-6

Oil immersion 'o'

60079-18

Encapsulation "m"

Table 2. IEC 60079-11 General Safety Requirements of clearance, creepage distances and separations 1 Voltage (pk) V

2

3

4

5

Clearance

Separation distance through casting compound

Separation distance through solid insulation

Creepage

mm

mm

mm

mm

Level of protection

ia, ib

ic

ia, ib

ic

ia, ib

ic

ia, ib

ic

10

1.5

0.4

0.5

0.2

0.5

0.2

1.5

1.0

30

2.0

0.8

0.7

0.2

0.5

0.2

2.0

1.3

60

3.0

0.8

1.0

0.3

0.5

0.3

3.0

1.9

90

4.0

0.8

1.3

0.3

0.7

0.3

4.0

2.1

375

6.0

2.5

2.0

0.6

1.0

0.6

10.0

4.0

ia : Very high ignition protection level; application for zones 0, 1, 2 ib : High ignition protection level; application for zones 1, 2 ic : Improved ignition protection level; application for zone 2 Zones 0, 1, 2 refer to the gas zone classification. Zone 0 is classified as explosive atmosphere exists always, frequently or long term. Zone 1 is classified as occurs occasionally in normal operation. Zone 3 is classified as normally does not occur in normal operation or only for short times

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The Avago Advantage Technical Notes Table 3: Avago optocouplers of clearance, creepage distances and separations Optocoupler Prefix Number

ACNV

ACNW / HCNW / HCNR

ACNT-Hxxx

ACPL-Cxxx

DTI (mm)

2

1

0.5

0.5

Creepage (mm)

13

10

14.2

8

Clearance (mm)

13

9.6

14.2

8

Level of protection

375V (ia, ib), 1300V (ic)

60V (ia, ib), 750V (ic)

60V (ia, ib), 90V (ic)

10V (ia, ib), 90V (ic)

Avago Optocouplers Meet Intrinsic Safety Criteria While Avago optocouplers meet the stringent separation distance requirements, alternative technology isolators are not able to achieve this with their structural DTI at less than 20μm. The 13 mm creepage/clearance ACNV optocouplers family, the 10 mm widebody optocouplers, and the 8 mm ACPL-Cxxx optocouplers, have insulation material classified as casting compound. This allows ACNV optocouplers to meet up to 375V (ia, ib) level of protection and ACNW/HCNW optocouplers up to 60V (ia, ib) level of protection (Table 3).

HAZARDOUS AREA

SAFE AREA DIGITAL OPTOCOUPLER

ADC

SENSOR (LEVEL / PRESSURE / TEMPERATURE)

ACNW261L

OR

MICROCONTROLLER / CPU

HIGH LINEARITY ANALOG OPTOCOUPLER

HCNR201

Applications

Isolation

EOptocouplers are used in intrinsically safety applications such as flow meters and field transmitters tha require level, pressure, and temperature mesaurement. Optocouplers meet the safety requirements and provide reinforced insulation between field sensors and microcontroller of the control board. Figure 1 block diagram illustrates this. An application example of optocouplers use in equipments with work environment of explosive atmosphere is fluid pumps in sewage and petrol stations. Avago’s widebody 10MBd low power ACNW261L, is used as isolated serial communication in the control board for sewage flow meters. The optocoupler’s DTI of 1 mm is critical as waste in the sewers move constantly and this exposes the fluid pump to the explosive methane gas. Avago optocouplers, with its unique strength of a thick internal clearance, or distance through insulation, are able to meet the separation distance requirements defined by IEC 60079-11 in intrinsic safety applications as required by IECEx.

Contact us for your design needs at:

Figure 1: Isolation in a Field Transmitter (Flow / Level / Pressure / Temperature)

Conclusion Avago optocouplers, with its unique strength of a thick internal clearance, or distance through insulation, are able to meet the separation distance requirements defined by IEC 60079-11 in intrinsic safety applications as required by IECEx.

www.avagotech.com/optocouplers

Avago, Avago Technologies and the Avago logo are trademarks of Avago Technologies in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Data subject to change. Copyright © 2014 Avago Technologies AV00-0302EN 12/18/14 Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/55587-823

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Glen Lux, President and CEO of Lux Wind Power Ltd., was the Sustainable Technologies Category Winner of the 2013 Create the Future Contest.

He’s Creating the Future

For decades, wind turbine manufacturers have been building turbines with 3 blades, a nacelle, a pitch system, a yaw system and a tower. Lux believes it is time to change to a blade and cross cable system that is much lighter and therefore less expensive to build. This new system is simple with few moving parts and can cover a larger area, extracting more power at a much lower cost.

Lux Turbine Wind Farm

Glen Lux, President and CEO of Lux Wind Power Ltd.

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Your future starts here: www.createthefuturecontest.com S P O N S O R E D

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DESIGN CONTEST 2015 C A T E G O R Y S P O N S O R S

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“Winning first place in the 2013 Sustainable Technologies category opened the minds of many investors, institutions, and wind turbine manufacturers. Discovering this ‘never been tried before’ technology has brought about a collaborative effort between many individuals and institutions to develop this low cost renewable energy source,” says Glen Lux, President and CEO of Lux Wind Power Ltd.

