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At least 145 records · Page 8

Neptune radio emission - Predictions based on planetary scaling laws

In this paper a prediction is advanced concerning Neptune's low-frequency radio emission based on the radiometric Bode's law for radio planets in combination with the magnetostrophic scaling law for magnetized planets. The total emitted radio power is predicted to be about 1.6 x 10 to the 7th W, very nearly the same as that predicted and observed for Uranus. Possible emission spectral shapes, based on Saturn and earth-like models, are shown. Using these models, the radio emission frequency range is predicted to extend from approximately 100 to just over 1000 kHz, with a spectral peak between 350 and 500 kHz. If radiation is beamed approximately in the sunward direction, Neptune should be detectable by the planetary radio astronomy experiment onboard the Voyager spacecraft sometime between 45 and 90 days before closest approach. This detection is likely to represent the first direct evidence of a Neptune magnetic field. Possible implications for Neptune's magnetosphere with regard to the time of first detection are discussed.

Desch, Michael D.↗

Remote Thermal IR Spectroscopy of our Solar System

Indirect methods to detect extrasolar planets have been successful in identifying a number of stars with companion planets. No direct detection of an extrasolar planet has yet been reported. Spectroscopy in the thermal infrared region provides a potentially powerful approach to detection and characterization of planets and planetary systems. We can use knowledge of our own solar system, its planets and their atmospheres to model spectral characteristics of planets around other stars. Spectra derived from modeling our own solar system seen from an extrasolar perspective can be used to constrain detection strategies, identification of planetary class (terrestrial vs. gaseous) and retrieval of chemical, thermal and dynamical information. Emission from planets in our solar system peaks in the thermal infrared region, approximately 10 - 30 microns, substantially displaced from the maximum of the much brighter solar emission in the visible near 0.5 microns. This fact provides a relatively good contrast ratio to discriminate between stellar (solar) and planetary emission and optimize the delectability of planetary spectra. Important molecular constituents in planetary atmospheres have rotational-vibrational spectra in the thermal infrared region. Spectra from these molecules have been well characterized in the laboratory and studied in the atmospheres of solar system planets from ground-based and space platforms. The best example of such measurements are the studies with Fourier transform spectrometers, the Infrared Interferometer Spectrometers (IRIS), from spacecraft: Earth observed from NIMBUS 8, Mars observed from Mariner 9, and the outer planets observed from Voyager spacecraft. An Earth-like planet is characterized by atmospheric spectra of ozone, carbon dioxide, and water. Terrestrial planets have oxidizing atmospheres which are easily distinguished from reducing atmospheres of gaseous giant planets which lack oxygen-bearing species and are characterized by spectra containing hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane. Spectroscopic information on extrasolar planets thus can permit their classification. Spectra and spectral lines contain information on the temperature structure of the atmosphere. Line and band spectra can be used to identify the molecular constituents and retrieve species abundances, thereby classifying and characterizing the planet. At high enough spectral resolution characteristic planetary atmospheric dynamics and unique phenomena such as failure of local thermodynamic equilibrium can be identified. Dynamically induced effects such as planetary rotation and orbital velocity shift and change the shape of spectral features and must be modeled in detailed spectral studies. We will use our knowledge of the compositional, thermal and dynamical characteristics of planetary atmospheres in our own solar system to model spectra observed remotely on similar planets in extrasolar planetary systems. We will use a detailed radiative transfer and beam integration program developed for the modeling and interpretation of thermal infrared spectra measured from nearby planet planets to generate models of an extra-solar "Earth" and "Jupiter". From these models we will show how key spectral features distinguish between terrestrial and gaseous planets, what information can be obtained with different spectral resolution, what spectral features can be used to search for conditions for biogenic activity, and how dynamics and distance modify the observed spectra. We also will look at unique planetary phenomena such as atmospheric lasing and discuss their utility as probes for detection and identification of planets. Results of such studies will provide information to constrain design for instrumentation needed to directly detect extrasolar planets.

