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At least 379 records · Page 21

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NASA NTRS2019

Multi-Band and Multi-Function Reconfigurable Gallium Nitride Based Fully Solid-State Microwave Power Module for Cognitive Radio/Radar Platforms

This paper presents as a proof-of-concept (POC) the design, integration, and performance of a novel reconfigurable S-/X-band Gallium Nitride (GaN) based fully solid-state microwave power module (SSMPM) for the role as the transmit module in a cognitive radio (CR). The SSMPM synergistically integrates multiple amplifiers through diplexing and high power switches to enable a single SSMPM capable of functioning as both S-/X-band amplifiers for telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C), telecommunications, and science data downlink or as X-band radar for proximity sensing onboard a planetary exploration spacecraft. Integration of an electric field shaping field plate (FP) onto the GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) in this SSMPM provides increased performance and reliability for operation in the harsh conditions of space. This SSMPM is capable of delivering saturated power (Psat) of 39 dBm (8 W continuous wave (CW)) at S-band, P(sub sat) of 43 dBm (20 W CW) at X-band, and P(sub sat) of >50 dBm (>100 W Pulsed) at X-band.

Simons, Rainee N.↗

DOE OSTI2021

A 24-Channel Digitizer With a JESD204B-Compliant Serial Interface for High-Speed Detectors

In this report a 24-channel application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for the readout of high-speed CMOS active pixel sensors for charged particle detection is presented. The chip comprises 24 preamplifiers, 24 distinct 12-bit, 25 MSPS Pipelined analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with self-calibration, an internal phase-locked loop (PLL), and a 3 Gbps serial interface that conforms to the JESD204B standard. To simplify interfacing with a variety of sensors, the ASIC also includes an automatic offset calibration loop. The high level of integration of the ASIC reduces overall system cost and area, and exploiting the signal characteristics of the image sensor allows the ADC to be optimized for reduced power dissipation. The use of an integrated serializer and an industry standard protocol simplifies integration of the ASIC into a complete camera system. The ASIC, called the High-Speed Image Preprocessor Targeted for Electron Readout, or HIPSTER, with a die area of 64.26 mm 2 , is packaged in a 480-ball grid array (BGA) and is fabricated in 180-nm CMOS technology. HIPSTER achieves typical differential nonlinearity (DNL) < 0.55 LSB, input-referred thermal noise of $114.5 μV-rms, and a bit error rate (BER) of better than 10-14. The power dissipation is 98 mW/channel.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2020

Stronger field-emission science via coupling novel nanoscale imaging techniques

We implemented a vacuum field emission electron microscope (FEM) using the electron optics of a low-energy /photoemission electron microscope (LEEM/PEEM). Historically, there have been other FEM hardware platforms, and the distinctive feature of our method is that it integrates with the LEEM/PEEM and associated techniques, enabling a powerful multi-capability toolset for studying fundamental materials properties underpinning field emission (FE) and vacuum arc initiation. Typically, LEEM is used to image surface structure, which influences both work function and electric field distribution near a surface, while PEEM is used to map photoelectric work function across a surface. Our FEM adds the capability for spatially-correlated coincident-site measurements of FE currents to go-along with structure and work function. LEEM, PEEM, and our FEM implementation achieve nanoscale spatial resolution relevant for materials studies in nanoscience/engineering. Our approach requires a straightforward calibration of the electron optics to enable focused FEM imaging under intentional electric field variation. We demonstrate the FEM approach by imaging field emitter arrays relevant for vacuum nanoelectronics. We demonstrate submicron spatial resolution and dynamic measurement of FE versus applied electric field. We anticipate this capability will enable fundamental structure-function studies of FE and arc initiation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRS2016

Initial Work Toward a Robotically Assisted EVA Glove

The Space Suit RoboGlove is a device designed to provide additional grasp strength or endurance for an EVA crew member since gloved hand performance is a fraction of what the unencumbered human hand can achieve. There have been past efforts to approach this problem by employing novel materials and construction techniques to the glove design, as well as integrating powered assistance devices. This application of the NASA/GM RoboGlove technology uses a unique approach to integrate the robotic actuators and sensors into a Phase VI EVA glove. This design provides grasp augmentation to the glove user while active, but can also function as a normal glove when disabled. Care was taken to avoid adding excessive bulk to the glove or affecting tactility by choosing low-profile sensors and extrinsically locating the actuators. Conduits are used to guide robotic tendons from linear actuators, across the wrist, and to the fingers. The second generation of the SSRG includes updated electronics, sensors, and actuators to improve performance. The following discusses the electromechanical design, softgoods integration, and control system of the SSRG. It also presents test results from the first integration of a powered mobility element onto a space suit, the NASA Mark III. Early results show that sensor integration did not impact tactile feedback in the glove and the actuators show potential for reduction in grasp fatigue over time.

