公开(公告)号：US10983223B2

公开(公告)日：2021-04-20

申请号：US16045076

申请日：2018-07-25

Applicant: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF NASA

Inventor： Andrew J. Moore ,  Scott B. Dorsey

IPC: G05D1/00 ,  B64C39/02 ,  H04W8/08 ,  G01S5/02 ,  G01S19/46 ,  G05D3/00 ,  G01S19/48 ,  G05D1/02 ,  G01S19/51 ,  G01C21/20 ,  G01S5/10 ,  G01S5/14 ,  G01C21/04 ,  G05D1/10

Abstract: A method for determining geolocation of a UAV near a power grid includes detecting, via a transceiver, a carrier signal transmitted from a first grid node to identify the node's fixed geolocation. A response signal may be transmitted from a second grid node in response to the carrier signal to identify a fixed geolocation of the second grid node, or the UAV may process the carrier signal. A processor determines time-of-flight of the carrier signal, e.g., using the response signal, and derives the UAV's geolocation using the time-of-flight. Determining time-of-flight may include referencing a lookup table indexed by time-of-arrival at the transceiver of the modulated carrier and response signals. A timestamp may indicate time-of-transmission of the carrier and response signals, respectively. Deriving geolocation may include subtracting time-of-transmission of the response signal from that of the carrier signal. A system includes the processor and transceiver.

公开(公告)号：US10977776B1

公开(公告)日：2021-04-13

申请号：US16056713

申请日：2018-08-07

Applicant: United States of Americas as represented by the Administrator of NASA

Inventor： Michael J. Krasowski ,  Joseph M. Flatico ,  Phillip P. Jenkins ,  Lawrence C. Greer

IPC: G06T5/00 ,  H04N5/243 ,  A61B5/00 ,  A61B5/103 ,  H04N5/232 ,  G06T5/50

Abstract: A method includes placing an imaging device in contact with a sample, irradiating the sample via an illuminator such that radiation scatters off of the structure, and providing the scattered radiation to a detector to generate a digital video signal. A processor then performs various operations including subtracting a sum of a black state value and a user-defined black level clamping value from the digital video signal to create subtracted image data, substituting negative values in the subtracted image data with a reference value to create modified image data, and amplifying the modified image data by a user-defined gain to create contrast enhanced image data.

公开(公告)号：US10957019B1

公开(公告)日：2021-03-23

申请号：US16534660

申请日：2019-08-07

Applicant: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF NASA

Inventor： James C. Tilton

IPC: G06K9/00 ,  G06T5/00 ,  G06T7/11 ,  G06T15/08 ,  G06T5/40

Abstract: A method includes receiving a recursively subdivided and reassembled first image comprising pixels, each pixel assigned a region label, subdividing the image into overlapping subsections, determining overlapping pixels surrounding seams along which the overlapping subsections are joined together, accumulating a histogram of co-occurrences of region label pairs of the overlapping pixels surrounding the seams along which the overlapping subsections are joined together, merging overlapping pixels having region labels with a co-occurrence histogram count exceeding a predetermined threshold, and merging spatially and non-spatially adjacent regions of the first image to form a second image with reduced artifacts proximate the seams along which the overlapping subsections are joined together.

公开(公告)号：US10945389B1

公开(公告)日：2021-03-16

申请号：US15896820

申请日：2018-02-14

Applicant: United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of NASA

Inventor： Howard G. Levine

IPC: A01G27/06 ,  B64G1/66

Abstract: A passive nutrient delivery system for plant growth includes a rooting module having a body portion having a top, a bottom, and a sidewall extending between the top and the bottom. The rooting module further includes a hydrophilic plug, having an opening, in a first portion of the interior of the body portion adjacent the top of the body portion, and a substrate in a second portion of the interior of the body portion between the bottom and the plug. The rooting module further includes an oxygen permeable area in the sidewall of the body portion, a first wicking material extending through the sidewall of the body portion into the interior of the body portion, and a second wicking material extending through the body of the body portion into the interior of the body portion, through the interior of the body portion, and through the opening of the plug. The passive nutrient delivery system also comprises a reservoir wherein a port can receive the removable rooting module.