Kostiuk, Theodor↗

L-Band RFI in Japan

In recent years, three instruments have been launched into orbit with the aim of producing global maps of sea surface salinity and soil moisture using the 1400-1427 MHz band: SMOS, Aquarius and SMAP. Although this frequency band is allocated to passive measurements only, RFI (Radio-Frequency Interference) is present in the data of all three missions. On a global scale, the three sensors have observed approximately the same distribution of RFI. Japan is an important exception that has implications for the design of RFI detection algorithms. RFI in Japan is caused by a large number of emitters belonging to the same system (TV receivers) and for this reason some traditional RFI detection strategies detect little to no RFI over Japan. The study of this case has led to an improvement of the approach to detect RFI in Aquarius data.

Aquarius↗

Detection and Height Measurement of Tenuous Clouds and Blowing Snow in ICESat-2 ATLAS Data

Tenuous atmospheric layers, such as high, thin cirrus clouds and blowing snow over Antarctica, play an important role in the climate system, affecting energy fluxes between the Earth and the atmosphere. Our knowledge of the structure of the atmosphere is largely derived from atmospheric satellite measurements. Yet tenuous layers can be hard to detect in satellite lidar data, especially in daylight data characterized by high solar background. In this study, we introduce an approach to detect tenuous atmospheric layers in the atmospheric lidar measurements of NASA's ICESat-2. The density-dimension algorithm for ICESat-2 atmospheric data (DDA-atmos) identifies atmospheric layers while automatically adapting to different background conditions of night, twilight, and daylight data. This capability, demonstrated for tenuous clouds and blowing snow, offers a data-based solution to an important climate modeling problem. Atmospheric layer boundaries, detection confidence, and density fields resultant from the DDA-atmos are reported in ICESat-2 atmospheric data product ATL09.

Ute Herzfeld↗

Possibilistic clustering for shape recognition

Clustering methods have been used extensively in computer vision and pattern recognition. Fuzzy clustering has been shown to be advantageous over crisp (or traditional) clustering in that total commitment of a vector to a given class is not required at each iteration. Recently fuzzy clustering methods have shown spectacular ability to detect not only hypervolume clusters, but also clusters which are actually 'thin shells', i.e., curves and surfaces. Most analytic fuzzy clustering approaches are derived from Bezdek's Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm. The FCM uses the probabilistic constraint that the memberships of a data point across classes sum to one. This constraint was used to generate the membership update equations for an iterative algorithm. Unfortunately, the memberships resulting from FCM and its derivatives do not correspond to the intuitive concept of degree of belonging, and moreover, the algorithms have considerable trouble in noisy environments. Recently, we cast the clustering problem into the framework of possibility theory. Our approach was radically different from the existing clustering methods in that the resulting partition of the data can be interpreted as a possibilistic partition, and the membership values may be interpreted as degrees of possibility of the points belonging to the classes. We constructed an appropriate objective function whose minimum will characterize a good possibilistic partition of the data, and we derived the membership and prototype update equations from necessary conditions for minimization of our criterion function. In this paper, we show the ability of this approach to detect linear and quartic curves in the presence of considerable noise.

Keller, James M.↗

Possibilistic clustering for shape recognition

Clustering methods have been used extensively in computer vision and pattern recognition. Fuzzy clustering has been shown to be advantageous over crisp (or traditional) clustering in that total commitment of a vector to a given class is not required at each iteration. Recently fuzzy clustering methods have shown spectacular ability to detect not only hypervolume clusters, but also clusters which are actually 'thin shells', i.e., curves and surfaces. Most analytic fuzzy clustering approaches are derived from Bezdek's Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm. The FCM uses the probabilistic constraint that the memberships of a data point across classes sum to one. This constraint was used to generate the membership update equations for an iterative algorithm. Unfortunately, the memberships resulting from FCM and its derivatives do not correspond to the intuitive concept of degree of belonging, and moreover, the algorithms have considerable trouble in noisy environments. Recently, the clustering problem was cast into the framework of possibility theory. Our approach was radically different from the existing clustering methods in that the resulting partition of the data can be interpreted as a possibilistic partition, and the membership values may be interpreted as degrees of possibility of the points belonging to the classes. An appropriate objective function whose minimum will characterize a good possibilistic partition of the data was constructed, and the membership and prototype update equations from necessary conditions for minimization of our criterion function were derived. The ability of this approach to detect linear and quartic curves in the presence of considerable noise is shown.