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Electrical/Electronics Self-Diagnostic Accelerometer Field Programmable Gate Array The system could be utilized as a portable and temporarily installed diagnostic system. John H. Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

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he development of the self-diagnostic accelerometer (SDA) is important to both reducing the in-flight shutdowns (IFSD) rate — and hence reducing the rate at which this component failure type can put an aircraft in jeopardy — and also as a critical enabling technology for future automated malfunction diagnostic systems. Critical sensors, such as engine sensors, are inaccessible to the operator during typical operation due to safety concerns and enclosed environment. The SDA can diagnose the sensor in-flight and remotely with minimal interference with the typical operation of the sensor. The SDA system utilizes programmed health algorithms that can automatically determine the health, therefore increasing the precision in diagnosing sensor faults by removing the erroneous perspective and opinions of a human operator. The health of the sensor could also be determined immediately, which would remove its erroneous effect on a system that depends on the sensor. Improvements to the SDA system have been accomplished with a smaller, more robust FPGA (field programmable gate

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array) system that reduces the size, cost, and power while also increasing the diagnostic system’s customization. The self-diagnostic accelerometer field programmable gate array (SDA FPGA) is a sensor system that utilizes a small and efficient, yet customizable electronics system to capture accelerometer diagnostic data. The diagnostic components of the system actively determine the accelerometer structural health and attachment condition. The SDA FPGA system sends an electrical signal to the accelerometer’s piezoelectric crystal. The physical state of the crystal and its surroundings influence the electrical response that is correspondingly received by the SDA FPGA. Changes in the response are correlated to changes in the accelerometer health and attachment condition. Newly developed health algorithms were programmed into the SDA FPGA and utilize cross-correlation pattern recognition to discriminate a healthy from a faulty SDA. The results of the diagnostics are reported in real time on the LCD (liquid crystal display) of the FPGA. Recent aircraft ground testing demonstrated for the first time the robustness of the SDA in an engine environment characterized by high vibration levels. The purpose of the SDA FPGA is to automatically determine the accelerometer structural health and attachment condition using an electronics system that is smaller, more energy efficient, and more cost effective than previously used diagnostic tools. The programmed FPGA utilizes cross-correlation health algorithms to diagnostically interrogate and automatically determine the health and attachment of the sensor in real time. The SDA consists of the sensor, the FPGA, signal conditioning electronics, connecting cables, and power supply. The sensor is a piezoelectric charge accelerometer, and the FPGA is a commercially produced developers kit with an input/output daughter card. The signal conditioning electronics is a NASA-designed circuit containing filters and amplifiers to improve the output and input signals to the FPGA. Connecting cables used accelerometergrade cables. The 12-V power supply feeds the signal conditioning electronics, and a separate power supply feeds the FPGA system. The FPGA diagnostics system generates a sinusoidal wave that sweeps from 30 to 80 kHz. The FPGA outputs the diagnostic signal, which goes through a filter that reduces noise in the signal. The cleaned-up diagnostic signal is then amplified by an instrument amplifier and is fed into the accelerometer. The response is then coupled into the capacitor. The coupled response is filtered and amplified, then read through the FPGA input. The signal response consists of a signal pattern with resonant frequencies within the 30-to-80-kHz range, depending on the health and attachment of the sensor. The signal response for nominal sensor operation as well as sensor faults is recorded as references. These references are then cross-correlated with the existing signal response in order to diagnose the condition of the sensor in real time. This work was done by Roger Tokars and John Lekki of Glenn Research Center. For more information, download the Technical

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He’s Creating the Future

Rick Harrington, team member and Vice President of Engineering for RTC Electronics, Inc.

Rick Harrington, team member and Vice President of Engineering for RTC Electronics, Inc. (formerly College Park Industries), was the Electronics Category Winner in the 2011 and the 2013 Create the Future Design Contest. The iPECS (Intelligent Prosthetic Endo-Skeletal Component System) provides researchers with a tool to accurately measure human locomotion or gait parameters on users of lower limb prostheses. IPECS measures 3-axis forces and moments in a lower limb prosthetic user.

“Exposure from being a category winner legitimized iPECS as a viable and valuable measurement tool for prosthetic research. The 2011 win gave an immediate boost to engineering and management,” says Tom Grey, president of RTC Electronics. “Winning in 2013 has opened our marketing and sales options, and we are expecting a record year of sales. No longer can potential customers say ‘I never heard of iPECS.’”

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Electrical/Electronics Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Electrical/Electronics category. NASA Glenn Research Center seeks to transfer mission technology to benefit U.S.

industry. NASA invites inquiries on licensing or collaborating on this technology for commercial applications. For more information, please contact NASA Glenn Research Center’s technology transfer program at

[email protected] or visit us on the Web at https://technology.grc.nasa.gov/. Please reference LEW-19187-1.

Capacitively Coupled, High-Voltage Current Sensing for Extreme Environments NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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ide-temperature and extreme-environment electronics are crucial to future missions. These missions will not have the weight and power budget for heavy harnesses and large, inefficient warm boxes. In addition, extreme-environment electronics, by their inherent nature, allow operation next to sensors in the ambient environment, reducing noise and improving precision over the warm-box-based systems employed today. Current sensing applications are key in motor and power supply control applications. As higher levels of integration in spacecraft systems are sought, it is desired

to integrate high-voltage interfaces onto highly integrated “System-on-Chip” (SoC) components utilizing low-voltage CMOS (complementary metal–oxide– semiconductor) process technology. A circuit for a capacitively coupled, level-shifting, high-voltage current sense for extreme environments is disclosed. This circuit uses custom, on-chip, highvoltage components using standard CMOS masks to enable a high-voltage switched-capacitor differencing amplifier. Low-temperature-coefficient components and temperature-compensated biasing enable extreme-environment operation.

