Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for locating a sensor node are disclosed. A representative apparatus, among others, includes a processing unit that receives sensor node data and object trajectory information data for an object. The sensor node data is related to the object's trajectory, and a data point in the object trajectory information data comprises a time stamp and the coordinates of a position. The position corresponds the location of the object at the given time. The processing unit is adapted to correlate at least a portion of the sensor node data with at least a portion of the object trajectory information data to determine an absolute position of the sensor node.

Abstract: The invention includes a deformable mirror for use in adaptive and active optical systems and in optical technology laser communication directed energy systems. The invention utilizes pockets formed in the back of the mirrors substrate. The pockets house actuators that are bonded to the substrate and may adjustably deform the mirror surface depending on the voltage supplied to the actuators. A plurality of mirrors may be combined to form a scalable array or positioned to overcome issues related to the uncontrollable portions of separate individual mirrors.

Abstract: A new linear point design technique is presented for the determination of tuning parameters that enable the optimal estimation of unmeasured engine outputs such as thrust. The engine's performance is affected by its level of degradation, generally described in terms of unmeasurable health parameters related to each major engine component. Accurate thrust reconstruction depends upon knowledge of these health parameters, but there are usually too few sensors to be able to estimate their values. In this new technique, a set of tuning parameters is determined which accounts for degradation by representing the overall effect of the larger set of health parameters as closely as possible in a least squares sense. The technique takes advantage of the properties of the singular value decomposition of a matrix to generate a tuning parameter vector of low enough dimension that it can be estimated by a Kalman filter.

Abstract: A preferred embodiment comprises a method and system for generating an image of a subject or area comprising a processor; at least one incoherent light source which illuminates the subject or area; a first receiver for receiving light reflected from the subject or area operatively connected to the processor; a second receiver for receiving light from at least one incoherent light source operatively connected to the processor; the first receiver collecting the amount of light reflected from the subject and transmit a value at specific intervals of time; the second receiver comprising a second detector which detects and transmits spatial information regarding the incoherent light source independent of any data concerning the subject at specific intervals of time; wherein the processor correlates the value transmitted by the first receiver with the spatial information derived from the second receiver at correlating intervals of time to create an image of the subject or area.

Abstract: A ferromagnetic object is located by moving magnetic sensors along a path in an area of detection; using the sensors to measure a total magnetic field in the area of detection; using the sensors to measure all three vector components of magnetic field as the sensors travel along the path and passes the object; computing theoretical vector components of the total magnetic field in the area of detection; matching the measured vector components with the computed theoretical vector components of the total magnetic field; calculating an error measurement between matched measured vector components and computed theoretical vector components of the magnetic field; determining optimized values of parameters that minimize an error between the measured vector components and computed theoretical vector components of the magnetic field; and determining a position of the object based on the measured components of the magnetic field as a function of the optimized values.

Abstract: A technique for locating stationary magnetic objects comprises placing magnetic sensors on a movable platform; for each sensor, measuring a total magnetic field signal in an area of detection; using the sensors to identify a line upon which a target stationary magnetic object is located; and fixing a location of the object by moving the platform in substantially straight lines until the object is detected by at least two of the sensors; using the measured signals to determine a first path on which the object lies; positioning the sensors so that a line connecting two of the sensors intersects the first path on which the object lies; moving the platform along a second path substantially parallel to the first path; recording two positions at which at least two of the sensors detect a maximum total magnetic field signal from the object; and identifying a third path through the two positions.

Abstract: A micro-mirror optical tracking and ranging system comprises an optical transceiver having a Micro-Electro-Optical Mechanical System (MEOMS) micro-mirror beam steering system and an electronic control and operating system for processing electronic signals. An optical transceiver and MEOMS micro-mirror beam steering system comprises two oppositely installed micro-mirrors controlled so that they spin and tilt synchronously and project a laser beam out in a wide solid angle and interval in a substantially conically shaped scanning pattern. Such an optical transmitter system provides a steered frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) laser beam. When a laser beam waveform reflects off of an object within the scanned patter it is detected by the optical receiver an electronic control and operating system processes the detected laser beam waveform by mixing it with the original transmitted laser beam waveform and calculates the precise distance and location of the object.