Keller, James M.↗

Structure Detection of Nonlinear Aeroelastic Systems with Application to Aeroelastic Flight Test Data

This viewgraph presentation reviews the 1. Motivation for the study 2. Nonlinear Model Form 3. Structure Detection 4. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) 5. Objectives 6. Results 7. Assess LASSO as a Structure Detection Tool: Simulated Nonlinear Models 8. Applicability to Complex Systems: F/A-18 Active Aeroelastic Wing Flight Test Data. The authors conclude that 1. this is a novel approach for detecting the structure of highly over-parameterised nonlinear models in situations where other methods may be inadequate 2. that it is a practical significance in the analysis of aircraft dynamics during envelope expansion and could lead to more efficient control strategies and 3. this could allow greater insight into the functionality of various systems dynamics, by providing a quantitative model which is easily interpretable

Kukreja, Sunil L.↗

Sampling Technique for Robust Odorant Detection Based on MIT RealNose Data

This technique enhances the detection capability of the autonomous Real-Nose system from MIT to detect odorants and their concentrations in noisy and transient environments. The lowcost, portable system with low power consumption will operate at high speed and is suited for unmanned and remotely operated long-life applications. A deterministic mathematical model was developed to detect odorants and calculate their concentration in noisy environments. Real data from MIT's NanoNose was examined, from which a signal conditioning technique was proposed to enable robust odorant detection for the RealNose system. Its sensitivity can reach to sub-part-per-billion (sub-ppb). A Space Invariant Independent Component Analysis (SPICA) algorithm was developed to deal with non-linear mixing that is an over-complete case, and it is used as a preprocessing step to recover the original odorant sources for detection. This approach, combined with the Cascade Error Projection (CEP) Neural Network algorithm, was used to perform odorant identification. Signal conditioning is used to identify potential processing windows to enable robust detection for autonomous systems. So far, the software has been developed and evaluated with current data sets provided by the MIT team. However, continuous data streams are made available where even the occurrence of a new odorant is unannounced and needs to be noticed by the system autonomously before its unambiguous detection. The challenge for the software is to be able to separate the potential valid signal from the odorant and from the noisy transition region when the odorant is just introduced.

Duong, Tuan A.↗

Signal processing for airborne doppler radar detection of hazardous wind shear as applied to NASA 1991 radar flight experiment data

Radar data collected during the 1991 NASA flight tests have been selectively analyzed to support research directed at developing both improved as well as new algorithms for detecting hazardous low-altitude windshear. Analysis of aircraft attitude data from several flights indicated that platform stability bandwidths were small compared to the data rate bandwidths which should support an assumption that radar returns can be treated as short time stationary. Various approaches at detection of weather returns in the presence of ground clutter are being investigated. Non-coventional clutter rejection through spectrum mode tracking and classification algorithms is a subject of continuing research. Based upon autoregressive modeling of the radar return time sequence, this approach may offer an alternative to overcome errors in conventional pulse-pair estimates. Adaptive filtering is being evaluated as a means of rejecting clutter with emphasis on low signal-to-clutter ratio situations, particularly in the presence of discrete clutter interference. An analysis of out-of-range clutter returns is included to illustrate effects of ground clutter interference due to range aliasing for aircraft on final approach. Data are presented to indicate how aircraft groundspeed might be corrected from the radar data as well as point to an observed problem of groundspeed estimate bias variation with radar antenna scan angle. A description of how recorded clutter return data are mixed with simulated weather returns is included. This enables the researcher to run controlled experiments to test signal processing algorithms. In the summary research efforts involving improved modelling of radar ground clutter returns and a Bayesian approach at hazard factor estimation are mentioned.

