Abstract: A sensor is provided for changing an operational characteristic of a circuit within a housing structure of the sensor to a preselected stimulus. The circuit within the housing structure is provided with magnetically sensitive components to change an operational parameter thereof. An object is provided to change the status of the magnetically sensitive component. The present invention incorporates a Hall effect element within the housing structure that is placed proximate a permanent magnet. Between the magnet and the Hall effect element a depression is formed to permit the insertion of a magnetically permeable object to change the magnetic field. The change in the magnetic field creates a change in the status of the Hall effect element and permits the circuit to change its operational characteristic.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display having pixels illuminated by field emitter arrays. The field emitter arrays may be utilized to illuminate each pixel individually or to be a backlight lamp to illuminate the whole display, whether monochrome or color. A field emitter array back-lighted liquid crystal displays, whether active matrix or passive, provide greater compactness, higher luminous efficiency, more brightness, and longer lifetime than a fluorescent lamp. Field-emitter arrays may also provide light in various colors for the liquid crystal display thereby eliminating the need for color filters which result in duller colors than that of field emitter arrays. Each color filter absorbs two-thirds of the light that it receives. A color filter liquid crystal color display exhibits colors that have diminished chromaticity and purity in comparison to those of a field emitter array liquid crystal display.

Abstract: A HIGFET having a gate pad situated over a non conducting portion of the channel layer of the heterostructure wafer. The method of producing this device involves application of a very thin layer of gate metal on the wafer to protect the wafer surface during further processing. A photoresist coating is formed over the active area of the channel layer of the FET. An ion isolation implantation is applied to the wafer resulting in a non conducting portion of the channel layer that is not covered by the photoresist layer. The photoresist layer is removed and a thick layer of gate metal is applied on the thin layer of gate metal. The gate layers are fashioned into a pad over the non conducting portion of the channel layer and at least one finger over the conducting portion of the channel layer, resulting in the gate having minimized parasitic gate capacitance.

Abstract: An interferometric fiber optic gyroscope having an intensity servo electronics feedback loop that monitors the intensity of the counterpropagating beams relative to each other, and provides a signal to a modulator to intensity modulate at least one of the signals so as to equalize the intensities or power of the beams to virtually eliminate the Kerr effect.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing error voltage compensation in a flat panel display. Voltage errors in a column driver for a flat panel display are compensated for by first measuring the voltage level at each column during a known signal level period and comparing it against a known or reference value. This voltage error signal is then stored in an error memory according to column location. During normal operation of the flat panel display, the memory is accessed every time a particular column is scanned. The error voltage is retrieved and added to the raw video signal in order to remove any voltage offset which is introduced in the column driver electronics. This error voltage compensation substance eliminates any streaking which may appear on a display screen.

Abstract: A fiber optic gyroscope having at least one forty-five degree splice connected to a polarization maintaining sensing coil. The splice is an alignment of forty-five or so degrees between a major axis of a state of polarization of light or an axis of birefringence at a port of a splitter/combiner, which may be an IOC or a coupler, and an axis of birefringence at an end of a fiber of a fiber optic coil loop. The gyroscope is rendered significantly more insensitive to ambient magnetic fields which cause non-rotation errors in the gyroscope's indication of rotation of its sensing loop or coil. The polarization amplitude errors of the present depolarized gyroscope are no greater than those of a similar but non-depolarized gyroscope. The present gyroscope may use an integrated optic circuit or an optical fiber coupler for splitting the light into two beams that counterpropagate in the sensing coil, for combining the beams when they exit the sensing coil.

Abstract: A color projector for forming a high resolution image through a plurality of stacked display panels. The projector employs subtractive color technology to project a real or virtual color image. In order to provide a highly focused image free from parallax effects, a dichroic mirror assembly is provided to reflect the light exiting the display panels and compensate for differences in optical path lengths between display panels while maintaining high resolution focusing capability. Light output averaging means are provided to eliminate additional parallax effects. High resolution optics are provided between the dichroic mirror assembly and the projection screen in order to provide focus for the image.

