New Technology
SUPERCONDUCTORS
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory
have found evidence to prove why adding a small amount of calcium to
a common high-temperature superconductor significantly increases the
amount of electric current it can carry. This research may be a first
step toward developing commercial applications for high-temperature
superconducting materials.
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Imaging devices.
This technology allows the controlled transfer of sheets between two
processing components working at different speeds. In one solution,
sheets can be stored in two or more storage spaces, and loading from
one component can occur simultaneously as unloading to another processing
component. The temporary storage spaces can be integrated in a rotary
revolving mechanism or may consist of two bins (input an output) where
sheets are stored in a slack loop.
This system is applied to a graphic imager and its processor, but is
also relevant for other applications where two processing steps of different
throughput speeds are involved. This technology has been proven in commercially
sold imaging devices.
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New helmet
Products or ideas are needed to develop a new helmet for military applications.
The end product should be comfortable, lightweight, cool, and provide
increased impact and ballistic performance. The technology will be applied
to current military contract, commercial products, or future R&D
efforts. It should encompass all aspects related to soldier integration.
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Turbulence detection radar system
Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center (Hampton, VA) developed
the Turbulence Prediction and Warning System (TPAWS) to detect turbulence
associated with thunderstorms as part of the NASA Aviation Safety and
Security Program. "The TPAWS technology is an enhanced turbulence
detection radar system that detects atmospheric turbulence by measuring
the motions of the moisture in the air," said NASA's TPAWS project
manager Jim Watson. "It is a software signal processing upgrade
to existing predictive Doppler wind shear systems that are already on
airplanes
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ANTENNA TECHNOLOGY
Rob Vincent, an employee in the University of Rhode Island's Physics
Department, has invented distributed-load, monopole antennas that are
smaller, produce high efficiency, retain good to excellent bandwidth,
and have multiple applications. "The Holy Grail of antenna technology
is to create a small antenna with high efficiency and wide bandwidth,"
explains Vincent. "According to current theory, you have to give
up one of the three-size, efficiency, or bandwidth-to achieve the other
two."
Tests confirm that the antennas are one third to one ninth of their
full size counterparts. Normally, smaller antennas are only 8% to 15%
efficient. These
antennas achieved 80% to 100% efficiency as compared to the larger antennas.
With this technology it will be possible to double, at minimum, the
range of walkie-talkies used by police, fire, and other municipal personnel.
Naval
ships, baby monitors, and portable antennas for military use are other
applications. An antenna could be mounted on a chip in a cell phone
and be applied to wireless local area networks. Another application
deals with radio frequency identification, which is expected someday
to replace the barcode system.
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Crew Physiological Observation Device
(CPOD)
CPOD keepstrack of biological data, like changes in heart rate, the
amount of oxygen in the blood stream, how the wearer is moving, and
much more. Along with Stanford University researchers Greg Kovacs and
Kevin Montgomery, engineers John Hines and Carsten Mundt of NASA Ames
Research Center (Moffet Field, CA) have developed a device that is like
a flight recorder for human beings called the Crew Physiological Observation
Device (CPOD). CPOD keeps track of biological data, like changes in
heart rate, the amount of oxygen in the blood stream, how the wearer
is moving, and much more.
CPOD is a compact, portable, wearable device -- a single piece of equipment
that gathers a wide variety of vital signs. About the size of a computer
mouse,
it is worn around the waist and tracks a person's physiologic functioning
as they go about their normal routine. CPOD can store data for eight-hour
periods
for later downloading; alternatively, it can send it wirelessly, in
real time, to some other device.
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BIO-SENSORS
University of Tennessee microbiologists have developed a device that
uses silicon chips to collect signals from specially altered bacteria.
Known as BBICs, or Bioluminescent Bioreporter Integrated Circuits, they
are already being used to track pollution on earth. Now, with the support
of NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research, the researchers
are designing a version for spaceships.