The ability to integrate this type of component into large-scale, mixed-signal systems is a crucial advantage. Extreme-environment electronics are valuable to a number of disciplines, including military/aerospace, automotive, scientific research applications, and energy. This work was done by Jeremy A. Yager, Mohammad M. Mojarradi, Bruce R. Hancock, and Tuan A. Vo of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Electrical/Electronics category. NPO48542

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E-Textile Interconnect Devices constructed from e-textiles have applications in law enforcement, by firstresponders, and in wireless communications and computing. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

E

-textiles have shown great promise within the microwave and antenna community to provide a low-mass, highly conformal option that integrates extremely well with fabric-based microwave devices and antenna platforms, but often not as well with more conventional devices. A key factor that has kept e-textile-based antennas and microwave devices from more widespread use is the issue of integrating the textile-based energy or signal guiding structures with conventional energy or signal guiding structures, such as coaxial lines and microstrip lines. Technologies that enable integration of etextile and conventional signal guiding structures would represent a significant advancement to the state-of-the-art, and promote increased use of e-textile-based antennas and microwave structures. This innovation is an E-textile interconnect, a technology that enables connection of an e-textile-based device with a conventionally constructed signal guiding structure (coax, microstrip line, stripline, etc.). A conventional version of this type of interconnect simply solders the center conductor of the coaxial line to the microstrip line. This technique fails when applied to e-textile-based conductive materials due to one or a combination of the textile base layers used for the e-textile conductor not surviving the soldering process, or the solder simply not bonding to the conductive materials that compose the e-textile conductor, resulting in a poor electrical connection. Sewing the mesh to the e-textile conductor provides a good solderless electrical connection to the e-textile conductor, and provides both a better material to bond the solder to, as well as a potential means of dissipating heat from the textile base material (often e-textiles are constructed from a nylon-based textile) to reduce heating and possible damage of this material. Stripline

Microstrip

The conventional coaxial probe is soldered to the intermediate copper mesh material, which is sewn into the e-textilebased antenna. This feed may be modified and combined with an e-textilebased aperture-coupled feed.

This work was done by Timothy Kennedy, Patrick Fink, Andrew Chu, and Gregory Lin of Johnson Space Center. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Electrical/Electronics category. MSC-25415-1

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Power Generation & Storage Optical Fiber for Solar Cells

Power/Signal Connectors

CONFIGURABLE SIX CONTACT SIZES ONE-PIECE INSULATORS 14mm & 8mm SLIM OPTIONS LEADING LINEAR CURRENT DENSITY

These materials enable new solar-powered devices that are small, lightweight, and can be used without connection to existing electrical grids. Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California

P

olymeric and inorganic semiconductors offer relatively high quantum efficiencies, and are much less expensive and versatile to fabricate than non-amorphous silicon wafers. An optical fiber and cladding can be designed and fabricated to confine light for transport within ultraviolet and near-infrared media, using evanescent waves, and to transmit visible wavelength light for direct lighting. A new optical fiber was developed that is suitable for solar lighting applications and electrical generation. A key feature is the integration of photovoltaic material for electricity generation. Fiber solar cells surpass both the efficiency and functionality of traditional flat-panel solar cells. A hybrid solar energy cell device manufactured from this new optical fiber consists of three or four layers of materials, including a combination of n-type nanowires and selected p-type polymers. The fiber has two key features that distinguish it from other fibers. First, the amount of visible light transmitted to the lighting application can be varied by tuning the fiber material. Second, photovoltaic material is integrated into the fiber and can be used to generate electricity from the ultraviolet and infrared portions of the spectrum. If the fiber is tuned to reduce the amount of visible light transmitted to the lighting application, it is also used to generate electricity.

A solar cell manufactured from this new optical fiber has photovoltaic material integrated into the fiber to enable electricity generation from unused light, including non-visible portions of the spectrum, and visible light not transmitted to a lighting application. These new solar cells are based around cylindrical optical fibers, providing two distinct advantages over the flat panels that lead to increased efficiency. The core fiber, used to transmit light, can be adjusted to increase or decrease the amount of available light that is transmitted to the lighting application at any point in real time. This invention can be applied wherever optical concentrators are used to collect and redirect incident light. Wavelengths as large as 780 nm can be used to drive the conversion process. This technology has very low operating costs and environmental impacts (in particular, no greenhouse gas emissions). The fiber uses low-cost polymer materials. It is lightweight and flexible, and can be manufactured using low-cost solution processing techniques. This work was done by Christopher McKay of Ames Research Center and Bin Chen of LC Tech. NASA invites companies to inquire about partnering opportunities. Contact the Ames Technology Partnerships Office at 1-855-6272249 or [email protected]. Refer to ARC-16211-1.

Pumped Subsea Energy Storage This technique would be applicable to offshore oil platforms and energy storage for public utilities. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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local energy source is desired for near-shore and offshore applications. Gas generators, diesel generators, and long-length submerged power cables tend to be expensive. A proposed

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solution is to use offshore wind with some type of energy storage mechanism for up to 1 GW-h. Energy storage in batteries is too expensive and massive, and subsea compressed air energy storage

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(CAES) has not been proven for very deep depths. Furthermore, CAES involves very great temperature changes that result in large inefficiencies. A novel solution is to use inexpensive, environmentally friendly fluids of low or high density, such that moving the fluid to another depth requires energy that is stored, and returning the fluid to the original depth releases the energy as electricity to be consumed. This is similar to pumped energy storage for water behind dams. Pumping water back up the dam during periods of light energy use allows more energy to be used by utility customers during peak hours. A calcium chloride solution has a density of about 1.4 g/cm3, compared to the ocean density of 1.02 g/cm3. The heavy fluid solution can be stored near shore or in an offshore tanker. The heavy fluid flows down to some depth, where it then powers a hydraulic generator and is stored in a deep sea reservoir. During windy days, the heavy fluid is pumped back up to the higher elevation. Some type of oil separator and/or flexible film separator keeps the fluid in the two reservoirs from mixing with the ambient ocean water. A depth change of 500-m is about equivalent in pressure to water behind the 200-m-tall Hoover dam.