Baxa, Ernest G., Jr.↗

Composite Bending Box Section Modal Vibration Fault Detection

One of the primary concerns with Composite construction in critical structures such as wings and stabilizers is that hidden faults and cracks can develop operationally. In the real world, catastrophic sudden failure can result from these undetected faults in composite structures. Vibration data incorporating a broad frequency modal approach, could detect significant changes prior to failure. The purpose of this report is to investigate the usefulness of frequency mode testing before and after bending and torsion loading on a composite bending Box Test section. This test article is representative of construction techniques being developed for the recent NASA Blended Wing Body Low Speed Vehicle Project. The Box section represents the construction technique on the proposed blended wing aircraft. Modal testing using an impact hammer provides an frequency fingerprint before and after bending and torsional loading. If a significant structural discontinuity develops, the vibration response is expected to change. The limitations of the data will be evaluated for future use as a non-destructive in-situ method of assessing hidden damage in similarly constructed composite wing assemblies. Modal vibration fault detection sensitivity to band-width, location and axis will be investigated. Do the sensor accelerometers need to be near the fault and or in the same axis? The response data used in this report was recorded at 17 locations using tri-axial accelerometers. The modal tests were conducted following 5 independent loading conditions before load to failure and 2 following load to failure over a period of 6 weeks. Redundant data was used to minimize effects from uncontrolled variables which could lead to incorrect interpretations. It will be shown that vibrational modes detected failure at many locations when skin de-bonding failures occurred near the center section. Important considerations are the axis selected and frequency range.

Werlink, Rudy↗

Multilayered Clouds Identification and Retrieval for CERES Using MODIS

Traditionally, analyses of satellite data have been limited to interpreting the radiances in terms of single layer clouds. Generally, this results in significant errors in the retrieved properties for multilayered cloud systems. Two techniques for detecting overlapped clouds and retrieving the cloud properties using satellite data are explored to help address the need for better quantification of cloud vertical structure. The first technique was developed using multispectral imager data with secondary imager products (infrared brightness temperature differences, BTD). The other method uses microwave (MWR) data. The use of BTD, the 11-12 micrometer brightness temperature difference, in conjunction with tau, the retrieved visible optical depth, was suggested by Kawamoto et al. (2001) and used by Pavlonis et al. (2004) as a means to detect multilayered clouds. Combining visible (VIS; 0.65 micrometer) and infrared (IR) retrievals of cloud properties with microwave (MW) retrievals of cloud water temperature Tw and liquid water path LWP retrieved from satellite microwave imagers appears to be a fruitful approach for detecting and retrieving overlapped clouds (Lin et al., 1998, Ho et al., 2003, Huang et al., 2005). The BTD method is limited to optically thin cirrus over low clouds, while the MWR method is limited to ocean areas only. With the availability of VIS and IR data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and MW data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer EOS (AMSR-E), both on Aqua, it is now possible to examine both approaches simultaneously. This paper explores the use of the BTD method as applied to MODIS and AMSR-E data taken from the Aqua satellite over non-polar ocean surfaces.

Sun-Mack, Sunny↗

A Multi-Scale Sampling Strategy for Detecting Physiologically Significant Signals in AVIRIS Imagery

