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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Receptors signaling gravity orientation in an insect

Displacement in any direction from primary orientation is found to evoke tonic activity from at least one of the four interneurons of a certain type of burrowing cockroach; the receptive field for each interneuron is slightly more than a quadrant. The receptive field of each interneuron is found to be the same as the row of receptors providing the input. Displacement about the least stable axis (0-180 deg) or roll, on the one hand, and the most stable axis (90-270 deg) or pitch, on the other, is found to be unambiguously signaled by pairs of interneurons. Indications are obtained that receptors in the lateral row drive a giant interneuron in a contralateral connective and those in the medial row drive one in an ipsilateral connective.

Hartman, H. B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The effects of correlated noise in intra-complex DSN arrays for S-band Galileo telemetry reception

A number of the proposals for supporting a Galileo S-band (2.3-GHz) mission involve arraying several antennas to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (and bit rate) obtainable from a given set of antennas. Arraying is no longer a new idea, having been used successfully during the Voyager encounters with Uranus and Neptune. However, arraying for Galileo's tour of Jupiter is complicated by Jupiter's strong radio emission, which produces correlated noise effects. This article discusses the general problem of correlated noise due to a planet, or other radio source, and applies the results to the specific case of an array of antennas at the DSN's Tidbinbilla, Australia, complex (DSS 42, DSS 43, DSS 45, and the yet-to-be-built DSS 34). The effects of correlated noise are highly dependent on the specific geometry of the array and on the spacecraft-planet configuration; in some cases, correlated noise effects produce an enhancement, rather than a degradation, of the signal-to-noise ratio. For the case considered here--an array of the DSN's Australian antennas observing Galileo and Jupiter--there are three regimes of interest. If the spacecraft-planet separation is approximately less than 75 arcsec, the average effect of correlated noise is a loss of signal to noise (approximately 0.2 dB as the spacecraft-planet separation approaches zero). For spacecraft-planet separations approximately greater than 75 arcsec, but approximately less than 400 arcsec, the effects of correlated noise cause signal-to-noise variations as large as several tenths of a decibel over time scales of hours or changes in spacecraft-planet separation of tens of arcseconds; however, on average its effects are small (less than 0.01 dB). When the spacecraft is more than 400 arcsec from Jupiter (as is the case for about half of Galileo's tour), correlated noise is a less than 0.05-dB effect.

Dewey, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Adaptive arrays for satellite communications

The suppression of interfering signals in a satellite communication system was studied. Adaptive arrays are used to suppress interference at the reception site. It is required that the interference be suppressed to very low levels and a modified adaptive circuit is used which accomplishes the desired objective. Techniques for the modification of the transmit patterns to minimize interference with neighboring communication links are explored.

Gupta, I. J.↗
NASA NTRS2009

NASA Tech Briefs, June 2009

Topics covered include: Device for Measuring Low Flow Speed in a Duct, Measuring Thermal Conductivity of a Small Insulation Sample, Alignment Jig for the Precise Measurement of THz Radiation, Autoignition Chamber for Remote Testing of Pyrotechnic Devices, Microwave Power Combiners for Signals of Arbitrary Amplitude, Synthetic Foveal Imaging Technology, Airborne Antenna System for Minimum-Cycle-Slip GPS Reception, Improved Starting Materials for Back-Illuminated Imagers, Multi-Modulator for Bandwidth-Efficient Communication, Some Improvements in Utilization of Flash Memory Devices, GPS/MEMS IMU/Microprocessor Board for Navigation, T/R Multi-Chip MMIC Modules for 150 GHz, Pneumatic Haptic Interfaces, Device Acquires and Retains Rock or Ice Samples, Cryogenic Feedthrough Test Rig, Improved Assembly for Gas Shielding During Welding or Brazing, Two-Step Plasma Process for Cleaning Indium Bonding Bumps, Tool for Crimping Flexible Circuit Leads, Yb14MnSb11 as a High-Efficiency Thermoelectric Material, Polyimide-Foam/Aerogel Composites for Thermal Insulation, Converting CSV Files to RKSML Files, Service Management Database for DSN Equipment, Chemochromic Hydrogen Leak Detectors, Compatibility of Segments of Thermoelectric Generators, Complementary Barrier Infrared Detector, JPL Greenland Moulin Exploration Probe, Ultra-Lightweight Self-Deployable Nanocomposite Structure for Habitat Applications, and Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids for Electrochemical Capacitors.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1986

A simple method for designing or analyzing an optical communication link

A simple method is described for determining the performance of a free space optical communication link. The method can be used either in the system design (synthesis) mode or in the performance evaluation (analysis) mode. Although restricted to photo counting based detection of pulse position modulated signals, the method is still sufficiently general to accommodate space-based, as well as ground-based, reception.