Abstract: An elongated inertial measurement unit having a plurality of gyros, none of which is aligned with the cardinal longitudinal axis of the elongated housing. At least one gyro has its input sensing axis aligned at an angle between 35 and 55 degrees, preferably at 45 degrees, relative to the cardinal longitudinal axis. This results in effective dithering by each of the enclosed gyros. All of the gyros are situated such that the centers of their masses or configurations are aligned with or approximately located in a row along the longitudinal axis of the elongated housing. The housing may be of various cross-sectional shapes, but the preferred shape of such housing is a right circular cylinder.

Abstract: A method of multiple replication of a diffractive optical glass surface relief profiles into other glass-type substrates. For example, a malleable but hardenable layer formed on a glass substrate is embossed with a stamper having a reverse image of the optical glass surface relief profile, to result in a high quality copy of the original diffractive glass surface relief profile. The embossed layer is hardened and separated from the stamper. The hardened layer having the embossed surface relief profile is, for instance, etched down such that the surface relief profile is etched in to the surface of the glass substrate. The result of this method is a readily producible and very durable glass or like-material accurate replica, having high fidelity and being capable of providing high quality images, of another diffractive optical element.

Abstract: A GHz-range frequency-modulated laser based on manufacturable vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and arrays. The present invention exploits a saturable absorber contained within the VCSELs distributed Bragg reflector which may itself be adjusted during fabrication or in operation. Under controllable operating conditions, the saturable absorber, strategically sized and placed, will force the VCSEL to self-pulsate (in the GHz-regime) at rates related to the local intensity, absorption, lifetime, and carrier density of the saturable absorber. These conditions can be controlled in real time in one of three ways; first, by adjusting the injection current into the VCSEL itself; second, for a fixed VCSEL bias and the use of a third terminal, by modifying the carrier density within the saturable absorber via additional current injection; or third, the saturable absorber can be reverse-biased by simultaneously altering its absorption and carrier lifetime and thus carrier density.

Abstract: A full color stereoscopic display having polarizers for color multiplexing and effecting three-dimensional full color viewing from a single direct view display. Color polarization of color images provides the basis for discriminating the different perspectives of three-dimensional images. Polarization may be linear or circular. The viewer may perceive three-dimensional images with merely the aid of polarized glasses.

Abstract: An interferometric fiber optic gyroscope having a wavelength-sensitive splitter which has a splitting ratio that changes according to light wavelength. A feedback circuit indicates any difference that there might be in the intensities of counterpropagating beams in the sensing loop of the gyroscope, and provides a signal to the light source to change the light wavelength in a direction to cause the splitter ratio to change so as to equalize the beams' intensities for eliminating the Kerr effect.

Abstract: A method for damping an optical fiber on a bias optical phase modulator having two optical fiber leads comprises the steps of securing the bias phase modulator, applying a silicone or acrylate type of substance to an outward facing surface of the fiber wound on the bias phase modulator means, applying the silicone or acrylate type of substance on the two optical fiber leads for at least 0.5 inch (1.28 cm.) along each lead which is apart from the place where the optical fiber wound on the bias phase modulator, frequently brushing or smoothing out the applied silicone or acrylate type of substance until the substance beings to set, and drying the substance on the optical fiber until the substance is cured. The applied damping material significantly reduces an amplitude of a frequency caused by mechanical vibrations in a rotation sensor.

Abstract: An adaptive recovery method for a setback thermostat using the intersection of the space temperature with a sloped recovery temperature line which approximates the change in temperature as a function of time during recovery of the temperature controlled space from a setback temperature, to determine the time at which recovery to the occupancy temperature should begin. The thermostat starts recovery when the current space temperature crosses the recovery temperature line. A useful feature of the apparatus and method which implement the invention, computes and constantly updates the slope of the temperature recovery line. The update of the temperature recovery line slope is based on miss time, i.e.