Instead of generating energy at the bottom of the ocean, a light fluid, such as methanol, can be stored in a scuttled tanker at depth. When the methanol is transferred to the sea surface, it generates power above the surface of the ocean, thus making maintenance much less costly. Natural or constructed contours in the ocean floor can be used to contain the upper and lower dense liquid reservoirs. This system would be good for near-shore applications to store wind or solar energy.

Likewise, dense fluid from an upper reservoir (onshore or submerged) can flow down towards a lower basin. A lower mechanical hydraulic pump is thus powered by mechanical energy to pump a high-pressure fluid to an on-shore generator. This design allows the upper reservoir and all power generation electronics to be located safely and inexpensively onshore. For offshore oil platforms, the dense liquid systems are completely self-contained (no consumables). They avoid

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Power Generation & Storage the cost and mass of storing batteries on the platform, as well as having generators on the oil platform. These designs provide a relatively inexpensive, high-efficiency means to store energy. Nearly all pumped energy storage using dams has already been utilized in the U.S., and no marine pumped storage systems have been built due to fear of salt water leakage and large ocean biota destruction with each

power generation/pumping cycle. These designs are an alternative means to store very large amounts of energy beneath the ocean on subsea land that does not need to be purchased. All fluids (ethanol, brine, and calcium chloride solutions) are relatively benign to the ocean environment and readily mix with seawater if accidentally released. This work was done by Jack A. Jones of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Carbon Nanotube Tower-Based Supercapacitor Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California

Bring us

your thermal challenge

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new technology to create electrochemical doublelayer supercapacitors is provided using carbon nanotubes as electrodes of the storage medium. This invention allows efficient transport between the capacitor electrodes through the porous nature of the nanotubes, and has a low interface resistance between the electrode material and the collector. Carbon nanotubes directly grown on a metal surface are used to improve the supercapacitor performance. The nanotubes offer a high surface area and usable porosity for a given volume and mass, both of which are highly desirable for supercapacitor operation. The growth of MWCNT and/or singlewall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) towers is done directly on polished, ultrasmooth alloy substrates containing iron or nickel, such as nichrome, kanthal, and stainless steel. The growth process for generating a MWCNT tower array requires heating the collector metal substrate in an inert argon gas atmosphere to 750 °C. After thermal equilibration, 1,000 sccm of 8/20 ethylene/Hs gas flow results in the growth of carbon nanotube towers. Two such electrodes separated by a membrane are packaged properly, after soaking into an aqueous or organic electrolyte, to create a supercapacitor cell. The supercapacitors provide high power densities not possible with conventional batteries while attempting to provide reasonable energy density as well. In addition, the supercapacitors charge very rapidly, in about a couple of minutes or under. This work was done by Meyya Meyyappan of Ames Research Center. NASA invites companies to inquire about partnering opportunities and licensing this patented technology. Contact the Ames Technology Partnerships Office at 1-855627-2249 or [email protected]. Refer to ARC-16298-1.

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For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Power Generation & Storage category. NPO-49117

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Robotics, Automation & Control Hands-Free Control Interfaces for an Extravehicular Jetpack This hands-free approach could be applicable to other robotic interfaces requiring six-DOF control inputs. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

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o enable the human mobility necessary to effectively explore near-Earth asteroids and deep space effectively, a new extravehicular activity (EVA) jetpack is under development. The new design leverages knowledge and experience gained from the current astronaut rescue device, the Simplified Aid Foot sensor controls of the Hands-Free Jetpack: (l) The force for EVA Rescue (SAFER). sensor, and (r) the three sensors mounted under the big toe, Whereas the primary goal ball of foot, and outstep, on an adjustable plate. for a rescue device is to return the crew to a safe haven, in-space the vocabulary used to teach SAFER exploration and navigation requires an operations to astronauts during their expanded set of capabilities. To accommoflight training; for example “Plus X” or date the range of tasks astronauts may be “Minus Yaw.” expected to perform while utilizing the jetThe second concept chosen for inipack, it was desired to research a handstial development was foot sensor confree method of control. This hands-free trol, based on methods used in Deep control method would enable astronauts Worker Sub and Atmospheric Diving to command their motion while transportSuit applications. However, in the ing payloads and conducting two-handed absence of gravity or a platform on tasks. which to mount pedals during EVA use, The approach for the jetpack research the concept was adapted for pedal-free, effort was to leverage the existing SAFER friction-free, training-light commandavionics system and add functionality in ing. Additional requirements were to the form of a new hands-free method of (1) provide discrete on/off thruster control (replacing the existing six-DOF control for the three axes of motion hand controller). For the initial design, available during initial testing (±X, ±Y, both voice and foot sensor controls were and ±Yaw), (2) create a system suitable selected and tested as input devices. The for various anthropometries, and (3) voice command modality utilizes a wearprovide a robust system for demonstraable headset with wireless communication purposes. tions and adjustable operator display The first iteration of this system was screen, microphone, and headset. The successfully demonstrated in an air bearfoot sensor design is derived from deeping facility, with follow-on studies sea diving applications of foot pedal conplanned to enhance human interface trols, adapted for inclusion into an astrodata to the wearable display, and test a naut’s spacesuit boot worn during a hands-free solution using a combination microgravity EVA. of the voice and foot sensor concepts. The voice control solution utilizes natThis work was done by Jennifer Rochlis ural language speech commands as Zumbado and Pedro H. Curiel of Johnson inputs to the SAFER control avionics. A Space Center. For more information, downverbal command taxonomy was develload the Technical Support Package (free oped to control the three translational white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp and three rotational DOF available to under the Robotics, Automation & Control the astronaut. This taxonomy leverages category. MSC-25512-1 www.techbriefs.com


