Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention comprise devices, systems, and components for use with a survey pole positioning system. For example, embodiments of the invention provide a survey pole positioning system that efficiently, easily, and safely allows a surveyor to position a survey pole, and thus position a surveying device on a surface where a surveyor cannot directly stand. In one embodiment, a hinged member couples a survey pole to a positioning rod such that the positioning rod can rotate with respect to the survey pole. A surveyor can then use the positioning rod to position the survey pole on a surface where the surveyor cannot directly stand.

Abstract: A finite-state machine (30), which receives its input on INPUT lines (32) and generates its output on OUTPUT lines (34), is implemented with a content-addressable memory (46), whose output is the address of the location containing the data word presented to the content-addressable memory as its input. The content-addressable memory's input data word is the concatenation of the finite-state-machine input and the content-addressable-memory output, while the content-addressable-memory output is the output of the finite-state machine.

Abstract: A circuit board is aligned with the housing so that a mounting pin may be inserted through a circuit board mounting hole and into a housing mounting bore. The pin is heated when inserted into the bore so that solder at the bottom tip is in a melted state. After the pin is in the bore, the solder fuses and secures the pin in the bore. Accordingly, the pin head secures the electrical circuit board to the housing.

Abstract: A compressive receiver (10) includes a modulation circuit (14) that modulates the receiver input signal with compensation values equal to the ratio of the transfer function of an ideal linear dispersive delay line to that of the main compressive-receiver linear dispersive delay line (22). An auxiliary linear dispersive delay line (16) dispersively delays the results modulated signal at the reciprocal of the compressive receiver's chirp rate, and the resultant signal is progressively translated in frequency by a frequency translator (18) at the compressive-receiver chirp rate. As a consequence, each point in a signal-frequency component of the input signal is translated to the frequency at which the compensation function was evaluated in modulating the component at that point in time, so the departure of the main dispersive delay line (22) from linearity is compensated for, and increased dynamic range results.

Abstract: Each word location (18-0, 18-1, 18-255) in a content-addressable memory has a tally circuit (24-0, 24-1, 24-255) associated with it. A data word on data lines (12) is compared simultaneously with the words in all of the word locations, and the tally circuit associated with each location counts the number of matches between the key word in that location and the data word represented by the signals on the data line. The tally circuits apply tally signals representing the number of matching bits in their respective word locations to comparison circuits (28-1, 28-255), each of which compares the tally output from its associated tally circuit with the output from a previous comparison circuit and forwards the higher of the two to the next comparison circuit. Each comparison circuit also applies to a priority encoder (32) an output that indicates whether the associated tally circuit has generated a tally signal representing a tally greater than that from all previious locations.

Abstract: A wide format thermal printhead is provided which comprises a baseplate; a first substrate with a border portion removed from a first edge thereof to form a second edge, the first substrate being mounted on the baseplate; and a second substrate with a border portion removed from a first edge thereof to form a second edge, the second substrate being mounted on the baseplate with the second edge of the second substrate abutting the second edge of the first substrate to form a print surface having an extended active print width. Also provided is a thermal recording device with wide format capabilities which comprises the wide format thermal printhead as described.

Abstract: An electromagnetic dispersive delay line (10) includes a dielectric strip (28) as well as a coupler (24, 34, 36, and 38) for launching surface electromagnetic waves into the dielectric strip. The upper surface of the dielectric strip (28) is left exposed to the air in order to provide an interface with a lower-permittivity medium of propagation. This permits a surface-electromagnetic-wave propagation mode. The thickness of the dielectric strip (28) is varied along its length so as to result in a linear relationship of delay to frequency throughout a predetermined frequency range. Preferably, a conductive strip (26) spaced from the dielectric strip extends along the surface-wave propagation path in the region occupied by the evanescent field external to the dielectric strip (28). This conductive strip (26) modifies the phase relationships between the electric and magnetic fields in the evanescent-field region so as to cause some of the power transmission to occur outside of the dielectric strip.

