Award Data

BECAUSE BACTERIAL DISEASES ARE FREQUENTLY TRANSMITTED THROUGH CONTAMINATED WATER, THE DETECTION OF MICROBIOLOGICALCONTAMINATION IS IMPORTANT, TO ENSURE SANITARY WATER SUPPLIES. CURRENT TESTS ARE LABOR INTENSIVE AND TAKE SEVERAL DAYS TO CONFIRM CONTAMINATION LEVELS. THIS PROJECT WILL DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A UNIQUE, RAPID, WATER-QUALITY TEST FOR BACTERIA. PHASE I FOCUSES ON THE DEVELOPMENT ...

MICROBIOLOGICAL MONITORING WILL BE A CRITICAL FUNCTION IN THE BIOMASS-PROCESSING REACTORS OF THE NASA CONTROLLED ECOLOGICAL LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM (CELSS). MEASUREMENT OF CELLDENSITY AND CELL ACTIVITY IN SOME REACTORS WILL ALLOW FOR THE AUTOMATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES WITHOUT THE NEED FOR EXPERIENCED SKILLED PERSONNEL. IN OTHER REACTORS, MICROBIOLOGICAL DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZA ...

A HAND-HELD MEDICAL ULTRASOUND INSTRUMENT FOR CARDIOLOGY-WEIGHING 10 POUNDS, OCCUPYING 0.1 CUBIC FEET OF SPACE, AND COMPLETE WITH TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING, EKG DISPLAY, DOPPLER, AND DIGITAL IMAGE STORAGE-IS A SIGNIFICANT INNOVATION IN DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES. CAPABLE OF IMAGING THE HEART, THE GREAT VESSELS, AND INTRA-ABDOMINAL ORGANS WITH PERFORMANCE COMPARABLE TO THAT OF A FULL-SIZED INSTRUMENT, THIS N ...

PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL WORK HAS INDICATED THAT PERFLUOROCARBONS MAY BE EXCELLENT FIRE-SUPPRESSION AGENTS. BECAUSE THESE COMPOUNDS ARE NOT OZONE-DEPLETING SUBSTANCES, THEIR USE AS HALON 1301 TOTAL-FLOODING, FIRE-SUPPRESSION AGENTS IS QUITE PROMISING. THIS PHASE I EFFORT WILL EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE COMPOUNDS AS FIRE-SUPPRESSION AGENTS AND PERFORM A FEASIBILITY STUDY ON T ...

THIS PROJECT DEALS WITH VIBRATION DAMPING IN SPACE APPLICATIONS. THE COMPANY HAS SPENT TWO YEARS INVESTIGATINGAND THEN SIMULATING CONTROL OF A HIGH-SPEED, HIGH-PRECISION,SIX-DEGREE-OF-FREEDOM MOTION STAGE BASED ON A SIX-LEGGED, PARALLEL-LINK MANIPULATOR. THIS SYSTEM EXPLOITS SIX MAGNETOSTRICTIVE ACTUATORS, ONE IN SERIES WITH EACH CONVENTIONAL LEG ACTUATOR. THIS ALLOWS THE CONVENTIONAL ACTUATORS TO ...

SUPPORT FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE SYSTEM ENGINEERING PROCESS IS A WIDELY RECOGNIZED PROBLEM. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DELIVER A NASA DOMAIN-SPECIFIC SPECIFICATION-TO-EXECUTABLE-PROGRAMS (NASA/STEP) CAPABILITY BASED ON THE EVOLVING STRATEGIC DEFENSE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM (SDDS). THE SDDS CAPABILITY CURRENTLY EXISTS IN PROTOTYPE FORM BUT IS STRONGLY ORIENTED TO THE STRATEGIC DEFENSE SOF ...

A NEED EXISTS TO MONITOR VIBRATION IN HIGHWAY BRIDGES. IT IS DESIRABLE TO MONITOR MANY POINTS ON THE BRIDGE. THE CURRENT PROBLEM IS THAT SENSORS MUST BE WIRED TO A CENTRAL LOCATION. WIRE IS DIFFICULT TO INSTALL AND TO MOVE. THE SOLUTION IS TO COLLECT SENSOR DATA BY RADIO. A SYSTEM EXISTS THAT ELIMINATES WIRE. IT GATHERS SENSOR DATA TO A CENTRAL LOCATION BY RADIO. THE SYSTEM'S UNIQUE FEATURE IS THA ...

THIS PROJECT LAYS THE FOUNDATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PRACTICAL THERMOELECTRIC COOLER THAT WILL OBTAIN COLDER TEMPERATURES THAN 160K AND/OR HIGHER EFFICIENCIES THAN CURRENT COOLERS WHEN OPERATING BELOW 200K. THE IMPROVED THERMOELECTRIC COOLER WOULD USE N-TYPE BI-SB, PRODUCED THROUGH POWDER METALLURGY, IN THE STAGES OPERATING BELOW 220K. THIS WORK WOULD BE A DEPARTURE FROM TRADITIONAL BI-SBRESE ...

THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A SPACECRAFT SUPERCOMPUTER (SSC) FOR FUTURE NASA MISSIONS. THE SSC WOULD HAVE COMPUTATIONAL CAPABILITIES AT LEAST AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE GREATER THAN CURRENT FLIGHT ARCHITECTURES. BY USING EXISTING OR EMERGING MICROPROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY AND A NOVEL CONNECTIVITY ARCHITECTURE, IT WOULD PROVIDE SUFFICIENT MEMORY AND COMMUNICATION BANDWIDTH RESOURCES FOR MANY SPACECRAFT AND PAY ...

A NOVEL HELIUM MAGNETOMETER WILL BE EXAMINED FOR OBSERVATIONOF MAGNETIC FIELDS OF PLANETS AND INTERPLANETARY SPACE. THE MAGNETOMETER EMPLOYS A DUAL MODE OF OPERATION, WITH A SINGLE, OPTICALLY PUMPED HELIUM SENSOR TO OBSERVE THE MAGNITUDE AND DIRECTION OF MAGNETIC FIELDS AS GREAT AS 10(5)NT. THE INSTRUMENT, CALLED A THE UNIVERSAL HELIUM MAGNETOMETER (UHM), USES A VECTOR HELIUM MAGNETOMETER (VHM) MO ...