Abstract: The invention described here in is a computer-implemented method and apparatus for controlling a hand-held tool. In particular, the control of a hand held tool is for the purpose of controlling the speed of a fastener interface mechanism and the torque applied to fasteners by the fastener interface mechanism of the hand-held tool and monitoring the operating parameters of the tool. The control is embodied in intool software embedded on a processor within the tool which also communicates with remote software. An operator can run the tool, or through the interaction of both software, operate the tool from a remote location, analyze data from a performance history recorded by the tool, and select various torque and speed parameters for each fastener.

Abstract: A capacitive type proximity sensor having improved range and sensitivity between a surface of arbitrary shape and an intruding object in the vicinity of the surface having one or more outer conductors on the surface which serve as capacitive sensing elements shaped to conform to the underlying surface of a machine. Each sensing element is backed by a reflector driven at the same voltage and in phase with the corresponding capacitive sensing element. Each reflector, in turn, serves to reflect the electric field lines of the capacitive sensing element away from the surface of the machine on which the sensor is mounted so as to enhance the component constituted by the capacitance between the sensing element and an intruding object as a fraction of the total capacitance between the sensing element and ground.

Abstract: A particulate reinforced NiAl-AlN composite alloy has a NiAl matrix and greater than about 13 volume percent fine particles of AlN within the matrix. The particles preferably have a diameter from about 15 nanometers to about 50 nanometers. The particulate reinforced NiAl-AlN composite alloy may be prepared by cryomilling prealloyed NiAl in liquid nitrogen using grinding media having a diameter of from about 2 mm to about 6 mm at an impeller speed of from about 450 RPM to about 800 RPM. The cryomilling may be done for a duration of from about 4 hours to about 20 hours to obtain a cryomilled powder. The cryomilled powder may be consolidated to form the particulate reinforced NiAl-AlN composite alloy. The particulate reinforced alloy can further include a toughening alloy. The toughening alloy may include NiCrAlY, FeCrAY and FeAl.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for detecting mechanical vibrations and outputting a signal in response thereto. Art accelerometer package having integral display and control functions is suitable for mounting upon the machinery to be monitored. Display circuitry provides signals to a bar graph display which may be used to monitor machine conditions over a period of time. Control switches may be set which correspond to elements in the bar graph to provide an alert if vibration signals increase in amplitude over a selected trip point. The circuitry is shock mounted within the accelerometer housing. The method provides for outputting a broadband analog accelerometer signal, integrating this signal to produce a velocity signal, integrating and calibrating the velocity signal before application to a display driver, and selecting a trip point at which a digitally compatible output signal is generated.

Abstract: A silicon-base ceramic substrate is provided with a mullite chemical barrier/thermal barrier coating uniformly bonded to a surface. The coating is substantially free of amorphous mullite.

Abstract: An x-ray diffraction apparatus for use in analyzing the x-ray diffraction pattern of a sample. The apparatus includes a beam source for generating a collimated x-ray beam having one or more discrete x-ray energies, a holder for holding the sample to be analyzed in the path of the beam, and a charge-coupled device having an array of pixels for detecting, in one or more selected photon energy ranges, x-ray diffraction photons produced by irradiating such a sample with said beam. The CCD is coupled to an output unit which receives input information relating to the energies of photons striking each pixel in the CCD, and constructs the diffraction pattern of photons within a selected energy range striking the CCD.

Abstract: High-speed, analog, fully-parallel and asynchronous building blocks are cascaded for larger sizes and enhanced resolution. A hardware-compatible algorithm permits hardware-in-the-loop learning despite limited weight resolution. A computation-intensive feature classification application has been demonstrated with this flexible hardware and new algorithm at high speed. This result indicates that these building block chips can be embedded as application-specific-coprocessors for solving real-world problems at extremely high data rates.

