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The Space Link Extension Return Channel Frames (SLE-RCF) software library helps to monitor the health and safety of spacecraft by enabling space agency ground support and mission control centers to develop standardized and interoperable mission control applications for space telemetry data. The software library eliminates the need for missions to implement custom data communication designs to communicate with any ground station. The two main tasks accomplished via the SLE-RCF software library are processing user requests and receiving data from ground stations and ground support assets. The software library contains three layers: -SLE (Space Link Extension) for the abstract workings of the protocol -DEL (Decoding and Encoding Layer) to decode and encode the abstract messages used by the SLE layer -TML (Transport Mapping Layer) to transfer the encoded messages via some underlying transport layer protocol, such as as the transmission control protocol (TCP) The library accepts configuration or SLE-RCF directives from the user and responds accordingly. Incoming data, both telemetry frames and status messages, are processed and the appropriate callback routines are triggered by the library.

Currently, HSEG software is being used by Bartron Medical Imaging as a diagnostic tool to enhance medical imagery. Bartron Medical Imaging licensed the HSEG Technology from NASA Goddard adding color enhancement and developing MED-SEG, an FDA approved tool to help specialists interpret medical images. HSEG is available for licensing outside of the medical field (specifically for soft-tissue analysis).

Vehicles designed for purposes of exploration of the planets and other atmospheric bodies in the Solar System favor the use of mid-Lift/Drag blunt body geometries. Such shapes can be designed so as to yield favorable hypersonic aerothermodynamic properties for low heating and hypersonic aerodynamic properties for maneuverability and stability. The entry trajectory selected influences entry peak heating and integrated heating loads which in turn influences the design of the thermal protection system. A nominal is used to compare each shape considered. The vehicle will be subject to both launch and entry loading along with structural integrity constraints that may further influence shape design. Further, such vehicles must be sized so as to fit on existing or realizable launch vehicles, often within existing launch payload shroud constraints.

The advantage of using cardiac biometrics over existing methods is that heart signatures are more difficult to forge compared to other biometric devices. Iris scanners can be fooled by contact lenses and sunglasses, and a segment of the population does not have readable fingerprints due to age or working conditions. Previous electrocardiographic signals employed a single template and compared that template with new test templates by means of cross-correlation or linear-discriminant analysis.The benefit of this technology over competing cardiac biometric methods is that it is more reliable with a significant reduction in error rates. The benefit of this technology is that it creates a probabilistic model of the electrocardiographic features of a person instead of a single signal template of the average heartbeat. The probabilistic model described as Gaussian mixture model allows various modes of the feature distribution, in contrast to a template model that only characterizes a mean waveform. Another advantage is that the model uses both physiological and anatomical characterization of the heart, unlike other methods that mainly use only physiological characterization of the heart. By combining features from different leads, the heart of the person is better characterized in terms of anatomical orientation because each lead represents a different projection of the electrical vector of the heart. Thus, employing multiple electrocardiographic leads provides a better performance in subject verification or identification.

The Video Acuity metric is designed to provide a unique and meaningful measurement of the quality of a video system. The automated system for measuring video acuity is based on a model of human letter recognition. The Video Acuity measurement system is comprised of a camera and associated optics and sensor, processing elements including digital compression, transmission over an electronic network, and an electronic display for viewing of the display by a human viewer. The quality of a video system impacts the ability of the human viewer to perform public safety tasks, such as reading of automobile license plates, recognition of faces, and recognition of handheld weapons. The Video Acuity metric can accurately measure the effects of sampling, blur, noise, quantization, compression, geometric distortion, and other effects. This is because it does not rely on any particular theoretical model of imaging, but simply measures the performance in a task that incorporates essential aspects of human use of video, notably recognition of patterns and objects. Because the metric is structurally identical to human visual acuity, the numbers that it yields have immediate and concrete meaning. Furthermore, they can be related to the human visual acuity needed to do the task. The Video Acuity measurement system uses different sets of optotypes and uses automated letter recognition to simulate the human observer.

This innovation is an autonomic method capable of transmitting a neutralizing data signal to counteract a potentially harmful signal. This otoacoustic component of an autonomic unit can render a potentially harmful incoming signal inert. For selfmanaging systems, the technology can offer a selfdefense capability that brings new levels of automation and dependability to systems.