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Artificial Immune System-Based Approach for Air Combat Maneuvering The primary motivation for this research is to enable unmanned aircraft with intelligent maneuvering capabilities. Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California

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high level of autonomy is desired for future unmanned combat systems because lethality and survivability can be improved with much less communication bandwidth than would be necessary for preprogrammed or remotely operated systems. However, there are a number of technical challenges that must be addressed prior to implementation. Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) has been described as the art of maneuvering a combat aircraft in order to obtain a position from which an attack can be made on another aircraft. During ACM, pilots use their knowledge of maneuvering strategies and tactics to determine the best course of action. However, there are many factors to consider (such as relative airspeed, altitude, heading/position, energy, and maneuvering/weapons capabilities), and there are numerous


different tactics that can be used to gain an advantage over an opponent. Most air combat simulations use heuristically-based artificial intelligence (AI) methods to control enemy aircraft. These rule-based approaches have the advantage of being very fast, and have reached a point where they can perform very close to how a textbook flying human would react under a similar situation. However, these gaming environments typically involve a single static tactic within a controlled environment. Other optimization methods have the advantage of solving for an optimal solution; however, these methods typically require substantial computational time and therefore are difficult to use for time-critical applications. Since future air combat missions will involve both manned and unmanned aircraft, the pri-

mary motivation for this research is to enable unmanned aircraft with intelligent maneuvering capabilities. An artificial immune system approach is used to select and construct air combat maneuvers. These maneuvers are composed of autopilot mode and target commands, which represent the low-level building blocks of the parameterized system. The resulting command sequences are sent to a tactical autopilot system that has been enhanced with additional modes and an aggressiveness factor for enabling high-performance maneuvers. The autonomous ACM system constructs motion-based plans, in the form of maneuver sequences that are composed of one or more autopilot commands, along with the scheduling times for command execution. Each autopilot command consists of a mode identifier

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Robotics, Automation & Control and corresponding target. The maneuver selection system contains autopilot mode-dependent performance models for predicting the motion-based path of maneuver sequences. These maneuver sequences are constructed from basic piloting maneuvers, which are stored in a maneuver database. Artificial immune algorithms are used to select the appropriate maneuvers from the database, and to augment them as necessary in order to achieve tactical objectives. Once these maneuver sequences are

generated, they are sent to a specialized autopilot system for execution. These maneuvers can in turn be combined with other maneuvers to form more complex maneuver sequences. The collection of these maneuvers is stored in a maneuver database, and represents a combination of randomly created and/or manually constructed maneuvers, as well as maneuvers that are generated through immunized maneuver selection. The Artificial Immune System (AIS) combines a priori knowledge with the

adapting capabilities of a biological immune system to provide a powerful alternative to currently available techniques for pattern recognition, learning, and optimization. This work was done by John Kaneshige and Kalmanje Krishnakumar of Ames Research Center. NASA invites companies to inquire about partnering opportunities and licensing this patented technology. Contact the Ames Technology Partnerships Office at 1-855-6272249 or [email protected]. Refer to ARC-15977-1.

Rule-Based Analytic Asset Management for Space Exploration Systems (RAMSES) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems have applications in tracking and managing small shipping containers and packages in the commercial supply chain. Stennis Space Center, Mississippi Human space systems, such as the International Space Station (ISS) and future planned missions to the lunar surface and beyond, require the crew’s abil-

ity to locate and manage the physical resources that are required for use to achieve mission objectives. However, the large number of assets, ranging from

expensive, specialized equipment, to food, water, and medical consumables for the crew is an overwhelming management problem. These assets are stored in

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numerous containers that are sometimes nested within other containers, frequently removed from one container and placed in another location, consumed, and/or used, and then discarded. Additionally, sometimes the containers themselves are moved. The challenge is to track and manage these assets so that the crew can readily locate items and ground controllers can identify when there is a need to provide sufficient resupply for the mission. The current asset management approach for the ISS program is a barcode-based system, coupled with a relational database. This system is referred to as the Inventory Management System (IMS) and is operated jointly by NASA and the Russian Space Agency (RSA). IMS is relatively accurate; however, it is extremely labor intensive. Individual items in orbit, as well as stowage items, are tagged with unique barcode identifiers. Every time an item is removed and placed in a new location, the transaction has to be manually logged. Astronauts are allocated 20 minutes per day for IMS updates and asset management; however, the actual time spent is often much longer. Additionally, if an item (e.g., a specialized tool for a certain maintenance procedure or a scientific experiment) cannot be found after several hours of searching (a single astronaut hour in space can be valued at about $180,000 at the time of this reporting), flight managers will have to decide whether to search longer or resupply a new item on the next flight, which could potentially displace other items from being sent. With IMS, the quality of the data is entirely dependent on the diligence of a large group of personnel (between Houston, TX, US; Moscow, Russia; and ISS) to manually input entries, batch updates daily, and coordinate these efforts. To address the need for timely, accurate, cost-saving asset management both on the ground and in space, the Rulebased Analytic Asset Management for Space Exploration Systems (RAMSES) was developed. RAMSES is an integrated state-of-the-art asset tracking and information management system with relational database support that can automatically perform an inventory of the contents of one or more smart containers, track their location, report their inventory, track this information to a central information server, apply rule-based analytics to that inventory

information, and finally present and provide that information through a Web-based interface. RAMSES accomplishes this by incorporating the following key system components: (1) Smart Containers, (2) RDF-based Asset Information and Location Software (RAILS), rule-based conditioning and processing software, (3) network-accessible database, and (4) user interface via Web application.