Abstract: A system for data compression utilizing systolic array architecture for Vector Quantization (VQ) is disclosed for both full-searched and tree-searched. For a tree-searched VQ, the special case of a Binary Tree-Search VQ (BTSVQ) is disclosed with identical Processing Elements (PE) in the array for both a Raw-Codebook VQ (RCVQ) and a Difference-Codebook VQ (DCVQ) algorithm. A fault tolerant system is disclosed which allows a PE that has developed a fault to be bypassed in the array and replaced by a spare at the end of the array, with codebook memory assignment shifted one PE past the faulty PE of the array.

Abstract: A technique for reducing the spurious signal content in digital sinusoid synthesis. Spur reduction is accomplished through dithering both amplitude and phase values prior to word-length reduction. The analytical approach developed for analog quantization is used to produce new bounds on spur performance in these dithered systems. Amplitude dithering allows output word-length reduction without introducing additional spurs. Effects of periodic dither similar to that produced by pseudo-noise (PN) generator are analyzed. This phase dithering method provides a spur reduction of 6(M+1) dB per phase bit when the dither consists of M uniform variates. While the spur reduction is at the expense of an increase in system noise, the noise power can be made white, making the power spectral density small. This technique permits the use of a smaller number of phase bits addressing sinusoid look-up tables, resulting in an exponential decrease in system complexity.

Abstract: A conversion efficiency of 42% and slope efficiency of 60% relative to absorbed pump power are obtained from a continuous wave diode-pumped Tm, Ho:YLiF.sub.4 laser at 2 .mu.m with output power of 84 mW at a crystal temperature of 275 K. The emission spectrum is etalon tunable over a range of 7 nm (16.3 cm.sup.-l) centered on 2.067 .mu.m with fine tuning capability of the transition frequency with crystal temperature at a measured rate of -0.03 cm.sup.-1 .K.sup.-1. The effective emission cross-section is measured to be 5.times.10.sup.-21 cm.sup.2. These and other aspects of the laser performance are disclosed in the context of calculated atmospheric absorption characteristics in this spectral region and potential use in remote sensing applications. Single frequency output and frequency stabilization are achieved using an intracavity etalon in conjunction with an external reference etalon.

Abstract: A first end surface of a coiled compression spring at its relaxed length is machined to a plane transverse to the spring axis. The spring is then placed in a press structure having first and second opposed planar support surfaces, with the machined spring end surface bearing against the first support surface, the unmachined spring end surface bearing against a planar first surface of a lateral force compensation member, and an opposite, generally spherically curved surface of the compensation member bearing against the second press structure support surface. The spring is then compressed generally to its loaded length, and a circumferentially spaced series of marks, lying in a plane parallel to the second press structure support surface, are formed on the spring coil on which the second spring end surface lies. The spring is then removed from the press structure, and the second spring end surface is machined to the mark plane.

Abstract: A method for producing polymeric diacetylene thin films having desirable nonlinear optical characteristics has been achieved by producing amorphous diacetylene polymeric films by simultaneous polymerization of diacetylene monomers in solution and deposition of polymerized diacetylenes on to the surface of a transparent substrate through which ultraviolet light has been transmitted. These amorphous polydiacetylene films produced by photo-deposition from solution possess very high optical quality and exhibit large third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities, such properties being suitable for nonlinear optical devices such as waveguides and integrated optics.

Abstract: A synthetic soil/fertilizer for horticultural application having all the agronutrients essential for plant growth is disclosed. The soil comprises a synthetic apatite fertilizer having sulfur, magnesium and micronutrients dispersed in a calcium phosphate matrix, a zeolite cation exchange medium saturated with a charge of potassium and nitrogen cations, and an optional pH buffer. Moisture dissolves the apatite and mobilizes the nutrient elements from the apatite matrix and the zeolite charge sites.