Lesh, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Simple method for designing or analyzing an optical communication link

A simple method is described for determining the performance of a free space optical communication link. The method can be used either in the system design (synthesis) mode, or in the performance evaluation (analysis) mode. Although restricted to photo counting based detection (e.g., photomultiplier tube or equivalent) of pulse position modulated signals, the method is still sufficiently general to accommodate space-based, as well as ground-based, reception.

Lesh, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Mars Cube One (MarCO) Shifting the Paradigm in Relay Deep Space Operations

A very significant challenge in the planetary mission design and operations is communications with ground control teams during critical events and highly risky maneuvers. These include entry, descent, and landing (EDL) and orbit insertion, which should not be carried out in the blind. Although vast planetary distances and long round-trip light times disallow real-time intervention from controllers, acquiring the relevant event performance parameters in near real-time can be imperative for determining the corrective actions needed immediately following or, in the case of significant anomalies, aid in the diagnostic analysis. During several previous Mars missions landing events, and the Huygens probe landing on Titan, the communications strategy relied on proximity links to planetary orbiters, which then relayed the data to the Deep Space Network (DSN). In addition, attempts were successfully made in parallel to receive the signal carrier directly at Earth often using large radio telescopes when the wavelength was outside the DSN’s reception bands. This Direct-to-Earth (DTE) back-up method was only possible due to special techniques utilizing the DSN’s open-loop Radio Science Receivers. In every case, it was very challenging since the link budget of a landing vehicles were designed for proximity orbiter relays and not for distances across the solar system. A new method is introduced since not all future missions can rely on the presence of pre-existing orbiters at their planetary targets to relay their critical data ad, furthermore, most missions would not likely have the resources to implement a reliable DTE link at acceptable data rates, bypassing a need for a relay asset. With the advent CubeSat form-factor spacecraft, one or more, for added reliability, CubeSats can be launched with the primary mission, travel to the target, and be positioned to view the critical event, such as EDL, and carry out real-time relay of the data to the DSN at higher rates. CubeSats have flown in the Earth environment but never flown or been operated in deep space or planetary environment so careful design as well as flight experience are needed. The relay function requires the development of radio and antenna systems to meet challenging specifications. After initial technical demonstration of the concept and operational experience, the cost can decrease as systems become more standardized with increased reliability. This paper describes the invention of the “carry your own relay” concept and the formulation of the mission likely to be the first planetary CubeSat mission called Mars Cube One (MarCO). It also describes the operational concept of relay small spacecraft and their role reducing mission risk as well as overall mission cost.

Asmar, Sami↗
NASA NTRS1988

Transmission of multiplexed video signals in multimode optical fiber systems

Kennedy Space Center has the need for economical transmission of two multiplexed video signals along multimode fiberoptic systems. These systems must span unusual distances and must meet RS-250B short-haul standards after reception. Bandwidth is a major problem and studies of the installed fibers, available LEDs and PINFETs led to the choice of 100 MHz as the upper limit for the system bandwidth. Optical multiplexing and digital transmission were deemed inappropriate. Three electrical multiplexing schemes were chosen for further study. Each of the multiplexing schemes included an FM stage to help meet the stringent S/N specification. Both FM and AM frequency division multiplexing methods were investigated theoretically and these results were validated with laboratory tests. The novel application of quadrature amplitude multiplexing was also considered. Frequency division multiplexing of two wideband FM video signal appears the most promising scheme although this application requires high power highly linear LED transmitters. Futher studies are necessary to determine if LEDs of appropriate quality exist and to better quantify performance of QAM in this application.

