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Briefs Software
Software Optimizes Multi-Core Platforms
Perseus is a suite of tools that allows existing x86-based software (in binary form) to be optimized for commodity multi-core platforms. Optimizations are made with respect to both performance (e.g., by avoiding undesirable cache effects) and power consumption (e.g., by modulating frequency and voltage of...
Briefs Physical Sciences
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 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 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 Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Biaxial and Shear Testing Apparatus With Force Controls
An apparatus for in-plane biaxial tension/compression and in-plane shear testing of fabrics, other flexible sheet materials, or relatively rigid thin plate materials has been invented. The...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
MEMS Offset-Beam Torsional Electrothermal Actuators
Prototypes of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) rotational actuators based on a principle of torsion induced by thermal expansion of electrically heated offset beams have been designed,...
Products Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Actuator Protection Boot
Polymer Technologies (Clifton, NJ) has developed a transparent calibrated moisture boot that protects the rotating shaft and seal in the UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter Pitch Trim Actuator, a flight control component that...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Tethered, Remotely Operated Miniature Submarine
A tethered, remotely operated, armed underwater vehicle has been conceived to satisfy a need for an uninhabited vehicle for Navy missions in which positive identification of targets is needed....
Articles Software
Data-Based Paradigm for Rapid Development of Advanced Avionics Displays
The database concepts, tools, and runtime software described in this article provide a methodology for creating advanced avionics human-machine interfaces (HMIs), such as...
Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Progress Toward Carbon-Nanotube Arrays for Probing Cells
Progress has been reported in research oriented toward the goal of fabricating arrays of interconnected single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) that could serve as probes for measuring...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Miniature Wheel-Leg Mobile Robots
Mini-Whegs™ are small mobile robots, designed according to abstracted cockroach locomotion principles, that can run and can climb obstacles taller than themselves. Mini-Whegs are derived from larger mobile...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Future of Space Propulsion
A paper presents an overview of state of the art of space propulsion, oriented toward attempting to understand recent history in order to make some predictions about future developments. As used here, "space propulsion" refers generally to what are now called "spacelift" and "spacecraft propulsion." Further, as used...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Generic Miniature Airplane for Research and Development
The Air Force Research Laboratory has promulgated the geometrical design of a miniature airplane denoted the Generic Micro Aerial Vehicle (GENMAV). This design is intended to serve as a...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Simulations of Brush Contacts of Homopolar Motor/Generators
A computational- simulation study of distributions of electric current and temperature in brushes and slip rings in two model homopolar- motor/generator configurations was performed in...
Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Experiments in Vacuum Brazing of Titanium
An experimental study of vacuum brazing of titanium and of the effects of changes in brazing alloys and brazing process conditions has been performed. [As used here, “titanium” signifies both...
Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Advances in Fabrication of Nanoscale Devices
Some advances have recently been made on several fronts in a continuing effort to develop of means of fabricating electronic and magnetic devices having dimensions of the order of tens to hundreds of...
Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Inexpensive Free-Form Fabrication of Titanium-Alloy Parts
A continuing effort to devise relatively inexpensive means of manufacturing titanium-alloy parts has been focused on a free-form fabrication approach. As used here, “free-form...
Articles Design
Data-Centric Distributed Application Architecture for Shipboard Systems
System architects design distributed applications leveraging computer resources connected by a network infrastructure: CPU-intensive tasks may be located on powerful core...
Products Information Technology
Military Training Simulation Software
Aptima, Inc., Woburn, MA, has announced the DDD 4.0 desktop simulation software for training military and civilian teams. DDD can model a range of environments, including AWACS air battle management,...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Establishment of a Center for Defense Robotics
A document presents an overview of the recently established Joint Center for Unmanned Ground Vehicles (JC-UGV), located at the Army's Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan. The JC-UGV is intended to become the central facility for managing all phases of the life cycles of military robotic ground...
Briefs Physical Sciences
Castable, Relatively Stiff Acoustic-Damping Materials
A recently invented family of acoustic-damping materials offers advantages over prior acoustic-damping materials:
Tech Transfer Reports Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Piezoelectric Actuator Amplifies Small Motions
Engineers at Dynamic Structures and Materials, LLC (DSM, Franklin, TN) have used funding from a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant to squeeze an...
Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Fabrication of Lightweight Armored Doors for HMMWVs
A document describes a concept for fabricating lightweight armored doors for the Army’s high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs). Essentially, the concept is to reinforce high-hard (HH) steel armored doors used on some HMMWVs with a laminated, woven, high-tensile-strength glassfiber/...
Briefs Manufacturing & Prototyping
Small-Scale Combustion-Chamber Testing Facility
A small-scale combustion-chamber testing facility has been designed and partly built for use in evaluating advanced combustor designs for future gas turbine engines. The specific model combustor...
Briefs Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Some Advances in Reducing Drag and Suppressing Convection
Theoretical and computational research has yielded some advances in the art of designing active feedforward and feedback controllers to suppress thermal convection and reduce drag (by...
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