Rogers, J.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Modular Wide-bandgap String Inverters for Low-cost Medium-voltage Transformerless PV Systems

The proposed technology combines advances in wide-bandgap power electronics with breakthroughs in distributed and decentralized control to produce ultra-low-cost medium-voltage transformerless PV inverters that are composed of stackable lightweight blocks. Taken together, the proposed circuit designs and accompanying control strategies will yield integrated control+circuit (C2) blocks, each comprising a converter and local controller, that can be assembled in a modular fashion to obtain distributed conversion interfaces for next-generation commercial and utility-scale PV systems. We will utilize SiC devices to obtain C2 blocks that can individually operate at a voltage and power in excess of 1 kV and 100 kW, respectively, such that ensembles of series-connected blocks perform direct dc to three-phase ac conversion at medium voltages (e.g., 12 kV–35 kV) and at multi-MW power levels.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS2001

Heterogeneous Integration, An Approach to High Density and High Flexibility Electronic Packaging

Key to the design of spacecraft for exploration of the outer planets will be the development of highly integrated and mass/volume efficient electronic systems. Exploration of the outer planets will require optimized propulsion approaches which mandates mass minimization. If one looks at a mission such as the Europa Lander, a high mass/volume efficiency feeds back directly into lower mass for radiation shielding. Concurrently the long mission lengths will drive the need for fault isolation and fault tolerance. The ability to build distributed electronic systems is an inherent requirement and one which is enabled by heterogeneous integration. The electronic packaging approach must be capable of interconnecting various components at a scale comparable with that on the components themselves (chip scale) and it must facilitate efficient integration of the electronics with elements of the spacecraft such as structure or antennae. The concept of 'Heterogeneous Integration' is being explored in the System On A Chip (SOAC) Project at JPL. The goal, of this approach to electronic packaging, is to enable the fabrication and assembly of complete electronic subsystems from components fabricated by a range of processes. Included in such a system could be MEMS sensors, SOI mixed signal ASICs, micro scale passive components and micro power. Secondarily the compact size will enable distributed architectures and integrated assemblies. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

DAgostino, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Advanced Data Acquisition Systems

Current and future requirements of the aerospace sensors and transducers field make it necessary for the design and development of new data acquisition devices and instrumentation systems. New designs are sought to incorporate self-health, self-calibrating, self-repair capabilities, allowing greater measurement reliability and extended calibration cycles. With the addition of power management schemes, state-of-the-art data acquisition systems allow data to be processed and presented to the users with increased efficiency and accuracy. The design architecture presented in this paper displays an innovative approach to data acquisition systems. The design incorporates: electronic health self-check, device/system self-calibration, electronics and function self-repair, failure detection and prediction, and power management (reduced power consumption). These requirements are driven by the aerospace industry need to reduce operations and maintenance costs, to accelerate processing time and to provide reliable hardware with minimum costs. The project's design architecture incorporates some commercially available components identified during the market research investigation like: Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) Programmable Analog Integrated Circuits (PAC IC) and Field Programmable Analog Arrays (FPAA); Digital Signal Processing (DSP) electronic/system control and investigation of specific characteristics found in technologies like: Electronic Component Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF); and Radiation Hardened Component Availability. There are three main sections discussed in the design architecture presented in this document. They are the following: (a) Analog Signal Module Section, (b) Digital Signal/Control Module Section and (c) Power Management Module Section. These sections are discussed in detail in the following pages. This approach to data acquisition systems has resulted in the assignment of patent rights to Kennedy Space Center under U.S. patent # 6,462,684. Furthermore, NASA KSC commercialization office has issued licensing rights to Circuit Avenue Netrepreneurs, LLC , a minority-owned business founded in 1999 located in Camden, NJ.