Models of photosynthetic production at ecosystem and global scales require multiple input parameters specifying physical and physiological surface features. While certain physical parameters (e.g., absorbed photosynthetically active radiation) can be derived from current satellite sensors, other physiologically relevant measures (e.g., vegetation type, water status, carboxylation capacity, or photosynthetic light-use efficiency), are not generally directly available from current satellite sensors at the appropriate geographic scale. Consequently, many model parameters must be assumed or derived from independent sources, often at an inappropriate scale. An abundance of ecophysiological studies at the leaf and canopy scales suggests strong physiological control of vegetation-atmosphere CO2 and water vapor fluxes, particularly in evergreen vegetation subjected to diurnal or seasonal stresses. For example hot, dry conditions can lead to stomatal closure, and associated "downregulation" of photosynthetic biochemical processes, a phenomenon often manifested as a "midday photosynthetic depression". A recent study with the revised simple biosphere (SiB2) model demonstrated that photosynthetic downregulation can significantly impact global climate. However, at the global scale, the exact significance of downregulation remains unclear, largely because appropriate physiological measures are generally unavailable at this scale. Clearly, there is a need to develop reliable ways of extracting physiologically relevant information from remote sensing. Narrow-band spectrometers offer many opportunities for deriving physiological parameters needed for ecosystem and global scale photosynthetic models. Experimental studies on the ground at the leaf- to stand-scale have indicated that several narrow-band features can be used to detect plant physiological status. One physiological signal is caused by xanthophyll cycle pigment activity, and is often expressed as the Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI). Because the xanthophyll cycle pigments are photoregulatory pigments closely linked to photosynthetic function, this index can be used to derive relative photosynthetic rates. An additional signal with physiological significance is the 970 nm water absorption band, which provides a measure of liquid water content. This feature has been quantified both using a simple 2-band ratio (900/970 nm, here referred to as the "Water Band Index" or WBI;), and using the "continuum removal" method. Current atmospheric correction methods for AVIRIS imagery also obtain quantitative expressions of surface liquid water absorption based on the 970 nm water band and may be comparable to ground-based estimates of water content using this feature. However, physiological interpretations of both the PRI and the WBI are best understood at the leaf and canopy scales, where complications of atmospheric interference and complex stand and landscape features can be minimized, and where experimental manipulations can be readily applied. Currently it is not known whether these physiological indices can be used to derive meaningful physiological information from AVIRIS imagery. In addition to the problem of atmospheric interference, another challenge is that any simple physiological index can be confounded by multiple factors unrelated to physiology, and this problem can become more severe at progressively larger spatial scales. For example, previous work has suggested that both the PRI and the WBI, are strongly correlated with other optical measures of canopy structure (e.g., the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index or green vegetation fraction), indicating a confounding effect of structure on physiological signals at the larger, landscape scale. Furthermore, the normal operating mode of most imaging spectrometers does not allow simultaneous, ground truthing at a level of detail needed for physiological sampling. Additionally, manipulative experiments of physiology are difficult to apply at a geographic scale suitable for comparison with remote imagery, which often works at spatial scales that are several orders of magnitude larger than those typically used for physiological studies. These limitations require the consideration of alternative approaches to validating physiological information derived from AVIRIS data. In this report, we present a multi-scale sampling approach to detecting physiologically significant signals in narrow-band spectra. This approach explores the multi-dimensional data space provided by narrow-band spectrometry, and combines AVIRIS imagery at a large scale, with ground spectral sampling at an intermediate scale, and detailed ecophysiological measurements at a fine scale, to examine seasonally and spatially changing relationships between multiple structural and physiological variables. Examples of this approach are provided by simultaneous sampling of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), an index of fractional PAR interception and green vegetation cover, the Water Band Index (WBI, an index of liquid water absorption, and the Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI, an index of xanthophyll cycle pigment activity and photosynthetic light-use efficiency. By directly linking changing optical properties sampled on the ground with measurable physiological states, we hope to develop a basis for interpreting similar signals in AVIRIS imagery.

Gamon, John A.↗

Reinventing Image Detective: An Evidence-Based Approach to Citizen Science Online