The Inductive Monitoring System (IMS) software provides a method of building an efficient system health monitoring software module by examining data covering the range of nominal system behavior in advance and using parameters derived from that data for the monitoring task. This software module also has the capability to adapt to the specific system being monitored by augmenting its monitoring database with initially suspect system parameter sets encountered during monitoring operations, which are later verified as nominal. While the system is offline, IMS learns nominal system behavior from archived system data sets collected from the monitored system or from accurate simulations of the system. This training phase automatically builds a model of nominal operations, and stores it in a knowledge base. The basic data structure of the IMS software algorithm is a vector of parameter values. Each vector is an ordered list of parameters collected from the monitored system by a data acquisition process. IMS then processes select data sets by formatting the data into a predefined vector format and building a knowledge base containing clusters of related value ranges for the vector parameters. In real time, IMS then monitors and displays information on the degree of deviation from nominal performance. The values collected from the monitored system for a given vector are compared to the clusters in the knowledge base. If all the values fall into or near the parameter ranges defined by one of these clusters, it is assumed to be nominal data since it matches previously observed nominal behavior. The IMS knowledge base can also be used for offline analysis of archived data.

Polyamides are polymers that are similar to polyimides (another polymer that has been developed for use in aerogels). However, because the amide link is a single chain while the imide link is a ring structure, polyamide aerogels can be made less stiff than polyimides, even though a similar fabrication process is used. The precursor materials can be made from any combination of diamine and diacid chloride. Furthermore, NASA Glenn researchers have found methods for using combinations of diamines and disecondary amines to produce polyamide aerogels with tunable glass transition temperatures, for greater control of features such as flexibility or water-resistance. In the first step of the fabrication process, an oligomeric solution is produced that is stable and can be prepared and stored indefinitely as stock solutions prior to cross-linking. This unique feature allows for the preparation and transport of tailor-made polyamide solutions, which can later be turned into gels via the addition of a small amount of cross-linker. When the cross-linking agent is added, the solution can be cast in a variety of forms such as thin films and monoliths. To remove the solvent, one or more solvent exchanges can be performed, and then the gel is subjected to supercritical drying to form a polyamide aerogel. NASA Glenn's polyamide aerogels can be fully integrated with the fabrication techniques and products of polyimide aerogel fabrication, so hybrid materials which have the properties of both classes are easily prepared. As the first aerogels to be composed of cross-linked polyamides, these materials combine flexibility and transparency in a way that sets them apart from all other polymeric aerogels.

High-temperature sensors have been used in silicon carbide electronic oscillator circuits. The frequency of the oscillator changes as a function of changes in the sensor's parameters, such as pressure. This change is analogous to changes in the pitch of a person's voice. The output of this oscillator, and many others may be superimposed onto a single medium. This medium may be the power lines supplying current to the sensors, a third wire dedicated to data transmission, the airwaves through radio transmission, or an optical or other medium. However, with nothing to distinguish the identities of each source, this system is useless. Using frequency dividers and linear feedback shift registers, comprised of flip flops and combinatorial logic gates connected to each oscillator, unique bit stream codes may be generated. These unique codes are used to amplitude modulate the output of the sensor (both amplitude shift keying and on-off keying are applicable). By using a dividend of the oscillator frequency to generate the code, a constant a priori number of oscillator cycles will define each bit. At the receiver, a detected frequency will have associated with it a stored code pattern. Thus, a detected frequency will have a unique modulation pattern or "voice," disassociating it from noise and from other transmitting sensors. These codes may be pseudorandom binary sequences (PRBS), ASCII characters, gold codes, etc. The detected code length and frequency are measured, offering intelligent data transfer. This is an early-stage technology requiring additional development. Glenn welcomes co-development opportunities.

The Damage Detection System consists of layered composite material made up of two-dimensional thin film damage detection layers separated by thicker, nondetection layers, coupled with a detection system. The damage detection layers within the composite material are thin films with a conductive grid or striped pattern. The conductive pattern can be applied on a variety of substrates using several different application methods. The number of detection layers in the composite material can be tailored depending on the level of damage detection detail needed for a particular application. When damage occurs to any detection layer, a change in the electrical properties of that layer is detected and reported. Multiple damages can be detected simultaneously, providing real-time detail on the depth and location of the damage. The truly unique feature of the System is its flexibility. It can be designed to gather as much (or as little) information as needed for a particular application using wireless communication. Individual detection layers can be turned on or off as necessary, and algorithms can be modified to optimize performance. The damage detection system can be used to generate both diagnostic and prognostic information related to the health of layered composite structures, which will be essential if such systems are utilized to protect human life and/or critical equipment and material.