Perotti, J.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Longitudinal Solid P Longitudinal Solid Polarized Target for CL get for CLAS12 and Study of Spin AS12 and Study of Spin Structure of Nucleons

A suite of experiments measuring target-spin observables in electron-nucleon scattering (dubbed Run Group C) was conducted at Jefferson Lab's Hall B in Newport News, VA with a new polarized nuclear target known as 'APOLLO' (Ammonia POLarized LOngitudinally). This innovative target is engineered to seamlessly integrate with the advanced 12GeV CEBAF (Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility) accelerator and the Hall B CLAS12 (12 GeV CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer) detector array. The 'APOLLO' target harnesses the power of Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) to achieve longitudinal polarization of solid ammonia, thereby creating a net polarization in both protons (NH3) and deuterons (ND3). These samples are subjected to a 5 Tesla magnetic field produced by the CLAS12 spectrometer central solenoid, cooled to 1 K using helium evaporation, and subsequently exposed to microwave radiation at a frequency of 140 GHz. This project was made possible through a collaborative partnership between the Jefferson Lab Target Group, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Christopher Newport University, and the CLAS Collaboration. Integrating the APOLLO target into CLAS12 presented unique challenges because of its specific spatial and dimensional constraints. This dissertation will highlight the innovative solutions developed to address these challenges, including the creation of a new target material transport system, the incorporation of superconducting magnetic correction coils, and the development of a customized Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) system. In addition to a detailed description of the development and operation of APOLLO, and an overview of RGC, this document also describes the global data fitting of proton asymmetries in the Deep Inelastic scattering (DIS) and the Resonance regions, and it offers insights into the comprehensive analysis of target polarization data.

Pandey, Pushpa↗

DOE OSTI2023

A superconducting nanowire binary shift register

We present a design for a superconducting nanowire binary shift register, which stores digital states in the form of circulating supercurrents in high-kinetic-inductance loops. Adjacent superconducting loops are connected with nanocryotrons, three-terminal electrothermal switches, and fed with an alternating two-phase clock to synchronously transfer the digital state between the loops. A two-loop serial-input shift register was fabricated with thin-film NbN and a bit error rate of less than 10 –4 was achieved, when operated at a maximum clock frequency of 83 MHz and in an out-of-plane magnetic field of up to 6 mT. A shift register based on this technology offers an integrated solution for low-power readout of superconducting nanowire single photon detector arrays and is capable of interfacing directly with room-temperature electronics and operating unshielded in high magnetic field environments.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2023

Tuning Phase Lock Loop Controller of Grid Following Inverters by Reinforcement Learning to Support Networked Microgrid Operations

The dynamic operation of networked microgrids leads to varying topological configurations and generator commitments and dispatches. These variations correspond to systems with different electrical characteristics. The fixed control gains of high-speed power electronic devices may result in undesirable system performance when the electrical characteristics change significantly. As such, it is necessary to tune the control gains of power electronics devices to adapt to the changing system characteristics. This paper uses observer-based reinforcement learning to automatically tune the proportional-integral (PI) gains of phase lock loop (PLL) controller of grid-following (GFL) inverters to adapt to the changing system strengths, that would be seen in networked microgrid operations. Simulation results using an operational electric distribution system, modeled as networked microgrids, are presented to demonstrate the need and effectiveness of the proposed adaptive controls.

networked microgrids, reinforcement learning, grid↗

NASA NTRS1977

Advanced combined iodine dispenser and detector

A total weight of 1.23 kg (2.7 lb), a total volume of 1213 cu m (74 cu in), and an average power consumption of 5.5W was achieved in the advanced combined iodine dispenser/detector by integrating the detector with the iodine source, arranging all iodinator components within a compact package and lowering the parasitic power to the detector and electronics circuits. These achievements surpassed the design goals of 1.36 kg (3.0 lb), 1671 cu m (102 cu in) and 8W. The reliability and maintainability were improved by reducing the detector lamp power, using an interchangeable lamp concept, making the electronic circuit boards easily accessible, providing redundant water seals and improving the accessibility to the iodine accumulator for refilling. The system was designed to iodinate (to 5 ppm iodine) the fuel cell water generated during 27 seven-day orbiter missions (equivalent to 18,500 kg (40,700 lb) of water) before the unit must be recharged with iodine crystals.

Lantz, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Integrated Laser and Light Detector

Proposed infrared optical transmitter tracks distant beacon and automatically point transmitted beam toward beacon. Essential transmitter is integrated gallium arsenide device containing electronically-steerable semiconductor injection laser and position detector that senses direction to beacon. With satisfactory optics and sufficient power, system used for long-distance transmission.