Abstract: A circuit board is aligned with the housing so that a mounting pin may be inserted through a circuit board mounting hole into a housing mounting bore. The pin is heated when inserted into the bore so that solder at the bottom tip is in a melted state. After the pin is in the bore, the solder fuses and secures the pin in the bore. Accordingly, the pin head secures the electrical circuit board to the housing.

Abstract: In a moving craft connected by a towline to an ejected and freely falling object, a brake control system determines when to engage a brake that accelerates the object to the moving craft's speed by retarding the deployment of the towline without exceeding its rated working load. The control system continually monitors the velocity and the total deployed distance of the ejected object. When a point in a velocity-distance state-space plane corresponding to the monitored velocity and the monitored total deployed distance of the ejected object has reached a switching curve (48), the control system actuates a brake (74). The switching curve (48) is the locus of intersection points (38, 40, 42, and 44) of a plurality of pairs of curves, each pair consisting of a free-fall trajectory (23, 24, 26, and 28) and a brake trajectory (30, 32, 34, and 36) and being associated with a different craft velocity.

Abstract: A protective material comprising a layer of vinylidene chloride or saran or polymer or copolymer of vinylidene chloride between two layers of polyethylene or other polyolefin to provide protection against both permeation and breakthrough. A cloth backing or inner layer can be added to this material for comfort. The material can be modified with a reinforcing material such as fiberglass or scrim cloth. Inclusion of an indicator substance between layers, or impregnated in a layer, provided further protection by warning the user of permeation and breakthrough. This material can be utilized in protection clothing such as gloves, as enclosures for instruments and equipment, as a container, and in other applications.

Abstract: A successive detection logarithmic amplifier consists of multiple stages, with each stage containing a field-effect transistor (FET) which functions as both an amplifier and a detector. The FET, having an external gate biasing terminal, is biased to operate in its linear region as an amplifier. The gate-source junction of the FET, which is a diode, functions as the detector. When a signal exceeding a predetermined threshold is applied to the FET, the gate-source junction conducts current in the forward direction during the positive half-cycles of the input signal. During the negative half-cycles of the input signal, very little current flows through the gate-source diode junction. The time average of the forward current peaks produces a voltage across a resistor connected between the external gate bias terminal and ground.

Abstract: An energy-absorbing towline (14) comprises an elastomeric core (16) having a set of internal polymeric strands (18) helically wound around the outer surface (20) of the core in a first direction and a set of external polymeric strands (22) helically wound around the outer surface (24) of the internal strands in a direction opposite to the first direction. There may be more internal strands than external strands in order to maintain torque balance as the cable elongates. Each of the internal and external strands consists of a plurality of filaments (30), and each external strand (22) may have fewer strand filaments than each internal strand (18) so as to aid in torque balancing. Electrical conductors (26) may be helically disposed between turns of the external or the internal strands. When the towline experiences tension, the elastomeric core elongates, as do the helixes. But the diameters of the helixes contract, so the strands themselves do not elongate.

Abstract: Method for protecting intermediate layers of a multi-layer printed circuit board from chemical or other damage from processing of a layer or layers to which previously fabricated layers of the printed circuit board are attached prior to such additional processing. A thin layer of protective material is selectively attached to intermediate or inner layers of a multi-layer printed circuit board after fabrication of such layers, when the outer or subsequent layers are attached. Inner or intermediate layer(s) of a multi-layer printed circuit board are fabricated. When outer layer(s) of the resulting printed circuit board are attached to the inner or intermediate layer(s), a layer of protective material such as a thin sheet of chemical-resistive plastic is disposed between the inner or intermediate layer(s) and the outer layer(s) and is selectively or completely attached or bonded thereto such as with a layer of acrylic adhesive.

