7,802 research outputs found
Index to 1984 NASA Tech Briefs, volume 9, numbers 1-4
Short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of NASA are presented. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This index for 1984 Tech B Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes: subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief Number. The following areas are covered: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences
Reconstruction of hidden 3D shapes using diffuse reflections
We analyze multi-bounce propagation of light in an unknown hidden volume and
demonstrate that the reflected light contains sufficient information to recover
the 3D structure of the hidden scene. We formulate the forward and inverse
theory of secondary and tertiary scattering reflection using ideas from energy
front propagation and tomography. We show that using careful choice of
approximations, such as Fresnel approximation, greatly simplifies this problem
and the inversion can be achieved via a backpropagation process. We provide a
theoretical analysis of the invertibility, uniqueness and choices of
space-time-angle dimensions using synthetic examples. We show that a 2D streak
camera can be used to discover and reconstruct hidden geometry. Using a 1D high
speed time of flight camera, we show that our method can be used recover 3D
shapes of objects "around the corner"
Harbor Security System
Harbors and ports provide the infrastructure for commercial trade and naval facilities. It is vital to ensure the safety of these locations. The Harbor Security System provides an optical ‘gate’ using underwater lasers and photodetectors. This system allows monitoring of both surface and submarine vessels traveling into and out of the harbor. Also, the system provides real time alerts when unauthorized vessels enter the harbor. This project provides a proof of concept for a Harbor Security System to be implemented in Portsmouth Harbor. A scaled model of the detection system was constructed and tested. This detection system is capable of detecting surface and submarine vessels along with their velocity and length. Results of the study showed that the average error of the size estimate was 15% and the average error of the velocity estimation ratio(slope) was 9%
Modern optical astronomy: technology and impact of interferometry
The present `state of the art' and the path to future progress in high
spatial resolution imaging interferometry is reviewed. The review begins with a
treatment of the fundamentals of stellar optical interferometry, the origin,
properties, optical effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, the
passive methods that are applied on a single telescope to overcome atmospheric
image degradation such as speckle interferometry, and various other techniques.
These topics include differential speckle interferometry, speckle spectroscopy
and polarimetry, phase diversity, wavefront shearing interferometry,
phase-closure methods, dark speckle imaging, as well as the limitations imposed
by the detectors on the performance of speckle imaging. A brief account is
given of the technological innovation of adaptive-optics (AO) to compensate
such atmospheric effects on the image in real time. A major advancement
involves the transition from single-aperture to the dilute-aperture
interferometry using multiple telescopes. Therefore, the review deals with
recent developments involving ground-based, and space-based optical arrays.
Emphasis is placed on the problems specific to delay-lines, beam recombination,
polarization, dispersion, fringe-tracking, bootstrapping, coherencing and
cophasing, and recovery of the visibility functions. The role of AO in
enhancing visibilities is also discussed. The applications of interferometry,
such as imaging, astrometry, and nulling are described. The mathematical
intricacies of the various `post-detection' image-processing techniques are
examined critically. The review concludes with a discussion of the
astrophysical importance and the perspectives of interferometry.Comment: 65 pages LaTeX file including 23 figures. Reviews of Modern Physics,
2002, to appear in April issu
The Palomar Testbed Interferometer
The Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) is a long-baseline infrared
interferometer located at Palomar Observatory, California. It was built as a
testbed for interferometric techniques applicable to the Keck Interferometer.
First fringes were obtained in July 1995. PTI implements a dual-star
architecture, tracking two stars simultaneously for phase referencing and
narrow-angle astrometry. The three fixed 40-cm apertures can be combined
pair-wise to provide baselines to 110 m. The interferometer actively tracks the
white-light fringe using an array detector at 2.2 um and active delay lines
with a range of +/- 38 m. Laser metrology of the delay lines allows for servo
control, and laser metrology of the complete optical path enables narrow-angle
astrometric measurements. The instrument is highly automated, using a
multiprocessing computer system for instrument control and sequencing.Comment: ApJ in Press (Jan 99) Fig 1 available from
http://huey.jpl.nasa.gov/~bode/ptiPicture.html, revised duging copy edi
NASA Tech Briefs Index, 1977, volume 2, numbers 1-4
Announcements of new technology derived from the research and development activities of NASA are presented. Abstracts, and indexes for subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief number are presented for 1977
Multi-confocal Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy : experimental demonstration and potential applications for living cell measurements
We report, for the first time, a multi-confocal Fluorescence Correlation
Spectroscopy (mFCS) technique which allows parallel measurements at different
locations, by combining a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM), with an Electron
Multiplying-CCD camera (EM-CCD). The SLM is used to produce a series of laser
spots, while the pixels of the EM-CCD play the roles of virtual pinholes. The
phase map addressed to the SLM is calculated by using the spherical wave
approximation and makes it possible to produce several diffraction limited
laser spots, either aligned or spread over the field of view. To attain fast
enough imaging rates, the camera has been used in different acquisition modes,
the fastest of which leads to a time resolution of 100 s. We qualified the
experimental set-up by using solutions of sulforhodamine G in glycerol and
demonstrated that the observation volumes are similar to that of a standard
confocal set-up. To demonstrate that our mFCS method is suitable for
intracellular studies, experiments have been conducted on two stable cell
lines: mouse embryonic fibroblasts expressing eGFP-actin and H1299 cells
expressing the heat shock factor fusion protein HSF1-eGFP. In the first case we
could recover, by analyzing the auto-correlation curves, the diffusion constant
of G-actin within the cytoplasm, although we were also sensitive to the complex
network of interactions with F-actin. Concerning HSF1, we could clearly observe
the modifications of the number of molecules and of the HSF1 dynamics during
heat shock
Small business innovation research. Abstracts of 1988 phase 1 awards
Non-proprietary proposal abstracts of Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects supported by NASA are presented. Projects in the fields of aeronautical propulsion, aerodynamics, acoustics, aircraft systems, materials and structures, teleoperators and robots, computer sciences, information systems, data processing, spacecraft propulsion, bioastronautics, satellite communication, and space processing are covered
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