Katz, J.↗

NASA NTRS1990

A review of nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft system concepts

The last 25-30 years of system concepts and design philosophies for spacecraft employing nuclear-electric propulsion (NEP) are reviewed. NEP spacecraft-system design constraints and criteria are identified, including radiation exposure of humans and electronics, thermal control requirements, effluent contamination of spacecraft surfaces, surface erosion, launch-vehicle integration, operations and safety requirements, attitude control, EM interference, and power control and distribution. The impact on spacecraft design philosophy of these constraints and criteria is explored. Several NEP spacecraft are characterized and discussed with respect to the propulsion system used. The electric propulsion system catagories are electrothermal (arcjet), EM (magnetoplasmadynamic and pulsed-inductive thruster) and electrostatic (ion engine). A brief summary of the mission, nuclear power source, electric propulsion system, and spacecraft configuration are provided for each NEP spacecraft concept.

Deininger, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Embedded Temperature-Change Sensors

Transducers sensitive to rates of change of temperature embedded in integrated circuits and discrete electronic components damaged by overheating, according to proposal. Used to detect onset of rapid heating and to trigger shutoffs of power or other corrective actions before temperatures rise beyond safe limits. Sensors respond fast and reliably to incipient overheating because they are in direct thermal contact with vulnerable circuit elements.

Thakoor, Sarita↗

NASA NTRS2004

Mitigation of High Altitude and Low Earth Orbit Radiation Effects on Microelectronics via Shielding or Error Detection and Correction Systems

The NASA Cooperative Agreement NAG4-210 was granted under the FY2000 Faculty Awards for Research (FAR) Program. The project was proposed to examine the effects of charged particles and neutrons on selected random access memory (RAM) technologies. The concept of the project was to add to the current knowledge of Single Event Effects (SEE) concerning RAM and explore the impact of selected forms of radiation on Error Detection and Correction Systems. The project was established as an extension of a previous FAR awarded to Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), under the direction of Dr. Richard Wilkins as principal investigator. The NASA sponsored Center for Applied Radiation Research (CARR) at PVAMU developed an electronic test-bed to explore and quantify SEE on RAM from charged particles and neutrons. The test-bed was developed using 486DX microprocessor technology (PC-104) and a custom test board to mount RAM integrated circuits or other electronic devices. The test-bed had two configurations - a bench test version for laboratory experiments and a 400 Hz powered rack version for flight experiments. The objectives of this project were to: 1) Upgrade the Electronic Test-bed (ETB) to a Pentium configuration; 2) Accommodate more than only 8 Mbytes of RAM; 3) Explore Error Detection and Correction Systems for radiation effects; 4) Test modern RAM technologies in radiation environments.

Gupta, Kajal↗

NASA NTRS2016

Photonic Integrated Circuits

Integrated photonics generally is the integration of multiple lithographically defined photonic and electronic components and devices (e.g. lasers, detectors, waveguides passive structures, modulators, electronic control and optical interconnects) on a single platform with nanometer-scale feature sizes. The development of photonic integrated circuits permits size, weight, power and cost reductions for spacecraft microprocessors, optical communication, processor buses, advanced data processing, and integrated optic science instrument optical systems, subsystems and components. This is particularly critical for small spacecraft platforms. We will give an overview of some NASA applications for integrated photonics.

Laser↗

NASA NTRS2016

Photonic Integrated Circuits

laser↗

NASA NTRS2002

High-Temperature Electronics: A Role for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors?

It is increasingly recognized that semiconductor based electronics that can function at ambient temperatures higher than 150 C without external cooling could greatly benefit a variety of important applications, especially-in the automotive, aerospace, and energy production industries. The fact that wide bandgap semiconductors are capable of electronic functionality at much higher temperatures than silicon has partially fueled their development, particularly in the case of SiC. It appears unlikely that wide bandgap semiconductor devices will find much use in low-power transistor applications until the ambient temperature exceeds approximately 300 C, as commercially available silicon and silicon-on-insulator technologies are already satisfying requirements for digital and analog very large scale integrated circuits in this temperature range. However, practical operation of silicon power devices at ambient temperatures above 200 C appears problematic, as self-heating at higher power levels results in high internal junction temperatures and leakages. Thus, most electronic subsystems that simultaneously require high-temperature and high-power operation will necessarily be realized using wide bandgap devices, once the technology for realizing these devices become sufficiently developed that they become widely available. Technological challenges impeding the realization of beneficial wide bandgap high ambient temperature electronics, including material growth, contacts, and packaging, are briefly discussed.

Neudeck, Philip G.↗