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Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Prototype Rocket Engine for a Nanosat Launch Vehicle
A paper discusses a prototype rocket engine for a suborbital Reusable Nanosat Launch Vehicle (RNLV). The engine must operate with thrust levels from 3,000 to 5,000 lbf. The engine is comprised of three major subassemblies: the injector, igniter, and the combustion chamber nozzle. Propellants are...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Stability of Rotors Supported by Hydrodynamic Film Bearings
The document, "Hydrodynamic Fluid Film Bearings and Their Effect on the Stability of Rotating Machinery" represents a lecture in a series "Design and Analysis of High-Speed Pumps," held in 2006 under the auspices of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The document introduces the basic...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
SparkJet Actuators for Controlling Flows
SparkJet actuators are under investigation as means of controlling flows — especially supersonic and hypersonic flows. In one important class of potential applications, SparkJet actuators would be...
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Photon Counting Chirped Amplitude Modulation Ladar
This work is a follow-up to prior efforts to develop a method using Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode (GM-APD) photon counting detectors in chirped amplitude modulation (AM) ladar receivers to...
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Continuous-Wave Laser Diodes Based on a Novel InGaAsNSb Material System
Laser sources operating in the spectral region from 2 to 3.5 μm are in demand for ultra-sensitive laser spectroscopy, medical diagnostics, home security, industrial process monitoring, infrared countermeasures, and optical wireless communications. Currently, solid-state...
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Reduced Power Laser Designation Systems
This work contributes to the Micropulse Laser Designation (MPLD) project to develop a six-pound eye-safe micro-pulse laser system to locate, identify, range, mark, and designate stationary and moving targets. MPLD uses laser pulses of much lower energy and higher repetition rates than in existing laser...
Briefs Electronics & Computers
High-Cycle Life Testing of RF MEMS Switches
The electromechanical, RF, and charging properties of an "air-gap" capacitive switch enable it to be utilized in high-cycle life testing. Monitoring both high-speed and low-speed switching...
Briefs Electronics & Computers
Optical Microwave-Signal-Channelization Technique Analyzed
In a recent study, a proposed technique for optical frequency-band channelization of a microwave signal or other wide-band radio signal in a receiver was analyzed and compared with...
Briefs Materials
Thermal Characterization of Thin Films for MEMS Applications
Dielectric thin films play a very important role in the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). These dielectric materials often are used as insulating layers in...
Briefs Materials
Lubrication Considerations for Military Equipment
Military equipment is subject to increasingly harsh environmental conditions and performance requirements. Simultaneously, engineers and equipment operators are demanding longer service life and less maintenance. The proper approach to lubrication is critical to minimizing equipment failures and...
Briefs Materials
Barium Ferrite Materials for Microwave Circulators
Barium ferrite thick disks have been fabricated for incorporation in self-biased microwave devices. The process uses barium ferrite nanopowder mixed with epoxy. The mix is placed on alumina substrates to fabricate 500 μm thick disks of BaM to achieve good magnetic properties such as magnetic...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Nanostructured Ferromagnetic-Wire/Insulator Composites
A research and development effort now in progress is focused on nano-structured ferromagnetic- wire/insulator composite materials to be used as the magnetic-core materials of sensors for...
Briefs Information Technology
Software Virtual Networks Integrate Training and Operation of Wireless Net-Centric Warfare Systems
Military planners are aggressively developing network-centric warfare platforms that use wireless communications as a force multiplier. The aim...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Cracking of Aluminum Panels Repaired With Composite Patches
An experimental study of the mechanical behavior of cracked aluminum specimens repaired with composite-material patches has yielded findings that may eventually contribute to the...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Some Advances in Understanding of Environmental Fatigue
A research program has yielded advances in understanding of numerous aspects of environmental crack propagation in aerospace aluminum alloys. From one perspective, the objective of this program was to quantitatively establish governing crack-tip-mechanics conditions and damage mechanisms...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Perspective on Research in Laser Propulsion
A document summarizes the history of research on laser propulsion, starting with the first publication of the laser-propulsion concept in the year 1969, proceeding through studies of laser propulsion within the broader context of advanced propulsion systems in general, and culminating in proof-of-concept...
Briefs Materials
Films Containing Nanostructures and/or Reactive Scavengers
Several advances have been made in research in the art of tailoring polymeric films to be, variously, (1) much more effective as barriers to diffusion of liquids and gases than they...
Briefs Materials
Composites Containing Nanostructured Shape-Memory Alloys
A continuing program of research is devoted to understanding composite materials that include nanostructured shape-memory alloy (SMA) constituents and to developing methods of fabricating components from such materials. This research is intended to improve the utilization of SMAs in...
Briefs Materials
Silicon Nanowires for Anodes of Rechargeable Li Power Cells
Silicon nanowires have been investigated as alternatives to the graphite heretofore widely used as an anode material in rechargeable lithium-ion power cells. The theoretical specific...
Briefs Photonics/Optics
Hybrid Micro-Electro-Mechanically Tunable Optical Filter
A prototype hybrid micro-electro- mechanically tunable optical filter (MEM-TF) based partly on an electrostatic-actuation principle has been built and tested as an essential component...
Briefs Electronics & Computers
Magnetic Memory Devices for Embedded Computing
A program of research has been dedicated to the development of magnetic memory devices than can be incorporated into complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits, wherein...
Briefs Software
Tool for Processing and Displaying Genomics Data in Spreadsheets
ChromaBlast is a computer program that facilitates and accelerates processing and display of data by use of Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet software that affords similar capabilities. The development of ChromaBlast was prompted by a need for improved means of analyzing and...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Digital-Image Data Acquisition System for Turbulent Mixing and Combustion
An equipment and instrumentation system for high-speed digital image data acquisition and processing includes components for Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF), flame-speed, and ignition and extinction measurements of laminar flames at variable pressure; tracking flow...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Thermal Technology System Acquires Heat Data to Count People
The Flowslide, developed by Royal Boon Edam Group Holding BV, is a combination of a revolving door and curved sliding panels, installed at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris. The...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Time-Coding of Asynchronous Data Transmissions
A method for providing a time code for multiple streams of simultaneously received data has been developed in order to allow reconstruction of the data after asynchronous transfer. It is often...
Briefs Materials
Flexible Biohybrid Nanomembranes for Multifunctional Sensors
A document describes recent activities in a continuing effort to develop devices, based on biohybrid nanomembranes, that would perform diverse sensory functions. The term "biohybrid nanomembranes" signifies flexible organic/inorganic composite membranes, of the order of tens of nanometers...
Briefs Materials
Oxide and Nitride Films for Tunable Capacitors and HEMTs
A report describes research on thin oxide films intended for use as variable-high-permittivity dielectrics in advanced tunable capacitors and on thin nitride films as starting materials for advanced high-electron- mobility transistors (HEMTs). In this research, a custom molecular-beam-epitaxy...
Briefs Information Technology
Cooperative Control of Robotic Aircraft
A document reviews a multidisciplinary research program oriented toward development of a rigorous theoretical foundation, and scalable analytical tools and paradigms, for construction of cooperative, networked control for numerous autonomous and semi-autonomous aircraft. This research has addressed issues...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Infrared-Sensitive Photorefractive Polymer Composite Devices
Polymer composites that are photorefractive at visible and near- infrared wavelengths, and devices that exploit their photorefractivity, have been demonstrated. Potential applications...
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