Abstract: This invention relates to fault-tolerant real-time clock capable of withstanding n-faults, including Byzantine faults. In particular, the instant invention produces redundant clock signals which have low skew with respect to each other, operate with extremely high accuracy, and can be constructed without use of analog electric components, with the exception of oscillators. The present fault tolerant clock is composed of three types of electrical subcircuits coupled together: oscillators/counters, sequential edge voters, and regular voters. Each of these subcircuits can be duplicated and coupled appropriately as needed to form a clock mechanism tolerant of any number of faults in the clock circuitry while maintaining an extremely precise timing mechanism suitable for accurately integrating and differentiating signals with respect to time.

Abstract: A smart fastener having corrosion detection features. Within the fastener is a corrosion detecting array that receives an electrolyte that corrodes sacrificial materials formed on electrodes of the corrosion detecting array. The materials are the same as those materials which are secured, fastened, or attached by the fastener. There is parallel corrosion of the sacrificial materials and the attached materials since the electrolyte which is channeled via capillary tubes into the corrosion detecting array is the same electrolyte that is in the environment of the fastened materials. Other electrodes sense various properties of the electrolyte. Information sensed by the corrosion sensing electrodes of the array is in the form of very small electrical signals which are amplified and stored in an analog storage memory. A clock and addressing device time stamps and address the signals.

Abstract: A monolithically constructed infrared, tunable Fabry-Perot cavity filter-detector for spectroscopic detection of particular substances having an absorption line in the wavelength range from 2 to 12 microns. The filter-detector has a hermetically sealed Fabry-Perot cavity that has a mirror which has an adjustable distance relative to another mirror of the cavity. The former mirror is adjusted by piezoelectric film on the mirror support or with piezoelectric stacks or wall supporting the mirror. There may be electrodes situated near the mirrors for capacitive sensing of the distance between the mirrors. Light to be filtered and detected comes in through a window wafer which may have diffractive or refractive microlenses, plus an optional spatial filter. After passing through the window wafer, the light is filtered by the tunable mirrors of the Fabry-Perot cavity. The portion of the light that is passed by the cavity is detected by an infrared microbolometer or a CCD array.

Abstract: At least one microbeam situated on a substrate, having a resonant frequency dependent on the strain on the microbeam which may be affected by the bending of the substrate. The beam or beams have sense and drive electrodes proximate to the beam or beams and form capacitors with a beam being the other electrode. The capacitance varies as the beam moves in vibration. The sense electrode is connected to an input of a transistor, such as the gate or base, and the drive electrode is connected to an output of the transistor. The transistor has a load impedance with a capacitive component to aid in the sustaining of vibration of the beam at a resonant frequency. A high ohm resistor is connected between the gate and the drain of the transistor to appropriately bias the gate. The bending of the substrate may be caused by a magnitude of a physical stimulus being measured. However, the bending of the substrate is not utilized nor desired in the filter and temperature sensing configurations of the invention.

Abstract: A three-dimensional interconnect package is provided for monolithic microwave/millimeterwave integrated circuits. A mating substrate for receiving an MMIC has transmission lines disposed over its surfaces. The mating substrate mounted substantially vertical in a base substrate which also has transmission lines for carrying microwave/millimeterwave signals. The transmission lines on both substrates are put in electrical contact and microwave/millimeterwave signals are transmitted between the substrates with a minimum of signal loss or reflection.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a control solution development environment coupled to a runtime environment constructed to insulate the control solution designer as well as the developed control applications from both the hardware and the operating system. This insulation frees the designer from having to deal with a tangle of control and operating system commands and considerations. The runtime environment manages the details of the process system resource and task allocation to implement the control strategies. Since the runtime environment insulates the developed control applications from changes in operating systems and hardware, applications developed to run in this environment are both reusable and portable. The runtime environment is scaleable, fault-tolerant, allows dynamic reconfiguration of the system, integration of diverse sensors and actuators and enables distributed control strategies.