White, Preston, III↗
NASA NTRS1990

Synchronization Technique For Reception Of Coded Data

Shortest sequence of bits likely to be filled with error bursts examined. Algorithm improves synchronization of frames of noisy binary-coded data signals after Viterbi decoding (recovery from "inner" convolutional code used in transmission channel) and before Reed-Solomon or other decoding (recovery from "outer" error-correcting block code). Based on comparisons of sequences of correct and erroneous Viterbi-decoded received bits with known marker sequence denoting beginning of frame of data. Does not require count of number of bits in received sequence disagreeing with corresponding bits in marker sequence.

Shahshahani, Mehrdad M.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Geometrical Detector Considerations in Laser Sensing Applications

We have studied the influence of the geometrical interaction of different detectors with the impinging optical/laser received beam for a wide range of laser sensing applications. Although different techniques apply, it is found that similar aspects of geometrical physics plays a role in direct detection of a range-resolved large M(sup 2) OPO atmospheric Lidar, heterodyne multi-detector reception of atmospheric turbulence distorted coherent lidar type laser sensing, and the distribution and summation of laser induced fluorescence signals after being spectrally resolved with a spectrometer and detected by a column summing CCD detector. In each of these systems, the focused received light is spatially and spectrally distributed due to several factors including Field-of-View considerations, laser beam quality/divergence, multi-detector aspects, and hardware and software summation (coherent and non-coherent) of multi-element or spatially integrated signals. This invited talk will present some of our recent results in these areas and show the similarities in the detector spatial and temporal summation techniques of these different laser sensing systems.

Killinger, Dennis↗
NASA NTRS2010

Growing B Lymphocytes in a Three-Dimensional Culture System

A three-dimensional (3D) culture system for growing long-lived B lymphocytes has been invented. The capabilities afforded by the system can be expected to expand the range of options for immunological research and related activities, including testing of immunogenicity of vaccine candidates in vitro, generation of human monoclonal antibodies, and immunotherapy. Mature lymphocytes, which are the effectors of adaptive immune responses in vertebrates, are extremely susceptible to apoptotic death, and depend on continuous reception of survival-inducing stimulation (in the forms of cytokines, cell-to-cell contacts, and antigen receptor signaling) from the microenvironment. For this reason, efforts to develop systems for long-term culture of functional, non-transformed and non-activated mature lymphocytes have been unsuccessful until now. The bone-marrow microenvironment supports the growth and differentiation of many hematopoietic lineages, in addition to B-lymphocytes. Primary bone-marrow cell cultures designed to promote the development of specific cell types in vitro are highly desirable experimental systems, amenable to manipulation under controlled conditions. However, the dynamic and complex network of stromal cells and insoluble matrix proteins is disrupted in prior plate- and flask-based culture systems, wherein the microenvironments have a predominantly two-dimensional (2D) character. In 2D bone-marrow cultures, normal B-lymphoid cells become progressively skewed toward precursor B-cell populations that do not retain a normal immunophenotype, and such mature B-lymphocytes as those harvested from the spleen or lymph nodes do not survive beyond several days ex vivo in the absence of mitogenic stimulation. The present 3D culture system is a bioreactor that contains highly porous artificial scaffolding that supports the long-term culture of bone marrow, spleen, and lymph-node samples. In this system, unlike in 2D culture systems, B-cell subpopulations developing within 3D cultures that have been modified to foster lymphopoiesis retain an immunophenotype that closely recapitulates cells in fresh bone marrow harvests. The 3D culture system has been found to be capable of supporting long-lived (8 weeks) populations of B and T lymphocytes from peripheral lymphoid organs, in the absence of activation signals, to an extent not achievable by conventional culture techniques. Interestingly, it has been found that 3D-culture B cells display a phenotype that has characteristics of both B1a and B2 cells. These promising preliminary observations suggest that the 3D culture system could be used with success in the study of peripheral-B-lymphocyte biology and in the development of biotechnological techniques and processes.