公开(公告)号：US10923446B1

公开(公告)日：2021-02-16

申请号：US16567126

申请日：2019-09-11

Applicant: United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA

Inventor： Ari Brown ,  Vilem Mikula

IPC: G03F1/50 ,  H01L21/308 ,  H01L23/00 ,  H01L21/3213 ,  H01L21/027

Abstract: A metallic etching process includes applying an anti-reflection coating over a metallic superstrate, applying a dry film photoresist over the anti-reflection coating, removing exposed portions of the dry film photoresist exposing a portion of the anti-reflection coating, etching the exposed portions of the anti-reflection coating exposing portions of the metal superstrate, etching portions of the metallic superstrate not covered by the dry film photoresist, and removing the dry film photoresist and the anti-reflection coating leaving portions of the metallic superstrate. An indium bump liftoff process includes applying a positive photoresist, forming a liftoff mask by applying a dry film photoresist over the positive photoresist, removing exposed portions of the liftoff mask to expose a portion of a substrate, depositing an indium film over the exposed portion of the substrate and remaining portions of the liftoff mask, and removing remaining portions of the liftoff mask.

公开(公告)号：US20210025047A1

公开(公告)日：2021-01-28

申请号：US16938177

申请日：2020-07-24

Applicant: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF NASA

Inventor： Donald L. Thomsen, III ,  Sankara N. Sankaran ,  Joel A. Alexa

IPC: C23C4/08 ,  B32B15/04 ,  C23C4/134 ,  C23C4/02

Abstract: Methods for making layered materials and layered materials including high atomic number metals and metal alloys adhered to surfaces are provided. Such surfaces may be oxygen or hydroxyl rich surfaces. Certain methods include depositing a tie down layer of a first metal or metal alloy particles onto a first surface of base material and depositing a high atomic number metal or metal alloy layer onto the first surface after depositing the tie down layer, wherein particles comprising the high atomic number metal or metal alloy layer have a higher atomic number than the first metal or metal alloy particles.

公开(公告)号：US10819364B1

公开(公告)日：2020-10-27

申请号：US16514089

申请日：2019-07-17

Applicant: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF NASA

Inventor： George Suarez ,  Jeffrey Dumonthier ,  Nikolaos Paschalidis

IPC: H03M1/68 ,  H03H7/46 ,  G08C15/00 ,  H03M1/06

Abstract: A radiation hardened, digital to analog converter includes first and second serial communication circuits, a common bus interface configured to connect the first and second serial communication circuits to first and second digital serial communication buses, respectively, and a digital to analog converter circuit, where the first and second serial communication circuits are configured to receive data over the first and second digital serial communication buses, respectively, for use by the digital to analog converter circuit.

公开(公告)号：US10819080B1

公开(公告)日：2020-10-27

申请号：US16540796

申请日：2019-08-14

Applicant: United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA

Inventor： Kenji Numata ,  Anthony Yu

IPC: H01S3/06 ,  H01S3/16 ,  H01S3/101 ,  H01S3/0941

Abstract: Coating-less nonplanar ring oscillator lasers are disclosed. Such lasers may eliminate the need for thin-film optical coatings from a laser cavity, solving the problem of optical damage to the coatings, and thus, providing a longer useful lifetime for the laser for space or terrestrial applications. Such lasers may be compact, ultra-stable, and highly reliable, enabling a low phase noise, single frequency laser in a compact package. Such lasers may be used in CW and/or in pulse mode.

公开(公告)号：US10781517B1

公开(公告)日：2020-09-22

申请号：US16144242

申请日：2018-09-27

Applicant: United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA

Inventor： Vivek H. Dwivedi

IPC: C23C16/40 ,  C23C16/455 ,  C09C3/06 ,  C23C16/44 ,  C23C16/56

Abstract: Modification of pigments may be performed using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to provide custom-tailored thermal protection characteristics. More specifically, ALD may be used to encapsulate pigment particles with controlled thicknesses of a thermal protective layer, such as VO2. ALD may allow films to be theoretically grown one atom at a time, providing angstrom-level thickness control.

公开(公告)号：US20200293065A1

公开(公告)日：2020-09-17

申请号：US16890506

申请日：2020-06-02

Applicant: Nissan North America, Inc. ,  United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of NASA

Inventor： Liam Pedersen ,  Maarten Sierhuis ,  Hans Utz ,  Mauro Della Penna ,  Terrence Fong ,  Mark Allan ,  Maria Bualat ,  Eric Schafer

IPC: G05D1/02

Abstract: Methods and systems for providing remote support and negotiating problem situations of autonomous operation of vehicles based on signal states and vehicle information are described. A system comprises a memory and a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to: assign vehicles to support queues based on state data, generate a map display including locations of the vehicles, and generate a state display including the support queues, vehicle manager indicators corresponding to the support queues and state indicators corresponding to the state data.