The Smart Containers consist of a radio frequency (RF)-shielded structure or bag with about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of spacing material that runs along the walls of the container; this prevents the shielding material from interfacing with the ultra-high-frequency (UHF) RFID tags. Within the shielding material, the spacing material contains an RFID antenna. The RFID antenna connects to an RFID reader, which is connected to

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Robotics, Automation & Control the host electronics board. The host electronics provide Bluetooth, and optionally Wi-Fi communications with an external computer or network. The lid or closure of the container consists of a magnetic switch that connects to the power board and host electronics. When the lid is opened, the system powers up the electronics. Once the lid is closed, the system performs an inventory of the RFID-tagged items within the container and starts a timer on the power board. It then sends inventory information to a remote server. Additionally, the system powers down the electronics when the timer expires, to preserve battery life. RAILS is a state-of-the art information architecture and software implementation program that applies the rule sets. The RAILS software provides sensor data reception service applications that allow the remote Smart Containers and other devices to report their inventories, container location reports, and other data to the Web server through HTTP Post messages that include automated remote user notification.

To accomplish this, the server integrates information provided by the RAILS user interface into its database, and applies the rule-engine to trigger or clear any alarm or alert conditions or derive analytic information based on the physical or sensor data presented to the server. The server also provides a Web application view of the inventory, container and facility status, and the results of the analytic rule set to the system’s users. With these components, information from disparate data sources can be automatically shared and synchronized, and then combined with mathematical models and rule-based analysis to produce meaningful data for asset tracking managment and effective decision making. RAMSES, based on RFID technology, utilizes a modular layered architecture to automate multi-level asset management and tracking for both space and ground applications. The main advantages RAMSES’ radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled “smart”

containers, hierarchical container tracking, and rule-based asset information system have over current barcode-based asset tracking are: (1) significant time savings through automation, (2) real-time remote status monitoring through the Internet, and (3) rule-based analytics for proactive asset management and state-of-the art information architecture and software implementation. RAMSES addresses NASA’s needs for reliable, unified, autonomous, and low-cost asset management for Earth-based activities, robotic and human lunar exploration, and planning for expeditions to Mars and beyond. This work was done by James Francis, Joseph Zapetis, and Joe Parrish of Aurora Flight Sciences (formerly Payload Systems Inc.); and Fabrice Granzotto, Olivier de Weck, Abraham Grindle, Matthew Silver, and Sarah Shull of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for Stennis Space Center. For more information, contact James Francis at Aurora Flight Sciences, 617-5004897. Refer to SSC-00358.

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Mechanical & Fluid Systems Design for Improving the Flatness of Solar Sails An optically flat solar sail could be useful in optical communication and solar energy applications. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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his work describes a discontinuous or segmented mirror whose overall flatness is less dependent on the limited tension that can be supplied by the booms. A solar sail is a large, nominally flat sheet of extremely thin reflectorized film rigidly attached to a spacecraft, enabling propulsion via solar radiation pressure. Rip-stop fibers embedded in the backside of the film — with diameters 100 the thickness of the film — are commonly used to arrest tear propagation, which can easily occur in the handling and/or deployment of these gossamer-thin structures. Typically, the thin film or membrane that is the sail is systematically folded to enable both volumetrically compact transportation to space and mechanized deployment. It is the aggressive folding and creasing of the thin film that limits the ultimate flatness that can be achieved. The Lunar Flashlight (LF) Cubesat requires its solar sail to closely approximate a plano mirror. This is a somewhat unusual requirement insofar as sails are typically optimized on their propulsive performance rather than their optical performance. Conventional sail designs typically involve aggressive folding and creasing of the thin reflecting film, causing many flatness-upsetting effects, including wrinkling and billowing. While the impact of these flatness errors on the propulsive performance of the sail is small, its impact on its perform-

Fully Deployed

The fully deployed hinged tiles. Deployment includes systematic unfolding of the stowed sail via telescopic booms.

ance as an illuminating mirror is large. It is unlikely that extant sail designs will meet the LF “80% of reflected light will be contained in a 3 deg cone” requirement. The deployed solar sail is made more plano by segmenting the film into tiles joined together via a fiber-supported hinge design. Deployment includes systematic unfolding of the stowed sail via telescopic booms. These booms also support sail-flattening tension in the membrane. This work is motivated specifically by LF science requirements. To detect water ice in darkened areas of the Moon,

an IR spectrometer is proposed that will gather reflectance spectra from the lunar surface using sunlight reflected from the solar sail. This high-level requirement flows down to a surface illumination requirement in watts/m2, which in turn drives flatness and stability requirements on the sail. This work was done by Eric B. Hochberg of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Mechanical & Fluid Systems category. NPO-49474

Reactionless Drive Tube Sampling Device and Deployment Method Springs and a counter-mass create a powerful and stable sampling device. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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sampling device and a deployment method were developed that allow collection of a predefined sample volume from up to a predefined depth, precise sampling site selection, and low

impact on the deploying spacecraft. This device is accelerated toward the sampled body, penetrates the surface, closes a door mechanism to retain the sample, and ejects a sampling tube with

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the sample inside. At the same time the drive tube is accelerated, a sacrificial reaction mass can be accelerated in the opposite direction and released in space to minimize the momentum