Wu, J. H. David↗
NASA NTRS2004

Video Guidance Sensors Using Remotely Activated Targets

Four updated video guidance sensor (VGS) systems have been proposed. As described in a previous NASA Tech Briefs article, a VGS system is an optoelectronic system that provides guidance for automated docking of two vehicles. The VGS provides relative position and attitude (6-DOF) information between the VGS and its target. In the original intended application, the two vehicles would be spacecraft, but the basic principles of design and operation of the system are applicable to aircraft, robots, objects maneuvered by cranes, or other objects that may be required to be aligned and brought together automatically or under remote control. In the first two of the four VGS systems as now proposed, the tracked vehicle would include active targets that would light up on command from the tracking vehicle, and a video camera on the tracking vehicle would be synchronized with, and would acquire images of, the active targets. The video camera would also acquire background images during the periods between target illuminations. The images would be digitized and the background images would be subtracted from the illuminated-target images. Then the position and orientation of the tracked vehicle relative to the tracking vehicle would be computed from the known geometric relationships among the positions of the targets in the image, the positions of the targets relative to each other and to the rest of the tracked vehicle, and the position and orientation of the video camera relative to the rest of the tracking vehicle. The major difference between the first two proposed systems and prior active-target VGS systems lies in the techniques for synchronizing the flashing of the active targets with the digitization and processing of image data. In the prior active-target VGS systems, synchronization was effected, variously, by use of either a wire connection or the Global Positioning System (GPS). In three of the proposed VGS systems, the synchronizing signal would be generated on, and transmitted from, the tracking vehicle. In the first proposed VGS system, the tracking vehicle would transmit a pulse of light. Upon reception of the pulse, circuitry on the tracked vehicle would activate the target lights. During the pulse, the target image acquired by the camera would be digitized. When the pulse was turned off, the target lights would be turned off and the background video image would be digitized. The second proposed system would function similarly to the first proposed system, except that the transmitted synchronizing signal would be a radio pulse instead of a light pulse. In this system, the signal receptor would be a rectifying antenna. If the signal contained sufficient power, the output of the rectifying antenna could be used to activate the target lights, making it unnecessary to include a battery or other power supply for the targets on the tracked vehicle.

Bryan, Thomas C.↗
NASA NTRS2010

PPM Receiver Implemented in Software

A computer program has been written as a tool for developing optical pulse-position- modulation (PPM) receivers in which photodetector outputs are fed to analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and all subsequent signal processing is performed digitally. The program can be used, for example, to simulate an all-digital version of the PPM receiver described in Parallel Processing of Broad-Band PPM Signals (NPO-40711), which appears elsewhere in this issue of NASA Tech Briefs. The program can also be translated into a design for digital PPM receiver hardware. The most notable innovation embodied in the software and the underlying PPM-reception concept is a digital processing subsystem that performs synchronization of PPM time slots, even though the digital processing is, itself, asynchronous in the sense that no attempt is made to synchronize it with the incoming optical signal a priori and there is no feedback to analog signal processing subsystems or ADCs. Functions performed by the software receiver include time-slot synchronization, symbol synchronization, coding preprocessing, and diagnostic functions. The program is written in the MATLAB and Simulink software system. The software receiver is highly parameterized and, hence, programmable: for example, slot- and symbol-synchronization filters have programmable bandwidths.

Gray, Andrew↗
NASA NTRS2003

Using Correlated Photons to Suppress Background Noise

A proposed method of suppressing the effect of background noise in an optical communication system would exploit the transmission and reception of correlated photons at the receiver. The method would not afford any advantage in a system in which performance is limited by shot noise. However, if the performance of the system is limited by background noise (e.g., sunlight in the case of a free-space optical communication system or incoherently scattered in-band photons in the case of a fiber-optic communication system), then the proposed method could offer an advantage: the proposed method would make it possible to achieve a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) significantly greater than that of an otherwise equivalent background- noise-limited optical communication system based on the classical transmission and reception of uncorrelated photons. The figure schematically depicts a classical optical-communication system and a system according to the proposed method. In the classical system, a modulated laser beam is transmitted along an optical path to a receiver, the optics of which include a narrow-band-pass filter that suppresses some of the background noise. A photodetector in the receiver detects the laser-beam and background photons, most or all of which are uncorrelated. In the proposed system, correlated photons would be generated at the transmitter by making a modulated laser beam pass through a nonlinear parametric down-conversion crystal. The sum of frequencies of the correlated photons in each pair would equal the frequency of the incident photon from which they were generated. As in the classical system, the correlated photons would travel along an optical path to a receiver, where they would be band-pass filtered and detected. Unlike in the classical system, the photodetector in the receiver in this system would be one that intrinsically favors the detection of pairs of correlated photons over the detection of uncorrelated photons. Even though there would be no way of knowing the precise location and time of creation of a given pair of correlated signal photons in the nonlinear down-conversion crystal, the fact that the photons are necessarily created at the same time and place makes it possible to utilize conventional geometrical imaging optics to reunite the photons in coincidence in the receiving photodetector. Because most or all of the signal photons would be correlated while most or all of the noise photons would be uncorrelated, the S/N would be correspondingly enhanced in the photodetector output. An additional advantage to be gained by use of a correlated-photon detector is that it could be capable of recovering the signal even in the presence of background light so bright that a classical uncorrelated-photon detector would be saturated. A blocked-impurity-band (BIB) photodetector that preferentially detects pairs of correlated photons over uncorrelated ones and that operates at a quantum efficiency of 88 percent is commercially available. This detector must be cooled to the temperature of liquid helium to obtain the desired low-noise performance. It is planned to use this detector in a proof-of-principle demonstration. In addition, it may be possible to develop GaN-based photodetectors that could offer the desired low-noise performance at room temperature.