Usability studies demonstrate that web users are notoriously impatient, spending as little as 15 seconds on a home page. How do you get users to stay long enough to understand a citizen science project? How do you get users to complete complex citizen science tasks online? Image Detective, a citizen science project originally developed by scientists and science engagement specialists at the NASA Johnson Space center to engage the public in the analysis of images taken from space by astronauts to help enhance NASA's online database of astronaut imagery, partnered with the CosmoQuest citizen science platform to modernize, offering new and improved options for participation in Image Detective. The challenge: to create a web interface that builds users' skills and knowledge, creating engagement while learning complex concepts essential to the accurate completion of tasks. The project team turned to usability testing for an objective understanding of how users perceived Image Detective and the steps required to complete required tasks. A group of six users was recruited online for unmoderated and initial testing. The users followed a think-aloud protocol while attempting tasks, and were recorded on video and audio. The usability test examined users' perception of four broad areas: the purpose of and context for Image Detective; the steps required to successfully complete the analysis (differentiating images of Earth's surface from those showing outer space and identifying common surface features); locating the image center point on a map of Earth; and finally, naming geographic locations or natural events seen in the image. Usability test findings demonstrated that the following best practices can increase participation in Image Detective and can be applied to the successful implementation of any citizen science project: (1) Concise explanation of the project, its context, and its purpose; (2) Including a mention of the funding agency (in this case, NASA); (3) A preview of the specific tasks required of participants; (4) A dedicated user interface for the actual citizen science interaction. In addition, testing revealed that users may require additional context when a task is complex, difficult, or unusual (locating a specific image and its center point on a map of Earth). Video evidence will be made available with this presentation.

Romano, Cia↗

Detecting Distributed SQL Injection Attacks in a Eucalyptus Cloud Environment

The cloud computing environment offers malicious users the ability to spawn multiple instances of cloud nodes that are similar to virtual machines, except that they can have separate external IP addresses. In this paper we demonstrate how this ability can be exploited by an attacker to distribute his/her attack, in particular SQL injection attacks, in such a way that an intrusion detection system (IDS) could fail to identify this attack. To demonstrate this, we set up a small private cloud, established a vulnerable website in one instance, and placed an IDS within the cloud to monitor the network traffic. We found that an attacker could quite easily defeat the IDS by periodically altering its IP address. To detect such an attacker, we propose to use multi-agent plan recognition, where the multiple source IPs are considered as different agents who are mounting a collaborative attack. We show that such a formulation of this problem yields a more sophisticated approach to detecting SQL injection attacks within a cloud computing environment.

Kebert, Alan↗

Carbon Nanofiber Nanoelectrodes for Biosensing Applications

A sensor platform based on vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (CNFs) has been developed. Their inherent nanometer scale, high conductivity, wide potential window, good biocompatibility and well-defined surface chemistry make them ideal candidates as biosensor electrodes. Here, we report two studies using vertically aligned CNF nanoelectrodes for biomedical applications. CNF arrays are investigated as neural stimulation and neurotransmitter recording electrodes for application in deep brain stimulation (DBS). Polypyrrole coated CNF nanoelectrodes have shown great promise as stimulating electrodes due to their large surface area, low impedance, biocompatibility and capacity for highly localized stimulation. CNFs embedded in SiO2 have been used as sensing electrodes for neurotransmitter detection. Our approach combines a multiplexed CNF electrode chip, developed at NASA Ames Research Center, with the Wireless Instantaneous Neurotransmitter Concentration Sensor (WINCS) system, developed at the Mayo Clinic. Preliminary results indicate that the CNF nanoelectrode arrays are easily integrated with WINCS for neurotransmitter detection in a multiplexed array format. In the future, combining CNF based stimulating and recording electrodes with WINCS may lay the foundation for an implantable smart therapeutic system that utilizes neurochemical feedback control while likely resulting in increased DBS application in various neuropsychiatric disorders. In total, our goal is to take advantage of the nanostructure of CNF arrays for biosensing studies requiring ultrahigh sensitivity, high-degree of miniaturization, and selective biofunctionalization.

bioinstrumentation↗

Carbon Nanofiber Nanoelectrodes for Neural Stimulation and Chemical Detection: The Era of Smart Deep Brain Stimulation