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impact on the spacecraft. The energy required to accelerate both objects is sourced locally, and can be a spring, cold gas, electric, or pyrotechnic. After the sample tube is ejected or extracted from the drive tube, it can be presented for analysis or placed in a sample return capsule. The external structure houses the sample canister and will be the main body in contact with the sampled media during the penetration. Its front edges are chamfered at an angle of 30 to 40° with the longitudinal axis. The back end is attached to the decelerator and the retention and ejection mechanisms. The decelerator’s main function is to prevent the drive tube from penetrating too deep into the sampled media if the drive tube’s kinetic energy is larger than the penetration energy for the external structure. The sample canister will enclose the sample during the penetration, and houses the sample retention mechanism. There was developed a series of sample retention mechanisms. A bistable blade sample retention mechanism is more suitable to a circular cross-section drive tube when hermetic sample canis-

ter closing is not required. It consists of a series of thin sheet blades, located in the wall of the sample canister, which bends along the long axis and provides higher buckling and bending stiffness. A pull or push guillotine blade is more suitable for a rectangular cross-section drive tube, and provides a more definite sample canister closure and sample retention. The pull guillotine blade is stowed on the sample canister wall and has the edges guided in slots in the adja-

cent walls. After the full penetration depth is reached, the blade is pushed and closes the bottom of the sample canister. The pull guillotine blade includes an additional cutout section to allow the sample to enter the sample canister during the penetration. The blade strips that are left from the blade on the side of the cutout section can roll on wheels to reduce blade necessary pull force during the engagement. Electromechanical actuators, constant

Pipe

Sample Retention Mechanisms

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Outer Structure Sample Canister (Inside the Outer Structure)

Sample Canister Ejection Mechanisms

The drive tube assembly design (top), and prototype with the sample canister partially ejected (bottom).



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Mechanical & Fluid Systems force springs, and torsion springs can be used for actuating the blades during engagement and sample retention. The canister ejection mechanisms eject the sample canister with the enclosed sample at the end of the sample retention mechanism engagement or when it is independently triggered. It consists of a trigger mechanism, a series of pull pins, a series of springs, and a push plate. The compressed springs push the plate

against a shoulder in the sample canister and accelerate it out of the outer structure. Once the push plate has reached a desired travel, it is retained along with the springs on the decelerator and outer structure on the comet. Only the ejected sample canister is then returned to the spacecraft for further processing. The reactionless drive tube allows for sample collection with a large strength range from the proximity of a low-gravity

body with minimum disturbance to the deploying spacecraft. It includes a separate sample canister to allow for a known geometry object handling with a clean surface, a sample retention mechanism that allows stowing in a thin wall tube, and mechanisms for sample retention mechanisms actuation and sample canister ejection. This work was done by Mircea Badescu, Nicholas Wiltsie, Robert G. Bonitz, Paul G. Backes, Anthony J. Ganino, and Nicolas E. Haddad of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Mechanical & Fluid Systems category. NPO-49371

Nozzle Heat Flux Gauge Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama

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his innovation is a tungsten-rhenium gauge that can be placed into an aft exit cone of a rocket motor. It will measure heat flux with time for the full duration of the RSRM (reusable solid rocket motor) nozzle environment with equal response time. Existing gauges are made of Type T, J, or K thermocouple alloys, with Type T the most common alloy, and have a copper heat sink. All of these gauges will melt or vaporize below the temperatures found in the RSRM nozzle. The measurement of heat flux in the RSRM nozzle requires that the gauge be made from the highest operating temperature alloys available. The tungsten-rhenium thermocouple alloy is calibrated to 4,200 °F (2,315 °C). This is the only known material that will work in this application. The temperature and high velocities within the nozzle require the gauge wall thickness to be increased in order to survive. Existing gauges are made from thin foil and are too fragile for the nozzle environment. The differences in the nozzle heat flux gauge design include thermocouple alloy selection (tungsten-rhenium Type C alloy), heavy wall thickness for durability, and custom mounting design compatible with nozzle instrumentation practices. The gauge also allows for the probe surface temperatures to be above

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the slag melt temperature to avoid slag solidification on and erosion of the gauge surface. The gauge also does not need to be water-cooled. Data from existing heat flux gauges is of short duration — only for a few seconds until the gauge is destroyed. The gauge described here will survive for the full or nearly full duration of a RSRM motor firing and provide accurate data. Aluminum oxide slag will not coat or significantly erode the surface of the gauge. Minor thermal and mechanical erosion will occur on the gauge, but the design is robust, allowing minor erosion while still providing accurate data. The gauge installation design is compatible with standard practices and existing data acquisition equipment. This work was done by Paul Bauer, Kenneth Rimington, and Edward Mathias of ATK for Marshall Space Flight Center. For more information, contact Ronald C. Darty, Licensing Executive in the MSFC Technology Transfer Office, at [email protected]. Refer to MFS-33139-1.

Rotary-Hammer Core Sample Acquisition Tool This tool can be used for drilling in construction, mining, or scientific research applications. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California


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ASA is developing technologies to enable in situ analysis and sample acquisition from planetary bodies. Missions to these diverse locations require autonomous, highly customizable, reliable tools. A tool capable of core generation, capture,

Actuators

Core Break-Off Lock

Linear Impact

Rotation and Rotational Impact Spindle Chuck

Drill Bit

The rotary-hammer core sample acquisition tool consists of actuators and the main mechanisms: a drill bit, a chuck, a spindle mechanism, percussion mechanism, and core break-off lock.



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Mechanical & Fluid Systems and transfer, and customizable for different missions, would be very valuable. The tool developed in this work combines industry-proven approaches with novel technologies to perform new functions as required for an autonomous sample acquisition tool. It includes a coring bit that uses both rotation and percussion to generate the desired core, a rotary impact mechanism for core fracture and retention at the chosen depth, and an active chuck mechanism for bit

change-out and sample transfer. The bit rotational motion necessary for drilling and the bit turning rotational impact motion necessary for core break-off are done by a single mechanism, either by rotating in one direction or the other. The core break-off is done by locking a pinch tube inside the bit and then rotating the bit in the opposite direction to drilling. The pinch tube locking is performed using a separate actuator and a locking shaft. In addition, that same