Jackson, Deborah↗
NASA NTRS2000

Low-Cost Tracking Ground Terminal Designed to Use Cryogenically Cooled Electronics

A computer-controlled, tracking ground terminal will be assembled at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field to receive signals transmitted by the Glenn's Direct Data Distribution (D3) payload planned for a shuttle flight in low Earth orbit. The terminal will enable direct data reception of up to two 622-megabits-per-second (Mbps) beams from the space-based, K-band (19.05-GHz) transmitting array at an end-user bit error rate of up to 10(exp -12). The ground terminal will include a 0.9-m-diameter receive-only Cassegrain reflector antenna with a corrugated feed horn incorporating a dual circularly polarized, K-band feed assembly mounted on a multiaxis, gimbaled tracking pedestal as well as electronics to receive the downlink signals. The tracking system will acquire and automatically track the shuttle through the sky for all elevations greater than 20 above the horizon. The receiving electronics for the ground terminal consist of a six-pole microstrip bandpass filter, a three-stage monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifier, and a Stirling cycle cryocooler (1 W at 80 K). The Sterling cycle cryocooler cools the front end of the receiver, also known as the low-noise amplifier (LNA), to about 77 K. Cryocooling the LNA significantly increases receiver performance, which is necessary so that it can use the antenna, which has an aperture of only 0.9 m. The following drawing illustrates the cryoterminal.

Wald, Lawrence W.↗
NASA NTRS2002

RF Manipulation of Ions in the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT)

The annihilation of antimatter provides the highest mass specific energy of any other known reaction. Proper harnessing of this energy holds great promise for future space propulsion systems. Many different propulsion concepts have been proposed that take advantage of antimatter, either using matter-antimatter as the primary fuel, or as a 'spark plug' for fusion and fission systems. In order to begin to address these concepts experimentally, a method of storing and transporting antimatter must be developed. The High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT) is a first-generation storage and transportation device designed to store and transport 10(exp 12) antiprotons with a storage half-life of 18 days. It uses a Penning-Malmberg ion trap with a 4T magnetic field and 20 kV potential. This will enable researchers much more flexibility in the design of antimatter experiments related to propulsion. Ions cannot be stored indefinitely in a real trap, as ion cloud instabilities develop from imperfections in manufacturing and misalignments in assembly. Previous work has been done at both the National Institute of Standards and University of California in San Diego in using RF (radio frequency) signals to both diagnose and confine the ion cloud. Two electrodes in the trap have been segmented to allow both reception and transmission of RF waves in the ion cloud. Experiments are underway to determine the number of ions and density in the cloud by "listening" to protons contained in the HiPAT. Currently we believe the density of ions stored in the trap is roughly 10(exp 15) m(exp -3). Development of non-destructive techniques is vital to the project goals, enabling continuous monitoring of the quantities stored in the system. Experimental work is also being done in identifying RF transmission frequencies that can manipulate the density of the cloud, by exchanging energy and momentum between the RF wave and the ions. Preliminary experiments have demonstrated this interaction.

Pearson, J. Boise↗
NASA NTRS1973

Junction range finder

Electronic system locates interferences in radar reception. System utilizes well known frequency-modulated continuous-wave technique to locate objects with nonlinear impedances. FM transmitter generates signal through bandpass filter which eliminates higher order harmonics around carrier frequency.

Morissette, S.↗