Abstract: This invention is a multiple segment flextensional transducer shell that is easily and quickly manufactured and modified. The shell may comprise two adjustable, flexible plates and two buttress bars or two J-shaped adjustable, flexible plates. When the buttress bars and plates or the J-shaped members are connected together at or near the nodal points of the transducer, the assembled shell will have the same shape as the flextensional transducer shells used in the prior art. The open ends of the assembled transducer shell are covered with flanges and a boot is placed over the shell and flanges to make the interior of the shell air tight.

Abstract: An electrical circuit interconnect system employs an electrically conductive enclosure (57) and cover (64) which completely encompasses, hermetically seals (54) and electrically isolates from the outside environment a component (18) mounted on first surface of an insulating substrate (16) of a microwave circiut (56). A plurality of conductors (12) mounted on the first surface of the insulating substrate (16) electrically connect the component (18) to the outside electrical circuitry by passing under a corresponding plurality of pass-through bores (58) within the base of the enclosure (57). Specifically, within each respective passthrough bore (58), a corresponding glass encased conductor (60 and 62) electrically connects each conductor (12) within the enclosure to a conductor outside of the enclosure (57).

Abstract: A voltage sharing circuit which allows use of low voltage semiconductor devices to obtain higher output voltages is made up of a series stack of the low voltage devices with diode limiters provided to bias the low voltage devices such that the maximum voltage across any one of the low voltage devices is limited to a predetermined value.

Abstract: A low-friction, low-play bearing system for use in a carriage coupling drive system for a pen plotter including a moving carriage slidably mounted on a shaft between the ends of and carrying a U-shaped pen-carrying yoke in combination therewith for sliding motion along the shaft and rotary motion about the shaft. A pair of annular ball-bearing thrust bearings are disposed over the shaft between respective ends of the U-shaped yoke and the moving carriage. An annular bias spring such as a wave spring is disposed over the shaft between the moving carriage and one of the thrust bearings to create a longitudinal expansion force resisting play between the moving carriage and the U-shaped yoke.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing platen mapping for known clearance pen movement in a graphics plotter system having a platen over which paper is moved longitudinally to create one axis, penholding apparatus moved transversely across the platen and the paper to create the other axis, and a controlled raising and lowering mechanism connected to the penholding apparatus for lowering a pen being held therein into contact with, for raising it from contact with the paper, and for providing a relative vertical position value signal. Vertical sensing apparatus is connected to the penholding apparatus for sensing the top surface of the platen. First logic is operably connected to the vertical sensing appartus and to receive the vertical position value signal from the controlled raising and lowering mechanism for calculating and saving a plurality of deviation values indicating the distance deviation of the platen top surface from parallel at a plurality of spaced points across the platen.

Abstract: A novel radio receiver capable of simultaneously and instantaneously determining the frequency and azimuthal and elevational position of many radio signal sources is disclosed. The invention makes use of an antenna array and associated beamforming networks capable of producing an omnidirectional reference signal, and a directional signal in which amplitude depends upon the relative elevational position of the radio frequency source and complex phase depends upon the relative azimuthal position of a radio frequency source.The use of a two-dimensional compressive receiver in one embodiment provides a way for instantaneously and reliably producing the Fourier transform of these signals, allowing accurate and continuous measurement of phase and amplitude difference. The antenna geometries disclosed additionally provide such signals for a wide input bandwidth.

Abstract: An interactive simulation system in which a complex system is simulated by means of a plurality of function modules, each defining a predetermined mathematical operation, are enabled to be processed by an executive program in an order defined by an operator in, for example, a script. Each function module has one or more input variables and one or more output variables, each having a set of flags indicating whether they have been provided during a simulation run. During a simulation, the executive program sequences through the script to process the function modules, if neessary more than once. At each function module, the executive determines whether the function module can be considered based on the flags, and if so, whether it needs to process the function module. Each function module also has a set of flags indicating whether it has been considered, and, if it has been, the executive program skips the function module during subsequent sequences through the script during a simulation run.