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actuator can be used to engage/disengage the chuck. The percussion mechanism, which generates the impact energy necessary to facilitate rock fracture during drilling, can be driven by the spindle motor to reduce the number of actuators required, or by a separate actuator for greater tool flexibility during operation. The percussion mechanism includes a drive shaft, eccentric cam, a lever with a shaft, a striker, and an anvil. This design configuration allows the use of only two actuators to control all four main functions of the sampling tool. If the mission allows, the tool design is flexible enough to allow the use of up to four actuators for each individual function for greater tool operational flexibility. The sample acquisition tool performs four main functions: generates core, breaks the core at a desired location, retains the core, and allows bit change-out for sample transfer. The drill bit includes a drill bit body, a pinch tube, and a sample tool. The drill bit body has a cylindrical form with four teeth, outside flutes for cutting removal, sliding and chuck locking features, inside and outside keys for accepting the spindle rotational DOF and pinch tube control, and pinch tube finger control surfaces. The chuck includes a set of locking balls, a control sleeve, a pair of bushings, and may include an additional pair of bearings. The directionally dependent spindle mechanism used for either bit rotation or rotary impact torque generation includes a drive shaft with a drive pinion gear, a spindle gear, a spindle body, a preload spring, a thrust bearing, a striker, and detent balls. The tool takes advantage of the inherent brittleness of rocks by combining dynamically generated impact loading to facilitate rock fracture with a rotation DOF for cuttings removal. The tool can be implemented on a variety of landed platforms with low force and power capabilities, and can increase in complexity to provide additional tool usage flexibility and efficiency. This work was done by Mircea Badescu, Kerry J. Klein, Phillip E. Walkemeyer, and Nicolas E. Haddad of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Mechanical & Fluid Systems category. NPO-48709

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Manufacturing & Prototyping Fabrication of Single-Mode, Distributed-Feedback, Interband Cascade Lasers Applications exist in the oil and gas industry, automobile emissions monitors, breath analyzers, and fire detection equipment. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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ype-II interband cascade lasers (ICLs) based on the GaSb material system represent an enabling technology for laser absorption spectroscopy in the 3-to-5-μm wavelength range. Instruments operating in this spectral regime can precisely match strong absorption lines of several gas molecules of interest in atmospheric science and environmental monitoring, specifically methane, ethane, other alkanes, and inorganic gases. Compared with nonsemiconductor-based laser technologies, ICLs can be made more compact and power efficient, ultimately leading to more portable, robust, and manufacturable spectroscopy instruments. An alternative fabrication method for single-mode DFB (distributed feedback) ICLs avoids etching gratings through the laser active region, yet does not introduce additional optical loss with deposited metal gratings. A narrow

ridge with shallow lateral gratings is etched directly into the semiconductor cladding layers above the laser active region, while an additional etch is used to pattern a wider ridge structure through the active region. This fabrication method ultimately allows for independent patterning of an optical confinement structure, a distributed-feedback grating, and an electric confinement structure, which addresses each fabrication step individually and allows for optimized performance and reliability. The fabrication process involves three plasma etching steps to define optical and electrical confinement structures in a semiconductor ICL wafer. This technique enables the fabrication of low-loss, low-order gratings without etching highaspect-ratio corrugations, while facilitating better current confinement by using a straight etch through the ICL active

b) Dry etch a lateral grating into the remaining SCH layer, not to penetrate the quantum wells.

c) Dry etch an ≈11-μm-wide ridge centered around the ridgewaveguide

a) Ridge-waveguide etch ≈4-μm-wide and halfway through the top SCH layer

Schematic of the interband cascade laser (ICL) fabrication process, showing (a) etching of the ridge waveguide through the cladding and spatial-confinement heterostructure layers, but not through the laser active region; (b) patterning of the laterally coupled Bragg gratings; and (c) etching of a wider ridge through the laser active region to restrict lateral current spreading.

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region at a distance far from where the optical mode is generated. This process has resulted in a high yield of lasers with low operating current, above-room-temperature operation, and output powers exceeding 15 mW operating at singlemode emission with at least 25 dB sidemode suppression. The benefit of this fabrication technique is preservation of the critical dimensions of lower-order lateral gratings by separating the ridge waveguide and grating fabrication steps. Furthermore, by removing the active region beyond the distance of optical mode generation, current spreading was minimized and reliability concerns that arise when the active region is exposed close to the sidewall of the ridge waveguide were reduced. Compact, single-frequency lasers operating in the 3-to-5-μm range can access a wealth of scientifically important gas molecules and their isotopes through the technology of tunable laser absorption spectroscopy. Thus, fabrication techniques that mature the technology of mid-IR semiconductor lasers increase the precision and accuracy in the science field to which they are applied. This work was done by Clifford F. Frez, Carl E. Borgentun, Ryan M. Briggs, Mahmood Bagheri, and Siamak Forouhar of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, contact [email protected]. In accordance with Public Law 96-517, the contractor has elected to retain title to this invention. Inquiries concerning rights for its commercial use should be addressed to: Innovative Technology Assets Management JPL Mail Stop 321-123 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109-8099 E-mail: [email protected] Refer to NPO-49559, volume and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue, and the page number.

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Developing Ceramic-Like Bulk Metallic Glass Gears This technology has applications in gears, bearings, and gearboxes for automotive, spacecraft, and robotics.

Robust Sensors for Position Measurement

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

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his invention describes systems and methods for implementing bulk metallic glass-based (BMG) macroscale gears with high wear resistance. This invention creates bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) with selected mechanical properties that are very similar to ceramics, such as high strength and resistance to wear, but without high melting temperatures. Ceramics are high-strength, hard materials that are typically used for their extremely high melting temperatures. Because of their extreme hardness, ceramics are optimal materials for making gears, due to their low wear loss. Unfortunately, ceramics suffer from low fracture toughness (typically

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