A sensor platform based on vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (CNFs) has been developed. Their inherent nanometer scale, high conductivity, wide potential window, good biocompatibility and well-defined surface chemistry make them ideal candidates as biosensor electrodes. Here, we report two studies using vertically aligned CNF nanoelectrodes for biomedical applications. CNF arrays are investigated as neural stimulation and neurotransmitter recording electrodes for application in deep brain stimulation (DBS). Polypyrrole coated CNF nanoelectrodes have shown great promise as stimulating electrodes due to their large surface area, low impedance, biocompatibility and capacity for highly localized stimulation. CNFs embedded in SiO2 have been used as sensing electrodes for neurotransmitter detection. Our approach combines a multiplexed CNF electrode chip, developed at NASA Ames Research Center, with the Wireless Instantaneous Neurotransmitter Concentration Sensor (WINCS) system, developed at the Mayo Clinic. Preliminary results indicate that the CNF nanoelectrode arrays are easily integrated with WINCS for neurotransmitter detection in a multiplexed array format. In the future, combining CNF based stimulating and recording electrodes with WINCS may lay the foundation for an implantable "smart" therapeutic system that utilizes neurochemical feedback control while likely resulting in increased DBS application in various neuropsychiatric disorders. In total, our goal is to take advantage of the nanostructure of CNF arrays for biosensing studies requiring ultrahigh sensitivity, high-degree of miniaturization, and selective biofunctionalization.

bioinstrumentation↗

Carbon Nanofiber Nanoelectrodes for Neural Stimulation and Chemical Detection: The Era of "Smart" Deep Brain Stimulation

A sensor platform based on vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (CNFs) has been developed. Their inherent nanometer scale, high conductivity, wide potential window, good biocompatibility and well-defined surface chemistry make them ideal candidates as biosensor electrodes. Here, we report two studies using vertically aligned CNF nanoelectrodes for biomedical applications. CNF arrays are investigated as neural stimulation and neurotransmitter recording electrodes for application in deep brain stimulation (DBS). Polypyrrole coated CNF nanoelectrodes have shown great promise as stimulating electrodes due to their large surface area, low impedance, biocompatibility and capacity for highly localized stimulation. CNFs embedded in SiO2 have been used as sensing electrodes for neurotransmitter detection. Our approach combines a multiplexed CNF electrode chip, developed at NASA Ames Research Center, with the Wireless Instantaneous Neurotransmitter Concentration Sensor (WINCS) system, developed at the Mayo Clinic. Preliminary results indicate that the CNF nanoelectrode arrays are easily integrated with WINCS for neurotransmitter detection in a multiplexed array format. In the future, combining CNF based stimulating and recording electrodes with WINCS may lay the foundation for an implantable smart therapeutic system that utilizes neurochemical feedback control while likely resulting in increased DBS application in various neuropsychiatric disorders. In total, our goal is to take advantage of the nanostructure of CNF arrays for biosensing studies requiring ultrahigh sensitivity, high-degree of miniaturization, and selective biofunctionalization.

human body↗

Nanobiotechnology in Space Applications

A sensor platform based on vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (CNFs) has been developed. Their inherent nanometer scale, high conductivity, wide potential window, good biocompatibility and well-defined surface chemistry make them ideal candidates as biosensor electrodes. Here, we report two studies using vertically aligned CNF nanoelectrodes for biomedical applications. CNF arrays are investigated as neural stimulation and neurotransmitter recording electrodes for application in deep brain stimulation (DBS). Polypyrrole coated CNF nanoelectrodes have shown great promise as stimulating electrodes due to their large surface area, low impedance, biocompatibility and capacity for highly localized stimulation. CNFs embedded in SiO2 have been used as sensing electrodes for neurotransmitter detection. Our approach combines a multiplexed CNF electrode chip, developed at NASA Ames Research Center, with the Wireless Instantaneous Neurotransmitter Concentration Sensor (WINCS) system, developed at the Mayo Clinic. Preliminary results indicate that the CNF nanoelectrode arrays are easily integrated with WINCS for neurotransmitter detection in a multiplexed array format. In the future, combining CNF based stimulating and recording electrodes with WINCS may lay the foundation for an implantable "smart" therapeutic system that utilizes neurochemical feedback control while likely resulting in increased DBS application in various neuropsychiatric disorders. In total, our goal is to take advantage of the nanostructure of CNF arrays for biosensing studies requiring ultrahigh sensitivity, high-degree of miniaturization, and selective biofunctionalization.

Koehne, Jessica E.↗