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Briefs Electronics & Computers
AC Coupled Interconnect for Low-Power Spaceborne Electronics
An AC coupled interconnect (ACCI) has been developed that could be used to create multiple solutions to contactless chip-to-chip communications. Assembly and testing of a 0.18 um bulk...
Briefs Electronics & Computers
Emerging Power and Energy Technologies for Portable Electronics
A report discusses data obtained for the Navy's Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which seeks a portable power/energy source capable of providing sufficient power and energy for complex missions at a minimal weight penalty. The report focuses on the specific energy of systems,...
Briefs Information Technology
Explicitly Timed Authorization Logic
A document describes explicitly timed authorization logic (nicknamed "η-logic"). In prior authorization logics, it is, variously, impossible or difficult to handle time explicitly; express security policies that involve complex, time-dependent relationships; or reason accurately about time. By enabling...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Advanced Concepts for Space Access
A paper summarizes commonly proposed advanced launch concepts, including both concepts that employ propellant and propellant-less concepts. A wide range of advanced launch concepts have been proposed in an effort to revolutionize space access through either a significant reduction in launch costs or significant...
Briefs Robotics, Automation & Control
Robot Vision System for Precise Object Retrieval in Unmanned Systems
Automating large-scale material handling systems that involve picking up or retrieving items via cranes or robot arms can yield big benefits, particularly in harsh or...
Briefs Medical
Remote Blood Pressure Waveform Sensing
This non-contact, non-invasive blood pressure apparatus continuously measures and monitors blood pressure using a laser Doppler vibrometer to create waveforms. The laser-based system may be utilized to continuously provide highly detailed information about the timing characteristics of the blood pressure...
Briefs Medical
Tactical Medical Coordination System
The term "tactical medical coordination system" (TacMedCS) denotes any of several prototype electronic systems for tracking patients in a scenario that may involve multiple instances of treatment by...
Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Patterning of Polycrystalline Bi2Te3 Thin Films on Silicon
Experiments in patterning of thin films of polycrystalline bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) on silicon substrates have been performed. Bi2Te3 is representative of a family of thermoelectric...
Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Improvements in Manufacturing BMI/Fiber Composites Using AFP
A program now in progress is dedicated to making improvements in automated fiber placement (AFP) for the manufacture of advanced composite-material (matrix/fiber) structural...
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 Sensors/Data Acquisition
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...
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